Magnus Goes to the Red Rock Country

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

It's going to be hard to write about this trip. It was long anticipated and should have been very exciting, but there are some unmentionable annoyances causing me to be alternately anxious and despairing. It's nothing that anyone else in the world would consider the slightest bit important, so I won't describe it here--you'd think I was an idiot.  But I fully expect it to overshadow the whole trip.

So we got a very early start for a rather long drive (5 hours 12 minutes on Google) to Longhorn RV park in Alanreed, TX.  We made decent time and got in fairly early.  The lady running the place wasn't there, the office was locked and I couldn't get hold of her on the phone. But eventually she came out of her house and checked us in.

It turns out that AT&T has very little/poor service out there, so my phone kept dropping the connection. Her Verizon phone worked fine. Starlink worked, of course, no obstructions as far as the eye could see.

I don't think there was a dog exercise yard, so Molly got lots of walks around and around the RV parking lot. No stickers that I recall.  Molly's human spent her time staring off into the flat distance. Time well spent.

 

Review posted on campgrounds.rvlife.com:
Basic, inexpensive RV park in an overgrazed short-grass prairie
Longhorn RV Park, site 11, $30 cash

Gravel surface; very open and windy.  There was a county burn ban going on, but we were allowed to use our little charcoal grill cautiously, with a hose close at hand, to make steak and fish.

Very few trees and would be hot in the summer. Saw a horny toad in the field next to our site. Lost of big red ants for him to eat. Horses you can pet. No birds.

Convenient location to I-40. The owner was very nice but the office was locked and I couldn't get hold of her on the phone. It turns out that AT&T has very little/poor service out there, but her Verizon phone worked fine. Starlink worked, of course--no obstructions.

Review: Birding Under the Influence

Birding Under the Influence: Cycling Across America in Search of Birds and Recovery
by Dorian Anderson

Slightly misleading title, unless he meant "the influence of obsessive behavior syndrome."  Because he is clearly an obsessive nutcase--in a pleasing sort of way. Addicted to alcohol and controlled substances, basically anything he could
get his hands on, he manages to quit and stay quit. Only to substitute a new addiction--bicycling across America in search of the ultimate "Bicycle Big Year" goal of 600 birds.

Very enjoyable to read and I wish it were longer. He interleaves the cycling adventure and the bird sightings with long peeks back into his past.  Both are fascinating to read about, but I would have preferred more birds. Not less memories--that part was about perfect--but more birds. But then, I'm a bit of bird watcher myself.

Recommended to anyone even if not interested in birds. And a rare glimpse into the good and the ugly of america, as seen from a lone guy on an overloaded bicycle.

Review: The Cold Dish

Longmire #1 by Craig Johnson

Having read one of the later books and liking it, I decided to go back and read the first in the series and possibly complete the whole thing.  So now, having finished this, will I?

Don't know. It was awfully interesting and even a little on the "gripping" side at times. But during his snowstorm recovery section, I got awfully bored--it seemed to be repeating the hallucinations (visions?) over and over--and I skipped forward a good bit. Not pages at a time--more like reading the first line of a paragraph and skipping to the next.

But it was certainly a wild ride. A little slow, but enjoyable.

So I'll try one more.

Review: Walking Home

Walking Home: Common Sense and Other Misadventures On the Pacific Crest Trail

by Rick Rogers

Lovely adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail!  I didn't like it as much as some of the long trail travelogues I've read but that was only because he didn't spend as much time on nature stuff--plants, animals,  geology, all that.  But he did meet some wild and crazy people and have some fun (and cringe-worthy) stories.

Early on he starts off with new boots that he picked out himself, without any advice from a mountaineering/hiking store. The sort of boneheaded thing I would do myself. I know myself and I know my own feet, right?

Not under a 35-pound load, traversing rugged terrain!

Another part that was kind of scary and sad was about his hiking partner that he joined up with. She was a shallow, self-centered, idiot, and it took him a long time to figure that out.  I'm not sure if he ever did--but I'm scared to tell any more because I might be giving too much away.

Anyway, it's fun to read, hard to put down, and very much recommended. Fun stuff!  And his personal growth during the adventure, while understated, was enviable. At the end he was a guy I'd really like to go hiking with. And that says it all.

Review: The Longmire Defense

The Longmire Defense
by Craig Johnson

I chose this mystery, book 19 in the series, because it was about an older guy (I'm older) who was still working despite his age (I work on my house projects) and had a dog (I do too!)  His dog is named dog, which probably implies it doesn't have a significant role in the story. And it didn't.

Some one else reviewing this book wrote:  This one felt like a return to the strengths of the series, for those who have followed Sheriff Walt from the beginning. No narco-terrorists, no supernatural stirrings ... just good old-fashioned greed and financial skulduggery.

And that pulled me in. It was exactly as described and I very much enjoyed. A little slow moving throughout, but not in a bad way.  

Review: Wander

Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life

by Ryan Benz
 
Not your typical Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Mr. Benz was an older guy (30s ?), with a successful, well-paying career and a wife and even a house, I think.  His marriage ended because for both his wife and him there was nothing but the job and the lifestyle--they didn't grow together in their years together but instead grew apart.  And during those years, he kept putting off "real life" until some nebulous point in the future when he'd attained the perfect job and lifestyle.

The marriage ending jerked him into thinking about what he really wanted out of life, and it wasn't the high-pressure job or the big house or the perfect marriage. What was it?  He didn't know, so he quit.  All of it. To hike the trail.

Wish I had done the same thing, but there were too many people depending on me. But he did, and I couldn't stop reading to find out if he found what he was looking for. Would he or wouldn't he?  And could he even walk that far?
 
Read this and find out. I'll guarantee it's full of adventure and pain and happiness and finally, even joy.  And just possibly a mountaintop at the end.

Review: Hero Dogs

 Hero Dogs: How a Pack of Rescues, Rejects, and Strays Became America's Greatest Disaster-Search Partners
by Wilma Melville and Paul Lobo

Wonderful story of the vision, founding and execution of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, by the founder herself, Wilma Melville.  (Paul Lobo is her co-author)

As you'll find by reading the cover, after volunteering in the cleanup of the bombing at Oklahoma City, Ms. Melville made a vow to help 168 dogs receive search-and-rescue training in her lifetime—one for every Oklahoma City victim.  The dogs that were recruited and trained were mostly rejected shelter dogs, all of those that were too smart, driven and active to be adopted as family dogs.  In fact, mostly it was the most troublesome that--with a lot of patient training--became the best search dogs.

This is her story and it's fascinating from beginning to end. And not over yet!  She's like in her late 80s or early 90s and still kicking.