Colorado Road Trip: New Mexico to Colorado

We enjoy a great breakfast at Del’s Restaurant just across the street from our Roadrunner Lodge. The coffee options are surprisingly extensive as is the rest of the menu. It seems to have been an old Denny’s from the 40’s. Koestler and I enjoy some pancakes. I’ve brought some stamps with me and picked up Father’s Day cards at a Dollar General somewhere on 66. We fill those out and drop them in the box at the hotel. It’s Friday so hopefully they make it in time.

We head to the car where David looks at me and asks if I remember how many hubcaps we started with. We add that to our list of things to find on the way home. Too, some chime has been going off the entire trip. Doing some research, I suggest we take out fuse 5 and 9. He’s not sure he’s that annoyed about it yet.

We head on down Route 66 moving towards Santa Fe. Of course, all the sites are closed. Even our favorite swimming spot, Blue Hole.

David fills us up and comes back to the car with his latest flavor of beef jerky. I really liked that Bloody Mary one he got in Hot Springs, not so excited about this one.

I think David is also a little sorry he's agreed to Sherpa us and we still have a week to go - mostly on back roads - often really back roads.

We park in Santa Fe and grab a nice seat outside looking at the plaza. Many of the shops are open and a few restaurants. This was the first time we've seen everyone wearing masks and stores requiring them for entry. We had grabbed a few bandanas earlier so we tied them on. David was not happy with the one we picked out for him.

The drive to Taos from Sante Fe has always been one of my favorites. It follows the Rio Grand and offers several places to stop and put your feet in.

We plan to stop first at the Puye Cliff Dwellings.

We aren’t surprised when we get there to see the site closed but pleasantly surprised to see the gate open regardless. David, never worried about rules, drives through without Koestler and I looking. It’s not until he passes through a second closed but open gate that he tells us it’s all fine, he’s got this. A ranger soon pulls us over just to tell us to head on up and if anyone asks just to say he sent us. I think of all the fun I’ve missed following rules. Koestler is terrified until David gives her something to think about. "Koestler, was it a good rule to make some people sit in the back of the bus? Was it a good rule not letting ya'll vote?"

We get to the dwellings and have the entire place to ourselves so spend several hours wandering in and out of the structures. https://www.puyecliffdwellings.com/ I love love love these places and have never been able to fully enjoy them because of all the other people there. It's so quiet you can hear the wind. We consider staying in a cave - until we see the bats flying in.

Not so much seems to be the attitude.

There are thousands of caves in those cliffs and more dwelling on top.

Blooming cactus

Pottery shards are all over! Each artist had their own signature paint patterns.

Coming into Taos we find Black Mesa Winery and stop to grab a few bottles for the evening.

We arrive in a pretty little campground just inside of Taos. I’ve been to Taos a few times before. Once my parents rented a place and all 7 of us and our families spent Christmas here. Koes was 3 weeks old. We came through another time on our way to meet everyone once again in Montana, and once more on a camping trip with friends and children. I like it much better than Sante Fe, but it has the same feel.

I am really missing my vintage campers!

Time to get organized. Pull it all out and then put it all back in.

This is our first night camping and after watching a few YouTubes David has the beds all swiveled and made – kinda. He proudly models their function and comfort but Koes and I just know it’s gotta happen regardless and appreciate his enthusiasm. He’s just happy to finally be camping. We eat some great steaks he cooks and go to bed.

It is nice to have a place to unpack the van. We spend the morning organizing and doing laundry. People are wandering around walking their dogs and everyone seems friendly and eager to chat. No one is wearing masks and it occurs to me that it’s probably a big factor in why they are also chatty. It is really hard to be chatty in a mask. What if we go back to school and I have to teach wearing a mask? Surely it will make it harder for kids to vape.

As we are leaving we meet Michael Gabriel and his dog Shep. Michael is a singer songwriter and has some good music. He tells us not to miss stopping in the little town of Pilar on our way to Colorado to take a swim in the Rio Grand Gorge before heading up.

We meet Nancy and she tells us how cool our RoadTrek is and that they can't be found anywhere these days - what with the Covid and such. David and I both think the same thing --- Hmmm

We walk around Taos farmers market where I buy some nettle pesto, local honey, fresh bread and cookies. We grab a nice lunch and head back on the road towards Colorado, first visiting the little area Michael mentioned.

We pass through shanty neighborhoods then up to the hills overlooking the gorge where huge houses now emerge taking advantage of the great view . We stopped and grabbed ice cream while looking over the Rio Grand way down below. Just an hour before we’d been down there dipping our toes in it.

Earthship Biotecture was just one structure when I passed here 20 years ago, now it takes up at least a mile of desert to the right of the road. It’s a pretty interesting architectural concept. https://www.earthshipglobal.com/visit-us

Each Earthship seems to have walls of glass turning them into huge greenhouses.

The Earthships now dot at least a mile of desert outside Taos.

Recycling bottles and tires to make walls

Besides Earthship the rest of what we see is modest homes dotting the desert with dust devils swirling all around, old cars in the yards, and a few hot horses within the fence. I don't know if they have more old cars and other stuff (lots of other stuff) than we do in the South or if you can just see all their stuff better because they don't have any trees. I think it's because they don't have many trees because we do like to hang onto our stuff in the South. Too, the weather here helps things last longer, making it harder to get rid off. At what point do you get rid of a perfectly good 1960's truck body?

Everything is so well preserved here, excepting skin. My vintage lust is out of control and David says if I’m going to find truck bed trailer this is the place. We start looking. This project brings more of this strange scenery into our view. We see an old mining town and jump out to take photos. It’s so windy we find it hard to keep our hats from blowing into the desert. It smells like sage is growing everywhere and that would be dreamy until I stepped on my first cactus in my sandals. I put on my boots when I get in the car.

I don’t have any data again so I make notes of things I want to look up later. Who owns this field of solar panels? How much acreage does a cow need with just this scrub to eat? What’s the geological history here? It changes from desert to huge boulder hills to softer hills dotted with trees. What is IMERYS’s Mill milling? Who came through this pass? What Native American Tribes were here? I recall a time when my girls were little and we took this route headed to Montana for a few weeks. I had a Native American paper doll couple and every time we passed through a new territory they had to change their clothes. I’m certain we got it all wrong but since Koestler doesn’t remember anyway it doesn’t matter. That’s why I’m really writing all this down. So even though she’s been on her phone in the back bed this whole time she’ll think she saw all this stuff when she reads it in 20 years.

We still don’t know where we are staying tonight. We usually have it figured out by mid-morning but by 3:30 we have no clue where we are staying. We know we can’t go past Great Sands National Park as we want to do a quick tour of that in the morning before we finally head to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP where we stop for a five days while most of the crew ride out on horses.

We’ve run into enough people that say they have been staying on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. David thinks it sounds great and would prefer it. I want to a brave sister but it doesn’t sound comfortable. I quickly realize I can save face by blaming it on Koestler not wanting to. I do find a few apps that show BLM lands and download them when I get some sporadic service.

It’s not just BLM land, but places anyone can just pullover and stay. They leave notes about the condition of the places, how far you have to walk in, if there is shade or not, or a place to bury their TP. I’m not feeling tempted by any of it and so I just don’t tell David about how much fun all these people think they are having and decide I’ll use my sporadic service on airing or a nice campground. I hope I find something before he decides to take over the search. I even start looking at the excel spreadsheet of Glampers on the Curb, a ladies Glamping group I’m in that let’s single females in their Glampers stay in their yards for a night or so. I could just tell David to pull over in this neighborhood and he’d think he was boon docking but really it would be a Glamper friend!!?

We roll into Colorado and stop at the first town in Colorado, Antonito. The tiny strip has 3 bars, 3 liquor stores, a grocery, some old hotels and a nightclub that didn’t take off. It looks like the Mexican border towns my parents used to take us to in the 80’s. We can’t understand why they trucks, like very one, has such huge tires! I mean like all of them. Another thing I need to figure out.

I see the Scenic Cumbres & Toltic Railway too and recall taking my girls on it 15 years or so ago but don’t recall the town being this seedy.

We stop and get our first margarita while David runs into the grocery and grabs us a few things. That’s when I realize this is my chance to land us a good place to stay. I can’t believe it, but I find Rustic Rook Resort Glamping and they have 1 tent left – a three-bed tent. Sold! This place is incredible and offers night photography lessons, music, campfires but mainly a fun tent and comfy bed and clean bathrooms (bathrooms). David is going Glamping! This I’m certain will be the last time David takes us anywhere. David’s idea of camping is a solo adventure with a65 lb pack, a four season tent, prepared for all elements, carrying all supplies food water, water treatment and usually an altitude objective such as a mountain.

As we walk to the van, David tells me to look left, the search is over for my wagon! (pic of wagon) I can’t wait to see which of these great ideas the kids at school are going to want to add to our school farm.

There will be more of these.

In the car, David asks me if I found a place and I let him know I found a place that has some tents. He looks real happy – I think. (pic of David below). Now I need to decide if I am going to act like I thought it was a rustic tent I booked or just own it. But really, I know David will think it is funny and he’ll be happy for any new experience and to see Koes happy. He’s been the best travel guide ever. I think, I’m sure he’ll laugh and be the star of the campfire music scene.

In Alamosa we can’t resist stopping for photos at the train graveyard that also serves as the depot for the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad. It’s been on my list of historic scenic trains to take but of course, it’s closed these days. Koestler does not seem disappointed nor does David.

Driving out of Alamosa we see clearly the huge Rocky Mountains to our right. Koestler asks what they are and David and I both toss the paper map back to her, challenging her to answer her own question. The phone is a great tool for place to place, but still can’t beat a map for a big picture of where you are. David and I both still love the paper maps. They also serve as an accidental journal, with their circles, notes and torn edges.

We arrive at Rustic Rook Glamping https://rusticrookresort.com/ and I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story. David loved it and we met so many new friends and enjoyed sharing campfire stories late into the night.

Greenhouses just up the road from us.

Our Nettle Pesto with fresh tomatoes and chicken.