After 18 hours of driving' and well over twenty spent in the car, we are parked at a campsite with a beautiful view of Bluewater Lake at Bluewater Lake State Park in north-western New Mexico. We are both pretty wiped after the drive, when we got in around 9 or so I put down a tarp and the airline blankets and napped. Rob did some house-keeping before crawling in between the boxes in back to sleep. He's still napping but I'm feeling refreshed and despite a nasty headache from the car door trying knock me out while we were fueling up in Amarrilo, starting to feel a bit antsy. I realize that without seeing our campsite the pun there is lost on you but so far the only insects that have been spotted here are a healthy population of black ants, happily feeding (and occasionally getting stuck in I'd imagine) Pinion Pine sap and camp food crumbs. Compared with the swarms of bugs out east they are hardly a nusience (spell check I miss you!) but noticeable; especially when they occasionally try climbing up a pant leg.
I always forget how much I love the Southwest in between my visits. The landscape, harsh as it is, is breathtakingly beautiful. The land is wild beyond anything we have in the east, protected by humankind's inability to twist it to our use. That untouched strength of being is palpable even where we have put roads and telephone poles, barely nutritious pasture, nicely graded campsites. A glance to the buttes on the horizon,layered with red and gold sandstone, or the scent of juniper, pinion, and wild sage in the air reminds you that this land is untamed.
Every old survival instinct I still posses tells me this land is to be respected. While Coyote loves clever tricks and jokes, this land will not tolerate foolishness and hubris. Harsh as it is, hard as it would be to live where water can be more precious than gold, the way the dry wind folds itself around me, the way the sandstone holds the suns heat as granite never could, all the small details of this land make me want to sink my roots alongside the pinions on the rim of a canyon, and earn my survival here. Friends and family, I may live near (mostly) all of you in little Rhody but this wild land sings to me in ways the ocean never has.
Hi kids sounds like your having a great time glad you spent a night in a hotel. We're you in Charleston s.c. that's my favorite place. Watch out for tornadoes in Oklahoma I hate them glad to keep hearing from you.love ant Lorraine
ReplyDeleteA night in a hotel was really nice though it was decidedly budget quality. We wound up west of s.c. we went through West Virginia to Kentucky and Tennessee. We made it through tornado alley with out seeing so much as a thunder head. I agree tornadoes are terrifying!
ReplyDeleteMy gosh! The colors. smells & I can imagine the quiet, sound so incredibly peaceful! Ants-shmants!!! You guys are so passed that now...dealing with & braving thru biting flies, gnats, weather, & all other kinds of annoying pests (not forgetting the Onceler campers & the Doom Patrol that spanned over several states) Sounds so wonderful. Sorry you had a "run-in" with the car door. I hope you're feeling better now. Hoping you can take some "shots" of the serene yet harsh surroundings & that the colors you describe come thru. TAKE IT ALL IN! It's a bit of a shame to have to nap & rest, but you guys NEED TO in order to take everything in & be able to appreciate it! It will STILL be there when you open your eyes...what a beautiful way to wake up! Who knows??? Maybe New Mexico is where you belong. I have always felt, from the day you both mentioned this trip thru to it's reality, that "something" is/was waiting for you to discover that would make you both so happy, that you didn't want to leave it behind & would hopefully go back to stay. As Jack Sparrow said, "If you were waiting for the opportune moment...that was it!". When you return home don't forget the feeling you have TODAY, in Bluewater! These memories, feelings & thoughts can be so easily muted by the everyday here in Rhody, once you return. Always keep a sharp-eye, although NM seems wonderful, your future may STILL be waiting somewhere on the rest of your path yet to be traveled. Can't wait to hear from you again!
ReplyDeleteLOVE & MISS YOU BOTH!
Love,
Ma
It has been pretty amazing and I feel like the memories will last much longer, and stay much fresher because of this blog. It's inspired us to take pictures and record our travels in a way I've always intended to on my trips but never actually do.
ReplyDeleteAs for keeping our eyes open...don't worry! Even though we have to leave the SW early I have very high hopes for the Sierras and Oregon and Washington.