Took I-25 down past Pueblo, then onto Rt. 160W, and stopped around 3PM in Blanca, a very small town which was full of homey cafe's. I atre in Del's Diner and chatted with the waittress, who moved to this flyspeck of a town from LA.
Someone somewhere suggested checking out the Sand dunes, so I made my way over to them, by taking 150N for about 20 miles. This was at Great Sand Dunes National Park, or something like that. It's a few hundred square miles of sand amidst the Rockies, that are constantly shaped and reshaped into large dunes. They were amazing, like a piece of desert in the Rockies.
I hiked across a large field of dirt, to where the dunes began.
Here's what the dunes look like from afar.
Climbing up them is really difficult, as each step would slide down backwards. It was also really difficult to judge distance amidst the dunes and fields. The tallest dunes were around 800 feet high, which offered some pretty views around. I found a tall dune I wanted to get there, and from the peak I found an even taller one that beckoned even further. Here's a view from the top of the dunes, at the pristine dunes uncorrupted by human footprints on the other side.
Climbing down was fun, the sand rolled around like water. Walking in the
sand barefoot, as the sun was lower in the sky, felt really nice. If
you'd try that around noon, your feet would burn clean off. Here's a shot
demonstrating nature's persistence, in the form of grass struggling to
stay afloat on top of the sand.
Back at the car, I took 160W to 285S, and crossed into New Mexico. I decided to head to Santa Fe and took 64E to Taos, while on the way. Along the roads here in New Mexico there is NOTHING! Between towns there are fields of desert shrubs, going far to the mountains or to the horizon. Occasionally there'd be a trailer or a broke-down schoolbus, but that's it. Sometimes there would be a trailer advertising realty. With an office like that, I can't imagine how nice the land would be.
Got to Taos after sunset, after crossing the Rio Grande. At the Taos Inn was an open mike night, with some people playing blues and classical guitar. Sat down at a table with Brian, and got a burrito with green chili and a beer. He told me he came to Taos a few months ago, had a beer, and never left. I joked that now I was doomed, too.
A transgendered woman played guitar, and Brian talked about the rainbows in Nederlands of Colorado, not sure if he meant hippies of gay people. Talked with Brian's friends for awhile about the days when HBO and MTV didn't suck.
I then took local route 68S from Taos, and pulled off the road at some point to set up camp. It was right along the Rio Grande, and was quite nice (except for the fact that it was pitch black and I couldn't see it.)
I stayed up for about 20-30 minutes looking at the stars, trying to track them out from one of my star books. The sky was crystal clear out here in the southwest.
| Location | off the Rio Grande, outside Taos, NM |
| Odometer | 135,175.8 Miles Total 6,422.1 Miles On Trip 351.8 Miles Today |
| Coordinates | 36° 14.226' N
105° 50.470' W 6000' Altitude |