Its hard to believe but, today, day 6 of our adventure, and we have finally made it into camp before night fall… its been too damn hard to stop having fun to find somewhere to sleep in the daylight hours. This philosophy has predictably resulted in some pretty humorous and hairy situations in the middle of the night, looking for flat ground, but that is another story.
Given that we are all cozy and warm, with full bellies, tucked up in the idyllic Colorado mountain town of Telluride, we thought this might be a great moment to catch up a bit on the blogging front… (as, surely our loyal audience is on the edge of their seats in anticipation for updates… hehehehe, right guys?)
It has been trickier than first expected, to find cell phone service long enough to send out updates and/or make sure that my cell phone battery had enough juice for the task and ugh! what is up with the ‘E’ AT&T network? (so sloooooow) anyhow here we are on a real live computer, with real live wifi in our campground! Talk about luxury!
Anyhow, by this point we have covered 1670 miles and gone through 4 states: California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Mind you the first 1100 miles were in the first TWO days: CarmelàFlagstaffàAlbuquerque/Jemez Mountains. Those were some seriously LONG HOT days on the road… especially since we had committed to not use air conditioner for the sake of better gas mileage (given our not so aerodynamic, but oh so lovely roof rack)… lets just say that we gained a whole new appreciation for creative evaporative cooling techniques (ie wet t-shirt held outside moving car window to cool down and then used as cold compress all over body) It wasn’t till we splurged and purchased a spray water bottle somewhere outside of Flagstaff that we were really living large.
Aside from that, the ride was mostly uneventful, aside from the very impressive road side billboard when we got into Arizona that proclaimed “McCain/Palin - The Best vote for America!” … go figure…
The long hours on the road were punctuated by countless road side stores peddling “authentic” Indian pottery, native jewelry, tipis, moccasins for the whole family… here I must refrain, as I could write an entire entry on my views of the mis-appropriation of the Native American Culture, which I find utterly heartbreaking, perhaps if I get a wild hair and WIFI later on in the trip I can share my observations…
Anyhow, aside from a lovely early morning jaunt through the liberal bastion of Flagstaff (a town that stole our hearts when we realized that every other shop in the downtown was either an outdoor/gear store or a live music venue) and a quick stop in unremarkable Albuquerque for some salad greens, ice and gas- we hightailed it to the higher cooler grounds as quick as we could, finding refuge in the lovely Jemez Mountains for some hot springs, mountain biking and sport climbing.
Here we must begin introducing you, dear readers, to the real protagonists of our journey thus far, who have been the colorful genuine, everyday people we have met on the road, who have so openly shared information, travel tips, life stories and their precious time with us.
First was Brian, the bar owner in Jemez Springs, a trainer of Olympic and worldclass runners, having traveled the world many-fold, found himself a bit of paradise (at the perfect elevation) to keep training runners and raise a family. (his spunky daughter worked the bar as a summer job, and had a funny habit of leaving the refrigerator door open, to cool down during those hot summer nights, as well as a PostIt note to remind her to ask for ID). The bar was the only joint in town, but clearly loved by the locals, especially since Brian knew them ALL by first name, asking after family, as they came and left, slipping easily between English and Spanish as the situation dictated. The walls of the bar were strewn with hunting paraphernalia, a slew of taxidermy heads stared down at us as we sipped our beers and made small talk, attempting to slyly gather local information about the nearby hot springs (which they all affectionately called the Hippie Hole (yikes!). We struck up conversation with a guy, probably mid to late twenties, Brodie, who turned out to be an archeologist conducting long term research on the enormous volcanic caldera- Valles Grandes- in the surrounding area. Like many in that age bracket, he was searching for a life with meaning- we mused on that for awhile, had a few great laughs and continued on.
Next was the sweet man who ran ’Amanda’s General Store’ several miles up the road, who did not bat an eyelash when we showed up well past dark, inquiring about free campsites in the area. He pulled out a map and proceeded to detail all the nearby forest roads, places with good views and proximity to the remote hot springs that we were hoping to get to in the morning. Bless his heart for giving us the confidence to venture down unmarked dirt roads in the middle of the night!
The following morning found Christian and I on our mountain bikes following yet another dirt track into the Jemez National Forest in search of some back country hot springs (NOT the Hippie Hole, mind you…) For the first ride of the trip, we were both feeling pretty good, until I caught a funny rut and went sideways over the handlebars (youch!), luckily nothing too terrible happened, aside from a few superficial bruises and a humbled ego. Upon arriving at the trailhead to the spring, 5 miles in, we found that some other folks had the same idea, 3 bikes (one smaller and one with a baby seat on the back!), tuned out that it was a husband and wife and their 2 sweet daughters, he worked at the nearby fish hatchery and she was the town librarian. I tell ya, you stay long enough in a small mountain community and you know everyone! Those springs were AMAZING by the way, highly recommended!! Think: 5-6 pools of crystal clear cascading hot water, set on a beautiful wildflower, forested mountainside, red rock cliffs all around, butterflies flitting in the gentle breezes, not soul to be seen. (the family took off after a bit) so good…. Hotspringing at its finest.
The next day took us into Taos, via the Los Alamos Labs (where they are still doing nuclear research today… freaky!) and the San Juan Pueblo (where they were having their yearly Corn Feast, replete with drumming, fully costumed dancers and the like… we were most definitely the ONLY white people there, slightly awkward). Rolling into Taos was surprising, we entered from the southern side, which largely consisted of strip mall after strip mall, with a WalMart and McDonalds peppered in, hardly what I envisioned as the quintessential southwestern artist enclave. However we soon found the older town center and started to make some friends: The whacky flamboyantly gay batik artist, the spacey ceramic master who educated us about the many different types of wood fire kilns (he says it takes 8 days, 8 cords of wood to complete a firing!), a trippy guy selling gems & rocks from around the world (the most notable being some extraordinary opals, still in the original matrix of surrounding rock, from South America that he found in the mine himself and polished down) and lastly the gentleman who we met at the leather shop, who told us stories of life in Spain, Taos from 30 years ago and sold Christian a unique leather necklace that he now wears as a momento of this trip.
Well, this has turned into quite a ramble, fueled by a tuckered out body, a couple of beers and a brain at high altitude J
Good night for now, many more stories from the road to come….
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