Day Sixteen

Let me start by finishing last night. As we got into New Mexico, we hit a pretty terrible storm. Driving rain and strong winds. Rob was worried about the SnugTop, but it held fast and there was no where to stop to weather the storm anyways, just miles of desert. Eventually we passed through the storm and got into a beautiful sunset. We decided to press on to El Porvenir, despite the possibility of more rain.

At some point I made a fatal mistake. We stopped at a gas station and I was craving Hot Tamales, there were none to be found so I opted for Junior Mints. Once we were back on the road, I was reviewing the nutritional information to see how many corn products were in them and how many empty calories I was about to enjoy, when I noticed...gelatin was the final ingredient. (I'm sure you knew this one already, Amanda, but you know I have a very selective memory.) I was appalled and downtrodden. This would have been my first candy of the trip. Now it sat at the floorboards, narrowly escaping angry foot stomping. (When we stopped next, Robert went in claiming, "I am really thirsty." He came out with a bag of Hot Tamales. What a charmer.)

Driving to El Porvenir was interesting, the houses kept getting poorer and poorer, the road more and more narrow, steeper and winding. It was about dusk when we finally found the campsite and trailhead. We got out of the car to look around and immediately didn't feel right. There was a seemingly abandoned suburban at the trailhead, the road up to the campsite was closed and graffitied with "Why?," a nearby house was blaring strange music, and not a soul was camping at the campsite. We walked the entire loop, eyes darting, me glued to Robert's side, Robert with his shotgun slung over a shoulder, that's how creeped out we felt. We conferred a bit and eventually decided that we would rather not camp there, despite it being almost 10:00pm with no hope for an alternate campsite for miles. It just didn't feel right. As we were leaving, the creepy music shut off abruptly and the abandoned car had mysteriously disappeared, good decision.

We decided to head to Taos where we would both surely feel more comfortable camping. We had about an hour and a half drive ahead of us. I took it since Robert had driven us for the last five hours? Something like that. We took 518 over, a small winding mountain road, it was difficult and slow going. Finally, Taos. On through to our next prospective campsite: El Sombra in the Carson National Forest. The road again became a winding nightmare, with the added bonus of deer and elk along the road! One was even newly dead, laying serenely in the road. Sad.

We kept driving and kept driving. It was supposedly 15 miles, but 15 came and still no campsite. Eventually I got so tired that I gave up on finding the campsite. It was getting dangerous for me to be driving and Robert wasn't any better. We found a wide pullout and parked. The tent fit between the truck and the fence line pretty well. It would have to do for the night. We got out long unders and hats because the temperature had dropped considerably. I think it was low fifties when we hit the sack, securing one edge of the fly in the car door because the ground was unstakable. As soon as we were zipped into our bags, we plunged into sleep and it was great. It was both of our first times as roadside campers, more contingency planning in the future.

We woke in full sun with cars zooming by, oh yea, maybe this is why most don't opt to camp by roads. Hmm. Drove into Taos for a triple espresso and chai tea fix. (see if you can guess who got what) Next we pulled our bikes off the truck and pedaled our way to breakfast at The Bean. It was so tasty. I got my deluxe breakfast burrito smothered in Christmas salsa (half red, half green, both excellent). Next more pedaling back to town square and window shopped for an hour. Notable were the outdoor shop, where we chatted with a friendly guy about how lost we got the night before (we literally drove those 15 mi in the opposite direction), correct size of a pack for me, and then he stopped us to chat about Surley's, and the Moby Dickenson Bookshop where Robert got a fly fihsing book and a guide to edible plants in the Rockies and I got a lonely planet, southeast asia on a shoestring and a notion that maybe I would like to run a bookstore one day.

Now driving up to Durango, just passed the 10K ft mark. Serious elk country, gorgeous meadows surrounded by pockets of forests of pine fir and Aspen, we think. Just pulled off to get some pictures of the view and spoke with another motorist who just had to stop so a brown bear could cross. More bears! These sound more dangerous though - don't fight back, just play dead, completely at their mercy. Sweet. Going to pay attention to the drive now.

Later...

Got to Durango. Had a hot shower, started some laundry, went out for Mexican food and a margarita, slept in a real bed - I feel almost like I'm not on a crazy camping trip. We watched Benjamin Button until too late. It was quite nice to curl up on a soft couch that didn't resemble a log or a rock or the ground.