Of Transitions, Petroglyphs and El Paso

Yesterday was a "transition day deluxe", meaning that we took our leave of a place, had a great day, and settled into our new temporary digs with nary a problem or vicissitude.

The previous post briefly described the Salinas Pueblo Missions, two of which we visited as we made our way east and south on State Highways 60, 55 and 54 from Micah Village to the town of Alamogordo. The vistas along all three highways were nothing short of spectacular, with the wide open spaces of the west, increasingly taller cacti, and the occasional deer, jackrabbit, hawks and other unidentified birds. We listened to Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, and a hilarious podcast of "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me", a National Public Radio news quiz that had us giggling and laughing for miles.

Along the way, we had a simple but delicious green chili enchilada at a small New Mexican restaurant in Carrizoso, and then stopped for hours at the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, a rugged area filled with ancient petroglyphs and rock drawings of relatively unknown origin and meaning. We tried to camp at a National Forest campground nearby, but the sites were small and horribly uneven and we couldn't figure out how to level our rig well enough to stay. Sigh.

At any rate, we made our way to Alamogordo by sunset (with Mary at the helm) and found a place to camp in the parking lot of a ranch, tack shop and stable that has eight RV hookups for truckers and horse people passing through the area. Luckily for us, their bathroom was chemically fine for us two canaries (with no fragrances or deodorizers) and we were able to take morning and evening showers with blessedly hot water.

We feel so blessed and lucky to be traveling like this, living a dream that has been in our hearts for years. Although we pine for the lushness of the New England springtime (and realize that we actually missed one of the mildest New England winters in years), it has been an amazing ride and we wouldn't trade it for anything. The uncertainty of what the future holds is sometimes unnerving (especially for Keith), but the certainty of how happy we are traveling together like this and how blessed we are to do so more than make up for the challenges and occasional worries. We don't ever want to take this time for granted, and it will be a period of our lives that will linger like a good wine long remembered.

Today we head another 120 miles south to the city of El Paso, reentering Texas in order to finally obtain our Texas drivers licenses and make our legal domicile in the Lone Star State official and complete. Yeehaw!

For those of you who may have missed previous posts about the subject, we chose Texas due to the fact that the Escapees.com RV club mail forwarding service allows us to have an actual legal address in Texas that allows us to vote, receive mail, eschew state taxes altogether, and otherwise be counted as Texas residents. Unfortunately, we have not been able to be included in the census since we need to go to Livingston, Texas in order to do so, and it is simply too far. As travelers, we apparently don't count this time around.

Our next major step on our itinerary is City of the Sun, an intentional community located in Columbus, New Mexico, just three miles from the US-Mexico border. More on that soon.

At any rate, we wish you all a joyous Spring, wherever you are, and welcome your comments and emails any time. Comments on our blog make us really happy, and the sense of connection that the Internet fosters is something we are consistently grateful for.

So, on this sunny New Mexican day, we bid you a temporary adieu and continue along our merry way.