Jack, Is That You II

August 26, 2018

Capulin Volcano and Sign

 

OK, I promised we would look for Jack Heacock at the Capulin Volcano National Monument on our way back from Oregon, so we did.  We drove through all that awful traffic on I-25, around  Denver, down into New Mexico and arrived at Capulin about mid-afternoon — to find dark clouds and the gate at the base of the volcano closed.  “Why is the gate closed?” I asked the young lady behind the desk at the Visitor’s Center. 

Road Closed to Capulin Volcano

 

 “Too dangerous up there,” she replied.  “Lighting can be particularly dangerous on that volcano.   As soon as the storm is over and all is safe, we will open the gate again.”

“Well, OK,” I said, “but I’m not particularly afraid of lightning.  I’ll give you a bite of my ice-cream cone if you will open the gate for us.”

“As tempting as your bribe is, I cannot make an exception for you,” she replied with a smile.

“How long do you think we might have to wait?”

“I can’t really say,” she said, “could be a while.”

So, we wandered through the gift shop and bought some lovely, made-in-Mexico, dark chocolate, then went back outside to view the building storm.  We decided that the advice we received from the receptionist was not too bad after all, because the dark clouds were swirling, the winds were increasing and bolts of lightning were stabbing at the New Mexican landscape.  My nephew, Sterling Miller later explained that when he visited, he saw evidence where lightning had struck the benches on Capulin and was informed that iron ore in the mountain increased the risk of lightning strikes.  

Anyway, as Pat and I stood at the foot of the volcano, looking up at the developing storm, I had a vision.   I imagined Jack standing on the rim of this volcano, with his arms raised, giving directions to this evolving storm.  As a matter of fact, it soon occurred to me that there was no need to visit the volcano anymore to see if Jack was there.  The fact that the storm started just when we arrived might be taken as definitive evidence that Jack was up there stirring up this wicked storm.  Maybe we found Jack there after all.

So we left.

Now you know.

 

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