but not long ago i was up at a place called chimney rock in southwest colorado. and it's over 8,000 feet. and you are up at the southern end ftd rocky mountains and there is this scarp of rock that rises up probably about a thousand feet out of a valley floor and right at the tip of this scarp there are two twin towers of rock. if you get to a certain place on top of this very narrow butte, you can see between these twin towers and there happens to be a great house built between these two towers and every 18.6 years when the moon goes into its northernmost point on the horizon, it rises between those two towers. i was there at the beginning of the last 18.6 year cycle and we stood up there, probably 20 of us, researchers, forest service people, all gathered at the same spot with cameras and huddled -- it was late december at 8,000 feet and we were all watching this gap. and somebody had done very intricate work to figure out exactly where you need to stand to see the light at exactly the right time. and as we were all gathered up there, i remember this older arch

i mean, to understand these, this one came out of a 13th century site in southwest colorado and i would sit with these bowls for hours and hours, drawing them into my sketch book because that was the only way i could really understand the complexity of how they got their symmetries to match up because i could never get them to match up in my drawings. i could never do a 100 percent accurate rendition of these because every line was meaningful, every line meant something about how you paint the next line, which is what it's like walking out there, looking for those shapes, looking for water, looking for springs, looking for places where the rain has fallen. it's all the same story out there. there is a 13th century or a 14th century polychrome vessel from below the mugion rim in central arizona. and this is 100 years after the anastazi supposedly disappeared, there's that story about one day this whole civilization just vanished. but if you start following the civilization, you can find where it went. you can find this culture's movement across the land. these images inside this bowl cam

colorado rocked by a magnitude 5.3 centered about eight miles southwest of trinidad right there on ther of new mexico. shaking could be felt as far north as colorado springs, about 130 miles away. homes were damaged and there are reports of rock slides. another natural disaster in the making. hurricane irene strengthening by the second as it heads towards the bahamas likely to become a category 3 today and could grow to a cat 4 by thursday threatening florida, georgia and probably south carolina as well. likely south carolina. >> exactly. >> check out these images. this is a massive fire, as you can see, it was caused by lightning. the mansion that you're looking at, you always read about this mansion in all of the celeb magazines. it belonged to billionaire richard branson. yeah. kate winslet and her kids were staying there when it happened. branson says winslet helped save his 90-year-old mother as the house burned down and we are remembering the life of le legendary rock 'n' roll songwriter this morning. >> ♪ you ain't nothing but a hound dog ♪ >> gary lieber along with his song wri

southwest. >> phoenix climbs to 109. colorado springs, 99.m fargo to detroit, much of the northeast. 95 in new orleans. and a sweltering 106 in the big "d". >> dallas is not getting a break. >>> here's a little something that you can add to your list of really, really bad ideas. don't motorize your ice chest that's full of booze and take it out for a test drive after drinking much of the contents. >> that's exactly what australian christopher petri did. and now he's paying big time. it turns out his cooler on wheels qualifies as a vehicle and his blood alcohol was three times the legal limit when police stopped him. so, he was convicted, yep, of drunk driving and now he's losing his l lense for ten months. >> and i have a feeling that it s one of those ideas that he'd been drinking and he said, you know what, i mean, it's gegeus, put your name on it. >> i'm sure at the time it seemed real smart, but a motorized cooler full of booze. >> people at home going -- >> i don't see the problem. yeah, i saw how you rode to work. >> you're sitting on a

colorado we go here. a very large dust devil formed monday in a denver suburb. these whirlwinds are common in the western southwestally in hot, dry conditions. they're somewhat similar to tornadoes. kind of looks like one. usually harmless, though, like this one as you see here. >>> in maine one person was seriously injured and four others hurt in what's called a back flash. it's an accident at the great falls balloon festival this past weekend. a cloud of propane was discharged into the air and sparked a fireball. >>> a week of celebrations in washington, d.c. to honor the opening of the martin luther king memorial. the festivities end this sunday. the 48th anniversary of king's "i have a dream" speech. chip reid takes his first look. >> reporter: when they opened the gates to the martin luther king memorial madeline coleman was one of the first in line, when she looked up at the face of dr. king, 30 feet above, she remembered the first time she saw him, 48 years ago, on the national mall. >> i have a dream. that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. >> reporter: everyone there

southwest, the only major airline that never charges change fees. earthquake has shaken southern some breaking news coming out of the rocky mountains now, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake has shaken colorado miles west of a town called cokedale. >>> ground shaking now, the raider report, right? >> a little bit of news coming out of raider land. jason campbell was held out of practice today after being hit on the head. meanwhile the raiders picked up another quarterback today. >> good job. good job. >> former ohio state quarterback, terrelle pryor was the only player chosen in today's nfl supplemental draft. the raiders used a third round pick on pryor, that means they will forfeit the pick in next year's draft. he is suspended for the first five games of the nfl season as part of the fall out of the rules violations at ohio state. >> he is another young athlete that we are going to add to the mix that plays quarterback and we will work with him and get him to be a good player. >> i'm glad to be wearing black and silver. >> it was a huge accomplishment for tp, and then to go to the raiders that was awesome. taking nothing away from campbell but they have an unsettled quarterback. >> what i

heavy downpours in the southwest around phoenix, denver and salt lake city. >> 88 in billings and 91 in coloradost. dallas still sizzling, 108 today. meanwhile, some 90s in new orleans, miami, and atlanta. >> all right, still hot there. >>> listen up, if turkey burgers are on your menu these summer days the big meat producer cargill is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey because of a fatal salmonella strain. it is believed the source of the outbreak is a plant in arkansas. all the meat that's being recalled was produced from late february to this past tuesday. one death, a man in california, and at least 76 other illnesses are blamed on the outbreak. >>> the budget crisis may be over now but lawmakers on capitol hill have left behind another mess. congress went on summer vacation before resolving an issue with the faa. as a result of that, thousands of workers are laid off and some runways are going without safety inspections. how did it g g to this point? with answers on that, here's abc's john karl. >> reporter: some 200 airport construction projects have been stopped. thousands of wo

southwest. >> a near record high of 111 in phoenix. 99 in colorado springs. 76 in seattle. 90s from fargo to kansasme near denver. a news chopper captured this dust devil in commerce city, colorado yesterday afternoon. the mini twister lasted just a few minutes. like most dust devils, this one was relatively small and did not cause any injuries or damage. >>> that stage collapse at the indiana state fair has claimed another life. the family of 24-year-old megan toothman is now taking her off life support and donating her organs. her doctors say she will not recover from her brain injury. she was among those in the crowd, of course, waiting for sugarland to perform. strong winds caused that stage to topple over. >> such a tragic accident. >>> prosecutors in colorado have filed charges against those three siblings who led police on a cross-country chase. lee grace dougherty, dylan dougherty stanley, and ryan edward dougherty were each charged with attempted murder, assault, and theft. more than 20 counts in all. their crime spree began in florida. they're accused of robbing a bank in georgia. and it

colorado. >> we miss you, sam. >> i know. ♪ >> reporter: from the desert southwest to the heart of the rockies, so many of you sentfs and rocky slopes are all spectacular, but it's this picture of the red rocks of sedona, arizona, that inspired such awe that we had to name it one of t ts year's most beautiful places in america. >> it's not just one beautiful place but three or four of them smashed together, and in just a day, you can go from a lush zone by the river into places with autumnmnoliage into places with open red rock that make you feel like you're on another planet. ♪ >> reporter: soaring sandstone towers that glow in the sun gold to red. sedona's natural beauty takes your breath away. most of sedona's spectacular red of are rock formations are about 5,000 to 7,000 feet high so to really appreciate them, you've got to get off the ground, 500 square miles of canyons and cliff sprawl through this red rock country. high in the sky, one of the most famous landmarks of all. it's called cathedral rock because it has spires that look like a cathedral. and it's probably the most photographed area in sedona. tod

southwest, dakotas and northern rockies. >> 79 in billings. 88 in boise. 97 in colorado springs. 70s in fargo and minneapolis.ts in dallas for the 39th straight day. 84 in new york. and 90 in miami. that's a punishing heat. >> the length of that is just hard to believe. >>> all right, it t is that time again. time for our -- ready? favovorite story of the -- >> see? >> what did you do? you did it weird. that was weird, he did a punch. okay, ready? >> i only have one. broken. >> it's broken. >> that's all right. we'll move on. >> we'll get to the story. they say cats have nine lives but this story involves a bibird, a parrot to be exact, who must now be on his second life. >> he was hit by a car sununy, or capturered by a car, really, in south florida. he managedo survive. the driver found him yesterday morning after she heard chirping coming from the car's front bumper. polly wants to get out. >> the bird was stuck behind the grille. look at that. some firefighters took the grille off the car, rescued the bird, sent him to a wildlife hospital, now they're looking for someone to give the bird a new home. so pl

colorado into nebraska and kansas. a chance o of flooding in the southwest.attered thunderstorms around chicago, detroit and much of florida. >> oh, wow. 91 in hialeah. that's where i went to high school. 80s from baltimore to boston. indianapolis climbs to 85. twin cities, 82. fargo, 81. another scorcherer across texas with dallas hitting 105. 91 in billings. 96 in colorado springs. >> i'm looking for hialeah on the map. where did you go to high school? >> it's awesome. >> sounds awesome. >> hialeah. >> what city? >> it's in miami. >> it's in miami? >> yeah, yeah. it's awesome. >> miami, one of my favorite cities. all right. that tells me a lot about you. >> i need a t-shirt that says, i heart hialeah. they sell them. >> do they really? >> yeah. >>> you may come from a small town, but -- buford, wyoming. >> the smallest town in america. population, one. don is the only resident. he operates a general store and he's also the mayor. wonder who voted for him? it was founded in 1866 and once had 2,000 people. mostly railroad workers. >> don is the only person wh

southwest and montana. downpours in florida. >> 80s from miami to boston. 79 in the twin cities. 90 in omaha. 102 in dallas. phoenix hits 110. coloradoorthwest. and 86 in sacramento. >>> now to a new report on national security flaws just released this morning by a federal anti-terror group. it's the in 9/11 report card and it calls for better national security coordination and oversight. the group demands improved screening for explosives at airports and a more thorough system of monitoring foreign visitors. the full report will be outlined later today in washington. >>> a seemingly clever moammar gadhafi is still on the run but this morning libya's rebel leaders say they are closing in on him. that cleverness is what has helped gadhafi genate sympathy for a deep personal loss but a loss now that is likely a complete hoax. abc's jeffrey kofman is in tripoli now with the details. >> reporter: no one disputes that an american bomb hit gadhafi's compound on that april day in 1986. ronald reagan ordered the attack on the mad dog of the middle east after libyan agents targeted american soldiers at a nightclub in berlilin. killing two and