Cheerleaders and Basketball Folly

Last Saturday night, Kellie and the rest of the BDHS Varsity Cheerleaders played in a basketball game against the female faculty team. This was supposed to be the girls varsity versus the teachers, but for some reason the cheerleaders were involved as well. Bear in mind that only the rising senior cheerleaders were involved, but those 10 girls comprise half the team.

Let's just say that the cheerleaders and the girls basketball team are cut from different cloth. The girls basketball team wore their varsity uniform. The cheerleaders were dressed somewhat differently. They had the jersey, but all 10 of them augmented the uniform with a pink T-Shirt under the jersey, knee-high socks with Tiger paws on them, and ribbons in their hair.

This is not meant to belittle them in any way, but after the first couple of minutes, it was obvious that the cheerleader's combined athletic skills are based in areas not advantageous to the game of roundball. It did, however, provide the crowd with a tremendous amount of entertainment. After much abuse and no pity whatsoever from the faculty team, the cheerleaders put all 10 girls on the floor and a Benny Hill episode broke out. This truly had to be seen to be enjoyed. I can thank the cheerleaders for a great laugh and a greater Saturday night.

I love my daughter to death, but a basketball scholarship is not in her future.

One key thing that I forgot was the cheerleader pyramid defense scheme. Under this daring plan, the cheer team set up a human pyramid under the goal, which you might expect provided a great defense. It's fairly easy to block shots when you are using the rim to balance yourself.

2010 Junior Prom

Kellie is currently enjoying her Junior Prom in Fairfax, VA, but I did manage to capture the moment digitally before she left for the evening. Interested parties are invited to check my web album for the 2010 Junior Prom.

The Google Earth Picture is live

The picture I submitted to Google Earth is live! To see it, do the following:

1. Start Google Earth
2. Search for 'Chisos Mountain Lodge'
3. Select the search result labeled 'A - Chisos Mountain Lodge'
4. After it zooms in, look at the lodge and select the photo icon that is in the Southeast corner behind the lodge.
5. The picture is titled 'Mountain Lion - Chisos Mountains Basin'
6. My picture is credited to 'locarakko'

Comments are now allowed

To make things easier around here, I have enabled open comments once again. Previously, you had to become a member of the blog to comment, but now it's wide open. Fire away.

I know a little more about the Bret Michaels incident that you may think

If you read People magazine, then you know all about Bret Michaels and his recent medical problems. If you don't know and remain interested, just Google it. Michaels recently suffered from a subarachnoid hemorrhage and had a hard time of it. On the way home from work tonight, someone on the radio said that only 10-20% of those inflicted make a full recovery. That number struck me as alarmingly low for a simple reason. I am a survivor of the same hemorrhage (in 2005) and by all accounts I am one of the lucky ones.

I have already wrote about the incident here and here, so I won't rehash old news.

Google Earth Approval

I have been playing with Google Earth of late, primarily to see how well they have rendered the Chisos Mountain Basin. Verdict: Extraordinarily well. If you zoom in on the basin, you can get a terrain-based view as well as an overhead view. Once you have zoomed in far enough, you can see little icons for photos. After I had processed all of my photos, I submitted one of my mountain lion photos to be included in Google Earth and I am proud to report that it has been selected for inclusion in the Google Earth database. It has been tagged for the next data transfer, but I don't know when that will be. When it's live, I'll let everybody know.

BDHS 2010-2011 Cheerleading Squad has been selected

Tryouts are complete and Kellie will be a varsity cheerleader for her senior year. You go girl!

Big Bend Photo Album

I processed all my Big Bend photos tonight and put the keepers into a web album. Take a look. Comments are welcome.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 11

Route:	Biloxi, MS -to- Pembroke, NC
Miles Today:	723
Total Miles:	3,944

Bike trip is over. Pulled 723 miles today, a personal best. We did the five state tour as we traveled through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The rain storm that forced us to stop in Biloxi last night passed through. We caught up with the storm in Georgia and the remainder of the day was spent in a downpour. At least three hours of the ride was in a torrential downpour with very limited visibility, but once you are out in it, you might as well keep going.

This trip was full of personal firsts:

• First single mileage over 700 miles
• First time riding a bike with Cruise Control
• First time visiting several states (Alabama, Mississippi, New Orleans)
• First time riding in the rain for over 300 miles
• First time in Big Bend National Park
• First time I have ever seen a wild mountain lion
• First time I have seen a wild Javelina
  

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 10

Route:	Schulenburg, TX -to- Biloxi, MS
Miles Today:	500
Total Miles:	3,221

Today was a brutal day in the saddle. Not as many miles as we set out to do, but that just wasn't going to happen today. We ran into major traffic in Houston, TX and lost more than an hour of road time. Another issue in Baton Rouge left us stopped atop the bridge over the Mississippi and that wasn't fun. The wind was blowing and the pavement was slick enough for James to spin his rear tire on the bridge. We probably lost another hour due to traffic and road work. When we crossed into Mississippi, we did not see dry pavement for over an hour before lightning forced us to stop in Biloxi. We were trying to run to Mobile, but fell about 65 miles short. We will take off early tomorrow and try to run all the way to Pembroke.

The most interesting views were the 10-mile wide swamps and Lake Bigeux, which resembled a flooded forest with trees growing right out of the water.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 9

Route:	Big Bend National Park -to- Schulenburg, TX
Miles Today:	546
Total Miles:	2,721

This was day one of the long haul back home. I have about 1800 miles to cover in three days, but we fell somewhat short of the planned 600 miles today. A slow ride out of the park, rain, and traffic in San Antonio were the reason for the 54 mile shortfall. Tomorrow should be smoother running if we can get through Houston will little problem.

Most of the run today was made on I-10 and I can describe today's weather in west Texas with one word: Windy. We were blown around for 400 miles and I can still hear the wind rushing over my helmet. The only good thing to say about the weather was that it was not cold.

The day started off well and we made for Marathon, TX for breakfast. We stopped at the same place we had lunch last Sunday; Johnny B's. Once again, the food was very good and I can safely recommend this place to anyone passing through Marathon.

We encountered the reverse change of terrain that we encountered when traveling west, only this time, the landscape changed from desert to relatively lush green. It was more than a little strange to leave the desert where there were deer walking around in the parking lot and in the same day be in bumper-to-bumper traffic in San Antonio. Texas is truly a diverse and large state.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 8

Route:	Big Bend National Park
Miles Today:	68
Total Miles:	2,175

Today was our last full day in the park, and in the morning the group splits in two. Dad, James and I will be headed back to Pembroke in the morning. We went out to Rio Grande Village for another overlook of the river, but nothing much to report there. The only thing of note was a small display of wire form scorpions that appear to have been put there by Mexicans which were for sale. A jar was placed next to the merchandise and payment was made on the honor system. It seems that the Mexicans cross the river at night and grab the cash. Remember that the river at this point is no more than 20 feet wide and very easy to wade across.

The mountain lion pictures proved to another popular draw up here as Dad showed them to another group of people.

We also got a fellow lodge visitor to snap a group photo of everybody before we leave the park in the morning.


We leave at 8AM tomorrow and began the ride back east.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 7

Route:	Big Bend National Park
Miles Today:	205
Total Miles:	2,107

I'll get to what proved to be an interesting ride today, but let's address the big news first. At 6:00PM, as all of us were headed to the restaurant for dinner, we saw a crowd of people standing behind the cabins. Several were pointing and clicking away on their cameras. When we asked what was going on we were told that a Mountain Lion had cornered two deer. I ran back to the room and grabbed my Nikon and managed to squeeze off a few shots of my own. Here are two images from my camera.



It's very hard to tell from the images, but this animal was large. Large and deadly quiet as he moved down to the deer. Eventually, the deer scrambled into the road and took off. He did not follow, perhaps because we were there, and he eventually wandered off to parts unknown. I even managed to take a shot of the mountain lion snacks before they decided to depart.


James talked with a park employee and learned that our new friend is named 'George' and hangs around the cabins frequently. This little fact puts our 5 hike into the woods in a slightly different light.

We started off the day's ride with a familiar routine. Get up, saddle up, and ride for 30-60 minutes for breakfast. The only morning event of note was that Dad encountered a javelina standing in the road. You have to be careful as they cannot see very well and are somewhat unpredictable as you bear down on them. No problems with that this time. Today brought us to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called the Roadrunner Deli.


Before you think I am trying to make fun of this restaurant, you should know that the food was excellent. Kudos to the cook. The restaurant was part of the famous Study Butte mall. The remainder of the mall can be seen below:


After eating, we took off for the Rio Grande riverside ride through Big Bend Ranch State Park to Presidio, TX. We cut the ride off before Presidio on the advice of a deli patron and headed back to Terlingua, TX.

All of the rain in the area has the flowers blooming and each stop presented opportunities to photograph the local blooms. A few samples follow:


Here is a shot of Dad and James standing in the parking lot of the Big Bend Ranch State Park:


The road along the Rio Grande was a true delight to ride. We stopped several times for pictures, and I have included one here. Please note that you are looking at the US/Mexico border. USA to the left, Mexico to the right.


Towards the end of the overlook drive, we stopped near the river and yes, I jumped in, or at least my feet did.


While I was standing in the Rio Grande, I felt the timeless movement of water that has flowed from Colorado to the Gulf for millenia. Time only knows the number of natives that have fished, canoed, and swan in its waters since the dawn of man. I was so close to Mexico that I was sure that the Border Patrol was going to start barking at me through a megaphone. This is as close to Mexico as I will ever come (25 ft).

Before we returned to the lodge, we took a detour to Castolon visitor center. The day had become very hot and as you can see below, the group stopped for a much-needed hydration break.


Of course, all day long, we were treated to the sensational Big Bend landscape:

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 6

No riding today, but I did take the opportunity to take a long (+5 mile) hike to the bottom of the Chisos Basin. We descended 980 feet to the basin floor and back up again. Don, James and I made the entire journey in 3 hours. The most interesting thing about the hike, other the multiple warnings that bears and mountain lions roam throughout the area, was observing the change in the local flora as we descended and ascended the basin walls. The top of the basin contains a more desert-like selection of plants such as yucca and agave plants, but as we descended we were met with cactus, scrub vegatation, then trees on the basin floor. We walked to the Window Pouroff where the small stream drops 200 feet to the desert floor.

Since there was no riding and everyone was taking advantage of some time off from the road, the evening was sent trading war stories over dinner.

The picture above was taken on the trip down and is a closeup of the Chisos Basin surrounding walls.

Another picture taken of the walls from the basin floor.

James and Don navigating the canyon just before the pouroff.

A shot of the view from the pouroff.

Looking up from the pouroff up into the Chisos Basin.

This is an example of the types of trees that can be found on the basin floor, but not up at the lodge.

On the way back and very near the top of the basin, we encountered three whitetail deer grazing very near the trail.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 5

Route:	Sonora, TX-to- Big Bend National Park
Miles Today:	330
Total Miles:	1,902

Isn't it supposed to be hot in Texas? It wasn't particularly hot today. When we left Sonora this morning, it was 57 degrees. That's not too bad until you factor in the -20 degree adjustment for riding and it gets cold.

We entered canyon country and ran for a good time through what i will name "buzzard canyon". There must be tasty carrion in the canyons because that is where all the buzzards are. Some of them were very reluctant to leave what they were dining on and once caused a serious braking situation to avoid them.

All the rain over the last few days in this area caused a road closing on our route and we had to divert to Lake Amistad. This was surprisingly close to Mexico - mere miles away according to the locals. So close, in fact, that we had to pass through a Border Patrol inspection station after we headed north on Highway 90. At this point in the day, we basically rode into the desert. Very little traffic and high speed limits (70/75 mph) made for easy riding. People warned me about the dreariness of West Texas, but this was the best day yet. The open road, little traffic, and a completely unfamiliar terrain mode for good riding. I stopped to take the following picture because it really captured the description I gave above. Note the lack of traffic. The bikes in the picture belong to our group.


Shortly before this picture was taken, we stopped at the Judge Roy Bean Museum in Langtry. Old Roy was a colorful character from the days when Law Enforcement was a very different job than it is today. Follow the previous link for more information about Judge Bean.


Parked outside the museum:


The museum also had a cactus garden and wandered about for a few shots. The following plant was unknown to me, but is the Blue Agave. If you don't know this plant, you are certainly familiar with what is made from it: Tequila.


I took this picture at the museum as well:

We are not in Kansas anymore. This is not Virginia:

After stopping for lunch in Marathon, TX. we made the final 70 mile ride into the park.


The ride into the park was striking enough, but the final miles up to the Chisos Mountains Lodge was simply spectacular. I took a few shots of the surrounding hills, but I fear that they will not do the actual site justice.

Soon after we arrived, we heard that a group of javelinas was feeding near the lodge and I managed several shots before they wandered off. They are not as docile as they seem and can bowl you over if they get spooked. Here is a sample photo:



Finally, here are the promised samples of the surrounding hills. These were taken at Dusk, but they will give you an idea what we are surrounded by.





Things seen from the road:

• A lone buffalo - also known as a Bison to non-indigenous peoples.
• Buzzards - lots of them.
• Snake in the road that managed to avoid death by slithering and weaving through the group.
• Border Patrol agents.
• Wonderful open road

Final note: I just went outside to walk around and the sheer silence up here was actually unsettling.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 4

Route:	Buda, TX -to- Sonora, TX
Miles Today:	220
Total Miles:	1,572

The first part of today is easy to describe - rain. Today was the first really wet part of the ride, but not too bad and not too long. The wet conditions produced the first cold ride, and the wind only made matters worse. We took a scenic ride through the Willow City Loop. I assumed that Texas was fairly flat throughout the state, but today's ride through the hill country proves me wrong. We are not talking about mountains here, but hilly nonetheless. This would have been a great place for snapshots, but the rain discouraged any such activity for me. Since I didn't take my camera out in the weather, I found a website with a lot of pictures of the area. A common wildflower in that part of the Texas is the Blue Bonnet and they were in very high concentration on the route. Of particular note during the ride was the following sign:

Even with proper warning, it was odd to see a black cow standing beside the road. To make matters worse, it was standing under a tree when I rode by it and fairly well hidden in the shadows. I did a quick double take when it moved and I noticed it.

We rode from central Texas and have clearly entered west Texas. Today was the largest change in terrain I have seen yet. The road opened up and we entered big country.

Today's edition of Things Seen From the Road:

• A large banner over the road in Buda, TX that announced the upcoming country fair and weiner dog races. I have two Dachshunds, and one would do well in competition if I could get him pointed in the right direction.
• I saw two different kinds of antelope today in fields beside the road. The first image below is an adult version of the juvenile Impala that I observed. The second, much larger antelope was a Texas Pronghorn. Both are hunted in Texas.
  

• I did not mention this yesterday, but since I saw it again, I will bring it up now. Looking into the cattle fields, I saw a white stork-like bird standing next to a cow. It wasn't doing much more than standing there, but looked odd to an Easterner like me. One of the riders, Don Williams said that the birds stand by the cows because grazing kicks up insects that the birds eat.
  
• Lastly, I am warming to Texas. Today I saw what might possibly be the most beautiful sight I have ever seen on an American highway. When we saw the image below, we were west bound and down.
  

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 3

Route:	Palestine, TX -to- Buda, TX
Miles Today:	264
Total Miles:	1,352

A much shorter day, but very minimal Interstate highway riding as we took back roads or state highways the whole day. The fact that we are in Texas was made clear because of the oil pumps working away in the fields right next to the cattle. If you have never left the east coast, these pumps look like this:


A lot of these were idle, perhaps because the oil is gone by now. A few were pumping away very slowly. I do not know the technology behind these things, but I will have to look it up.

Buda, Texas is just south of Austin, so we are in Longhorn country in more ways than one.

Observations from the road:

• Saw a street sign for Union Chapel Road. My parents live directly off an identically named road in Robeson County, NC.
  
• Cow pastures in Texas can be much larger than those back East. Not all of them were much bigger than a Virginia field, but a few were very huge.
• There is Armadillo road kill in Texas too.

Had dinner at the famous Salt Lick Bar-B-Que restaurant in Driftwood.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 2

Route:	Tuscaloosa, AL -to- Palestine, TX
Miles Today:	544
Total Miles:	1,088

A little hard to believe, but after a second 10-hour day in the saddle, we rode the same mileage. It's not noted above, but we rode the same distance down the tenth of a mile.

I was wrong about Alabama. There was no western speed trap like what we rolled through on the Eastern state line. 70 all the way. Today, I was on the lookout for things that clearly indicated that we were heading west:

• Armadillo road kill in Louisiana - Not a common sight on the East Coast.
• Seeing a sign that read "Mississippi River" - Note that the mighty Mississippi was not nearly as broad as I had assumed. I resisted the urge to break into Rush (Tom Sawyer) as I was crossing the bridge.
  
• Seeing the land go flat as a board once we crossed the river into Louisiana.
• Louisiana has brown highways.
  
• The mile markers count down as you head West, so it was more than a little strange to see a mile marker that read '625' miles. That's the distance until I-20 merges with I-10, not the state line. Texas is a BIG state.
• Stopped at a gas station and we were told that Bonnie and Clyde were killed just a few miles down the road.
• Saw a Texas Longhorn in a field somewhere in Texas.
  

Today marked our first exit from I-20 and we got on the road in South Carolina. This was the last of the big travel days and tomorrow we start to look around the Lone Star state. Dad also recorded a few riding videos with his new bike-mounted camera, so I will have to post them later.

Big Bend Road Trip - Day 1

Route:	Pembroke, NC -to- Tuscaloosa, AL
Miles Today:	544
Total Miles:	544

Just finished the first day on the road to Big Bend National Park in Texas. 544 miles later, I have made it to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which of course, is the home of the Crimson Tide and Big Al. I did not make it to the University and will not do so tomorrow, so I may have missed my only chance to walk on the campus of a national champion football program.

I had a bike change today, and that's taking a little to get used to. Lots of miles on I-20 today, but the plan is to put the miles on the first part of the trip and get out to Texas as early as we can. Another big day tomorrow and then things settle down.

A few observations from the road:

• Interstate 20 has more road gators that I have ever seen on any road anywhere. This was even more apparent in Georgia. I guess they don't clean their roads in GA.
• I added the following states to the list of "States I have ridden a motorcycle in": South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama.
• This is the first time I have ever been to Alabama.
• I knew that I was in Alabama when I saw 2 kids next to the hotel trying to shoot something out of a tree with a BB gun.
• After dinner, I walked out of the restaurant and ran into 4 men discussing whether or not someone was going to be red-shirted next year. Subject: Alabama Football. Apparently this subject is common down here.
  
• Saw a few things today I have never seen before. A large C-Band satellite dish lying just off the road (Alabama) and a Harley rider riding in the East bound lane with no shirt on (Georgia).
• The first 35 miles in Alabama had a 55mph speed limit. A big change when you leave Georgia's 70 mph limit. Alabama Po-Po were EVERYWHERE. After 35 miles, speed limit jumped back to 70 mph. They must need money in Alabama. If I am right, we will see the same thing when we leave the state in the morning.
  
• 10 Hours on a bike is hard for a professional desk jockey.
• I saw the spectacle of Talledega Superspeedway from I-20. Big doesn't even begin to describe it.
• I crossed the Chattahootchie River and it took me a while to remember the Alan Jackson song.

The clerk at the hotel looked at me odd when I told her the story of how Tuscaloosa got its name. Briefly, the founders of the then unnamed Alabama town took a break from naming deliberations and went to the circus for a break. During the opening parade, an aging pachyderm at the end of the parade was noticed by an Italian migrant worker. He took note of the dangling tusk of the old elephant and shouted "Look, Tusk a loose-a!" The town founders heard the exclamation and the rest is history. The clerk just said "I hadn't heard that."

A little piece of history

Some years ago I ran across a picture on the Internet that clearly showed our house in Adak, Alaska. We lived on Adak Island from 1976-1978. What made the picture really interesting is that it was taken just after we left the island. There are a few visual clues to attest to this, but it turned out to be quite a find. I have added a few annotations to the picture to highlight a few points. Clicking on the picture will make it easier to pick out the details.

Annotation	Description
1	This is the house that we lived in. Note that it is a duplex and we lived on the left when looking from the front. The duplex units shared a washer/dryer unit in a hallway behind the garage. I cannot remember if the garage was a single unit or two walled units. The little gray boxes are snow blockers and the windows open into them. This design allows the windows to be opened despite being covered in snow. As shown here, we lived in the Kuluk housing division.
2	This the major reason that I can date this photo. The yellow GMC Jimmy with the white roof belonged to our neighbor, Joe Quenga. The Quenga's major contribution to the Clark family history is that they introduced us to Red Rice.
3	These are the snow fences located just behind our house. They were placed there to keep the snow in check. Adak's nickname was "Birthplace of the Winds". This only makes sense if you have lived there. The wind blows constantly and if left unchecked, drifts to tremendous depths. The window of my room on the rear of the house was regularly covered by snow drifts in the winter, despite the presence of the fences. To illustrate the degree to which Chuck and I had to entertain ourselves, I would hit rocks over the snow fence while standing just to the left of our house. I would do this for hours and I never ran out of rocks.
4	We had a major storm during our time there and the winds reached such speeds (+140 knots) that this very dumpster was rolled across the street like a tumbleweed. I'll never experience wind like that again. Chuck, Dad and I ventured out into the wind that night and Chuck lacked the ability to stand in it. Dad held his hand and he waved in the wind like a flag. You had to be there.
5	The only real organized activity that we had as kids was baseball. The fields were here. Looking at the picture as a whole, you will notice very little grass. Lawnmowers were unnecessary and the baseball field had no grass whatsoever. Welcome to the land of the gravel infield.
6	The Exchange and the Commissary were located here in a combined building. For civilians, the Exchange was a general retail store and the Commissary was a grocery store.

The base, Adak Naval Station, has since been closed and the island is essentially uninhabited. I did run across a set of pictures taken in July 2006 that show the island in its current state. Take a look at the following picture of the Bering Theater. In 1976, 30 years before this picture was taken, I saw Rocky here. I guess it has seen better days.