After leaving the Titan II museum we went to Biosphere II. Biosphere II is located at the north of Tucson, AZ at a place called Oracle, AZ. It is a research facility currently owned by the University of Arizona. The Biosphere 2 mimics various biomes of the Earth (Earth is the original Biosphere, or Biosphere 1). Biosphere II is made of various glass domes containing a rainforest, an ocean, mangrove wetlands, Savanna grasslands and a fog desert. It also has an orchard. It was originally intended to research, develop and study a self-sustaining space. In 1991, 8 people were sealed inside the Biosphere for 2 years. They were given the tasks to survive the two years with almost no food supplies from outside, carefully control and study the environment and maintain all the equipment. Ultimately their carbon dioxide levels got too high and oxygen levels went down to 15%, forcing them to get some oxygen from outside. Regardless, they impressively managed to stay in the space for 2 years, undoubtedly learning essential lessons and getting experimental data.

We spent a lot of time exploring the biosphere. It is a beautiful and an impressive research facility. We also got a tour of the “lung” of the Biosphere. This is a large dome that can expand or contract the volumetric space in the Biosphere by using a rubber membrane. When the biosphere gets warm during the day or cold at night, the air expands or contracts. The lung helps appropriately releasing air to prevent the glass to break out due to the temperature changes.

We camped for two nights a little away from the Biosphere II. It was a nice location with grass and desert landscape, and plenty of coyotes! Kylo had an exciting time barking at the intruders. After leaving Biosphere II, we drove through a very scenic Salt River Canyon. This is a huge canyon with impressive rock formations and the Salt river far down below. Leena was sick that day, so we couldn’t quite enjoy the breathtaking scenes. That night we parked slightly north of a place called Snowflake, AZ. Here’s a canyon named the 5 mile canyon. It was beautiful. We arrived in the evening. It was pretty cold that day.

The next morning we woke up to a whole new problem. Leena was better, but Rosie’s back was totally falling over. She has Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) which is very common with older German Shepherds. She has had it for a while and we worried a bit about it during the beginning of the trip. However, that day we were truly upset. It looked like the end of Rosie. Once the back starts falling and the back paw turns over such that the dog lands on the front of the paw, rather than the paw pad, the progression of the illness would be that she would lose control over pee and poop. This would mean a big mess on her fur and skin, and an unsalvageable situation for us. We were all quite depressed and in tears that day.

Moving to the positives, we were going to hike down the canyon. As were were about to leave, a couple stopped next to us. They lived in Snowflake, AZ. They asked us to join them on the hike. So we all minus Rosie went down the canyon. Ordinarily you can hike far into the canyon. However, the recent rains had caused the river to swell up. The woman (Azzy) braved the river and found a way over by walking through the high current, freezing waters. Johan, Tanya and Kylo went over as well. However, Leena (or I) weren’t keen. So we decided to explore the dry part of the canyon instead. Azzy was into bouldering and she taught Leena a bit. I suspect Leena has taken to it. Now we’ll have to find opportunities for her to try bouldering or similar climbing activities. I found it interesting that a day so depressive can take such a positive spin because of two ordinary strangers putting a bright spot into our day. So, yes, indeed, it is a beautiful life.

Leena and I worked our way outside the canyon by climbing boulders. I suspect our walk was more fun than Johan, Tanya and Kylo’s. We came back to the bus and stayed at the same location that night. The next day we went in the direction of Petrified wood national forest.

Petrified wood was formed millions of years ago. The river cut trees that went downstream and got buried. All the organic matter was eventually replaced by quartz and trace minerals to form beautiful, spectacular tree sections. Awesome! We stopped for a brief walk into the forest and did the junior ranger activities. It was a nice day.

Rosie continued to struggle. Johan was the only one taking her out by propping her back up with a scarf. Her back became very heavy like dead weight because of the near paralysis, and it became out of my abilities to take her out. These were depressing days. I started dosing her with high dosage Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). I am still doing that. Back home, Johan has treated Rosie with laser, which helps in slowing demyelination and improves nerve function. We were frustrated that we didn’t have access to the laser. Johan has a friend, Lloyd, in Norman, Oklahoma. Johan bought a laser and had it shipped to Lloyd.

While waiting for the shipment to arrive, we moved onto the Zuni reservation in New Mexico. The Zunis are over-studied Native Americans that live on the west of New Mexico. Their tribes were invaded by the Spanish who then introduced them to their way of life and re-did the map of the area. The Zunis are no fans of the Spanish. They had a nice little museum on Zuni history. We checked it out. Following this, we went over to El Morro national monument, which is enroute Albuquerque, NM. El Morro consists of large rock formations where the Spanish passed through and inscribed their names. So after we heard the Zunis bash up the Spanish, we learnt about the brave Spanish pioneers who went through El Morro, and the hardships they endured.

For us, the most interesting part of El Morro was a 3.5 mile hike up the rocks. A part of the hike was closed due to snow. But Johan wouldn’t let that stop us (sigh). So we went through the closed snowy path. It was a bit scary but we made it out alive. It was a lot less scary than the one we did four years ago at Bryce Canyon. There also we had encountered a closed hiking path due to snow. But the steep drops and excessive snow made that hike very frightening. Regardless, we survived both and so I live to tell this tale. We left El Morro and drove to Grants, NM.

We parked outside Grants, NM for the evening. We had a frustrating encounter with a runaway German Shepherd that we tried to rescue. She was running along the highway. However, she was much too fast for us and so we had to give up our quest to catch her. Hopefully she survived. The next day we went to a Uranium mining museum in Grants, NM. This modest museum had a nice, self guided tour through underground mines. We had a lovely time exploring it.

We then went to the nuclear museum in Albuquerque, NM. This was a truly spectacular museum with a lot of interesting exhibits, well-presented along with a lot of hands-on activities for kids. We loved it here. We drove out of Albuquerque that evening. A storm was coming in to Texas. Our destination was Norman OK where the laser was waiting for us. We wanted to get ahead of the storm and so we spent a lot of the next day and night pulling through to Norman OK.

We parked by Lloyd’s place around 6 am. Lloyd was out to receive us. We all went for breakfast at a local diner. Once back, Johan and Lloyd went to his lab (Lloyd is a Physics Professor at the University of Oklahoma) to get the laser to work. Around 10 am, Tanya, Leena and I decided to walk over to the library which was a mile away. It was a fun walk and a lovely library. However, the storm came in, and we got stuck for many hours there. We read, researched and explored the library. We ran back when there was a slight break in the storm. That evening we went out for dinner at a nice, alternative style restaurant with Lloyd and his girlfriend Joyce. It was a fun time. However, when we got back, we discovered that Kylo had torn up one of our couches in rage at us disappearing for all these hours. Sigh. The redesigned couch is not overly uncomfortable, but definitely ugly!

The next morning, Johan went for breakfast with Lloyd. They hung out for a long time. So Tanya, Leena and I decided to explore downtown. Wisely, we took Kylo along so that our other couch would be spared! We went through downtown and had a fun girls time together. Then we decided to lunch at the same restaurant where we had had dinner the previous night, since it was dog friendly. We got a small lunch and drinks and enjoyed a game of snakes and ladders.

We got back to the bus and drove out of Norman, OK. Rosie has been doing better. She is also perky, as if she feels that her body is capable of more. So she keeps getting out of the bus. She runs, and then her back falls over, but it is still a bit better than before. We are now driving through Arkansas on Interstate 40. We plan to finish our trip by going through the Outer Banks in North Carolina and hang out at the beach!

Ohh, here come my dear animals. Let’s see what they have to say.

Kylo Ren the dog: Life is definitely beautiful. That I will admit. Everyday is a new adventure. However, lately I have been getting into all kinds of trouble over nothing. Honestly, I haven’t done anything wrong. I mean, I did eat the couch, but as mom said, it was a redesign. The redesigned couch is actually better because I took a chunk out of the foam that makes it easier for my unhandy humans to get in and out of it! Oh, and, I also ate the new comforter. And the brush handle. Ok, let’s not go there (gulp).

As I was saying, I have been getting yelled at for no reason at all. Rosie is the one who should be getting yelled at. She actually fell on top of me the other day. And when I looked upset, mom told me off. Imagine that! If I as much as go anywhere near her, the whole set of humans start screaming like crazed hyenas. Eye roll. Ok, fine. I will stay away from her.

One thing I had to tell you, I am very smart. Did I ever say that before? So my humans were talking and whenever they talked about my wife, I would look at Rosie. They were so impressed, they kept asking me where my wife was! I didn’t get it! She was right there all this time, so I just had to look at her and they would laugh and clap and ask me again. To tell you the truth, I find my humans juvenile and silly. But, let’s not go there (either!).

Rosie has been getting weaker so I have many responsibilities now. I am trying to take care of all the intruders, pests such as ants (I eat them, yum!) and my humans and chickens in general. My humans got teary last week and so I gave them plenty of cuddles. I do love their sweet cuddles. Oh, here comes the chicken. Over to Miss Daisy!

Daisy the chicken: I am the quiet one. But I am not low in the pecking order. In fact, after successfully pushing Baby down to the last, I am number 2, right after Lazy Laurie. Few fun facts about me. Rosie loves me, absolutely. She will always catch me between her front paws and starts licking my neck. That’s a bit scary sometimes, but she is a gentle giant so I sit patiently while she does that. Once, however, she went crazy and chased me hard. Then Lazy Laurie came to my rescue. Lazy Laurie was so brave, she literally flew in between Rosie and me throwing Rosie off. She may have even slapped Rosie with her wings, kung fu style. Rosie was so stunned that she slowed giving me enough time to reach the coop and my slow humans the much needed time to catch Rosie and drag her away! Ever since then, I have worshipped Lazy Laurie!

Let me tell you what happened to me the end of last year. It was very cold for a couple of nights, even for the hardy breed of Rhode Island Reds such as us. My comb froze over. Luckily one of the human girls saw this and grabbed me. This was one of the few times that I was happy to be grabbed. They took me in. Mom put a wet warm wash cloth on my comb and I got royally pampered. I was kept in a little cage inside the house for a few days! While this was fun, it was also a bit scary. I didn’t want to lose my spot in the pecking order, and I didn’t want to be pecked to death by my jealous sisters upon return. Luckily, the weather improved and I was able to join my flock fast. We left for the road trip soon after and my comb has healed beautifully. So that’s my big story. I am going to see if I can find a piece of tortilla. There’s one under the water can. Let me get that. Laters!