Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 22:00:21 -0500 From: Charlie Ford Subject: Austin to Taos, Part III and close Wednesday......... On Wednesday morning I woke to marvelous sunrise. I cannot say enough about its awe inspiring colors. It was as if God himself was laying brush to canvas and painting his ever changing whims on the morning sky. I sat and watched, then I sat, praised, and watched. I sat until the sky turned all blue, and that was also quite easy to adore. Went to the facilties on my way. Back on the road again I headed for Taos, my destination for the day. I only had about 140 miles to go so I should be able to arrive there today. The route I decided on took me straight over the Sante De Cristo mountains, a chain that runs from the plains of new Mexico northward into the Rockies. Taos is located in a valley on the other side and all I had heard from locals and truckers is that it was a fine drive for wanderers, very scenic. The hearings were well true. The drive was steep and fantastic with breathtaking views, snowfall on top of gorgeous jagged ridges speckled with ponderosa pine and spruce backlit by a covering of about a foot of snow. In the distance I could see the tops of the southern Rockies and with the sun reflecting off the snow caps they looked to be silver like mercury. I saw an eagle on this path, that was very nice, it gave me even more of a sense of adventure. I saw little hispanic villages that looked like something out of a brazilian made western. The houses built of adobe, and stone. There were a few pitched roofs, but most were flat. The area looks impoverished but upon further examination the are the lower middle class of New Mexico, and a fine people they seem to be. the next big place along the route was Las Vegas, where I was to pick up Hwy 518. I stopped at a place called the 85 Cafe, had a tongue tingling spanish breakfast that not only stimulated my brain, but also stuck to my ribs like my Ma's grits. if you ever go there for breakfast order Huervos Rancheros. Finger lickin, tongue burning, belly stickin good breakfast. Given you have innards made of strong fortuitous materials. I filled my belly and my tank and went to hit 518. As I rose into the Sante's on highway 518, the grade got steeper with the miles I traveled. I came into the snowline, and for the next few miles drove easy on the snow covered slick roads. Bad move here and it's sure death and quite a few hundred feet to think about it. But the Mothership once again played her cards she was dealt and won the hand. I was honestly a little weary about the route I had chosen, I became filled with doubtful thoughts and misgivings but just then I could have sworn I heard someone say "trust me" as mysterious as that may sound. I did, and all was fine. On the way down I once again thanked the gentleman Chris Chubb from the list for the new rotors for the Motherhship. I also need to thank Jimmy Ryles Service Center in Hazlhurst for putting them on. I thought of both of them. It boosted my confidence and didn't hurt hers much either. I reached Taos, but for ome reason found myself lonely for the undisturbed landscape I had been blessed to behold. Closing thoughts: I have always loved my country, I am the patriotic sort, and even though I have never seen all her regions accept on postcards or in photo journals. The last three days have brought me much reward, and an invigorated soul. They have given me an easiness that is far less edgy than Austin and the barrio I lived in for a week. Seeing the changing landscape of the American southwest, and talking to its people has made me more easy and relaxed than I previously was. I am starting to view the country as community, where before I saw it as a bunch of singular states surrounded by borders and regulations that varied from state to state. The boundaries for some reason aren't as real as they were 21 days ago when I left Hazlehurst. I guess this is another change you see while trekking, and I am finding myself looking forward to others that may happen in my search. I am eating less, walking slower, talking less, and enjoying the peace and solitude only the mountains can bring to a person, not just to the adventurer, but to all persons, iit is a shame that we are losing the naturalness of them in so many ways. In the past I have felt and loved this easiness while in the Appalachains, and now I am priveleged to share it in the Rockies. Only in America! Now all I have to do is maintain it, but first like most of us, I have to figure out how. I pray I can do that, I kinda like the feelin'. I have come to realize, at least on the surface that the problems of life are only as severe as a persons perspective will allow them to be, from here on I will try to review every angle possible and search for the good when problems arise, even when there is very little of it to be found. "The search is always better than the find, unless your speaking of gold". But then I am in a way, gold that fosters life the way it should be lived. Thanks for being tolerant of my rambling's in three parts. Charlie Ford PS: My next post will be a writing about the people I have met (and a wildly fine bunch they are), the Village of Pilar (about 15 miles south of Taos), and the present condition of the Mothership. I will also throw in some death defying driving pleasure. For now "life is good in New Mexico. : ) "79" Transporter, dressed for the road The Mothership The"Turning 40 Nostalgic VW Service Tour, and Search for the Beginning of Wind". www.armory.com/~y21cvb/charlie/charlie.html "Wider still and wider.....shall thy bounds be set"