The Log

DAY 9, JUNE 7, 1993

(SAM) We woke up on Monday to a delicious Mrs. Z breakfast consisting of eggs, sausage, and biscuits. Tex and Pat then took us to Seminole State Park which was partly made from their property. Here we came in contact with the prehistoric people of the lower Pecos. In the Museum, we also saw a picture of the Zuberbueler great-grandparents. We then went to the bridge over the Pecos River. It is the tallest bridge is Texas. We though about Bungie-jumping, but we had no bungie so we contented ourselves with climbing down the cliff. From the lookout one could see a large portion of the Zub ranch bordered by the Pecos and the Rio Grande. One could also see the part of the old South Western railway which is no longer in use. Our next stop was Vinagerone. This was a little town on the Zub Ranch where the Chinese lived back when they were employed to build the railroad in 1880. One could still see the half ruined walls of the stone houses. There was lots of trash everywhere but since the Chinese left it there a hundred years ago, it is now called artifacts. We found very rusted but extremely valuable Chinese v-8 and sardine cans. This part of out trip is well documented by the fabulous filming ability of Foley. We then proceeded into a cave the Chinese had carved out of stone for the railroad. Upon entering the dark tunnel, the first inquiry to be made was "Why is the floor so soft?" to this the friendly Texan guide would respond "That's bat guana." Even if you are not familiar with the term "guana" your nose will soon tell you what it meant.

We could not see the light at the end of the tunnel so we had to settle for some light about half way down it out a side passage. As we turned to the right and supposed freedom, we could hear the bats farther down in the cave. The only obvious thing to do was to throw rocks into the darkness as we left. We soon discovered that the side passage led us only to a rocky cliff over looking the Rio Grande and Mexico. We had great fun throwing rocks and making landslides. When we re-entered the tunnel to return from whence we started, we could see many bats circling ahead. Tex was the only Zub with us, Pat had been poisoned by eating ancient Chinese Sushi. Anyway, Tex informed us that these were the famous Texan head-hunting bats. But we made it out with only minor casualties and once again headed for the Zub homestead.

While we were taking our repose, Pat had to leave for business classes in Del Rio. Tex then took us out in his Toyota truck in which he spends his entire summers. We drove through the Zub property to where the state stole the land where the Indian drawing was located. We climbed down into a canyon and threw rocks at a water snake. Tex then took us to the People of the lower Pecos rock wall drawing. It looked something like this: (drawing of surfer saying, "Surf naked dude").

We then began to smash rocks, but Matt won by pushing the biggest rock in the park off the canyon wall.

(CHRIS) Then we went to a windmill on their property (afternoon 6/7). Matt, Sam, and Jon all climbed up it and all of us drank water out of the holding tank that the windmill filled. Their was a waterbug in the tank, but Sam killed it after Matt vacated it. Before returning to the house, we saw the famous upsidedown tree which was stupid. But the famous deer-in-a-fence was really neat. The skeleton was lying next to the fence with the leg extended up to where the paw was caught in the top 2 wires of the fence. This was the fence into the park land that the state took form the Zub's. Such a horrible death often meets those who try to cross into the park without a permit. However we did OK when we snuck in to see the painting.

Tex was being a wildman the whole time. He chased a jackrabbit down the road in his Toyota truck with all of us screaming with glee from the back. Soon after returning to the house, Kathy Moriarity and Tina Koch arrived. So we chatted with them for awhile. Dinner was good--hamburgs and refried beans (which came back to haunt me later).

Before dark, all of us went out in the truck again, hoping to see a snake (at least we 4 Tumbleweeds were) but no dice. But we did spend an eventful 1/2 hour throwing rocks at the birds at ranch HQ. Bill, Kathy, and Tina did not join us 4 and Tex but merely observed our strange behavior and took notes for the local shrink. We came close, but all the birds escaped unhit.

Good conversation and the last of the mooched Cokes were the order of business before we hit the hay. The girls took over our room so all but Sam (who has his own small room) were sent to the trailer adjoining the house. It was nice, tho, and air conditioned.