A Trip to Big Bend

                            A Trip to Big Bend

Spring 1972, Portland, Texas

It’s 3 A M and I’m wondering why I agree to this crazy one day float trip to Big Bend. Steve and Jennifer will be picking me up in a few minutes, and we’ll be flying low across South Texas on Farm to Market Roads to float the Boquillas Canyon stretch of rapids on the Rio Grande River. Steve talked with some new folks in town from West Texas, and they told him about floating the Rio Grande. One thing led to another, and we’re about to drive 500 miles, do a 40 mile float down a river, and drive back; all in one day, and to top it off neither of us have ever laid eyes on the river. Recent rains have put a lot of water in the river, and we won’t have to paddle much....”but the rapids will be churning,” said Steve’s friend, Vertis thinks “churning” is one step from death.

“Richard, we have two small children, and you’re losing it, if you think I’m going on some wild float trip with roaring rapids!”

“He didn’t say roaring...”

“What’s the difference...churning? Roaring?”

Vertis won’t go, and two babies ending up in a south Texas orphanage was mentioned.

“Hey...headlights!” Steve and Jennifer are here.

“Ready for some wild rapids?” Steve yells.

I giving him a slightly nervous smile as I hop into his Ford Falcon with a luggage rack on top where a raft is tied down.

“I think we can make it by nine,” Steve says....”if we speed a bit.”

I know that no one drives those roads under 80 and at 3 A.  M, we’ll be doing a 100.   

Steve holds the speed down as we cross the Harbor Bridge into Corpus Christi, but as we pass the sign that says, “Next gas station 89 miles” he’s airing out the little Ford, and hours pass as we roar across a barren, Southwest Texas landscape.

Our topo map has the put-in spot and take out-spot marked. As we enter the park a Ranger tells us the river is up and rafting in not recommended, but of course, we aren’t going to drive 500 miles and not raft, so we head to the put-in spot. We’re met by several young men who will drive your car around to the place where we’ll end the trip. I’ve just paid $12 and Steve seems a little concerned as a man spins out in his Falcon heading for where we’ll finish the float trip. We have reached the point of no return. If we ever want to see our car or get back home, we’ve got to raft the river.

I’m a little concerned when one of the men comments, “River’s way up, lots of rocks...be careful.”

We’re about ready to push off when I look up the river, and see another group about to start a float.

“Hey, y’all look!” and then we’re watching one of the strangest sights we have ever seen   The raft has a wooden plank bottom surrounded by eight inner tubes, with a refrigerator on the planks and three swimming Mexican on each side of the raft. They are floating the refrigerator into Mexico.

Yeah, we’re smiling as we push off with Steve and me sitting forward with the paddles, and Jennifer sitting in the back to balance out the raft. It’s really hot for mid-May, but everyone has on just shorts, t-shirts, and baseball caps so we’re ready for the heat. I’m expecting we’ll just float along, but there’s not much current, so its paddle, paddle, and now it’s been an hour and we’re still paddling. We’re sweating and frying in the sun, and I figure it will take all day to get to our car, but the current is picking up and the scenery is changing from a desert---mesquite to some rolling hills, which forces the river into a narrower channel, and now we’re picking up speed.

“Hey, we’re really making some time,” Steve yells.

 We round a bend and the current takes us close to the American side of the river, and I glance at a brush pile.

“My gosh! Is that a head?”

Everyone is looking, but we’re moving by so quickly the whole head or no head thing is almost a blink.

“It’s a head…but what? Is it an animal? Or…human?”

We can’t go back, the current is too strong, but I’m leaning toward human. I guess we’ll never know. Our talking about the head is forgotten because we hear something in the distance. ..a roaring sound.

“What’s that?” I question.

Steve pipes up, “I lived in Denver and rafted the Snake River. That’s rapids.”

Now, I see them. The water is churning as it passes over rocks, and we are heading straight for the rocky water while trying to stay in the center of the river.

“Ahaaaa!”

The raft is lodged on a boulder just below the surface, and Steve and I are trying to push it off.

“Oh, no!”

One of our backpacks has flipped out and there goes lunch, but we’re through the rapids now and heading toward some towering cliffs. Before we can do anything the rafts zips along and we’re flying through the canyon with the USA just 20 feet on one side and Mexico 20 feet on the other side. We’ve quit paddling and are just trying to keep the raft in the middle of the river, and that’s when we hear a thundering roar. There’s a sandbar before the bend ahead, and we’re pulling the raft up on it. I’m wading around the corner to check out the roaring, and what I see makes me stop breathing. The river narrows and two big boulders have fallen into the river to where a raft and all the river water must go between them. It’s the worst looking thing I have ever seen.

We’re talking it over and it boils down to walking 20 miles or braving the rapids. We vote for the river. I’m on the front of the raft to push us off the rocks, and we’re off.

“Hang on!”

The current moves us into the channel and as we bounce off one rock and careen into a torrent of churning water the raft flips up dumping out everything but us, and it’s all we can do to hang on. We’re a hundred yards down river now, and still in the raft with our paddles, but all our equipment and water is gone.

The river is slack water now, and it’s paddle time again and two hours later and three new blisters, I see Steve’s Falcon on the parking area. I’ve never wanted to kiss a car, but wow was I glad to see that one.

We find food and water just outside the Park boundaries, and with a bottle of water and a bag of pork skins, I’m driving us  toward home.

Blisters on both hands, sunburned, hungry, and dead tired, I’m pulling into my driveway at nearly 1 A M.. Vertis is waiting up, and she walks out to the car.

How was it?” she asks.

“It was wonderful…do you have anything left from supper?”

           

President Trump's Grand Wall

                   President Trump’s Grand Wall

            I can’t resist a hot topic like the Wall. So, what do I think about a 2000 mile 15 or 20 foot or higher wall? Would it reduce immigration? Would it cost a lot of money, and is it worth the money, and what about the expense to patrol and repair? And the biggie; would it produce jobs?

             First let’s talk about the actual wall. I think we need to think big and a see-through steel fence won’t cut it. We should hire a Chinese engineer because the Chinese have a long history of walls, and we need to out-do the Chinese. Those boys know walls, and if the money’s right, they would give us an impressive wall, like a “You can see it from space” look because a true Chinese style “keep those suckers out” wall would need patrols and substations for Border Patrol officers. Using the Chinese model of having security and patrols, would make the wall more impressive since it would be wide enough to drive a Jeep on top of it and every mile would have a Border Patrol substation. Just think of the job creation! Since you would need at least 2 Border Patrol officers at each substation, we would have a net gain of over 4000 jobs not counting all the purchase of thousands of new jeeps. But we’re just scratching the surface when it comes to job creation. Yes, thousands of jobs during construction would create a lot of jobs in the USA, but the real job creation would be in Mexico, and those folks won’t be constructing the wall or paying for it.

But before we review those jobs let’s consider, the most important question: Would the wall reduce immigration? This is my take: if the wall is constructed so that it cuts off every access point into the USA from Mexico, is directed by a Chinese engineer, be wide enough to drive a Jeep on, and be properly patrolled, it will substantially reduce immigration. I believe, a 75% reduction could be achieved. So, I guess if just reducing the numbers of folks coming into the USA from Mexico is the primary purpose of the wall, it would achieve that.

Now let’s talk about who are the 75% that we have stopped from entering the USA. That’s an easy one. Of course, it is the women, children, old folks, and the disabled. That’s right, we’d shut off those criminals, rapists, and terrorists. Well, who knows? There might be a kid suicide bomber in the bunch, but what about the other 25%. What about the 20 year old Mules carrying 10 kilos of heroin or the other crooks, rapists, and drug lords? Yep, the strong, evil, young studs who will do nearly anything for a few hundred thousand bucks. Do you think even a super Chinese wall with machine gun toting Agents every mile will stop them? Well, do you?

            Well, that’s where Mexico’s job creation kicks in. Just consider the ways to get over around or under the wall, and you will see what I mean. First let’s consider the new unofficial Mexican Navy. When the wall ends at the Gulf of Mexico on South Padre Island in South Texas at the waters of the Gulf, you can walk around it unless you build it out in deeper than 6 feet of water, I’ve been on the beach there and walked out a 100 yards and was only in chest deep in water. But let’s just say we extend it offshore another 100 yards. Gosh you would have to swim or get any little boat, or even an inner tube to get around it.  Enter the new Mexican Navy. By the time the wall is built a fleet of hundreds of the new Mexican Navy boats will be ready to be launched, and just think of the job creation!  There aren’t enough Coast Guard ships in the world to patrol the entire Gulf since almost any size boat could circle around the end of the wall. But that’s only half of the Navy. The other half would be stationed in California and that will create thousands more Mexican jobs.

            But there are more jobs to be created in Mexico. Enter the new Mexico Air Force that will be made up of anything that will fly. Hang gliders, yes, hang gliders. If you have ever rafted down the Rio Grande River in the Big Bend National Park area of Texas, as I have, you can stand on one of the 100 foot cannon walls in Mexico and hang glide into the USA. A wall snaking through those canyons will be construction marvel and a feat to behold.  However, they have more than hang gliders in Mexico.  They have balloons and actual planes---more Mexico job creation. But we‘re not finished with Mexican job creation. I’m not sure the Orange Man understands Mexican technology. If the wall is 15 feet tall those high tech Mexicans will have thousands of 17 foot ladders just waiting. Just think of the Mexican Factories turning out 17 foot ladders, and wow what a job creator. But even more jobs are just waiting to be created. I envision another caravan from the mines in southern Mexico and from other Central American countries heading for the border and this caravan is made up of miners, and they’ll dig, dig, dig until there is a near freeway under the Border. Yes, it’s another huge job creation for Mexico. Heck, with all the jobs created in Mexico, the Mexicans should pay for the wall!

            As a side note, and this is a downer---the Laredo City council voted unanimously to oppose the wall and ranchers all along the USA side of the river are prohibiting anything to with the wall on their land. Obviously those folks don’t understand tourism or the creation of jobs.

            But if we really do end up building the wall, we shouldn’t hold back on expense. After all this is an opportunity to challenge the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, and the Eiffel Tower all in one package. Why pass up what could be an over-the-top 23rd Century tourist destination. Heck, I lived in Texas for 50 years—-wait a minute— it was only 10—it just seemed like 50. Texas could really use a good tourist attraction. The Bush and L. B. J. Libraries don’t cut it, and if the Democrats will just turn the Orange Man’s purse strings loose, Texas could have a World Heritage site that would attract thousands not counting the ones who will come to climb over it.

At the dedication the President of the United States and the President of Mexico could stand side by side and as the President of Mexico thanks the USA for all the jobs created and as Pink Floyd sings their hit “Another Brick in the Wall.” I can hear the tourist bus guide now, “We’re approaching the Eagle Pass section of President Trump’s Grand Wall---note the Mexican scaling ladders.”

thenorphletpaperboy: Where Homer walked and Paul preached

thenorphletpaperboy: Where Homer walked and Paul preached: Where Homer Walked, Paul Preached, and Alexander the Great Listened January 16 th , 1964                                       ...

Where Homer walked and Paul preached

Where Homer Walked, Paul Preached, and Alexander the Great Listened

January 16^th, 1964                                 

            We’ve been in Libya for a year, and I have some Libyan holiday time.  We’ll fly to Athens Friday morning—at 4 a m. It’s Jan. 17^t, our fifth wedding anniversary, and British East African Airways stops in Benghazi on its way from South Africa to Europe. They will take passengers, if you want to get up a three A M.  

            Heck, getting up at three A. M. seems like nothing, and 30 minutes later, we’re standing in the old Quonset Hut, waiting for the plane, and as the plane pulls up to refuel, we board. This is our first trip to Europe, and we’re excited.

            The short flight to Athens is behind us now, and we just had lunch-breakfast in Athens deep in the old Plaka district. The further away you are from Constitution Square the cheaper the price.

            The airport bus dropped us off a couple of blocks away from our hotel, and since we packed light, it’s an easy walk. The clerk at the front desk seems delighted to have some American tourists, and although it’s just 6 A. M, he lets us take the room, and after some hand waving, and a bit of English, I figured out we were being upgraded to a suite. Well, it’s not the height of the tourist season, so I figure he’s just glad to see live bodies.

                                                                          &

            It’s the next day and we’re out on the street trying to see some sights. I’m freezing to death, crosses my mind. A winter storm has sent Athens into a deep freeze. I glance at Vertis, and she is trying to wrap a pink raincoat around her to keep warm. Then, I remember one of the guys I work with telling me Athens is a great place to buy furs.

“Vertis, let’s go back to the hotel to warm up before dinner.”

“That sound great to me. I’m freezing.”

            We are in the hotel lobby and I nod, “Go on up to the room. I’m going to run down to buy an International Herald Tribune.” Vertis is heading to the room, and I’m going back out. I spotted a store with windows full of furs on our way back to the hotel, and I’m heading there.

            Since my bankroll won’t buy anything fancy, I buy a brown, sheared lamb jacket for $180. It looks very stylish and warm.

            “Happy Anniversary!” I yell. Well, when I pulled that sheared lamb jacket out of a grocery sack, you should have seen her face.

             She can’t believe it. I don’t think she’ll ever appreciate any gift I ever give her as much.

             “Okay, I’m ready to take that bus up into the mountains to Delphi,” she announces, as she struts around the room showing off her new jacket.

            As we leave for dinner, I stop to talk with hotel clerk.

            "Where is a good restaurant, one you would go to?" He’s surprised, and I have to explain that we’re on a budget, which is hard to get across, you know—all Americans are rich—but now he understands and nods.

            “Go out the front door, turn left and go three blocks. Then look for a sign with a fish on it.”

            We find it easily. It’s a small place with a Greek menu. When the waiter walks up to the table, he motions for us to follow him, and we walk over to a big, open display case where the fresh fish are kept.

            It’s a pick-and-point menu. We pick scampi, which is a cross between a shrimp and a lobster, a flounder, and calamari.  I’m thinking we may have over-ordered, and I know we did, when our first course, the calamari, is placed on the table. It is a pile of flash-fried, tiny tentacles piled up about 10 inches high.

            I whisper to Vertis, "Can you believe that calamari cost us only 25 cents?"

            "No, I can’t, but what are we going to do with all that other food we ordered? If we eat this whole platter, we’ll be stuffed."

            "Hey, it’s our fifth wedding anniversary; just dig in and let's see how much damage we can do."

            An hour later, after a great meal and a complimentary shot of ouzo, we waddle back to our hotel.

                                                                          &                 

            It’s the next day and the Archeological Museum and the Parthenon are on our to-do list. It is a heady experience for us as we climb the steps of the Parthenon and walk where Homer walked and stand where Paul preached. We have the Parthenon to ourselves because of the weather. We spending the day taking in the archeological sites, and the next day we’re going for a more adventurous experience.

                                                                        &

            The next morning at 8 we’re boarding a Greek bus heading north into the snow-covered mountains to see the Oracle of Delphi where Alexander the Great came to listen to the Oracle. Our first stop is an Orthodox Greek church, and we look in amazement at the gold-filed glass squares that make up a magnificent mural. After a two-hour ride, the bus lets us off at snowy Delphi, where we stumble around in the snow looking at the ancient site of the Oracle. We’re the only folks who will wade through about six inches of new snow.

            There’s a café, and we rush to get inside, warm up, and have something to eat. It’s another pick and choose menu and the special is a tray of rolled up grape leaves stuffed with rice. They are tasty, but the special is only three, and after a hard roll for breakfast, I’m still hungry.

            “We have another two hours before the bus picks us up. Let’s hike to those ruins on the next hill.”

            By the time we reach the top of the hill, where there were just a few columns of an old temple, we are nearly frozen, and on top of that, we’re starving.

            “Richard; this was stupid to walk through the snow to get up here,” Vertis says. She’s wrapped up in her sheared lamb jacket, but with no gloves or caps, we’re nearly frozen. We trudge back to the bus stop. As we board the bus that will take us back to Athens, I look over at Vertis and I know she’s as cold and hungry as I am.

"At the next stop, I’m going to see if I can buy us a snack."

"Great; I’m not picky, anything will do, and I’m serious. Anything.”

            After an hour of driving, the bus stops at a village, and a vendor waves a lamb kabob in front of my open window. They smell wonderful. They are 25 cents each, and we buy four. They taste as great as they smell, and after having a hard roll for breakfast and a plate of grape leaves and rice for lunch, we think the kabobs are one of the best meals ever.

            The bus heater is now putting out some warm air, and as we devour the lamb kabobs, we settle back and enjoy what has been a wonderful experience for first-time travelers to Europe.

                                                                               

           

Bring back the Wolf

                Bring back the Wolf!

 If we look at our country from its very beginning, we can see a determined effort to eliminate what we consider to be undesirable species, and we’re still---“Kill that snake!”—at it. Of course, the rational was and sadly is, if a species is a threat to humans, then it must be eliminated, and the threat can be minimal, but any threat is enough to wage a war of extinction. We also included any species that are a threat to domesticated animals, and that took out the wolves, bears, and mountain lions. Yes, we don’t thin out an overabundance, we hunt them down to the last one. Actually, we usually just create functional extinction, which means the part of the ecosystem that particular animal, bird, insect or mammal occupies has such a minimal effect on the natural environment that the species might as well be extinct. It’s easy to look at our ecosystem in Arkansas and point out the functional extinct. We know there are mountain lions in the state, but the hundred or so that are here are too few to be influence in our ecosystem. The same goes for bears. Of course, the gray and red wolves have been totally eliminated.

 I think to understand how much difference a good functioning ecosystem adds, we need to look at an environment that has been restored by adding back species that were eliminated. It turns out that the return of the missing species created more of a balanced natural environment than anyone imagined. As you might guess there aren’t many examples, but the return of  wolves to Yellowstone National Park is one.

In 1995, 41 wild wolves where released in Yellowstone and today there are 11 wolf packs and at least 97 wolves. Of course, the wildlife management folks were elated at the successful restocking, but they were shocked at the results. Not only were the restocking of wolves successful, but the beaver population also took a jump. There was only one beaver dam when the wolves were restock, and today there are nine dams. It seems elk overgrazed on willow branches kept the beaver from thriving, and as the wolves drove the elk into heavily wooded areas of the park were they could better defend themselves, the willows grew back to feed the beaver.

It turns out the wolves created a ripple effect because the park’s elk population had grown to outstrip the available forage, and the addition of wolves restored the forage and benefits to the overall ecosystem occurred unexpectedly. As the wolves made kill after kill, it brought the elk population under control, and provided carrion for ravens, foxes, bears, and other animals. The expansion of the beavers created standing small lakes where trout and other aquatic creatures multiplied and added to the food chain for bears and other animals. 

The question is; can we replicate this ecological success story here in Arkansas? I believe we can and the benefits to our natural environment might shock us. Let’s look at just a couple of problems that we have created by trying to improve on Mother Nature. Wolves, bears, and mountain lions were here and part of our ecosystem, but we have either eliminated or reduced their numbers to the point where they are all functional extinct or completely extinct such as the gray and red wolf. If we made a concentrated effort to restore the wolf to Arkansas what would we accomplish? And if we eliminated bear season and returned to the bear state of a hundred years ago and added another several hundred mountain lions, how would our ecosystem respond?

Would we solve any of the problems we see today in wildlife management? I believe we would and we do have problems, such as feral hogs, (CWD) wasting away disease in our deer herd, and the decline of our quail population---among others. Would restoring the bears, wolves, and mountain lions help solve any of these problems? Yes they would; but let’s consider how. The introduction of these predatory animals would reduce the overpopulation of a number of problem species. Of course, the most obvious would be the out-of-control increase in feral hogs. However, as any hunter who has been in the woods lately will tell you, feral hogs aren’t the only problem we have in wildlife management. The woods are working alive with raccoons, opossums, armadillos, and other ground scavengers. During the time I was writing about mountain lions a few months back, I had a long conversation with a man, who has made a study of North American mountain lions. His overview was that most of the predators such as mountain lions, wolves, and bears took available prey, and raccoon, rabbits, possums, and even dogs were considered prey by these animals.  

Of course, the reintroduction of these species can’t just be a few elk on the Buffalo with a hunting season that is one step from hunting in a zoo. No, it must start with protecting the few mountain lions that are in the State along with the bears. Until the Game and Fish Commission puts a moratorium on the killing of mountain lions and stops having a bear season, a balanced ecosystem can’t happen. That’s the first step, but it must be followed by the reintroduction of the wolves along with adding to the predators we already have.

Of course the (CWD) deer wasting disease epidemic is caused by having the sick deer spread the disease, and the reintroduction of wolves and mountain lions would dramatically improve the situation by eliminating the sickly deer. Naturally, if the feral hogs were reduced along with the raccoons, possums, and armadillos our quail would return. Another benefit by having wolves in Yellowstone, was a reduction in the large coyote population.

With such as win-win situation it’s hard to see why our Game and Fish Commission is against restoring an ecosystem, which would be a huge benefit to the State’s overall environment. Actually, they found out in Yellowstone the benefits turned out to be vastly greater than even the most optimistic environmentalist predicted. Wouldn’t it be great that if we quit trying to improve on Mother Nature, we tried to mimic what was once here and instead if looking back at being called the Bear State, we once again became the Bear State? It can happen and it will because it’s the right thing to do.

The idea that wolves are a dangerous addition to the environment can be put aside, since Yellowstone National Park has as many visitors each year as the population of Arkansas, and none of these visitors have ever been attacked by wolves.

I’m going to do what I can to help restore Arkansas’s ecosystem and the re-introduction of gray wolves is going to be a prime target. The gray wolves were restored to Yellowstone after the public demanded it by a huge outpouring of supporting comments, and if we want wolves back in Arkansas, we must stand up and be counted.  If you would like to help, contact the Game and Fish Commission and ask me for a bumper sticker--shown below.

Bring Back The Wolf (with wolf pic)