Winter Van Trip

   Beth and I returned from our journey south a couple weeks ago, and the highlight of the sightseeing was Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico and Great Sand Dunes National park in southern Colorado. I had been touring around the south east for a month before meeting Beth in Austin, after which we continued west. We were in this campground in New Mexico( Bottomless Lake State Park) on March 12th when the ranger came around and notified everyone that all state parks in N. M. were closing because of the corona virus. That altered our plans to meander so we headed north to Colorado and eventually had to head straight home when all parks and most businesses started closing. For anyone who has not seen the western landscape, it is thousands of miles of flat, open, dry scrub terrain filled with massive ranches in an even more massive wasteland. To some states credit, energy producers have utilized the open land for windmills and solar power farms, and Texas was notable for having solar, wind and oil/gas production side by side. Texas also has the best roads in the nation, although not the best signage; not everyone uses GPS so clear road signs would have been appreciated. Louisiana has the worst roads, a few of which, although macadam, were so rough that I refused to take the van on them lest I shake loose every bolt on the chassis. I had to have the front wheel bearings replaced in Oklahoma, but found an honest shop and mechanic in Hugo, Oklahoma who had me back on the road in less than 24 hours. Thanks Superior Wheel and Tire...
        To alleviate the cramped quarters Beth and I stayed in a motel a few times, but otherwise utilized campgrounds and Walmarts for sleeping. We toured Waco, TX and the Magnolia Silos soon after meeting up, and residents there told us that Chip and Joanna Gaines are as down to earth as their TV show indicates; the tourism that Fixer Upper has generated continues to revitalize the town. On reflection, we both marvel over this extremely diverse nation, and sometimes it is hard to remember that we are all one people, so varied are the cultures and landscapes. It truly is Americas genius that we share the same overriding Constitutional principles. Beth and I have many more places to visit-with the van or otherwise- such as Yellowstone, Glacier, and Rocky Mt National Parks, plus the hundreds of lesser known but just as remarkable places we seem to stumble upon each time we travel.

Loleta Recreation Site

   I walked here for the first time a few days before Christmas... It is another one of the CCC projects done in the 1930's to give people work. This one near Marienville features a dam and some other buildings with the marvelous stone and woodwork common to most of these projects. There is also a campground and a few hiking trails, although this particular one was designed mostly for day use and swimming. The footprints are where coyotes were sniffing and scratching the ground for reasons unknown to me; there were several of these print clusters in this area but no evidence of a kill or other food.

If You Want Genuine Facts

 Visit this website:                      https://ourworldindata.org

                    or read Stephen Pinkers book "Enlightenment"



 It will help cut through the lies and distortions, deliberate and otherwise, from the government and media and Facebook. etc etc  Science and Truth do matter, and both have been very beneficial in improving the state of humanity over the past few centuries. Contrary to popular belief, people today have it VERY good compared to our ancestors in almost every nation and location..We are healthier, freer, safer, richer, longer lived and better off in almost any way you can name... Chronic cynics and pessimists are misinformed. Of course, problems remain in the world in many places, but we have to appreciate our good fortune as well. As for the future, with climate change and overpopulation and the potential for world war or pandemics...time will tell.

Hunting Season

   I spent a couple hours driving around the forest today looking at the hunters as they finish up black bear and small game season and prepare for the deer season that starts tomorrow in Pennsylvania. In the coming weeks the local newspaper will have pictures of  hunters holding the carcasses, so it is a  poular activity for many people in Warren County and a rite of passage for their children. This is an area of the country that Clinton labeled the home of "deplorables" and which Obama characterized as "clinging to their bibles and guns" -both descriptions that have a measure of truth but which are so stereotypical that it is no wonder the people here felt offended to the point of voting for Trump. The voter registration locally is 2 to 1 Republican, and no amount of discussion will get the latter to understand the attitudes of the East coast any more than most people in that part of the country understand pictures of dead deer in a newspaper article.
   I know a married couple here who changed churches ( Episcopalian to Catholic ) because the former was going to allow female pastors and homosexuals to join the church. The husband  commented that "women working outside the house contributed to the downfall of society." A friend of this couple subscribed to the conspiracy theories that Michelle Obama was a man and that Hillary Clinton had a sex trafficking ring. Hard to have an intelligent conversation with such people, but I assure you that they do exist and are totally serious about their views. Counterarguments such as Catholic priests were abusing children- a much more serious truth than being female or homosexual-  do not seem to matter to such people. That is, No amount of facts or logic will dissuade them from their preferred attitude. Because I have lived in both places and have heard both sides, I generally find some attitudes around here despicable and not well reasoned, but I also know that these people are not evil monsters; they simply have conservative, often Christian based views that are hypocritical if examined too closely-which often they are not.
    The hunters who are gathering tonight in the many small camps that dot the forest will drink and talk in anticipation of the hunt, and for many of them that will be the best part of the weekend. They will mock the hypocrisy of anti- hunting critics who eat meat, and cherish the freezer of venison they obtain if they are successful. It really is different worlds within one country, but the humanity is the same. Everyone laughs and cries and gets sick and has children and argues politics; we simply experience it in different places....But there is no doubt that there are irreconcilable differences, such as the violent racism supported by some people, that must be suppressed by strict laws if our democratic society is to survive. I truly believe that some form of national service after high school-a year or two where people from across the nation got together to do work for the public good-would go a long way to healing our divisions.

Essential Reading

  This is another one of those rare books by one of the more lucid and observant writers that I know of. He reveals and explains more about what is going on at the border/Mexico in the first 50 pages than I have heard in all the arguing over the past two years. There is so much propaganda and incomplete information in the mainstream media-and from Google algorithms on Both sides- that it is disgraceful that public opinion and policy are derived from so much... ignorant crap.

Bigots

 I saw this article in the paper a couple months ago and was saving it until after the elections to see how many people in the town of Marysville, Michigan voted for the bigot; ...her name was left on the ballot despite her having withdrawn from the race. First, here is some background info on Marysville that I obtained from it's website; it seems to be a typical small Northern/Midwestern American town.


"In 2017, Marysville, MI had a population of 9.76k people with a median age of 43.6 and a median household income of $61,439... Between 2016 and 2017 the population of Marysville, MI declined from 9,775 to 9,760, a -0.153% decrease and its median household income grew from $60,349 to $61,439, a 1.81% increase.
The population of Marysville, MI is 92.1% White, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, and 1.12% Two or More Races. N/A% of the people in Marysville, MI speak a non-English language, and 99.1% are U.S. citizens.
The median property value in Marysville, MI is $123,200, and the homeownership rate is 78%. Most people in Marysville, MI commute drives alone, and the average commute time is 23.7 minutes. The average car ownership in Marysville, MI is 2 cars per household."

               ... About 60.5% of the population in Marysville is of voting age and from what I can tell about 3,200 people of them voted in the city council election. Of those, 180 people voted for Mrs. Cramer which is about 5.7%% of the voting public. Some of them may have been joking or chose her for another reason, but it's safe to assume that many of them share her views.  It is interesting but not surprising that religion influences Mrs Cramers views, and unfortunately religion is a primary source of intolerance all over the world. One would think that 67 years of living would have afforded her ample time to acquire wisdom, but I have found that crappy old people were often crappy young people; the 5.7% she represents cause a disproportionate amount of misery for the other 94.3%.  No amount of science or logic will persuade them of the unity and equality of all people.

Snow/Politics/Camping

     Snow has accumulated on the grass this afternoon,( eventually accumulating several more inches the next day ) the first snow of the season. It seems as though climate change has initiated this sudden change of seasons whereby arctic air infiltrates south in a sudden rush then retreats somewhat, and I expect December to be warmer than November if my past observations/perceptions are correct. North America generally has been the anomaly regarding global warming, ( cooler than most of the planet ) which perhaps explains the skepticism among  Americans who do not base their arguments on global scientific data.
     The polarization in American politics is the result of deliberate generalizations and narrow definitions of particular ideas by particular people who then apply them to whole populations. As always, those with the loudest voices-on either side- dominate the discussion regardless of the veracity of their perspective. Agendas-rather than truth-is the motive.The inability-or unwillingness-of people to see the larger picture and compromise for the good of humanity, seems to be a biological fallibility of human consciousness dooming us to eternal conflict.

      Meanwhile, Beth and I have been enjoying the van to escape-or at least balance-the madness of our species with the healing power of nature.