Freedom Ride

July 9, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, we took a nice, little day trip this week and got away from it all.  You could call it a Freedom Ride, of sorts.  Not that we were bikers riding around on the Fourth to celebrate Independence Day, but we still were celebrating our independence nevertheless.  With Rui just passing a few weeks ago, we realized that we really hadn't had the dogs out for an all-day ride in some time.  I'm not sure that it had been a year, but certainly half a year or more.  Looking back we see all the mile markers of Rui's final year, but, of course, you typically don't see them at the time, but, because of him, travel with the dogs had become a bit of an issue.  So, having the Fourth off, we decided to emancipate ourselves from the ranch and our daily grind and to drive a couple of hours away up to the Taos and Tres Piedras area, way up north another 1-2000' above us in elevation.  We haven't had any vacation since we got here in December of 2020, but do get the occasional holiday off and always wrestle with whether to sleep in, wake up slowly with the papers and some coffee, and putz around all day, or whether to throw everyone in the car to go exploring for a while.  So, this time, we opted for the latter and managed to extricate ourselves from the ranch by about 8:30 or so, driving first to Santa Fe to hit the grocery store for some snacks, and then proceeding to the north, following the Rio Chama off of the Rio Grande at Espanola and then heading up the little Rio Ojo Caliente up to Ojo Caliente itself and then up onto the big mesa that surrounds the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.  Back to the snacks, Erin had wanted to get a big loaf of rustic bread, some cured meat of some kind and then some cheese to spread on it all to propel us through our day.  This was our recipe for the ten years that we made a yearly pilgrimage to Portugal, just about exploring every part of it, too!  First stop, after landing and getting our rental car, would be to hit a local grocery store and get bread, meat and cheese.  Wherever we stayed always provided breakfast and as needed we would get dinner, but typically just lived off of the wonderful bread, meat and cheese for our entire trip(and lots of wine!).  So, to be a little nostalgic and also thrifty for our little adventure, Erin ran into the store quick to get provisions and I stayed in the car with the dogs as it was to be a very hot day and the mercury was already climbing.  Fifteen minutes later, we continued on for a beautiful drive from the barren Rio Grande Valley somewhere in the vicinity of 5500' all the way up to 8200' at Tres Piedras...very green and nearly on top of the world!

Erin is constantly looking around at property online as we continue to figure out our next move.  We're in a wonderful situation on this ranch, but are looking for a piece of land that we can start working on while we still live here and have ample water, laundry, electric and internet.  So, there are always lots of pieces of land for sale on the mesa between Tres Piedras and Taos, some going for as little as $1000 for a quarter acre!  But, there are lots of little pieces and no services and also no rules, so it's a bit of a jungle up there.  Still, we're always looking and are a little wild and crazy ourselves, so who knows what might work?  We drove straight into the little village of Tres Piedras, stopping at the Chili Line Depot restaurant and also the post office, looking for bulletin boards and local flyers.  Then, we got back on the highway and cruised towards Taos, about 30 miles to the east, but turned straight south right before the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to check out that side of the canyon(Carson) with its rolling mesa land with nothing more than sage brush on it.  So, we looped all the way back through the tiny village of Carson itself back to the highway we came in on in the morning and ended up about 15 miles south of TP on some national forest roads and we drove back in about 2-3 miles off of the highway and pulled off at a nice spot to have a picnic.  This area has many more trees than the mesa itself and we find it really appealing.  So, from there we headed back up to TP, then east to Taos, hitting a gas station for some cold drinks and then we headed straight over the mountains towards Las Vegas and home, heading right through the Mora area that got burned so bad in the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire last year.  The streams were full from lots of summer storms and everything was lush and green, but there is still dead, burned timber standing everywhere.  The National Forest Service has set up a way for locals to go cut down all of this standing timber for free firewood, thus helping everyone keep warm this winter and also, at the same time, significantly reducing the fuel load of the forest.

So, now, as usual, some pictures for everyone's enjoyment.  First, a series of twelves shots from around Tres Piedras: first, three from when we first got on the mesa, about 20 miles south of TP, where it was still a little arid; then, three shots from in town, including the little church there; and, finally, six shots from our off-road exploring and picnic.  Next, three shots from the Carson area, showing how flat the mesa is and how tall the mountains are that loom over it...up to 13,000'!  Then, five shots of us going through the Mora Valley: first, still deep in the woods; then, a few shots looking down on the valley and all the burned trees, with the plains beyond.  And, finally, a new concern for us before we depart and hit the road for a trip...the youngest kittens are starting to hide in the bags that we use to take stuff with us on roadtrips!  Always check first for kittens!

Take care.