Just west of Alamogordo, NM is White Sands National Monument, a large dune field of gypsum sand. Gypsum is an interesting rock because it is soluble in water. Consequently, when it rains in the mountains to the west of the dune field, the gypsum there dissolves and is transported to Lake Lucero, which is just to the southwest of White Sands. When the water there evaporates, it leaves the gypsum behind to be blown into the dunes. I hiked into the dunes until I could no longer see other footprints which ended up being about a mile. When down in between the dunes, you really get the same sense of isolation and disorientation that one must get when stranded in the middle of the Sahara Desert. I spent something like two hours hiking around and climbing the large dunes. As the sun set behind the mountains and the temperature began to drop, I had a strong feeling of urgency to get back to my truck. Yeah, I wanted to grab a picture of it at sunset, but more importantly I didn’t want to be in the dunes when it got dark without a flashlight. Pictures below. I think I’ll be going back for some more at some point in the future.
Side note… After clicking on that link above, scroll north of White Sands. See that sweet black scar? That is the Carrizozo Lava Flow which erupted from a local volcano some 5,000 years ago. NASA has some more info on it.
Three and a half years and over 80,000 miles later, my truck is paid off. Glorious, right? You bet your ass. To celebrate I’m going to wash and vacuum it and take it out for some photos.
In light of this newly found financial freedom, I thought I’d share a video with you about driving for “free.” It’s a little idealistic and so-called “financial gurus” always come off to me as big douchebags, but hey… the principles are sound and not something to ignore. I don’t plan on having another car payment in the future because there is really no need to. Why lose money paying interest to the bank when the bank could be paying you interest on the money you’ve loaned them? (What? We loan our money to the banks and don’t “deposit” it as we think?) Oh right… impulse and emotion. That’s why I bought my truck and, three-plus years later, have learned my lesson. Debt is for suckers (as are brand new vehicles). Save your money for the things you want to buy. I think my next vehicle is going to be a motorcycle… lightly used and paid for in cash of course.
About fifteen miles south of Alamogordo, NM is Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, a smallish park with some campsites and the trailhead for the Dog Canyon trail. Back in the 1880s the 9th US Cavalry had multiple skirmishes with Apache warriors who were using the canyon as a formidable stronghold. The trail climbs more than 3,100 feet in five miles which makes for some pretty steep inclines. Going all the way to the top would make for a ten-mile-long hike… a hike I didn’t have the time to complete today. I instead opted to hike to the three-mile point, the site of an old cabin built many years ago by some local rancher as well as a great frozen pond where I ate lunch. All in all I hiked for five hours and didn’t see a single person on the trail besides myself. It was deathly quiet and warm enough to hike without my jacket on. Quite a glorious day. Only one thing would have made it better… Read more…
I did a lot of picture taking at Red Rock Canyon while I was in Vegas this last time and it seems some fell by the wayside. There is a trail in the area called First Creek Trail and I managed to snag a few good pictures while hiking along it solo. I don’t know anything specific about the trail, but I did manage to see a small herd of burros. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get close enough with my wide-angle lens to get any good pictures, though. The burros made sure of that with a few gruff warnings. Read more…
About three miles into the scenic loop at Red Rock Canyon is Calico Tanks. What constitutes a tank in the geologic sense I have no idea. But it made for some easy hiking for the dog and some good photo opportunities. The next time I head out to Red Rock I think I’ll hike the Turtlehead Peak trail. Anyway… pictures.
Update: Added some of the other pictures from this hike that weren’t panoramas.
The most basic aspect of many web apps is user authentication and CakePHP, a PHP framework, provides some pretty impressive capabilities in that arena. Unfortunately for those new to the framework, the documentation isn’t the clearest and other tutorials on the web regarding this subject aren’t written with much clarity either. So here’s my attempt to help newbies such as myself get their heads wrapped around some basic user authentication. And when I say basic, I mean really basic. This step-by-step guide should help you get a simple user authentication system up and running. Read more…
Nellis has a sizable collection of Russian equipment seized from various sources… primarily our actions in Iraq. This equipment—SAM systems, tanks, helicopters, et cetera—is made available to airman so that they may be fully familiar with these systems as they pose the greatest the American aircraft. You can climb on, in and around various tanks, numerous radar systems, mobile SAM launchers and anti-aircraft artillery pieces. It’s pretty awesome… like a giant jungle gym for pilots and other airmen. Below you’ll find twenty-four pictures I took there. Enjoy. Read more…
Today I tagged along on a small hike into Ice Box Canyon. We didn’t get into the canyon instead choosing to stop at the mouth of the canyon proper. It ended up being about a three-mile-long hike with some modest photo opportunities along the way. Fifteen images below. They came out pretty well if I do say so myself… and I do! Read more…
I recently wrapped up some work in Texas which offered the opportunity for some picture taking. Once I was done, I hit the road and made the drive to Oklahoma City and then Vegas via Albuquerque and grabbed some pictures along the way. Here’s eleven of the best from that collection. Read more…
It’s Saturday morning around 10am and here I sit in the passenger seat of my truck as Chris and I are making our way out of Houston and headed to Oklahoma City for a night with some of my friends there. Ahead on the right there’s a Cracker Barrel and we’re stopping for some breakfast. I can’t wait. You see, I actually know where this Cracker Barrel is. I know this Cracker Barrel will be visible from the highway. This is going to be quite a departure from the shenanigans of last night. What follows below is a memory dump of those events in a greatly condensed format. You should also read Chris’s post on the same subject. Read more…
