More breakdowns, still in Taos..

Oh boy, where do I start? We left behind in Tijeras a charming little boy Ellery played with while we were there and a nearly teary eyed grandfather at our prospect of leaving. We really were fond of that area and rv park. We headed out to Taos passing through more breathtaking mountain areas on the turquoise trail. We didn't stop in Santa Fe. Judging by the very city like feel with an overabundance of commercial adobe structures I don't feel like we missed much. As we approached Taos we broke down and ran into a guy leaving the woods in his bus who was from Taos and part of the rainbow community. This was the first of many coincidences we have ecountered since we've got here...decided we didn't want to wait three hours for a tow truck, drove a little further figuring out we were somehow overheating, broke down again, lather, rinse, and repeat, until finally that night we coasted in to the closest rv park.

We were ten miles away from our friends, the cagefree family, who graciously offered their land to us, so in the next few days we drove up that mountain white knuckled and thankfully made it without any problems. I can't tell you how beautiful it is up there. The lush, green mountainside which borders the carson national forest is dotted with the most beautiful rustic cabins along a meandering stream. Our blog friends' property didn't disappoint and we found our rv right next to said stream and the forest. I wavered between wanting to shake fists at the sky for not being able to afford living in such a storybook location and trying to be thankful that we were able to just be here, even for a short while. Both of our families have kids the same age so they were constantly entertained. I hope it helped to take the strain off of our friends who are in the process of trying to move out of the house and back into their rv, regretfully for reasons beyond their control and we sure do wish them the best in their endeavors. It sounds like they have a lot of opportunities awaiting them.

The rv still isn't fixed. The closest mobile mechanic is in Albuquerque and charges a hefty amount to come look. You have to understand that Taos is a very small town so mechanics/auto shops are not in abundance. I can see where its charm is infectious and we have enjoyed seeing all of the small local businesses instead of big chains and shopping malls. This town's economy is based upon art and creative endeavors. There isn't much money to be made in other ways without all of the big business and quite frankly, they like it that way.

We have run into all sorts of interesting people in shops which seem to be pointing us in the direction of staying here for awhile. There is a quite controversial area here on the mesa where you can buy land cheap. A lot of artists live there. We drove out there, saw the earthship community, and even watched some ecofriendly housing in the process of being owner built. Very exciting stuff! Of course like every place else we are finding there is no water. The earthship community and other use cisterns and other water catchment systems. We are considering it. Many shop owners we have run into have lived on the mesa or know others who do. We even met a woman at solarfest who gave us her number to see about housesitting her place out there for awhile. Ironically enough she is also a photographer with a studio in town so that could be a great connection for Riki.

I went into the yarn shop with intentions of yarn dyeing and found myself walking out with roving and a spindle. I think for whatever reason I'm meant to start spinning and several people said that selling that sort of thing is a way to thrive here. They have craft fairs somewhere like every weekend. Seriously. Another coincidence...the yarn shop owner was from the same area in Florida we are. She said she has never regretted moving here and doesn't miss it in the least.

So we've been making all sorts of connections which seem to be pointing us in the direction to look into staying. Riki and I have argued. I don't want the trip to be over. I still want to go to the huge national parks and try to make it to Oregon. He is weary of breakdowns and bigger mountains and the fact of the matter is we have a limited income which is dwindling the more we travel. It is a hard decision. I am just going to see what pans out with our contacts here. If they point us in the direction of staying, we'll stay. If they don't pan out I hope we'll try to move on until we find something that does. Maybe Tara will call us about this place they are staying in Oregon (hint, hint).

We went to Solarfest this past weekend in town to see Michael Franti perform. It was a wonderful night and so great to finally make a festival on our travels. Ellery hooped up a storm. He is getting pretty good and we had to fight over the hoop, lol! I did have some homesickness for the first time though. Riki and I were very disappointed to be segregated to the beer cage as I call it. Although they sold beer, there is a designated drinking tent area and you are not allowed to carry your beer outside to the stages. The kicker was that they wouldn't allow the kids in the beer area so we had to take turns downing our beers in this tent. That put a downer on the festival and such a thing is just unheard of in my experience. I have found since medical marijuana is pretty prominent in this area that it seems to be favored over us contemptible beer drinkers. Granted, I'm all for marijuana legalization but last time I checked, alcohol was legal too so I'm not sure if I understand treating us as subordinates of some sort.

Last but not least we saw this awesome bluegrass band, Cherryholmes, while we were there. They are an entire family of musicians from parents to teenage kids and they have several grammy nominations. I was just thrilled to see some bluegrass but looking around I just didn't see a lot of other people getting it like we do from the south. I guess you could say I miss Suwannee and the music festivals there most definitely. I don't miss anyplace south of there though, lol, other than our dear friends and family of course.

So here we are at another nearby rv park to catch up on mail for a week or so before we move on to the unknown. That will either be someplace here to try to network and find a creative way to make some kind of living or on to Colorado and the beautiful national parks. I will wait for the universe to point us in the right direction and go from there.