Goodbye to Taos, Hello to Hummingbird

Yesterday we pulled up stakes, left the comfort and familiarity of Taos, and launched a new leg of our journey. Passing back through the Sangre de Cristo mountains, we revisited the grand vistas and snow-covered mountain passes that we drove through on our way to Taos several weeks ago, and it was lovely to see those sights again.

Our stay in Taos was made most wonderful and delightful by being in the home of our son and daughter-in-law, enjoying their company, cooking for them, and sharing life together for a good stretch of time. For those of you who have been following our recent posts, we also had the opportunity to connect with old friends from Western Massachusetts, soak in hot springs, attend a party, explore the natural beauty of the area, and generally get a taste of life in the Taos valley. While the high altitude, cold winter and difficult economic circumstances of Taos do indeed give us pause, Taos is still the first place where we could actually envision creating a new life for ourselves. With more miles to travel and more communities to visit, we keep our feelings for Taos in our back pocket, and continue on our merry way of discovery. 

After crossing the mountains, we arrived to the Hummingbird Community, located in Cleveland, New Mexico. Our arrival was graced with a full rainbow laying low across the late afternoon sky.

We were welcomed by one of the members of the community who joined us in our rig for tea, and we spent the rest of the evening listening to the sounds of rain and sleet pounding on the roof of our rig during the course of the evening. Poor Tina is very frightened of rain and thunder, but a Benadryl at 1am helped her to relax, and she spent the remainder of the night under my sleeping bag. 

As the sun comes out this morning, the snow and ice begins to melt, the mud deepens, and we look forward to a day of exploring Hummingbird and attending a community meeting this afternoon. 

The journey continues.