Sunday, June 5, 2005
Still at Chaco - June 5
As it drew closer & closer to our departure date of 6/1, we felt more & more like it was not yet time for us to leave. So after clearing a few bureaucratic hurdles, we have extended our stay another month or two. We ended our time as Campground Hosts and are now regular Volunteers. Since this change has just taken place, we're not sure exactly what we will do; however, there are several exciting possibilities.
During our first weeks here, we went through a Rock Art Steward program in order to help monitor rock art at Chaco. This involves periodically examining rock-art sites, checking the panels against existing photographs and noting if we (sadly) find newly added graffitti on the rocks. We also try to educate people who see us doing this, so that they will help protect the fragile sites. There is a lot of rock art in the campground area, which makes it quite vulnerable. Rock art in the restricted areas has a much better chance of surviving unmolested.
There is also an archaeological dig going on in Chaco (for the first time since the 70s) and we may be able to help with that. We would probably help "sift" the excavated material and catalog what is found. Dabney Ford, Chaco's chief archeologist, said that we would never get a chance to work on a site with a greater abundance of artifacts than this one. This seems quite exciting to us, and we hope to get started later this week.We will continue to be involved with the Night Sky program, since that is what initially drew us here. We enjoy the ever-changing night sky viewing and the challenge of finding new things to look at. Also, there may be some research projects starting in the next few weeks involving the CCD imaging system, searching for planets outside our solar system. Several people have mentioned having "little projects" for us, and we will see what they turn out to be. We expect some of them to be data entry.
Early last week, we discovered that one of our holding tanks was leaking -- not a good thing -- and it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. We have an appointment in Farmington for this Weds. That will be quite an undertaking, since we need to try to leave at 6 a.m. in order to be there as close to 8 as possible. We will need to put the cats in their cages in the truck and manage to keep them cool throughout the day. Hopefully, the work will not run longer than one day; otherwise, we can all stay in the trailer for the night and then go through the same routine again the next day. Then we are still faced with the two-hour drive back to Chaco (one hour of which is bouncing down the dirt road!) and settling back into our spot.Since we are no longer cg hosts, we had to move out of our spot at the campground. We are now at a "full" hookup site in the maintenance area. There are actually two sites here, but they haven't been used in several years -- the previous superintendent did not want to have RV volunteers staying here, for some unknown reason. Now they have a new superintendent, who thinks it's a great idea, so the spots are "available" again. They thought they were all set up, so we moved in. Unfortunately, the electricity was not wired correctly, so we are awaiting a visit from the local electric company to get it fixed, supposedly on Monday. Since we have our solar panels for most things, the only thing we really miss is the a/c. Luckily, it has turned a bit cooler, so it won't be too bad -- assuming they can finish the job on Monday!
We have had visits from several friends, which have been quite enjoyable. Sue Horne came for 4 nights in early May, and we were able to see a lot of Chaco together and do some hikes. She brought some really good recipes to share with us. Coincidentally, Sue's aunt was involved in a dig at Chaco in 1936, and Sue was able to obtain some literature that actually mentioned her aunt. On Thursday of that week, our mutual friend Penny flew into Farmington and came down to Chaco for one night. Since she made a fourth, we spent most of the time playing bridge. We did get out to do some sightseeing, and Penny found Chaco surprisingly appealing. The next week, our friend Joyce Comin drove a small rental motorhome down and spent a week visiting and seeing how she liked life in a motorhome. Both were very enjoyable visits. Even though we are no longer in the campground, we can still save spaces for friends, if anyone wants to visit. We love to share Chaco with others!Our friend Lloyd Treichel (from the Benson co-op) came by for a very brief visit while he was staying in the Farmington area. He was in a hurry to get to the cooler weather in CO, so his was just a day visit. We made some new friends at the campground. Stan & Betty came in with another couple to stay for 5 nights. The second day we discovered that the four of us were bridge players, so we spent the following three afternoons playing bridge. It was a great break from our regular activities. They live in Mesa, AZ, so we will be able to get together in the future.
Last Thursday we took an overnight trip to Santa Fe (a friend here at Chaco took care of the cats while we were gone). Our friends, Babs & Barry Marrs from PA, were visiting Barry's sister & her husband, who have a condo in Santa Fe. We met them Thursday afternoon for a nice hike and dinner. The hike was to Tsankawi, an outlying area of Bandolier Natl Monument, which is quite spectacular. Later we went to dinner at Tulip's, a very small restaurant with wonderful food. We finished up our time in Santa Fe with a Friday morning trip to Trader Joe's, our favorite grocery store chain, and bought enough goodies to possibly last until we get to Tucson in November! Our trailer is bursting at the seams.The cats really enjoy our not moving so much. They don't mind the heat at all, and hate it when we shut the windows to keep out the sun. They all seem pretty healthy, but Rainbow continues to be way too tiny. We try tempting her with all kinds of treats, but she is the most finicky eater and resists. They will not like our trip to Farmington on Wednesday! Of course, we aren't looking forward to it much, either.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 3:01 PM 
