Our three weeks on the border of MX

[flowerseverywhere]

I used to spend a lot of time on the southern border, it's a terrible idea to try to "build a wall" across a lot of that land.

I think the people chanting "build a wall" need to get out more.

i think most of us need to get out more and turn the TV off. We have visited the Jefferson Davis house, Georgia Sandhill Crane Preserve,Carlsbad caverns, Lincoln New Mexico, of Billy the Kid and Pat Garret fame. Talked to a guy who retired and moved to Alamogordo NM to work on Foxhole homes, dwellings made from recycled materials in a self sustaining community for homeless vets. A young park ranger who had a presentation at school when he was about 8 from a park ranger and decided it was what he wanted to do. He knew every star, Native American history, every plant and animal and their behavior, archeology and was an Eagle Scout and scout leader. Such a quest for knowledge and full of enthusiasm.
White Sands national monument, petroglyphs, New Orleans an their flood walls, the raging Mississippi, the Hurricane Michael damage to Florida and Texas. A guy who camped isolated on BLM lands for 185 days to write a book. The more we see and the more we learn the more I realize how little we know in the greater scheme of things. This is the first time in close to a month we have had internet and decent cell service. Instead we have hiked, read, gone to numerous presentations at monuments, arboretums, historic and state and national parks. Truly magical.
We always get tempted to full time RV when we do this.

[Teacher Terry]

We enjoy the National Parks but they have gotten to be very dog unfriendly because it scares the wildlife. Most places you can only walk them around the campground. You can’t take them on trails. At Yellowstone we drove around with them in the car some days and left them in the RV on others. My old crew was good about staying in the RV. The 3 we have left will bark nonstop so have to go everywhere.

[KayLR]

A giant biosphere dark sky wonderland. We’ve been spotting birds for almost 40 years, and counted quite a few new species here. The butterflies were everywhere. Even in the mountains and desserts, wildflowers would be peeking out. Roadrunner’s looking for dinner, lizards, deer and rabbits doing their thing in a natural habitat. It was 105 one day and still teeming with life. Many people love the isolation and living with nature. We have had very little internet and phone and have each finished a David McCollough book plus several others, identified stars , plants and birds, and have spoken to numerous interesting people.

That sounds absolutely heavenly to me....good for you.

[flowerseverywhere]

Teacher Terry, There also are so many irresponsible dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs, are not well controlled or trained and are not kept on a six foot leash. Many are crazy barkers, lungers,, and jump on people. Also people leave them in hot cars. I almost hit a dog in the car the other day because the owner had him on a very long leash and he dashed right in front of me. I saw a big sign today in a beautiful neighborhood that said something like “there is no poop fairy, clean up after your dog”.
Unfortunate but true.

Could make for a heated topic.

[Teacher Terry]

I know people are jerks. That’s a big part of the problem. Dogs make bears and bison angry which is why the dogs aren’t allowed on trails. One time I was walking the big guy and forgot the bag. I put poop in my Kleenex and my hand got very warm). No way was I leaving it.

[Simplemind]

We have just started traveling with our dogs. We don't want to be seen as "those people" so we really work to make sure they aren't bothering people. We never leave them alone and make sure they get lots of walks because a tired dog is a good dog. We always clean up after them and we couldn't believe that a woman let her dog poop at the entrance of our campsite, saw me watching her and pretended to put it in a bag. I walked up after she had gone and yep, it was still there. Sigh...…. That aside, I've had more angst over unruly children than I have dogs. Often have wished they needed to be leashed too. Yes, I'll also admit I had one of those kids that would have made a village tired.

[bae]

Instead we have hiked, read, gone to numerous presentations at monuments, arboretums, historic and state and national parks. Truly magical.
We always get tempted to full time RV when we do this.

Thank you so much for sharing that, it sounds just magical. And tempting.

[Teacher Terry]

SM, I would have confronted her. That’s really terrible. It was nice when we could leave our old crew (4 of them) with no barking.

[Simplemind]

After we bagged it we went to try and find her (to return it) and she must have stayed inside her camper WITH her dog because we didn't see either of them for the next couple of days. Shameless......

[Teacher Terry]

When camping it’s important to be considerate because it’s a lot of people in not a large area. Plus letting dogs act badly is a great way for places to start to restrict them. We would sell ours if we couldn’t bring the dogs.