Toas Pueblo

May 23,
When we arrived in Taos, we went to the Taos Pueblo. There are many pueblos in New Mexico, each one is home to a different tribe of plainsIndians. The Taos Pueblo adheres to the old ways and does not have electricity or running water in their homes. The large pueblos---almost like apartments--are said to be over 1000 years old. They now house many tribal shops and I should have asked how many families still live in these structures. We were shown through the community and our guide explained how bread was cooked in the beehive, adobe ovens, how they incorporated the Indian beliefs and the Catholic religion into their lives, how they still take their water from the river that flows from high in the mountains for their everyday needs. She also told us that in olden days there were no doors, they entered by way of ladders and "skylights" for safety sake. After getting to the roof, the ladders were pulled up, denying all others access.
As we left, we went by a prairie dog community in a beautiful field, full of wild iris.

High Road to Toas

May 23,
Not really realizing what we got ourselves into we headed to Taos. Our first stop on Rt. 76 was Santuario de Chimayo, a church built in the early 1800's. It is know for it's healing dirt and called the Lourdes of America. It's a beautiful old church with a beautiful, almost folkart sanctuary. The churcyard was full of people from all over the world.
After leaving the church, we went up and down the mountains for a couple of hours before we finally arrived in Taos.

Santa Fe

May 22,
We started our day in Santa Fe at the Farmer's Market. We bought the cats some organic catnip....they really enjoyed it, really got mellow......and it took two days to vacuum it all up. We then went to Loretto Chapel. The chapel had a choir loft that needed a staircase. In answer to the sister's novena, a carpenter appeared. He built a spiral staircase without center support or support from the sides. After the staircase was finished, the carpenter vanished without requesting payment.
We then went on a tour of Santa Fe, showing us the historic buildings and the many art communities. Our guide was a former history teacher so we got a few historic facts thrown in for free.. He talked of Kit Carson's moving of the Navajo, another example of man's inhumanity to man.
We finished our day in Santa Fe, walking around the Plaza, looking at the many items for sale and the unusual vehicles traveling on the old Route 66.

Santa Fe Skies RV Park

May 19-25
We really enjoyed this park We had a view of mountains all around. There was a 3/4 mile path around the perimeter of the park. Almost every day we saw mountain bluebirds and western tanagers. We also saw our first prairie dogs of this trip right outside our window. The desert is very pretty this time of year and even the weeds are beautiful.

Albequerque

May16,
Glad we made the decision to come to New Mexico. It's beautiful, peaceful and WARM!!!! We're about 15 miles north of the city of Albequerque and the top picture is a view from our campground...Sandia Mountain.
We went to the Expo Flea Market at the Fairgrounds. Bigger and junkier than Big Pine or Key Largo. After that we decided to follow Route 66 to the Turquiose Trail, a scenic byway on the other side of Sandia Mountain. We drove along to the town of Madrid or Woodstock West. For the prior 20 miles there were very few houses, Madrid is a small community with shops and houses lining the road and hills. Parts of "The Wild Hogs" was filmed in Madrid. Many of the shops were closing as it was after 5...Most of the residents looked as though they were stuck in the 70's---not a bad place to be. We saw the hummingbird on her nest (a first) at the Mining Museum.
After we left Madrid we decided it was time to head home and took Rt. 57 across to Rt. 25. 57 was totally dirt, up and down with fences and no trespassing signs on both sides but very few human or animal inhabitants that we saw. It was a pretty adventure though the 8 miles seemed like 20. Joe joked half way that there was a Dead End sign around the corner.

Getting outta Dodge

May 14,
With the threat of cold and rain approaching, we decided it was time to leave. We had been going to Colorado, but that was going to be cold, too. The last thing we wanted to see was snow.. Joe came up with the idea of New Mexico. Checking Weather.com, we saw suns for at least a week and 70's to 80's. The top picture is the Western Kansas countryside-flat as far as you can see.

For most of drive to Albuquerque, we had tracks running beside the road. Some of the trains were about 2 miles long, mostly double decker containers.

We spent the night in Dalhart, Tx because the weather was just nasty-cold, windy and rainy. When we left we drove by cattle pens, holding thousands of cattle. The aroma stayed with us for awhile.

After getting into New Mexico the terrain became more interesting but nobody seemed to live in the state til we got close to Albequerque. We drove down to the city but we're still a mile above sea level.

Dodge

May 13,
After getting the work done on the coach, we headed to Boot Hill Museum, not really expecting much. Many of Dodge City's "tourist attractions" open after Memorial Day. When we were buying our tickets, they said they were having the dinner, gunfight and show because a tour bus was coming through. We decided to go and were pleasantly surprised, as we were by the museum. The street is a replica of the street in the 1870's-the original burned. The museum includes part of the original cemetery and many artifacts from the time Dodge was the "Wild West". The museum employs 100 high school students for the summer and they certainly added alot of life to the show. The can-can girls don't have to worry about their figures as long as they keep that routine up. The boys in the gunfight doubled as singing bartenders and the piano man The show was very entertaining but the gunfight was a little hokey....as I guess it's supposed to be.
We went to today's Front Street area where there is a statue of Wyatt Earp and El Capitan-a long horn who led one of the biggest cattle drives to Dodge. Today's shops were mostly empty. The only things we missed were the Cowboy Statue, made from a plaster mold of a cowboy who almost died when the straw he was getting his air from collapsed and the original wheel ruts of the Santa Fe Trail that are still there after 150 years.