If you know me at all, you know that my standard line has always been “I hate the desert.” And yet, here we are, volunteering at Kartchner Caverns State Park in the high desert of southern Arizona for the next four months. We are surrounded by mesquite trees and century plants and prickly pear cactus, and I am truly and deeply loving the landscape.
In some ways I have surprised myself. But in others, not at all. Because I chose to be here. Because Marika really wanted to spend a winter in the desert for the birds. Because I know it’s not forever.
Instead of focusing on the things in the desert that are not my thing (the dryness, the lack of water), I’m appreciating the gorgeous expanse of sky, the intense quiet, and the ring of mountains all around. They are just far enough away that there is an openness, but it’s not infinite, offering a kind of sheltering, spacious comfort.
We arrived on the first Tuesday of December and began orientation and training the next day. One of our jobs is trailing the cave tours, assisting visitors, tagging where people touch the cave, and keeping the group together. On our training tour, I had to leave the cave after 10 minutes because I was having trouble breathing. Unlike other caves, Kartchner Caverns is a wet cave, also called a living cave, so it’s 100% humidity and a constant 71 degrees. Couple the humidity with the 4700′ elevation, and my asthmatic, pot smoking lungs weren’t happy. So I won’t be doing that job. But Marika is liking it.
She is learning about the two men who discovered the cave in 1974, but kept it a secret until they were sure it would be protected. She tells me about the different formations in the caves, one that looks like a strawberry, another, named Kubla Kahn, that is more than fifty eight feet tall, and is the tallest, most massive column in an Arizona cave. And she shows me all of the paperwork she has to fill out after each tour, documenting where people have touched the cave. After each day’s tours, a group goes into the cave to clean those touches.
The other jobs are answering questions and distributing tickets at the Discovery Center desk, greeting visitors and handling day use fees at the entrance gate, and working at the portal of the cave, taking folks who have to suddenly leave the tour, back down to the Discovery Center. I think I could still do that because I wouldn’t have to be in the cave for very long, but it’s not my first choice.
I’m also training to drive the tram that takes visitors from the Discovery Center up to the cave entrance. It’s a bucket list job for me, and it’s not as easy as it sounds. The actual tram driving is pretty straightforward, but the big challenge is coordinating with the other tram driver, and pulling the tram into the loading zone just right, so that the wheelchair ramp has enough clearance.
Last week, I didn’t sleep well most nights, reviewing procedures, rehearsing the list of what people cannot bring into the cave, wondering if I could even go into the cave for a short time. I wasn’t concerned about the computer entry or making change, but I did worry about raising the flags properly at the gatehouse, something I’ve never done before.
Of course, it all went smoothly, and I was reminded by several of the other volunteers that, whatever happens, if nobody gets hurt, it’s all good.
And I have to remember that it’s only our third week here. That, with a couple more weeks under our belts, this will all be easy and comfortable. And I just have to be patient and gentle and compassionate with myself as I learn.
It’s also been a new challenge to work with a changing schedule. Marika and I both work the same shifts, but different jobs, and they start and end at different times. And each day, we are working a different job. So coordinating with Marika’s schedule has been interesting, since we only have one car to get to work. I’m hoping this coming week will be easier, especially now that I have snacks to bring if I have to wait for her. And, if it’s going to be more than an hour, I can ask one of the other volunteers to drive me home.
Unlike all of our other assignments, where there were never more than one or two other volunteer couples, there are fifteen volunteers couples here for the winter. And everyone is very social. With the holidays and a few Park Rangers leaving for other assignments, there have been several potlucks and get togethers, and next week there will be two more, including a white elephant exchange, an ugly sweater contest and a cookie bake-off. Everyone is very nice, and friendly, and helpful, but I’m not a big party person, so this has also been an interesting opportunity for me.
I’m grateful that there are two separate Volunteer Villages, one with eleven spaces near the Discovery Center, and ours, with only five spaces, about a mile up the road, against the mountain. We have full hookups, a double wide space, and a view that stretches to Mexico. And our neighbors are friendly but not chatty.
There’s a great hiking trail at the edge of our Volunteer Village and Cody and I have been enjoying lots of short walks, exploring the group campground at the end of our road, and getting our daily steps in. He’s even been playing with the neighbor dog, a fourteen-month old Scottie who likes to stand on Cody’s back and head, which Cody doesn’t mind.
We found a mobile acupuncturist who drives right by Kartchner on her way home from her Tucson practice, and, after two treatments of electro-acupuncture, which is like a tens unit attached to the needles, Cody has been showing great improvement. He’s able to get himself up from sitting again, and has very few spasms in his back legs. And some mornings, Marika has to jog to keep up with him.
It’s great that we only work four days a week, so that we have time to relax, run errands, and also do some exploring on our days off. One afternoon we drove into Benson, just ten miles down the road, and stopped at the Visitor’s Center for maps and a video about Cochise County. We discovered a delicious Mexican restaurant, and had ice cream at the Old Benson Ice Cream Stop while we watched a train go by. And on the drive home, we had to pull over to see the full double rainbow over the desert.
We invited some friends to see the electric light parade in Benson, and Marika went birding down at the San Pedro house. And last weekend, we drove to Tucson, about an hour away, to check out the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. We oohed and aaahed over the tiny scenes and the details in the work. One of my favorite things was the entrance.
I’ve been taking longer, solo walks, since Cody can only walk short distances. About a quarter of a mile up the trail is a usually dry wash that is now flowing with water from all of the recent rain. There are two large stone steps that lead down to the water and create the perfect sitting spot. Sometimes I write in my journal, sometimes I meditate. Sometimes I just watch and listen to the water rushing over the rocks, and say a huge thank you for this water in the desert, for this place, and even for the new challenges of being here.
Last week I bought myself a radio controlled truck. Years ago we found one at a campground, and I loved driving it through obstacle courses, over rocks, and around the yard. But it drove the dogs crazy, so I gave it away.
I’ve been wanting a new hobby, something new to learn, to practice, to get better at, and I remembered how much fun that truck was. After much research, I chose a four-wheel drive off-road monster truck. When I took it out of the box, I was immediately frustrated. This is not a kid’s toy. It’s intended for RC enthusiasts, has replaceable parts, and can go up to thirty miles an hour.
I was expecting a more plug and play experience. Instead, I had to remove four cotter pins to get to the electronics, and two more to get the battery. The directions for “binding” the truck to the controller were vague, but I figured it out. I charged up the battery, left Cody inside, and took it for a spin.
The controller is shaped like a gun, and the steering is a knob on the side, and not at all intuitive, so it took a while to figure out which way to turn while the truck zipped over the gravel and into the patchy desert. While I was practicing forward and reverse, the truck zoomed under the car, out of view. I brought it back out, but too fast, and it crashed into a cactus. But the four-wheel drive enabled me to get it unstuck. I took it for a few more laps up and down the dirt, then took it inside, convinced that I’d be able to handle this more powerful truck.
It’s going to take a while to get used to the trigger controls and understand the technicalities of trueing the steering, but that’s going to be part of the fun. And next time, I’ll invite Cody out to see how he reacts. Maybe, like me, he’ll just need a little time to get used to it.
