Taking The Long Way Home

We moved into our own driveway today, to camp here while we get the house ready to sell. The renters were supposed to be out by today, but they aren't. There's still a lot to do, and I can see how they might feel overwhelmed. We're feeling it too. Once we took a look around and saw the amount of work there is to do, we got right back in the truck and headed for Taos Pueblo for San Geronimo Day . I'd love to show you pictures, but cameras aren't allowed. It would have been easy to fake a phone call and snap a few with my cell phone, but that just wouldn't be right, now would it? Here are a couple of pics I lifted from the internet. Entirely better juju to do it that way. This is the Pueblo, which has been here for over 1,000 years. The area was jam packed with people today, all watching the antics of the sacred clowns.  Finally, one (or this time two) of the clowns climbs to the top of the pole, to let what appears to be the symbolic fruits of the harvest d...

From our perch on Taos Mesa, we can see the splashes of yellow high in the mountains, telling us it's time to drive up to the Ski Valley and have a closer look at the changing leaves on the aspens. It's been perfect weather since we arrived here on Sunday. Very seductive. Taos can be a temptress. But we know her moods, and aren't completely taken in just yet. Still, we made use of one of her perfect fall days and drove up to the mountains yesterday to have a look around and a bite of lunch. We were not disappointed. The base of  Taos Ski Valley sits at about 9,000 feet in elevation. It's a little community all its own, with quite a few year round residents, and world class skiing, high above Taos. We haven't skied in years, but like to drive up for the scenery, and to cool off on hot summer days. If we were Rich People, we'd have a little condo up there. It would be a nice little nest to retreat to now and then, but full time would be too isolated for us. ...

I have a new rule for myself. Always have a camera in my hand. Not just in my bag, in the truck, in the trailer, but in my actual, very own personal hand. Too many things are getting by in the time it takes to dig for the camera. Maybe it's not at all important to try to catch every little thing. Probably not. But the big things are amazing and worth sharing. I want you to see them. I'll try to do better. My only hesitation about my New Rule is in thinking about the number of people we've seen this summer dashing to any particular Point Of Interest, screeching their car to a stop, jumping out, snapping a picture, and darting off again. They're like Hummingbird Tourists, always in a hurry, taking little sips and flitting off to the next feeder. They never really see the thing they came to see. Once they get home, they put together a great slideshow, and can say, I've been here, and here, and here , but so what? Merely checking sights off a list is not the same as...

I woke up just as the sun was about to rise over Taos Mountain. Rather than roll over and doze, I wanted to get every bit of this day, so I jumped out of bed and grabbed my camera. We took our time getting started, drinking tea, eating stove-grilled toast, and talking with Karena. There's no hurry here, at least not just yet. Eventually we gathered up our dirty laundry and headed into town. Laundry time was painless, as was grocery shopping time. Then we wanted to just wander through town and see who we saw. We drove over to our house, and although we could tell there was a lot of activity going on inside, we didn't see anyone, so didn't intrude. We had hoped to chance across some neighbor-friends, but there were no cars or people in sight, so we went to the Fall Arts Festival in Kit Carson Park. This was where we began to wonder if something strange was going on. We had decided to make a game of people-finding, and just wait to see who was presented to us. We saw two or ...

After 2 nights in Moab, I think I've figured out where the name came from. It stands for: M otors O n A ll B elongings True story. I made it up, but it must be true, given the noise level of such a geologically gifted little town. We heard cars and four-wheeled-what-have-yous, and motorcycles into the wee hours, and noted on our way through this morning that there are far more "Rent A Jeep" places than there are internet cafes or day spas. Don't get me wrong. Moab is cool, in its own way, but we don't think it's Our Town. Today we mostly drove, drove, drove, stopping only briefly in places like Durango and Pagosa Springs. Durango didn't do a thing for us at first glance, but Pagosa and its famous hot springs seem to be worth going back for a closer look sometime when we're not so pressed for time. I hate being rushed to get somewhere. That's not what we signed up for, but it appears to be what we've got at the moment. Today took us...

I have to be quick here. My battery is about to run out, and I only have a few minutes of charge time in a little cafe here in Moab that's about to close. We went to Arches today, which is really beautiful, and worth another trip back to explore it further. One high point of the day was that Rick got his National Parks Senior Pass! Now we'll get into all of the National Parks for free, forever. That's what the ranger said - forever . So it looks like we have some traveling to do! It's handy to have an Old Guy around. As you might expect, we saw a lot of arches, but we were actually more interested in some of the other rock formations, and the general gorgeousness of the area. I kept seeing "elephants", which I'm sure is very important in some cosmic way, elephants being Removers of Obstacles and all. So here are the pictures. Sorry for the lack of explanation. You'll figure them out. We'll spend another night in the Elks parking lot, and then...

I think I've mentioned before that for me, the fun of travel is not the actual traveling time, but the stopping time. Driving down the road, getting from one place to another, is charming for a little while. I like seeing new stretches of highway, and unfamiliar terrain as much as the next guy, but I also like to stop and stretch my legs every so often, and see what the locals do for fun. Last night we stayed at Willard Bay, a lake in Utah, right next to Salt Lake, and I'm sorry to say, a place I cannot recommend for an overnight stay. It's right on the highway, and very noisy. Noisy all night. And around 3AM there was the surprise of the train hurtling through, careful to remember to blow its very loud whistle as it passed the campground. Got the idea? Stay somewhere else. I wish I could tell you where. At least we were there for the beautiful full moon rise last night. Some things are just perfect, noise and all. This morning we hopped back on the highway and took...

My very savvy niece Joni, who lives in Seattle, and so is Very Cool by default, also does something technologically mind boggling for a living, and so when she gives me advice on Keeping Up, I listen. The other night, Joni said, Kim, you need to use Twitter ... I mumbled some lazy excuses, and then Lauren chimed in, agreeing with Joni and offering to help me figure out this thing called "tweeting". We determined my phone to be capable, but I couldn't remember the official Twitter name or password I'd registered several months ago, so we gave up temporarily, and I got to ignore the whole thing for a couple of days. Now today, as we drive across eastern Washington and will keep driving until we get to Somewhere In Idaho this evening, I have some time on my hands, and a good Mifi connection, so here I am, attermpting to become Twitter-smart on my own. I think I have it more or less figured out, but can't really see why it's something I need to do. Still, I...

Seattle, day two. There's entirely too much going on here to even try to keep up in a bloggerly fashion. I want to be here , doing all this, enjoying all this, and it's just not possible to write about it all. Seattle... We lived here for eight years, back before Taos, and after Nevada. We got married here, bought and ran a pizza shop here, raised three kids here, and eventually hit the weather wall and fled before depression and mildew got the best of us. We have family here, and friends, and happy memories. And when we come back, and spend time with these people we love, scooting around town, doing all the fun things, and eating all the good food, it can be hard to remember that we really didn't like living here all that much. The rain, the infamous rain, nearly got me. There was not enough coffee in Seattle to hold me here, and Prozac didn't seem like a lifestyle I wanted to adopt. Sunshine was what I wanted, and we found that in Taos, but lost the family and frien...

Hello, my name is Kim, and I am a purse-a-holic. I did it, OK? I bought The Purse . But it wasn't my fault. Really. I mean it. It was all my friend Shirlee's doing. She made me do it, the wicked vixen. She told me she wanted The Purse too, and why couldn't we take advantage of the two-for-one deal and have them sent to her house in Taos, which just happens to be right next to my house in Taos? I could see no logical reason not to do this, so I pulled the laptop out at the next rest stop, fired up the MiFi, and before we could get around that slow moving hay truck, I had ordered not one, but two beautiful Sophia Bags, in different colors, of course, so as not to be too twinsies about it, and poof! , there was the confirmation in my email, saying the Sophias were on their way to Taos, presumably to greet me there on the moment of our arrival.  I can't believe I did this. Well, yes I can. I really wanted this bag, and still do, and now I will have it, and so I can slee...

For the record, and I think you already know, I hate writing an "and then, and then, and then" blog. Most of the time... Days like today though, are mapped out in a way that is clearly leading to something greater than just a regular day, and must be listened to, calmly and patiently, one and-then at a time. We've been in Ashland for almost a year, and at Emigrant Lake for eight months. We'll pull out in the morning, early enough to make a 9:00 appointment to have brakes and wheel bearings checked in Medford. Boring! Who cares, right? But these are the tedious realities of RV Life. Things have to be in good working condition or... well, they just do. To get to a day like tomorrow, you get to have a day like today. You drive around town, looking at familiar things, and unfamiliar things you've seen a hundred times in the past year, and wonder if you'll ever come back to see them again. We hope we will. We like it here. We might even love it here, if we t...