Ranchos de Taos

We stayed just south of Taos proper, at a B&B in Ranchos de Taos ...

There we found tranquil beauty ...

and shelter from the sun ...

But best of all, we were close by the plaza where the San Francisco de Asis church has been the subject of Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams, among others ...

getting close enough to see this is not faux adobe ...

Then wandered on to "shop" at Chimayo Trading del Norte 

http://chimayotrading.com/

that was more of a museum than a gallery  (which is to say, far out of our price range) ...

and the Two Graces gallery next door 

http://www.twograces.com/

which was, by contrast, well within our means ...

Two boxes of metal later, it was clear we had fallen hook, line and sinker. 

Getting there

I'll have more to say about my favorite thrift store linen shirt soon. Suffice it to say for now that it is little more than shreds ...

But I've got some serious walking back to do first. I mean really ... how is it that we left for Taos almost four weeks ago and I'm just now getting to blogging about it?

Maybe because I took so many pictures that it's hard to sort through them all?

I mean, seriously. These are just the ones taken from the car on the way there ...

Although I must admit there was a lot to see in 776 miles of driving. I even pecked out some of the interior monologue that ran through my brain during Don's turns at the wheel. A crazy stream of consciousness threaded with my own personal soundtrack and the songs Don played on his CD mashup ...

Country Road (James Taylor)

Tuesday, July 31

7:25 Amarillo bound, 501 miles

GPS ETA 3:20, rain on the radar

That’ll change ...

Purgatory to the Devil’s Backbone

Follow the River Road along the Blanco, past Luckenbach to 290 (a good stopping point)

Wide open spaces (Dixie Chicks)

Then through Fredericksburg, accelerate to 75 on an undivided two-lane highway and cruise thru Grit and Hext (tho they aren’t more than signs along the way) ... none to see but goats

Shine a different way (Patty Griffin)

Stop in Menard (meh-NARD or MEN-erd rhymes with Leonard?) we’ll never know ... the town is dead or dying

Abandoned gas stations and dry creeks 

Summertime thing

The Hill Country begins to flatten, but in the distance, earthen tables lead to musings about buttes, mesas and plateaus 

Then there was lunch in Sweetwater ... the less said the better

Wind, oil and cotton fields on the flat land ... tractor wakes of red dirt dust ... smoke seen from miles away ... the smell of petroleum ... silos ... Georgia O’Keeffe’s clouds seen from below throw welcome  patches of shadow on parched earth ... irrigation fields leave literal crop circles ... and the rail road runs through it ... Idalou ... cattle dotting far-flung fields, the land so flat their backs define the horizon 

Two miles to Happy ... the road shimmers as cars far ahead appear to rise above an improbable river of highway ... a dust devil twists in the sun, flinging soil toward the sky

Palo Duro canyon a missed opportunity and a lure for another day 

And still the road goes on ... steadily rising to meet the Colorado Plateau

Morning glory (Jimmy Daddy Davis)

Wednesday, August 1 

7:07 63 and breezy under a waning gibbous moon

275 miles to Taos

The land even flatter, the horizon even farther ... wind farms as far as the eye can see 

And, seemingly in an instant, the land changes to scrub and red sand

Mesalands 

The dashlights glow white as we climb and climb and climb, ears popping 

Watch it shine (Walt Wilkins)

"They say there’s iron in these mountains ...

Sunlight through the heavens

Watch it shine"

Go wherever you wanna go (Patty Griffin)

Tall pines and mountains surround us ... elk crossing signs make us cautious about what we wish for

Mora

Falling rock and cow crossing signs as we follow switchbacks up into the Sangre de Cristos

The mountains rise straight up and while I’m not asking Don to slow down, my heart feels like it’s trying to find its way out of my chest

Big horn sheep crossing?

Leaves shimmer ... aspens?

A troubling sign of what’s ahead ... an  S-curve sign standing on its head ... the closest I come to “please slow down” is a comment on the horse carrier ahead of us “he’s from here ... he’s braking for a reason”

That and my foot is about to go thru the dash

Seriously, who rides bikes here?

So it went ...

Lastly (if you've actually made it this far), a confession. In all the years I've flown and looked out the window of the plane (okay, not that often do I actually get the window seat), I have wondered about this ...

And only this past month, as we drove down the road, did I realize the circles of green are formed by irrigation systems that pivot around a central water source.

I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. Always I am learning ...