The message to the Florida Legislature is clear: Don't mess with our state parks!

I feel nostalgic today. Not sure why although it may be that I have many years to be nostalgic about. To begin, I was reading the Sunday paper after freeing it from its two protective envelopes but first I had to shake off the water from my neighbor's pre-dawn sprinklers (the lawn looks great!). The meaty part of the Daytona News Journal, Sunday edition, is its Outlook section or op-ed. It includes some meaty opinion columns such as Bill Cotterell's exploration of next year's governor's race ("We're in for a fun race" wrote the headline writer with just a smidge of sarcasm) and Ingrid Jacques' "Trump's tariffs might bring back jobs at a price" and that price may be -- in my opinion -- America's democracy. That anyone might believe that the witless White House resident actually has a policy of any kind, well, I guess that's how we got to this dystopian hell in the first place.

My attention was focused in Florida state parks, trails and historic sites. Rick Christie's column featured letters from state park fans. Six weeks ago, Florida opinion journalists of the USA Today network asked residents to send in written and visual memories of state parks in an effort to save our 800,000 wonderful acres of pristine land from greedheads fronted by the State Legislature. Many writers have warned us about the paving instinct of developers. We can go back to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' writing about Cross Creek and Paynes Prairie among other places. She was friends of some of Florida's early women environmentalists. From Florida Memory at the Florida State Archives: 

In Florida, Marjorie Harris Carr, May Mann Jennings, Jeanne Bellamy, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Mary Grizzle are just a few of the women who worked to protect Florida's environment.

When I was growing up in Daytona, John D. MacDonald raged in "Condominium" about unbridled development. From afar, I read Miami Herald columns by Carl Hiaasen. I don't know most of Florida's recent environmental history as I was working to save and improve Wyoming state parks through  the arts. But those who never left and those who moved here for the Florida that is rapidly disappearing, you were on the front lines to save this heritage. 

I am a retiree returning to Volusia County. My prime growing-up years (13-27) were spent here in Florida's prime growing-up years (1964-1978). My eight brothers and sisters had their globe-trotting years. My brothers Pat and Dan were in the USAF and my sister Molly spent several years tending to new mothers at a base in Italy. My sister Mary tried out New Hampshire and my sister Eileen joined me in Colorado for awhile. Sister Maureen has lived in Mexico City and Lyon, France. Brothers Tom and Tim tried California. They all returned to Florida. I did not. Their roots were deep. Their memories are of sand dunes and unspoiled beaches, heading to Juniper Springs and Ichnetucknee, fishing for snook. camping in the woods. Mine too. 

So I wrote a letter supporting Florida parks and the legislators trying to protect them with House Bill 209 and SB 80. Mine is not featured in today's Outlook. But you can read it here. I reminisced about my days at Tomoka State Park and the Loop Trail. And the beaches where I surfed and hung out with my friends. Florida is a state park and a historic site for its rich heritage. Some of the latter is being scrubbed from school history books as I write because it involves genocide and slavery which apparently never happened although the park has a nice statue of Chief Tomokie of the Timucuan People based on a legend. There is a Timucuan Heritage Trail at Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest. For some reason, it is "temporarily closed." I give you one guess as to the reason. 

I love this country!

I learned a lot from reading today's letters. Dana Hunsley of Panacea, a former park ranger and park safety officer at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, reminded readers that the the Florinda Dep0artment of Environmental Protection (DEP) is better know as the "Department of Environmental Prostitution" for its tendency to favor greed over environmental preservation. Military veteran Tom Wonsiewicz of North Naples celebrated Thanksgiving with his family at Delmore Wiggins Pass State Park. He writes this: "The joyful noise, in many languages, of people enjoying life and each other in beautiful, natural settings is unforgettable." Frank Cover of Cape Coral credits a 2014 visit by boat to Cayo Costa State Park got him hooked on wildlife photography.

The message is loud and clear: Don't f*ck with our state parks. Make sure your legislators hear your pleas. Earth Day is April 22. That's a good day to fire off a letter or e-mail. 

Dear Florida Legislators: Don't monkey around with our state parks

The Sunday Outlook section in the March 2 News-Journal included an editorial by the USA Today Network-Florida Opinion Group. Header: "Support legislation to restrict future development in Florida's parks." An excerpt: "Floridians don't want to see their state parks spoiled by excessive clearing, paving, and building." There was an outcry last year when someone in state government leaked a plan "to put hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other development in nine targeted state parks." That plan disappeared but now there's a bill threatening state parks in the Florida Legislature. So USA Today staff requested letters, op-eds, and photos "to remind lawmakers that they should vote to protect some of our most prized assets."

They asked. I responded with this op-ed:

Save Florida State Parks

The road known now as The Loop was uncrowded when our family first visited Tomoka State Park in September 1964. Two adults, eight kids, and a dog crowded into a Ford Falcon station wagon and made the drive along a tree-shrouded road to the park. We grew up in Colorado where you drive to a park through wide-open vistas until you get to your mountain destination where the trees were. This was a different kind of experience, almost magical. It was jungle full of snakes, alligators and armadillos.

We were kids on that first visit 61 years ago, We romped around the park. Mom warned us about snakes and we didn’t hear anything she said because we were busy playing. We went down to the Tomoka River and looked for rocks to skip along the shore but found none. But we saw turtles and imagined giant gators around the bend in the river. We knew there were creatures called sea cows under the tannin-infused river water.

What a place. “The Legend of Chief Tomokie” statue was still in fine form in ’64. Built by noted sculptor Fred Dana Marsh in 1957, the legend was based on one invented by the daughter of the founder of The Halifax Journal. I thought it was amazing, impressed that Florida had Indians too, most of them long-dead from the civilizing effects of white explorers and settlers. Over time, my brothers and I camped with our father in Tomoka and we ventured out there with our Boy Scout troop that met in Ormond’s First Methodist Church. We eventually saw many snakes and gators. Florida wildlife was amazing. The following summer, when my brother Dan and I went to our first Scout summer camp at La-No-Che near Paisley, we were told to watch out for water moccasins dropping into our canoes from the Spanish Moss-draped cypress trees. To a teen, what could be cooler than that?

Over the years, I’ve camped in Juniper Springs, O’Leno, and Sebastian Inlet state parks. I’ve floated the iconic Ichetucknee, canoed the Withlacoochee (Crooked River), and cruised the Wakulla. We spent our honeymoon on a scuba trip to John Pennekamp Coral Reef. It all fed my love of nature. When I graduated from UF and returned West for a job, my wife and I spent all of our spare time in Colorado and Wyoming state and national parks. We shared these experiences with our children; they are stored in memories and photo albums.

My wife and I returned to Ormond Beach in August. One of our first trips was to Tomoka State Park. Retired and disabled from a bad fall, I get around on an electric scooter. Much of Tomoka was accessible to me. I rode my scooter down the road to the dilapidated Tomokie statue but then got stuck in the sand. Two young mountain bikers pushed me out. They were there to ride the trails. We retreated to The Outpost near the boat launch area and drank lemonade. We listened to the birds and watched boats navigate the river. We enjoyed the day and vowed to return. We will continue doing so as long as it remains a state park and doesn’t morph into some raucous Disney-style resort.

Our daughter moved to Ormond Beach in January. A Wyoming native, she’s already explored Tomoka, viewed the manatees at Blue Spring State Park, and taken a scenic cruise on the St. Johns.

I send an appeal to the Florida Legislature. Do not despoil our great state parks with golf courses, pickleball courts, and tourist lodges. We have enough of those elsewhere. Leave us the Great Outdoors, our sacred spaces.

Cold War nuke site open for visitors on Wyoming’s high prairie

M as in Mike

I as in India

K as in Kilo

E as in Echo

That’s the spelling of my nickname in the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the phonetic alphabet. You’ve used it if you have a commonly misspelled name, or if you find yourself on the end of a Mumbai-based IT help line. Help: H as in Hotel, E as …….

The alphabet is helpful but can be crucial in a military operation or if you’re a pilot on an international airline flight.

Or, let’s say the unthinkable happens and you are charged with the launch of a nuclear strike from a hole in the ground beneath the frozen Wyoming prairie. “Attention Quebec Zero One, we have some bad news for you and the rest of the planet….”

It never happened at the Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility located about 30 minutes north of my house in Cheyenne. Coincidentally, that’s the amount of time it would take from missile launch in Wyoming to detonation in the former Soviet Union. On Friday, I thought about that as we returned from our tour of Q-01, now a Wyoming State Historic Site. Born in 1950, I’ve had nightmares about a nuclear apocalypse. But it’s been awhile since those duck-and-cover drills of elementary school and the very real scare of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

My father worked at Denver-based Martin Company, later Martin-Marietta and now Lockheed Martin. He supervised subcontractors building the earlier iteration of Minuteman and MX sites – Atlas and Titan. He did that job in Colorado and Wyoming and Nebraska and Washington State and Kansas. He dragged his big family along, which gave us a unique view of the western U.S. and fodder for future therapy sessions. 

I was 11 when he arrived home from work in Wichita laden with canned goods and water jugs and commanded us all to get down in the basement. That spooky, musty place was where we were going to ride out the nuke firefight unleashed by the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

The fear was real. History provided a better ending, thankfully. We avoided life as cellar dwellers or death as crispy critters. Two years later, we moved to Florida. Dad’s work with nukes was over and he now turned his attention to getting Americans to the moon.

Our family history is part of the fabric of American history. Maybe that’s why I was so anxious to take my visiting sister Eileen to the state’s newest historical site. She loves history, as do I. She is eight years younger than me, so we experienced those times in dramatically different ways.  But, as curious historians, we both know what happened in the world since World War II. The nuclear age began with the twin bombings of Japan that ended World War II. The arms race began between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. that many thought would end with M.A.D. – Mutually Assured Destruction. 

The western U.S. played a major role with Los Alamos and the first tests in the New Mexico desert. Many nuke tests followed, their fallout drifting over many cities, including Denver. We were all downwinders. Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant was established between Denver and Boulder. Coloradans built plutonium triggers there. It was the site of at least one major accident that created a crop of local downwinders.

According to interpretive exhibits at Quebec 01, the government chose the interior West as hidey holes for its missiles for several reasons: Low population density (more antelope than people}; distant from the coasts and possible Russki nuclear sub strikes; the northern Rockies and Plains were closer to the Arctic Circle, the quickest missile route to Moscow and Red nuke sites. 

B-52s took off from western sites on their way to their fail-safe lines. Many a missileer did stints in the frozen wastelands of Minot and Great Falls and Cheyenne and still do. You can forgive a young airman/woman from Atlanta getting orders for Cheyenne and saying something about going to the middle of nowhere.

But I live there and it’s not so bad. I spent much of my working life touring Wyoming on behalf of the arts. You might be surprised by the art that’s created in this big semi-empty space. The humanities play a major role in our lives. Thus, we spawn some fine state parks and historic sites, even have a state agency to oversee them. Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites employees staff the sites spread around the state. They are based at Quebec 01 to conduct tours and answer many questions posed by the curious. The site opened just three weeks ago after the feds gifted it to the state in 2010.  Staff say that it was stripped to the bone after being decommissioned in 2005. The Air Force brought back some items. Former missileers, retired airmen, and just plain collectors donated other items, such as the VHS player located next to one of the launch chairs (the TV is no longer there). The space looks fine now but it still a work in progress, according to our guide.

There are entrance fees, as there are at most state sites. If you are disabled and use a wheelchair or a walker as I do, call ahead and staff will deploy ramps over the challenging spots in the underground launch capsule. An elevator takes visitors from the topside facility and its historic exhibits to the capsule. Step off the elevator and pass through the gateway that, back in the day, could be sealed by a 30-ton blast door.

For background, go to https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/quebec-01. The site includes photos going back to its building in 1962 all the way to the recent renovation.

Our history, and maybe your family’ history, is just a short drive away.

Who are those guys? Bolivians!

Sundance: Who are those guys?

Butch: Bolivians. From La Paz, I think. Or maybe Cochabamba.

Sundance: Jump!

That really didn't happen in the movie. Butch and Sundance did jump into the river but it was Joe Lefors and his railroad goons who were trailing them.

As the legend goes, Butch and Sundance left Wyoming for Bolivia where they may have been gunned down and buried in an unmarked grave. The most recent of the Butch Cassidy books, Butch Cassidy, My Uncle: A Family Portrait, is by Bill Betenson and published by High Plains Press in Glendo. He asks -- and tries to answer -- the big question: Did Butch die in Bolivia or return to the U.S. to visit family and friends and write a book? Betenson will be speaking this Saturday in Montrose, Colo., at the annual "Tribute to Western Movies" event.

We do know that Butch served a stretch in the Territorial Prison in Laramie. Now it's a state historic site. It will celebrate the Butch Cassidy Festival on June 29, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. It features outdoor activities for kids, such as a baseball toss, bubbleology, shooting gallery, a “prisoner” escape, money scramble, petting zoo and more. And for the whole family: horse-drawn Stagecoach rides, trick ropers’ performance, tractor rides and a display of vintage cars. Mac Blewer and Gary Puls will discuss "Outlaws and Lawmen of Wyoming.”

Also, Bolivian dancers from South America.

“Butch Cassidy Festival is a community event that is about bringing the family together, sharing the outdoors and just having a great time,” says Deborah Amend, site superintendent. “This year’s activities and entertainment will engage all ages. Through Bolivian music and dancing learn about Bolivia, where Butch and the Sundance Kid allegedly had their last stand."

Tickets to the festival are $5 Adults; $2.50 ages 12-17, free for children 11 and younger.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site is located at 975 Snowy Range Rd, in Laramie and is open daily May through October, 8 a.m.–7 p.m.


P.S. Bolivia is really a fascinating country. Did you know that it's officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which recognizes the country's diverse make-up. And that it's not quite a foodie destination like Peru, but that could change. This comes from UK's The Guardian: 

Claus Meyer, the Danish co-founder of Noma – three times voted the best restaurant in the world – is opening his second eatery in Bolivia's de facto capital, La Paz. Gustu will champion the little-known cuisine of South America's poorest nation, blending Meyer's avant-garde cooking methods with local ingredients including llama steak and giant runner beans.

The project aims to create more than just a destination for globetrotting foodies: the $1.4m restaurant includes a cookery school to train a new generation of young chefs and restaurant professionals from poor backgrounds, and all the earnings will be ploughed into a non-profit foundation.

Some very cool things happening in this country once best-known for its drug trade. It's still the world's third-largest coca producer, but a lot of that is licensed for "traditional" use by locals. It's helped to reduce the coca crop, which is a good thing. Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, make his first foray into politics as an activist for coca producers.

That's enough. Sometimes the Internet can be a curse and keep you up all night. 

Celebrate Earth Day! Buy a Bulgemobile!

Bruce McCall's Bulgemobiles, first seen in National Lampoon.

I was a clean-cut lad of 19 when the first Earth Day was christened on April 22, 1970. I remember it well. The magnolias, dogwoods and the Carolina coeds were all in bloom. Not that it mattered much, as my chances were better going out on the town with a bloomin' tree than a real-live coed, most of whom seemed to be focused on their hippie boyfriends. A year later, I would trade my weekly ROTC haircuts for none at all. But in the spring on 1970, I was one squared-away but clueless guy. I was unaware that such a thing as Earth Day had sprouted amidst the counterculture. The earth was a mess. Polluted American rivers, such as the Cleveland's Cuyahoga, caught fire regularly. A few years earlier, Rachel Carson's had exposed the deadly effects of pesticides in Silent Spring. Counterculture types were getting back to the earth with Whole Earth Catalog as their bible and ganja as their guide.

Here it is, 43 years later, and Earth Day has shown a surprising persistence. In some places it's treated as an official holiday, without the day off and newspaper advertising supplements. Celebrate Earth Day! Buy a Bulgemobile!

Yesterday, while perusing the library's electronic card catalog, I saw a number of Earth Day books, most geared to young readers. There were surprisingly few for adults, although there is a new bio of Rachel Carson. The library had plenty of titles on climate change and global warming, many reflecting the battle over the topics, one that has been settled on the side of real science instead of right-wing fantasies.

Governmental entities are even getting into the act when it comes to sponsoring Earth Day events. The much-maligned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring a bunch of Earth Day events all over the U.S. Our region (CO, MT, etc.) boasts a number of them. Alas, there are none in Wyoming, which should make WY Rep. Cynthia Lummis very happy.

My employer, the Wyoming Division of State Parks and Cultural Resources, has teamed up with the Cheyenne Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate Earth Day and National Let’s Get Outside Day at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens' Paul Smith Children’s Village on Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Activities including the making of trash robots, plant necklaces, a story time and a Story Walk, featuring the Giving Tree. Parents are encouraged to recycle old garden hoses by bringing them to the event for use at the Children’s Village. FMI: Ashley Rooney at 307-777-6560 or Ashley.rooney@wyo.gov.

In the "health and fitness" category, local gubment is stepping up to the plate with Step Up Cheyenne. What does health and fitness have to do with the environment? You don't want to be the human equivalent of a bulgemobile, do you? My family participated in StepUp last spring and summer and it did wonders in reducing our unwanted bulges. Walking 10,000 steps a day took 20 pounds off of me, leading to a svelte appearance that caused me to consume fewer resources. This is a public-private collaboration, sponsored by businesses (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, WinHealth Partners) in partnership with Cheyenne Parks & Rec, Cheyenne Greenway Foundation, Laramie County School District No. 1 and a host of others.

Hike Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites while they're still open

Wyoming's state parks and historic sites are treasures. This year, they mark their 75th anniversary. Lots of time and effort has gone into upgrading facilities the past ten years. But unnecessary, Tea Party-inspired legislative budget cuts loom that may soon cut hours and staff and services at the parks. 

So it's a good time to hike these sites on New Year's Day:

For the second consecutive year Wyoming residents can begin the year with eight New Year’s Day guided hikes held at Wyoming Divisionof State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails venues statewide.

The hikes are held in conjunction with similar hikes held in all 50 states; a part of the America’s State Parks First Day Hikes initiative.

These first day hikes were very successful for the Division as last year we had over 500 participants statewide,” State Parks Administrator Domenic Bravo said. “ Last year we only had four parks participating and this year we have doubled that.  First Day Hikes is an initiative of the National Association of State Parks Directors and the America's State Park Foundation, encouraging people to get outside and healthy on January 1 and enjoy one of the many close to home treasurers that the 50 states have to offer.”

Park staff and volunteers will lead the hikes, which average one to two miles or longer depending on the state park or historic site. Details about hike locations, difficulty and length, terrain and tips regarding proper clothing are listed on the America’s State Parks website.  Visit www.americasstateparks.org to find a First Day Hike nearest you.

In Wyoming, hikes will be offered at the following locations and times:

Bear River State Park - Short nature hike along the Bear River.  Hike distance will vary upon participant’s abilities.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Boysen State Park- There will be two hikes along the Wind River of varying difficulties. Begin at 10 a.m.

Curt Gowdy State Park – Up to four mile hike on a trail to be determined. Meet at Aspen Grove Trail head at 1 p.m.

Edness K. Wilkins State Park – There will be two walks.  One will be wheelchair accessible and the other will be on natural surface on the nature trail. Each 2 miles.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Fort Bridger State Historic Site – one mile hike/walk around the historic site. Meet at entrance booth at 1 p.m.

Glendo State Park – A three mile hike around Two Moon Trails and newly constructed Towers trail.  This hike will be held on Saturday, January 5^th at 10 a.m.

Guernsey State Park - Hike will begin and end at the yurts and will be approximately 3 miles in length. The terrain will be a mixture of level to rolling hills.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site - 1 mile hike on the "Deer Path" trail covering level and areas of slightly steep terrain.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Participants are urged to wear adequate clothing, coffee and hot chocolate will be provided, Bonn Fire at most locations, this is a kids and family friendly event, entry fee to participating parks will be waived.

RSVPs are requested but not required. Please RSVP by emailing Paul.Gritten@wyo.gov.

For more information, please call the Wyoming Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails at 777-6323.