Since I was a little boy I have loved anything space; ancient humans; and this little planet. Who would have thought I would find all of this in just ten days! In the little town of Stratford, KS there is a wonderful space museum called the Cosmosphere. We have seen space museums in Cape Canaveral, Huston, the Smithsonian, and Seattle but this one is unique and wonderful. During the detent between The U.S. and what was then the Soviet Union an auction was held to move out some of
the old artifacts. How The Cosmosphere got them I don’t know, but we wandered through the displays for 4 hours; that is only 5% of that they have in storage. Because it’s a small place we could get right up close and actually touch things. We learned things we never knew. For example, when the Russian Cosmonaut took the first space flight we were told it all went fine. NOT! His suite blew up like a balloon and he could hardly move his arms and legs. How to get back into the capsule? He had to let precious air out of his suite so he could bend – in space! It was all too cool.
As a side note, some of you are wondering about the cats. Two young cats, and two full sized [some might says supersized] adults in a 19 foot can. Actually, the cats are adjusting quite well. They have taught us how to follow them when walking on a leash… we go wherever. We have learned to feed them promptly at 7:00 AM and 5:00PM. Mercedes, the 9 pound baby boy, likes to cry and whine when feeding time is late. He has another interesting habit. Mercdes likes to look out the window in the morning while sitting on Stacie’s pillow. That’s fine, but one morning Stacie awoke to his special kiss. He is very affectionate you know. Truth be told when one’s head is staring out the window, it’s the other end that gives the kiss. Better you than me Stacie… Porsha can be affectionate too. She loves to ride belly up in Stacie’s lap when we are on the road. “Pet me, Pet me,” I hear her say. Our cats spoiled? Hawwww
But I digress:
As we neared the southern border of Kansas we made one final stop at Dorothy’s House a little museum claiming to have the original “Wizard of Oz” home right from the movie. . Yes that one! To find out we paid 12 bucks each to see this wonder and in the end I must confess we did see THE house. But not quite like you might expect. Our guide was somewhere between 65 – 105 years grey, thin to look at, and as worn as a Kansas scarecrow. He even had straw coming out of his hat. He lead us into an old prairie house which looked a little familiar, so I said, “Is this the house from the movie?” “Patients young man,” said the scarecrow. [ It turns out, the house was donated by a local councilmen whose mom had recently died] It had little to do with the movie but he did explain every item in the house and how it was used by “them thar plains pioneers” Are we still in Kansas I asked Stacie? “Shhh, just go along with this.” After about a half an hour we left the house to go to a large
garage which had the most enduring rendition of the Wizard of Oz movie I could ever imagine. And bless his heart, our guide acted out every scene for our benefit – in case we didn’t know the plot of the movie I guess. It was so cheesy… and he was so sweet having so much fun acting out; we just couldn’t rush him along. He went room to room, scene to scene, dialoging all the movie parts along the way. Finally, in the last room there was IN FACT Dorothy’s house. Well not her actual house, it was the little model swept away by the tornado in the opening part of the movie. It is barely a foot square, but it was this little house that spun round and round before landing in the Land Of Oz. As we were spun round and round by this old performer who loves to tell the tale of Dorthy; the most famous citizen of Kansas. How could we not tip this man! If you are ever near Liberal, Kansas go see the exhibit and insist on getting a tour from the ol’man with straw coming out of his hat. It will warm your heart just as it did ours.
We spend the night in Muleshoe, Oklahoma. How places get assigned names is an interesting tale. As it happens, Muleshoe is in the county of Deaf Smith Oklahoma. How did that come about you might ask? Perhaps the conversation went something like this. “Well we gotta call this county somth’un, gotta organize this map to become a state.” “Shoot Wilber ain’t no body up there but vermin and Roadrunners.” “No wait Slim, I heard tell there is some deaf guy liv’en up there yonder; Smith I think.” “That’s good enough for me, will call it Deaf Smith County.” And that, as Walter Cronkite would say, “is the way it is…” No one has any idea how Muleshoe got its name, but rumor has it involving a bottle of whisky; the unwanted advances of a drunken cowboy; and a girl with a great throwing arm.
Farther down the road we camped two nights near White Sands, NM. First in a BLM recreation area called 3 Rivers Petroglyphs site and then in the ‘Valley of Fire’. 2000 to 5000 years ago the earth opened up and lava came pouring out. Moving at an estimated 10 mph it covered the valley floor with hot molten rock. Steaming, and creeping along a river valley burning everything in its path. The flow is over
44 miles in length and 10 miles wide. There were people here then. What did they think I wonder. Our camp was on a rock outcrop surrounded by the flow. Were people trapped here? They certainly would have died with no way to escape the red boiling river. We wondered, what did the Indians think? Punishment by the Gods? Hell reclaiming the earth? How were some saved; by appeasing the God’s; being good? Or just lucky?
Then later, 1500 to 400 years ago our ancestors again roamed this area. By then the land had changed from a hellish world of fire and brimstone to a plush plain complete with 3 rivers of fresh water. A paradise if you will. 700 people once lived here in relative abundance; land to farm; water to drink; game to hunt. They left their legacy in
pictured stone for all the world to see. Circles, maps, animals, and tales of hunting skills. Then they disappeared. The rivers dried up and people moved on. The Earth changes right under our feet; and will again. From a river, to hell, to paradise. As us? We leave our mark on rocks and in space – grateful and eager for the next adventure.
More pictures can be seen at: includes the ACTUAL house from “OZ” https://photos.app.goo.gl/aFLMNN4df6TQF8Wh7