KristySanta Fe, NM
At some point soon I will circle back and post about our pre-departure fun. Let’s just say we packed up and were on the road one day after taking delivery of the trailer. We were already one week late for our adventure and pushed to get on the road to catch up. We drove two 10 hour days, then worked a day in Tucumcari, NM and then drove the final leg to some public lands outside of Santa Fe. It was a long haul and we were eager for some sitting still for a bit.
Santa Fe and High desert environment is completely foreign to me. It’s like an alien planet. But, I came with the goal of seeing a road runner and got that our very first day in the state! I was so excited and squealed! It was much larger than I expected and just trotted right on past us, just like the bugs bunny cartoons! I did watch for coyote or an anvil to follow him, but no luck there. Sam is in his environment here and isn’t surprised by the various things this crazy desert can through at you. Like dust storms, I am from hurricane and tornado country and was sure we were going to get sent sailing. I grabbed Smith and held tight, while Sam giggled at me! I was sure we were headed to Kansas. The days have been warm in the sun but very chilly in the shade, and very cool at night. But the STARS! We have remained snug in our little tent perched on top of the trailer. Oh that’s another thing. Boy have we had people baffled by our set up. So many questions about what is it, and how it works. It’s a bit amusing.
Lessons learned here though. 1- firewood is a precious commodity, not easy to find and very expensive (we finally found some at a Lowes) 2- Dust is EVERYWHERE, you are not going to be able to fight that, be resolved to just be dusty. 3- pertains to 2 and Smith is FILTHY and there is nothing we can do about it.
Working on the road has been pretty good so far. Our cellphone coverage has been better than home. Our solar power has been keeping up with our power needs very easily too. Aside from the occasional birdwatching from our office chair we have been able to focus on work. We are working our usual hours so we are up and at it at 7am local time but are wrapping up at about 3pm local time. Both of us normally work well into the 7pm hours at home. But if we can afford to shut down at 5pm eastern we try to while here for a nice walk or hopefully a bit of time to see what’s around us.
For the official record I have added a few new birds and critters to our “seen” list. We saw scissortail flycatchers going across Texas, We have seen pinon flycatchers, Road runners, and Black tailed Jack Rabbits. Oh and loads of Antelope.
We are headed to Paige, AZ tomorrow to perch above Lake Powell for the week before we head into Zion.