CHRONICLES OF THE CABIN
JUNE 30-JULY 6, 2007

DAY 1
We awoke eager and early Saturday morning, finished loading up the van, hopped in and we were on our way by about 7:30 a.m. We decided to travel a different route than the usual Tulsa – Oklahoma City – Amarillo – Cabin. This time we headed through the panhandle of Oklahoma. We’re studying Oklahoma history this summer, so I gathered information about some of the cities we’d be traveling through. In Woodward there was a devastating tornado that killed 100+ people in the 1940s; Fort Supply currently does Civil War re-creations and uses the prison folk in their re-enactments; do you know how Slapout got it’s name? Beaver is the cow-chip throwing capital of the world and I participated in that event as a child (my great-grandparents had a farm near Beaver and my dad spent many a summer there helping “Dad” plow the fields).

We had lunch in Guymon at Mr. Burger (yum…Amarillo has several and it was delicious). During lunch we decided that we’d be adventurous and take a more northern route to the cabin (one that we’ve never been on before). I’m all about adventure!

So we headed towards Boise City and then north towards Kenton and the Black Mesa. This is the highest point in Oklahoma. It’s truly beautiful! It’s about 55 miles long, 5 miles wide and spans several states.

We passed the New Mexico state line and enjoyed the scenery. We soon came upon the Wedding Cake formation…people used to get married on top! And then we quickly saw the Battleship rock formation (picture below)...both were truly spectacular!

FLASHBACK TO FRIDAY FOR A MOMENT AND A CONVERSATION WITH MY DAD (who lives in Amarillo): I told him we were thinking of taking a new route and mentioned New Mexico highway 456. He mapquested it and said something like, “Hmmm…part of this road has a dotted line…wonder what that means?”

We quickly found out…we were driving on a blacktop road when all of a sudden…DIRT! And the sign said it’d be a dirt road for 17 miles! It didn’t seem like 17 miles, though. The scenery was beautiful…driving alongside Dry Cimarron Creek and through a valley, passing cactus in bloom, sage bushes and the occasional cow…I thoroughly enjoyed every mile of it. There were no telephone poles or “signs of life.” I tried to imagine myself on the Santa Fe trail and traveling to who knows where and wondering what’s on the other side of that mesa. What an adventure!

We hit blacktop again and for the first time since leaving Oklahoma passed a car going the opposite direction. We passed many beautiful ranches and came upon the town of Folsom. Don’t know if this was the Folsom Johnny Carter sang about, though. We headed towards Capulin and the volcanic monument. The kids thought that was cool…an actual volcano in the middle of New Mexico. I thought it was cool, too. I think my love of geology certainly came from many trips to the cabin and seeing all the wonderful creations God made.

We made it to Raton for a pit stop, stretched our legs and returned to the car for the last part of our journey…about another hour or so. Between Raton and Cimarron we saw a lot of antelope. It was fun to see who could be the first to spot some. I think William was the best antelope spotter. But Rich scored when he saw the “lone buffalo.” We had just received our library awards from the Tulsa library system and it included a stuffed buffalo. So this was a neat find. We named him Buffy, although I like the “lone buffalo” better. William said he wanted to have 99 buffalo live in our house…some could stay outside and eat the grass and then we wouldn’t have to mow anymore (don’t you love the creativity of a 5 year old). The sky was beautiful and you could tell a rainstorm was approaching. We quickly found ourselves out in the middle of nowhere (with no overpasses to protect us) and in the middle of a hail storm! The hail was slightly larger than pea size and didn’t last for long. The rain stopped and we made it to Cimarron (the home of the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch and notorious outlaws such as Billy the Kid and Jesse James).

A short drive through Cimarron Canyon and we were in Eagle Nest…we were almost there! The town looked festive for the 4th of July parade and there were lots of people in the RV parks.

Made it to the cabin while it was still light outside, unpacked the van and the kids went down to the creek to check out the fort. It looked great…they added some more sticks.

Soon it was time for bed and we were all sound asleep!


DAY 2
Started like any other Sunday…getting ready for church. We were all anxious to see our friends, the Dennings (the pastor and family). The kids enjoyed re-connecting with Rachel (age 10), Alanna (age 7) and Andrew (age 4). We shared in the potluck lunch and had a wonderful visit. They have homeschooled all 9 of their kids!

We returned to the cabin to fix some leaks (oh…it had rained the night before…a leak “got” one of the beds and the inside back porch). On the way back up the dirt road to the cabin, I thought it would be fun to let the kids take turns driving…so each one sat on Rich’s lap and steered the wheel while Rich managed the gas/brake.




Rich got up on the roof to attempt some repairs with tar, the kids went down to the fort and I made some friendship bracelets for the kids. While I was sitting quietly on the deck, 3 different hummingbirds approached me and then flew away. I never really realized how loud their fluttering wings were! It was really a neat experience!

We ate a quick dinner and went back to town for the Sunday night Bible Study. For me, it’s so refreshing to do an actual study on the Bible and not some “book by man” (as Brother Dave says). We enjoyed our time with the Dennings and made plans to go fishing on Thursday. The kids can’t wait!

DAY 3
Today was pretty uneventful. We hung around the cabin all morning. Rich repaired the holes in William’s bike tires. The kids and I worked on the fort some more…I added a bench seat. William wants to put in a TV, laptop and a game system! Around noon, we decided it was time for a bike ride into town. William and I drove the van down and followed Rich, John and Anne down the 2½ mile dirt road.


We ate lunch at the famous Kaw-Liga’s Restaurant, then went to do some shopping. As we stepped out of the restaurant, it started pouring rain and hailing (again!). We darted across the street to the Trading Post where John bought a cap-gun (you know, the “old” kind that you thread the caps through and when it fires you can smell the gunpowder); William bought a stuffed animal eagle (he named Shelley, sweet, huh?) and a bow and arrow set; Anne decided to wait for a trip over to Red River before she spent her money.

We headed back up to the cabin to see if the tar on the roof helped with any of the holes. Fortunately, it didn’t rain up there. We went on a hike to the “rock formation” and worked on adding more sticks to the fort that’s over there. Swung on the swing, shot bows and arrows, and the cap gun and just “hung out.”

Later that afternoon we watched “Nacho Libre” (which I didn’t think was as funny as “Napoleon Dynamite,” but Rich enjoyed it more). And before bed, John turned into “Nacho Juan.”


After dinner we watched “Zorro” and everyone thoroughly enjoyed that! We made plans to head to Red River on Tuesday to do some shopping and geo-caching!

DAY 4
Today was geo-caching day! Started off with a fortified breakfast of pancakes, bananas, grape juice and, the all-important, coffee.

We headed towards Red River with GPS in hand searching for the Enchanted Forest cache. It was hidden in the cross-country ski forest. We hiked about 4/10 of a mile (uphill) and then 40’ off the trail to some fallen aspens. Flies were abundant and extremely annoying! After searching for at least 20 minutes (and listening to John and Anne complain) I finally found it! Here we are with our treasures:


Geo-caching is a lot of fun…if you find the cache you can trade one “treasure” for another. William got a screwdriver (strange, I know, but it’s what he picked out), Anne got a small flashlight on a rope and John got a race-car Travel Bug. A Travel Bug is some item that you move from cache to cache and watch it’s travels at http://www.geocaching.com/ This is a fun family activity that has taken us to places we never knew existed!

We headed back towards the van (thank God it was all downhill), loaded up and drove to Red River for lunch. Red River is quite the bustling tourist town these days. They’ve certainly done a lot to attract the $$$!

After a picnic lunch in the park, we drove south out of Red River on a road we’ve never been on before. The road signs said it would be a Dead End in about 7 miles. After about 6 miles, it turned to dirt and then it changed to a road that would have best been traveled in a 4x4 Jeep or an ATV – this road was NEVER wide enough for two vehicles traveling in opposite directions to pass each other. However, we felt adventurous and traveled on. It was truly beautiful and interesting.…as we passed some people who had drove in their pop-up campers, set up their site along the creek, hung some wash out to dry, and proudly displayed their American flag on a tiki-torch. We drove on and the road ended at the “start hiking” trail of the Carson National Forest. Interestingly enough, there were about 8 cars in the parking lot with various license plates…New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma. We crossed the creek and found our second cache. Isn’t the meadow beautiful?


And here we are with our “find”…Anne found this one (with some help from Rich).



On the way back to the car, we stumbled up on this creation…it had fallen over so we thought it was just an old tree log. But in fact, someone had started to carve it. Interesting, huh?


We headed back to the van and began our search for the 3rd geocache. After some discussion we thought we’d try hiking up another trail that was meant for a Jeep or a 4x4. About 20 minutes in, William and Anne had enough. Rich and John felt adventurous and continued on about 15 more minutes. This is where they ended up:


We thought we’d try to attack our 3rd geocache from a different angle and headed up the old Eagle Nest to Red River road (the road my Dad used to take as a kid). This road is at least a 6-mile, very narrow, one-lane dirt road full of switch backs that made me quite nervous. We decided it might be best to turn around and try another time (when he had a Jeep).

It was time to head back to the cabin for some down time and dinner. William and Anne fell asleep on the way – that’s what this mountain air will do to you!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and the Eagle Nest parade! The kids can’t wait.

DAY 5: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
Today we celebrated our country’s freedom by attending the Eagle Nest Volunteer Fireman’s BBQ lunch – yummy! They typically serve about 1000 people each year. Now, keep in mind that the population of Eagle Nest is only about 300! One of the fireman has a therapy dog named Max. Here he is with the kids…he’s very gentle. Anne was in love!

The parade started at 2:00. People start lining up for their “spot” as early as 11:00! This is serious parade business! The parade route (from start to finish) might be one mile, but it might be less.



There are all sorts of entries in the parade: The Idlewild Community Band, the Cimarron rodeo queen on her horse, people running for local elections, the fire department, and even kids that decorated their bikes just so they could be in a parade. A lot of the entries will throw candy and red, white and blue beads. The kids opened up the umbrellas to “catch more goodies.”


After the parade, we walked back towards KawLiga’s for some ice cream. This was a popular spot and the ice cream was running low, but we managed to get some. While there I ran into a guy I went to high school with who now lives in Angel Fire with his wife and kids. It was fun to catch up. He and my brother were in the same Scout Troop as kids. And now he’s the CubMaster for his son’s pack.

We went over to the school playground to burn off some energy and wait for a special presentation at 5:00 done by The Matthew Academy. It was a play based on Matthew 6:33 (Seek God first…). This family lives in Portales, New Mexico and travels around performing…it was a great evangelism tool.

After the play and a quick bite to eat we went back to the church for the Bible study continuation. We were invited over to Kevin and Tonya’s house (we met them at church) for homemade ice cream, chocolate chip cookies and to watch the fireworks over the lake. They were spectacular (as always…the cookies and ice cream, too) and we enjoyed the company. We got back to the cabin about 12:30 a.m. (Tulsa time). The kids thought it was “cool” that they had stayed up so late. Rich and I were exhausted!

Tomorrow we fish…and William CANNOT wait…

DAY 6
Silver Dollar City has it’s version of the “The Giant Swing”…well, here’s the cabin version:


This thing is so much fun! There’s a platform on the left hand side of this picture. You’re supposed to climb up the platform, hook your legs around the swing and take off. You go about 20 feet in the air (on the right hand side). It’s totally awesome!

After lunch, we went to Eagle Nest to hook up with the Dennings to go fishing at Monte Verde Lake. It’s a couple of miles south of Angel Fire. It’s a beautiful lake stocked with rainbow trout and many crawdads. We rented a paddle boat and got some exercise going around the lake.


Anne (well, really Rich) caught a fish:


I think the kids had more fun catching crawdads with bits of sausage on the hook. One of the guys who works at the lake was catching them to make a crawdad stew for dinner.

As the sun started to hide behind the mountain we packed up and took the Denning kids home. It was an hour-long good-bye at their place as we’re leaving early tomorrow morning for Tulsa. It was such a blessing that all of the kids got along well and Rich and I enjoyed visiting with Dave and Donna. They always seem to bless us when we get to fellowship with them.




DAY 7
We loaded up the van, cleaned up the cabin and started back towards Tulsa about 9:30 Friday morning. We made it to Amarillo about 2:00 for lunch at Burger King with cousin, Trevor. It was great to spend a couple of hours playing and visiting.


Our ETA in Tulsa looks to be about 10:00 p.m. Once again, it was a fun time at The Woodburn’s Woodshed and we look forward to next year.