Tombstone Tuesday :: Rest in Peace

On the campus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College near Terre Haute, Indiana
Winter of 1981I didn't read the other side of the stones so don't know who is buried there.Copyright © 1981/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

Allensworth State Historical Park

After leaving Death Valley on March 27th I had decided to continue west to the coast of California, still seeking warmer weather. Along the way, I saw a sign for the Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park, which is located off of Interstate 5 northwest of Bakersfield, California. I went there not knowing what it was, only hoping that it had a campground.

The entrance welcomed me and I knew that I was in a very special place. Thankfully, it also had a campground!

According to a brochure that I picked up, the town of Allensworth was established in August 1908 by Colonel Allen Allensworth and four other settlers. It was the first settlement in California founded, financed and governed by African Americans. Their dream was to develop a thriving community based on the belief in programs that allowed blacks to help themselves create better lives. By 1910 Allensworth’s success was the focus of many national newspaper articles praising the town and its inhabitants.

Born into slavery and educated illegally, Allensworth ran off and joined the Army during the Civil War. He became one of the Army's first Black chaplains and at his retirement in 1906, he was the highest ranking African American commissioned officer in the United States military.

The townsite was purchased in 1974 by the California State Parks. Some of the homes and buildings have been restored while others are reconstructions.

The Stockett House and outbuildings.

The First Baptist Church.

Each building has a sign which provides a brief history.

The prefabricated house of Colonel Allensworth, delivered by railroad and assembled in 1911.

Additional photographs can be found on this page of the Allensworth Historical Park website. A biography of Colonel Allensworth can be found on Wikipedia.

Birthday Trip

We decided to take a driveup to our favorite place yesterday, the Jemez Mountains. It was to be part of my birthday present. We stopped at several places we frequently stop at. It had rained the day before and everything seemed fresh and clean with the smell of pine, juniper, and wet dirt.







We stopped at the Forest Service Office where this huge cottonwood tree is, and bought our yearly permit to cut firewood.









We were interested in seeing the area where the fire had gone through in June on Thompson Ridge where we had heard it had jumped the paved road that goes between Jemez Springs and Los Alamos, New Mexico. We saw these gates and signs at most of the places where you can get off the road. One sign said Closed to Public Use with a sign beside of it that read Please Close the Gate. I know the yellow sign had been there before but it looked funny.











We could see where the fire had burned most of the trees on the hilltops but left a lot of the small grassy areas. This pretty little ranch was lucky, as it came almost to their door.











You can see the burnt trees on this ridge.
















But we did see lots more wildflowers than we expected.

Snorkeling at Bahia Honda State Park

The older kids drove down to join us today, and we headed over to Bahia Honda to do some snorkeling. We had a big rain storm all day yesterday so it was a bit chilly and the water was too cloudy to see anything. We had fun anyways. We were there when the sun was beginning to set. As glorious as I think the beach is, I think being there at sunrise and sunset makes it a million times more glorious.



The kids waded out in the water first and I could tell by their expressions that the water was cold. Once they got out there, they had fun. Here they are laughing at who knows what. It doesn't even matter what, because when I see my kids laughing-all is right with my world.





I am always fascinated by the birds at the beach. It's hard not to want to snap a million pictures of them!







I'm more fascinated by this though. This is what makes my heart sing. I love these people!



They are laughing again. This time I know what they are laughing at though.



Dad is doing his duck walk into the water. It's the simple things in life that make our day. What can I say? We are easily entertained in this family.



Aren't they beautiful? Even if they are using their dad as a source of entertainment, they are really beautiful!



Life is good! Living it in Sunny Florida!

Reaching for Water

Spending lots of time on the roadbike has improved my speed and endurance more than I ever thought possible. Unfortunately, my bike handling skills are lagging so far behind that the gap is becoming almost comical.

What's causing some frustration at the moment, is that I can't drink water on the bike while in motion. Other cyclists will nonchalantly remove their water bottle from the cage without reducing speed, drink while continuing to cycle as if this were the most natural thing in the world, then replace the bottle in the cage and keep going as if it never happened. For me this maneuver is impossible to execute; I need to stop the bike in order to drink.

Prior to now this was never a problem. For the most part I cycled alone, and if I needed a drink I simply stopped the bike any time I felt like it. And the paceline rides I went on were only 20 miles, plus our stops at intersections were sufficient to sneak a quick guzzle. But now that I am going on longer rides and with groups of people, I am finding it more difficult to manage my water intake. I need to learn to drink without stopping the bike!

It's just so sad, because I've been practicing the water thing since summer, but progressing at a snail's pace. I can now grab the bottle with my left hand, but the bike jerks wildly when I attempt to yank it out of the cage. And if I do pull it out, what on earth will I do with it? Should I need to turn or stop the bike suddenly, will I be able to do it with one hand holding a bottle? Panic! Panic! Swerve! Panic! Yes, I am really that neurotic.

It doesn't help matters that I am extremely resistant to being taught. "No, really! If I could do it, so can you. Look, I'll teach you." Yeah... Suffice to say, I've never met a well-meaning cyclist whom I couldn't frustratewith my inability to learn technique. So, for now I'm stuck drinking water at stops and gazing in awe at those who can drink while cycling. Maybe some day I will read this post and laugh. Till then, I can only resume my snail's progress.

New Visitor Center Sneak Peek

Being a "Mount Rainier VIP" (did you realize that volunteers are labeled "VIPs" because they are "Volunteers In Parks?") allowed me to recently take a private tour of the new Jackson Visitor Center and remodeled Paradise Inn.

Both are still under construction (which has consumed the Paradise upper lot for the last 2 summers) but thankfully, that construction is drawing to a close this year. The Paradise Inn will re-open in May and the new Jackson Visitor Center is scheduled to re-open this October.

Exploring the bowels of a major construction site was a fascinating and educational experience. The first notable surprise was how many people were actually involved in the project, and the variety of different tasks they were all doing.

Project safety manager Derek Burr (my tour guide) says there are about 30-40 people working on the visitor center site on any given day. The various specialists include (but are not limited to!):

• Heavy equipment operators
• Carpenters
• Pipe fitters
• Sprinkler pipe fitters
• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Sheet rock workers
• Earth workers
• HVAC technicians
• Iron workers
• Sheet metal workers

Another interesting fact about the visitor center construction site is that it features a "Dance Floor." Not your Saturday Night Fever variety, but a giant platform -- nicknamed the Dance Floor -- that is suspended 24 feet in the air. Above that false floor is another 24 more feet of scaffolding that enables workers access to the fifty-foot high pitched ceilings.

Burr notes that working on the high ceiling was one of the most challenging elements of the project. The Dance Floor was created because they couldn't fit a "lift" inside the doorway of the building.

Another cool feature of this project -- designed to address the weather challenges of Paradise -- is a scaffolding that extends beyond the roof-line by 10 feet. "That way that people can work on the outside of the building from the inside, without being killed by snow falling off the roof,” says Burr.

There are even more people working at the Paradise Inn-- 40-50, says Burr. The goal is to rehabilitate the 86-year old building so that it retains its rustic feel but can better withstand the ravages of time and weather.

To make the building stronger while keeping the historic atmosphere, many of the original beams, planks, and logs in the walls and floors were taken out, reinforced with concrete and steel, and then put back. The Inn has seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. Earthquakes and large snow-loads have made the floor uneven, pushed on the walls and created gaps and even some trenches throughout the structure.

One such trench in the corner of the dining room was so big that Burr wondered if “they were gonna dig up some skeletons?” Seriously though, an NPS archaeologist did examine the area and thankfully, no skeletons were found (Remember... Redrum...).

One big challenge for this type of construction project is to keep employees working at Paradise. "It's not an easy job," says Burr. To those of us who visit Paradise for those gorgeous views and hikes, it might be hard to imagine what could be so difficult about working there. (It beats a cubicle, doesn't it?) But the commute is quite long and many of the workers reside in temporary housing. And then of course, there is always the threat of crashing your truck on a slick icy road that is threatened by avalanches, or the joy of digging it out of the snow daily.

Burr, however, has enjoyed the job and his surroundings. "Some people don't even like to look at the view. But I take as many pictures as I can." Photos by Burr, Agiewich and NPS.

More FOTR Rally

We are still enjoying the interaction with our fellow road warriors. We have plenty of planned activities to participate in and much down time to get to know each other better.





One of the families brought a big huge screen which made movies and Guitar Hero even more fun. We enjoyed watching a movie that the Evan's family made of all of our families. So far so good! The only thing I managed to snap pictures of was when we went to the beach to do relay races. And someone else graciously snapped these for me so I could play. I'm glad I at least remembered the camera here.





We also figured out how to get brownies today. It seems if you are simply willing to answer a few simple questions about what life on the road is about and let them look inside your house (RV), you can reap the benefits of a plate full of brownies. Who knew?!? And I don't mean brownies like Nathan made which didn't look so good, but really yummy brownies. Thank you to our future FOTR couple that gave us the treat. I won't identify you here unless you give me permission, but we really enjoyed our time with you and we have already polished off the brownies.



Oh, and if the relay race looks like fun, it is. However, finding it hard to catch your breath after your turn-not so fun. If you want to know how out of shape you are, running on the beach is a great test!