Pictures From the Pawnee--1995

Once again, I am stepping back in time and posting a piece which would have been a blog post had blogging been around at the time. Instead, the account was printed, then preserved in plastic sleeves in a cardboard folder. Blowing off 17 years of dust, this seems a fine time to turn the story into the blog post it always longed to be.

And I say "once again" because I posted a similar piece here. Lots more information about the hardware and software used in that post.

Technology wise, 1995 was an exciting time. I had a new video camera, screen capture device and printer. My computer was hardly cutting edge, but it nonetheless represented a substantial investment, expensive enough that Joe and I were still sharing a computer. Digital (still) cameras were still in their infancy and hideously expensive. Scanners were pricy and produced fairly low-res grayscale images. On the software side, graphical interfaces and WISWYG were still fairly new concepts. Multi-tasking wasn't possible and much of what was possible was wonky and clunky by today's standards. But at the time, that wonky and clunky seemed novel and pretty streamlined and I did my best to take advantage of the possibilities it offered.

Comanche National Grassland

Our drive home from White Sands took us through the section of Comanche grassland south of Rocky Ford / LaJunta CO. (Like the Pawnee, Comanche is split into two sections, we were in the NW section).
We've driven through the SE section many times on US 287 south of Springfield CO, but in all those times we never stopped to appreciate the beauty beyond the highway shoulders. This trip Joe decided it was time to take a closer look, so we took a drive on Road 801 to see what we could see:

View Larger Map

If you're interested, viewing the larger map is worth it...
otherwise you need to (-) out and scroll to the right.
Love this mapping capability, but haven't quite got all the details figured out yet


Road 801 was easy running for the Camry


the scenery was breathtaking in every direction we looked


the grassland was full of blooming plants, these yucca are very different than most of the ones we saw in NM


moths (yucca pollinators) were all over these stalks which must have bloomed awhile ago...



we saw these flowering cacti throughout mid- and northern NM, the plants are about waist high and I believe they are cane cholla


they were also covered with new growth buds


a close-up shows the waxy texture of these brilliant flowers, similar to prickly pear flowers



we also saw lots and lots of these orange flowers on very hairy leaf- and stalk plants




although fairly small flowers, their orange is brilliant and widely visible, especially in large groups



lots of grass blooming


the curly strings of this type of grass sit on the top of some fields and made interesting reflections in the afternoon sun


this is a common roadside grass in S CO and N NM, we saw lots on this trip



this was one of the few sunflowers we saw in flower, most will be blooming much later

I saw these flowers in just a small section of our drive. Tried for a close-up but the camera just  refused to focus on the flowers


we saw quite a few of these vines with large, folded leaves growing in the right-of-way on this trip, so when I saw one growing a ways off the road in Comanche, I had to hike over for a look. The flowers are hidden from view under the vines and leaves, even being orange I didn't see them until I was pretty close.


close inspection reveals the flowers' texture




must be some kind of squash or melon??


our route home, "view larger map" will give you all the details (in a new window)...

We had a wonderful time on our excursion into the Comanche grasslands, so glad we were able to take the drive. Unlike the Pawnee, we didn't see a single sign of energy exploration or extraction. In fact, we didn't see anyone, on foot or in a vehicle, on the entire drive. Just bugs, birds, a rabbit and some breathtakingly beautiful scenery.