The Hall of the White Giant

When we got to Carlsbad Caverns, we started asking questions. Since John's dad was a Park Ranger, we figured we would start there. Ranger Daniel Rogers told us that Ranger John Hatch worked at Carlsbad Caverns for 2 years and then was transferred to a park in Colorado. I told him about John's journal that I found, and about the drawings of the Golden Wing. Ranger Rogers said that John spent a lot of his time in the Hall of the White Giant. It is a remote part of the Cavern that you have to do some crawling to get to. Ranger Rogers said, "One time, I asked John what he does in there. He said that he liked to draw and write stories." I asked, "Can we go there with you?" He said, "That's okay, but you have to be brave." "I'm brave," I said, "the only thing I'm afraid of is the dark." "Well, the cave is dark, ya know," said the Ranger. I said, "Yes sir, but we have flashlights." And then I said, "Wait! Are there any ghosts in there? I'm also afraid of ghosts." And he said, "There is no such thing as ghosts." I said, "I know, I was just kiddin' ya." So, off we went to the Hall of the White Giant. We had to do a lot of crawling. One time, my hand slipped and then my feet did. So, I was hanging on with one hand. The Ranger said, "Roy, put your feet down, you can touch the bottom." "Oh," I said, and then I said, "I didn't know that." I stood up and put my feet on the floor. Dad said, "Come on, Roy, get up here. All of us are at the top except you."
I said, "Dad, I see something. Can I crawl over to the side to get a better look." Dad said, "Yes." I carefully climbed over there. I took a look and found a loose rock. It almost squashed my finger. "I found a loosed rock," I yelled up to everyone. I gently pulled it out so I wouldn't squash my finger. There was a piece of paper back behind it. I said, "Ranger Rogers, can you hand me the flashlight, please?" He said, "Okay." Mom and Dad followed him down to me. I flashlighted on the paper. I saw a plane of some kind. The battery was almost dead on the flashlight, so I couldn't see real good. Dad said, "Here, I've got a little pocket light in my pocket." "Okay, thanks," I said, "I think I see some gold, I do see some gold. Just like the picture in John's Journal. Probably the same crayon or pencil." We all looked around to see if we could find something else. We found another loose rock, but there was only a small rock behind it. We went a little closer. I said, "I hope there aren't any trap doors ." Right then my foot fell a little through the floor. That piece of the floor was lower than the rest of the floor. Just then, I looked up. I saw a giant block open up. I jumped over to the side and rolled through a door. A secret door. "I never knew that was there. I looked for secret doors, but I never looked down by the floor. I never thought there would be one there," said Ranger Rogers. He said, "I thought I looked right there yesterday." I said, "Probably you were in another area." Ranger Rogers said, "Oh yeah, it wasn't this area it was in the Spider Cave." I said, "I thought it would be another place. Can you hand me the flashlight, please? Gotta take a closer look. Do you have any binoculars?" Dad said, "I don't think I have any." I had to reach my arm in there. Something bit me. I looked closer and it was a bat. I took my arm out of there, took my whip out and cracked it. The sound scared the bat and it flew away. I put my arm back in and it got bit again. This time it was a lizard. I cracked my whip once, but the lizard didn't leave. I tried again, it still didn't leave, so I jumped up and cracked it at the same time and finally the lizard got scared and left. I shined the flashlight to make sure there was no more animals. There wasn't so, I reached my arm in there and pulled out another piece of paper. It read, "Dad just told me that he is getting transferred to..." I had to try to figure out what state it was by the clues. The first clue was that the first rodeo was held in Deer Trail on July 4, 1869. That didn't help me. The second clue was Mike the headless chicken day. That's wierd. Celebrating a headless chicken? That is very weird. Because... It's just hard to explain it. Okay I'll try. There was a man that had a chicken. He cut off the chicken's head and the chicken lived for four more years. The last clue said that this state's name means colored red and it is the Centennial State. Mom said, "When I was a kid, my family went to Colorado and we met the farmer that cut off Mike's head." Then I said, "That explains everything. Wait...Ranger Rogers said earlier that John and his parents had been transferred to Colorado. Why did I forget that? We should have left earlier." I sighed. So off to Colorado we went. To be continued...