An Unforeseen Rocky Mountain Challenge

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find how far they can go.” (T.S. Eliot)

When Ruth and I originally booked a one week, studio Air B&B in the small town of Granby, Colorado a few months ago, we never foresaw that several, wind blown forest fires would be likely enveloping this area during the upcoming days of our visit. Neither did we anticipate that our housing facility would be designated as an evacuation lodging zone for those being displaced from their homes by the fires in surrounding regions. So upon arrival in Granby last Sunday, we seriously considered two reasonable travel options. Should we isolate ourselves indoors on these smoke infested days in our flat? Or could we bear with this health nuisance and complete our outdoor walking itinerary in nearby Grand Lake and the western reaches of Rocky Mountain National Park? Hearing weather alerts from the National Park Service of impending closures of the famed Trail Ridge Road that traverses the National Park further complicated our decision to sit tight or push on with our hiking activities as planned.

So with firm trust in our reputation as wandering warriors, we anticipated taking  the gamble of hiking around the west side of Rocky Mountain N.P. the next day, hoping that the thick spreading smoke in this area would dissipate. So as we drove along State Road 34 to Grand Lake on Monday morning, we sensed that this pleasing scenario would indeed happen. For the winds had clearly died down and the smoke trails had shifted away west from the park. We thankfully learned as well at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center of the park that the forty eight mile Trail Ridge Road would be open to vehicular traffic across the park. A full day at Rocky Mountain N.P. for us would indeed take place. Observe below the amazing autumn scenery of our serene meadow walk at Coyote Valley Trailhead along the Colorado River. Notice as well the climax of our challenging car drive along the western side of Trail Ridge Road with a more strenuous hike in the highest elevation of the park at Alpine Visitor Center.

Hoping for similar weather on Tuesday, we unfortunately observed in Granby dense swarms of smoke clearly hovering north of us across the Grand Lake region. So with our eyes and throat now burning, spending another long day inside Rocky Mountain N.P. would thus not take place. You can thus observe photo highlights below of our Plan B option of a less challenging day on Tuesday containing a casual tour of Grand Lake shoreline, the downtown proper, and a short hike to Adams Waterfall. So should we stay the remainder of our planned week in Granby or relocate to another region of cleaner air to continue on our road trip? Only time will tell.

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Steamboat Stillness Calling

“ The answers you seek never come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still.” (Leon Brown)

Every once in awhile in my mentally taxing urban life in South Florida, I daydream of a lone wolf howling atop a snowy mountain in the utter stillness of wild mountainous nature. That event means its time for Ruth and us to plan visiting Steamboat Springs, Colorado again for a heavy dose of Rocky Mountain solitude. So it would become no surprise that we would spend a well needed two weeks of our current road trip “lying low” in Steamboat in Mid October to savor the simple pleasures of autumn’s silent seasonal glories.

Consider then that I am the kind of person who struggles to sustain his minute by minute concentration on everyday activities like reading, writing, and listening. Yet I had no problem allotting a sizable amount of time during our present Steamboat visit to focus my extended attention out my motel bedroom window at wild nature’s changing presence. At such times I fixated with imaginative pleasure at such details as a colorful mass of falling leaves, the subtle shading of sun/cloud colors, or first falling, mountaintop snowfall. Adventuring out of town to Pearl Lake and Stagecoach State Parks, I felt my rhythmic breaths of the chilly Colorado air suddenly slow in yogic like meditation as I stood in stoic silence for several minutes amid the nearby presence of two mountainside lakes.

Yes, I am truly hooked on living the illusion of Steamboat stillness reminiscent perhaps of a timeless Monet painting. For while Steamboat functions clearly as a tourist town with an abundance of local eateries, western shops and trendy outdoor activities, I prefer the simple therapeutic “high” of doing nothing here but being sensory- alive. So take a close look at each of the following photographs from our latest Steamboat stopover. You might imagine such activity stillness as an integral part of your own life story.

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Finding German In Hermann

“To be far from the madding crowd is to be mad indeed.” (A.E. Coppard)

One of the most frustrating aspects of the lingering Corona problem for so many global minded wanderers as we are today manifests in the long term impact of international travel restrictions being enforced now and likely in the unforeseeable future. So Ruth and I in particular realize that if we are unable to soon visit the historic “old town” centers of cities like Vienna, Prague, and Munich… in person, then we should concentrate on finding places that genuinely resemble them as part of our current road trip travels.

So during week two of our present adventure, we booked a two night stopover at the Vinchester Inn in the historic town of Hermann, Missouri. Known for it’s rich German heritage, our first impression of Hermann,  founded by German immigrants in 1836 seemed to confirm the authentic atmosphere of “Little Germany” we so desired. For as we ambled from our hotel the next morning along Schiller Street toward the Missouri River, we gazed wondrously at such quaint brick structures as Chalet Luzern, Hermann House Gasthaus ,Weinkeller Hermannhof, and the Inn at Hermannhof along our way. Enjoying tasty brat and sausage cuisine at Hermann Wurst House afterward would suitably fill our desired German agenda as well. After lunch, our walking tour of Hermann’s Germanic influence would continue along the south bank of the Missouri river which served as a historic transportation hub for Hermann’s citizenry so successfully in the past. For German settlers once made Hermann one of the largest wine producing markets in the world during the steamboat/railroad era of the late 19th century. 

So how might I assess our one day tour of Hermann now? Overall, I sensed that merely spotting the facades of Germanic looking building there seemed somewhat dull. For with the social isolation of the Corona pandemic deepening, the lack of opportunity here of enjoying diverse human contact as we typically encounter in the big cities of Europe certainly dampened our tourist interest today. So the festive atmosphere of German music, costume, or cookery amid “Oktoberfest” or a beer hall encounter will have to wait for a real visit to Bavaria hopefully in autumn, 2021. Enjoy the following photo display.

Note: For those of you who wish to find other small towns to visit in America of strong European resemblance, click on the website below sent to me recently by my blogger friend Sherry.

https://lbfromlv.wordpress.com/2020/08/14/ten-american-towns-that-feel-like-europe-by-jennifer-nalewicki-smithsonianmag-com-august-11-2020/

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Animal Rescue Therapy Appreciated

“Studying cows, pigs, and chickens can help an actor develop his character. There are a lot of things I learned from animals. One was that they couldn’t hiss or boo me.” (James Dean)

One of the most useful online sources I employ for planning our independent travel itineraries has been “Atlas Obscura.” Each weekday, I check their daily update online to read captivating stories about unique places to visit around the world. A recent entry describing an animal rescue farm titled “Where Pigs Fly”, thus caught my attention as we followed our current road trip itinerary through the backwoods of Central Missouri. Deciding that the one hour diversion from our currently route would be worth our time, we then decided to book a mid morning appointment time to this farm for the next day. Billed as the world’s largest pig museum in the country, in fact these intriguing grounds thrilled us with so much more. For beyond the front gate of the farm lay a fascinating menagerie of over 500 rescued animals including horses, donkeys, pigs, hogs, sheep, goats, fowl, dogs, cats, llamas, emus, and a large camel.

During the course of our two hour farm visit to “Where Pigs Fly Farm”, several memorable encounters in close interaction with these animals vividly come to mind.

(1) A blind donkey stubbornly refused to move out of our way and blocked the main road to the facility. How amusing that this mule seemed utterly afraid of our moving vehicle at the time.

(2) A playful St. Bernard dog ran up to me as I left the car and curiously sniffed at my shoes. He then laid down on his back and proceeded to whine as I rubbed its belly.

(3) A hungry emu stalked me as I made my way to the ticket office and aggressively pecked at a grain block that I was holding in my hand. Yet he allowed to me to pet  him while he chewed each morsel.

(4) A lazy hog oinked in sedentary contentment as I plunged my fingers into its filthy stomach.

(5) A billy goat found my shirt more appetizing to munch on than the crackers I held in my hand.

(6) A white cockatoo quietly perched on the door of his open cage allowed me to gently stroke his feathers as he flashed me a loving eye.

The previous examples show  that I experienced a definite sensory “high” from interacting in close proximity with these animals at “Where Pigs Fly” Farm. For I undoubtedly had savored such affectionate contact with farm animals to counteract my emotional blues of social isolation that persists for me in these pandemic times. So if these rescued animals can project such love and kindness in spite of their abandonment, abuse, or physical handicaps, why can’t humans experiencing chronic Corona stress today do the same? Enjoy the photographs below.

https://www.wherepigsflyfarm.com/index.html

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pigs-aloft-museum

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Equality Dream Attained

“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.” (Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Tribe)

Getting a good education meant everything to fifteen year old Terrence as he looked forward to excelling in his class work during his upcoming junior year of high school. After all, he had been selected by a special school committee from a pool of academically elite high school applicants to become one of nine African American students to first break the color barrier of segregation to attend an all white, U.S.  public school. Terrence knew that both of his hard working parents always supported his decision to transfer to this new school. But they also cautioned him about angry white protesters who might block his entrance to the school. After all, the tragic legacy of antebellum slavery and its racist overtones had never vanished in this ‘’Old South’’ region..

So as Terrance and these eight other courageous teenagers decided to move forward in their lives and attend classes there each weekday amid such racial tensions, they would develop a keen eye for whom to trust. They also learned to never stray far from those army men and city police who who seemed to be roaming everywhere around school those days. It thus seemed apparent  to each of them that it was this militia’s job to protect all students, black and white, from harm when needed. So they embraced this joyous opportunity for them to compete with white students on equal terms and excel throughout  the entire school year. 

Terrance, in particular, also resolved to find places on campus where he could be most safe throughout the course of each school day. At first, he assumed that each of his classrooms would provide a secure place of refuge for him. Yet he soon learned that many of his teachers and fellow classmates seemed to hate him and often berated him regularly about why he chose to stay as a student at this school. However, Terrence noticed that in Math class, his stern looking  teacher did not outwardly show dislike of him and the classroom atmosphere seemed relatively calm. He also noticed that she would would actually stick up for him when other students picked on him and and often called upon him regularly to answer challenging questions about assignments in class.

Clearly, Terrence had found a safe place in his Math classroom to maximize his chances for learning success every day. Yet he would now need to find other strategies to survive the school year in the face of such openly racist circumstances. Thus he would learn that “keeping his cool” to avoid physical retaliation  when white students bullied him worked best. He would also spend more study time alone in the library when forced to be isolated from the eight other African American students who attended the school. He would in addition avoid drawing attention to himself after school by exiting the campus quietly each day through a basement garage. So as Terrence successfully completed this crisis ridden junior year of high school, the groundwork had been set to mold a future scholar whose will to succeed could never be denied. What other challenging deeds could be mastered in his future of endless opportunity?

Understand then my efforts to provide an authentic sense of Southern racism’s wrath in the above story of Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the of the nine student members of the so – called “Little Rock Nine.” For during those tumultuous times of September 1957, they would put their lives at risk on several occasions to successfully enroll as African American students at all white, Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. Racial integration of U.S. public schools as required by the 1954 legal outcome of Supreme Court Case – “Brown vs. Board of Education” had finally been achieved. Terrence would go on to earn his Ph.D. in Psychology from Southern University. He would also enjoy a long career as a distinguished professor, gifted book writer, and coveted speaker around the nation.

For a closer look at the historic events surrounding the “Little Rock Nine”, take a look at our road trip visit to Central High School/Visitor Center in these photographs below.

Source: https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/60-years-after-little-rock-a-qa-with-terrence-roberts

 

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Southern Antebellum Awakening

“Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a southerner apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance.“(Jefferson Davis)

Let’s face it We live today in racially turbulent times again as the “Black Lives Matter” crisis escalates around our country over police mistreatment of African Americans. Such current cries of racism thus arouses my curiosity to examine how the practice of slavery perpetuated on southern plantations during antebellum times leading to the Civil War. So it became important for me to allot a portion of our current road trip itinerary in October to take a serious look at the “Deep South” legacy of slaveholding, “White Supremacy” along the Mississippi River region of our country. Thus we would turn north from Interstate Highway 10 along the Louisiana delta and begin a leisurely drive along Highway 61 and less traveled roads along the river through Natchez, Vicksburg, and Port Gibson, Mississippi.

Our southern antebellum tour would thus begin with a morning look at the Great River Road Museum and Interpretive Center located along the east bank of the Mississippi River in Darrow, Louisiana. Some perplexing questions then ran through my mind as I observed the extensive collection of artifacts there depicting past southern plantation life along the river here. Why did running the business of a plantation require slaves at that time? How much historic evidence presented here might be denied over the “Black Lives Matter” backlash to remove Confederate state monuments and statues? Were southern slaves really mistreated as badly as it seemed? Where are some surviving plantations that I can I actually tour today? So judge for yourself in the following photograph display. Was the $20.00 museum admission price worth my time?

Our three hour museum tour included visits to the historic building complex, a restored plantation/garden, and a scenic boardwalk to the Mississippi River.


 This enticing wall mural depicting antebellum times on the river caught my eye as we entered the museum.

                                                                                                                                                              

From New Orleans to Baton Rouge, hundreds of southern plantations lined both sides of the river during antebellum times. 

The historic legacies of several, famous plantations caught my attention through these galleries.

I learned that the slavery practice flourished as millionaire white planters strove to profit economically in this cotton producing region.

Gazing intently at this authentic photo of working plantation, I observed that housing built for working slaves seemed relatively humane.

Some slaves as depicted in these museum pictures seemed relatively well adapted to the slavery practice.


While others seemed driven by their owners to perpetuate their inferior lot.

There appeared to be strong sentiment in this region to denounce the evils of slavery.

Yet ultimately the “Confederacy elected to defend the maintenance of slavery by fighting a Civil War.

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A Sense Of “Old Tallahassee”

“ A place can fall victim to amnesia. It can lose he memory of what it was and thereby lose touch with what it is, what it wants to be.”(Sidney Hyman)

Tallahassee functions today as the capital city of Florida, home of two, major universities and the state’s 5th most populated city. Yet it thrives today in spite of being geographically isolated from other population centers in Florida. So this thought often crossed my mind on our road trip beginning  yesterday as we took an “off the beaten track” drive along U.S. Highway 27 in North Florida through “sleepy” southern towns of Spanish moss profusion. Yet upon entering the urban environs of Tallahassee, our upcoming visit would seem oddly out of “Old South” character.

I thus became curious to find out more about Tallahassee’s legacy of fame amidst such rural isolation. So we took a few hours time for a morning visit to the Tallahassee Museum obscurely located a few miles southwest of the city. Walking amid an early 19th century community of authentically restored buildings at this “living history” site, for the first time I envisioned how an “Old South”,  Tallahassee impression now seemed real to me. For throughout its history in the past two centuries, I had then learned that Tallahassee had once served as a Native American settlement, cotton producing giant , slave holding hub and seasonal hunting ground. So I would not be be fooled by the modern look of the massive State Capitol complex prominently situated atop a steep hill in downtown or the sprawling campus of nearby Florida State University. For from a deeper historic perspective, “Old Tallahassee” would be a most accurate description of this community.

Beyond observing such evidence of how human life once thrived as “Old Tallahassee” culture, strong  evidence of the impact of environmental change  in this region would be revealed as we leisurely moved forward along an elevated boardwalk named the “Old Florida” Trail. For before waves of human settlement inhabited this land, the “Greater Tallahassee” once stood as a thriving ecosystem of densely forested swampland and nutrient rich lakes teeming with wildlife and aquatic species. How much of this pristine natural beauty would be lost I pondered in Tallahassee’s inevitable rise to city status? Would its busy commuters going to and from work each day downtown take the time to even care to know? With Tallahassee’s past vs. present timeline in mind, I present the following photographs.

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Road-Tripping Forward From Corona

“ Each of us must confront our own fears and must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.” (Judy Blume).

It would be easy to“let my guard down” and say that my worst fears of the Corona Virus have ended. After all, I can again stroll the beach, eat at my favorite cafes, or find a friend to accompany me to a live Miami Dolphin game. Yet the beginning of Phase 2 recovery from the pandemic, however, does not mean life for me has returned to normal. For I continue to face seemingly minute to minute decisions about when and where to wear my mask, sanitize my hands, and social distance from strangers in congested South Florida. So being a person who likes to get “out and about”, my 2018 Honda CRV therefore now serves as the most natural place to feel safest now from such continuing airborne health concerns.

Other thoughts are going through our minds as Ruth and I move forward to resume our road trip adventures this weekend. For a quick glance at the photos at the end of this blog provides an emotional calling for both of us to experience autumn’s natural beauty again amid the the wide open spaces of Colorado. But don’t get me wrong as I am not taking our decision to plan such a long distance road trip now lightly.

Consider then that I’ve learned from our March road trip to steer clear of those regions in our country that remain potential “hot spots”for Corona spread activity. Thus, such destinations as New Orleans, Houston, and Denver seem too risky to visit at this particular time. We must  pay vigorous attention as well  to likely encounters with freezing road conditions, smoke filled air, and late season hurricane activity. So take a look at our proposed itinerary in the cover photo above. Feel free to provide comments to me about our projected loop route to and from home.

So what might interest you to read my upcoming U.S. travel blogs in October and early November other than autumn’s natural beauty? Ten items below immediately come to mind.

1) Capture the authentic antebellum feel of Route 61 adjacent to the east side of the Mississippi River.
(2) Be curious about some lesser known museums of local historic interest in the Deep South region.
(3) Understand some longstanding cultural traditions of German dominant communities in small Midwest towns.
(4) Observe some notable hiking trails or snow-shoe paths in the state parks of Colorado.
(5) Enjoy the live music sound of country rock in Texas.
(6) Feel the fall excitement of game day fever in a southern, college football town.
(7) Tour the hallowed grounds of a famous Civil War battlefield site.
(8) Gain a sense of the political pulse of small town America for the upcoming Presidential election.
(9) Learn some interesting facts about birdwatching in the wild nature of the Rocky Mountain region.
(10) Uplift your with human spirit with some timely words from one of my current novel readings.

See you on the road soon. Stay well. USFMAN

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Teaching History In Proper Perspective

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” (George Orwell)

 

Ms. Gloria, as a recently hired teacher at Lovelawn High School savored her first opportunity to make American History truthful and relevant to the struggling lives of her South Side Chicago students. So when she got the message at the beginning of the school year from the school principal that she needed to introduce a new Social Studies teaching curriculum for her 11th grade classes, understandably she became quite concerned. For this idealistic instructor would now be required to follow an executive order from the President of the United States that strict adherence to his “Make America Great Again” message should now be the primary emphasis of teaching pedagogy for all s social studies teachers in U.S. primary and secondary schools As a result, she would be advised to modify her yearly curriculum to “spin” more positive views of past American conflicts of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion.

So Ms. Gloria wondered at first about how to modify her lesson plans accordingly. But how could she teach her upcoming Civil War unit without including the damaging effects of the southern slave culture in 1861-1865? Or when it became time to present American involvement in other controversial events of interest, what sense would it have made to downplay the human tragedies experienced at the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Hiroshima nuclear bomb blast or the Vietnam Mai Lai massacre?

In addition, Ms. Gloria fearfully pondered the prospect that such radical alterations to her history curriculum would most likely lead to classroom management chaos in the classroom. What could she do to pacify those students who wanted her to present relevant material about African slavery as a result of the “Black Lives Matter” protests in their neighborhoods? How might they react when their music videos and social media postings could now be censored in the classroom? To what extent as well could she ignore teaching alleged white racist incidents of the past when the President’s angry personality escalated such interpersonal tensions daily? How physically and emotionally capable would she be to stop multiracial melees inside her classroom when she sold out her curriculum” to the “white establishment” world?

So as the year progressed, Ms. Gloria would find great difficulty in compromising her teaching methods for the sake of this false masquerade of Presidential propaganda. It would therefore be no surprise that she would begin receiving daily reminders on the intercom from her principal to shape up and teach American History more as ordered in the “Great America” way. So as her self-respect as a teacher thus gradually began to wane, she would begin thinking of resignation in order to find a more positive line of work.

One spring day as afternoon classes ended, a shooting took place on school grounds. Ms. Gloria soon heard that one of her best students, Ramon, had been been seriously injured by a stray bullet after mistakingly walking into the crossfire of a white vs. black gang fight. As her anger about this racially fueled incident grew, while Ramon was fighting for his life in a local hospital, Ms. Gloria would now make a logical decision to move forward in pursuing a career change in the immediate future. For she would realize the futility of continuing to teach in an educational system that “sugarcoated” past events in history to falsely depict life as easier than it really was.

Ms. Gloria’s resignation from teaching at the end of the school year consequently could only be expected. Her passion for providing relevant and truthful solutions to her students lives as a history teacher would now benefit her greatly as she worked “double time” on her own to develop a popular podcast titled “Gloria’s Good Old Glory”. As the marketing appeal of her podcast audience exploded within a year, she would follow this accomplishment with a successful, “grass roots” run for State Representative in the U.S. Congress. Living her life now without past regret, Gloria’s luck had finally improved in her own way.

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