Woke up at a decent time, meaning
we didn’t sleep half the morning away.
Kim decided we should do something away from camp today. So, what did I
want to do? Well, on the way to Arizona, I had said that sometime before March
we should make a trip to Whitewater Draw to see the sandhill cranes before they
migrate. Today was as good a day as any.
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It’s about 2 ½ hours to Whitewater Draw from the campground; it’s southeast
of Benson, which is east of Tucson. But it’s a nice drive…well, except for the last mile or so, but I’ll get to that later.
This is the 3rd year we’ve made the trip to Whitewater Draw to see the cranes;
we didn’t go in 2023 because by the time we had time to go, the cranes had
already left on their migration journey. At least that’s what the AZGFD (Arizona
Game and Fish Department) website indicated. In 2022, the first year we
visited, the website boasted that there were 20,000 cranes at the draw, gathering
up to migrate. Can’t say for sure how many cranes there were because counting
was impossible, but I had no problem believing it numbered in the tens of
thousands. And, right or wrong, that’s the standard by which we’ve judged
subsequent visits.
The next time we visited, in 2024, the number of cranes was substantially
less. There were still a largenumber but not as many as in 2022. This year,
the number has decreased again. But make no mistake, if today was the first
time you visited Whitewater Draw, you’d be impressed with the number of cranes
in one area. And we’ve always been there in the afternoon, so maybe today some
cranes were still out doing crane things. Or it’s possible that migration has started
because of the warm weather.
Also, the lake that the cranes gather in and around has gotten smaller. This year, there were many grass tufts
growing in the water area and the water has receded maybe 20 to 30 feet from
the viewing platforms. I was curious as to the source of the water; is it
spring fed or is it at the mercy of the amount of rainfall? Time for a Google
search. This is what I learned:
Mountain origin: The water originates in the Chiricahua Mountains.
Ephemeral
stream: Whitewater Draw is considered an ephemeral
stream, meaning it only flows during periods of significant rainfall, typically
during monsoon season.
Drainage
basin: The water drains from the Douglas basin.
Name
origin: "Whitewater" refers to the white caliche
deposits along its banks.
Besides cranes,
there was a large flock of snow geese in one of the bigger areas of water. In
the past there had only been a handful of snow geese, so this was a major improvement
in their numbers. Sandpipers, shovelers, and other smaller birds were plentiful
also. While the amount of cranes wasn’t up to the standard of 2022, it was
still an enjoyable day. We didn’t walk down Picacho Hwy today as we knew that
we’d be doing some walking at the draw.
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The last 3 ½ miles
to Whitewater Draw are gravel. Today a portion of it was being graded and
watered; made for some smooth driving. The last mile didn’t seem to have been
graded yet; it was what I would call a ‘washboard’. When we left, Kim was driving slowly to keep
the dust down. But we hit the washboard
area and everything that was on a flat surface started vibrating. Phones,
notebook, camera, and glasses were all doing a crazy dance toward the floor. Kim
sped up, mentioning something about the ‘rabbit bumps’. Rabbit bumps? What are rabbit bumps? He
explained that they were the type of bumps we had just ridden over. I’d never
heard of rabbit bumps, so I googled it. Apparently, the internet world hadn’t
heard of rabbit bumps in the context of a road surface, either. Then he mentioned that maybe it was called ‘chatter
bumps’, which I’d also never heard of. So, I googled again and bingo! ‘chatter
bumps’ is a phrase the internet knows. A good synonym would be ‘washboard’.
There are many
theories as to why this annoying road feature occurs and many engineers have
tried to design washboard-resistant roads with no success. The ripples always
showed back up. Then a trio of men researched
and experimented to find out why the washboard recurs after a road has been
graded. Didn’t matter what they did, the results were the same: the washboard
returned. Their solution? After a road has been graded, go slow…very slow. “The critical velocity below which [the surface] would remain
flat is about 5 miles per hour,” was the advice of one of the researchers.
----------
We were
listening to the radio on the way back to camp; the song American Pie came
on. I mentioned that I find it
interesting that people think they know the meaning of a song when only the songwriter
truly knows. Isn’t the most we can say
is what a song means to us? Anyway, we both knew that thelyric ‘the day
the music died’ referred to the day that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the
Big Bopper died in a plane crash. That much had been well publicized. I know
this song well enough that I can sing all the words, and I have to admit that when I hear it, I’ve
wondered what the heck it means. And today, as we listened, I was struck yet again that not all the lyrics supported the one
idea. The song had to be about more than three artists dying in a plane crash,
so I googled “meaning of American Pie”.
What I found is that there’s a documentary called ‘The Day the Music
Died’ on Paramount+, in which Don McLean talks about the meaning of the song
and many others talk about what the song means to them. Here’s a little bit
from the article promoting the documentary:
After
the documentary goes through much of the back story of “American Pie,” McLean
sits down and does what he’s never done before. Verse by verse, he goes through
what he means by the lyrics.
Although the first verse clearly refers to
the pain he felt over the death of Buddy Holly, many lines of the song relate
to McLean’s childhood and other life experiences. Others come from songs, the
culture, or things happening in the world at the time. Some references are
deeply personal.
“Well, I know that that
you’re in love with him, I saw you dancing in the gym. You both kicked off your
shoes, Man I dig those rhythm and blues” refers
to a young, lonely McLean, watching other kids have happy experiences.
His line “For 10 years we’ve been on our
own, Moss grows fat on a rolling stone” is about McLean and his mother, following
the death of his father in 1960.
The article goes on about other
lyrics and I was hooked…I knew I had to watch the documentary when we got back
to the camper.
Garth Brooks
describes “American Pie” as “quite possibly the
greatest song in music history”. Right now, I’m not sure why he thinks that,
maybe in the documentary he’ll explain his reasoning. But when I read his
comment, I asked Kim if he’d put American Pie in that category; he said he
wouldn’t. Neither would I, but then again neither of us could come up with a song that
would fit that bill, either. So, maybe American Pie is quite possibly
the greatest song in music history, and we just don’t know it yet. I’m going to watch ‘The Day The Music Died’
and find out.
After the show ended, I went in search of
the video of the group Home Free singing the song with Don McLean. Also, I believe the only
song I know of Don McLean’s is American Pie. Going to investigate some of his other
work also.
**Update: Garth Brooks explained at length why the song
meant so much to him and I can see why he made the ‘greatest song in music history’
comment. He approached it from a performer’s perspective.
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“Horse With No Name” (America) is another puzzler as far as
the meaning goes. Maybe I’ll look into
that one tomorrow.
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Kim is imaging The Spaghetti Nebula
tonight. A faint nebula, it’s requires
long exposures. It’ll be another late
night for him.
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