1,562 and Whew!

One thousand, five hundred, and sixty-two miles were driven over the past six days making it our fastest and most furious road trip to date.  I have a bit of a road hangover today: trying and failing to get motivated, feeling a little bit blah and my stomach is just unhappy. Our fast trip was definitely worth it.  For me a road trip is always worth it to see something new or to just get a change of scenery.  It was humbling to see how much of America is still so undeveloped and to drive twenty solid minutes without seeing another car.  Actually, that was kind of eerie.  With Austin building up as fast as it can, it becomes so easy to forget that there are places left where it is not all strip malls and fast food and asphalt.  Let me tell you that there is plenty of undeveloped land in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico.

You know they are high when they swallow the clouds.

The mountains around Taos were amazing!  We definitely did not spend enough time in Taos.  There is a ton to do there and so many hikes to take and just beautiful scenery to take in.  We did try one hike up Wheeler Mountain but we didn't get too far up.  The boy heard us talk about how a headache is an indicator of altitude sickness and crazy enough he had a headache ten minutes later.  But even my nanny goat of a hiker, SG, was overwhelmed when she saw how high a mountain really goes.  We took a lower elevation hike the next day and that was gorgeous.  The wildflowers and long grasses and smurf-house mushrooms swallowed the trail and everyone hiked along happily because the weather was cool, it was an easy amble along and we wanted to see a cave at the end.  I both enjoyed the hike and worried that bears would eat us the entire time because if I was a bear, that is where I would live and if clueless hikers came ambling by, I would probably eat them.  I took some assurance that we had a dog with us and that the dog would either flush out the bears or the bear would grab the dog first and give us time to escape.  Sorry Oona.  

Also interesting to see in Taos is the locals.  My cousin took me to a brewery which was also holding a rave and the people watching was spectacular.  I believe what I saw is what people are asking for when they say to Keep Austin Weird.  I am sorry Austin, all your weird has moved to Taos.  I have never seen so many dreadlocks and free flowing armpit hair in one place before.  You couldn't call this group granola because they were crunchier than granola.  I'd say that they were more millet.  (Millet is supposedly a grain but I think it is really French for tiny, indigestible stones.)  I just sat there and drank my locally brewed and unfortunately not great beer and watched.  We then headed to another bar with a better view of the mountains and this one too was packed with people.  This time is was packed with mourners who were holding a memorial and yet the bar was open to the public.  Don't worry, my black sport shorts blended in well and we kept to ourselves.

Me and Billy the Kid.

I wish that I could report that the Billy the Kid museum in Ft. Sumner, NM was as moving an experience as Laura's white farmhouse in Mansfield, MO last year, but sadly it was not.  The admission fee of $11 for us all was by far the very best and very worst $11 I spent.  It was good because the people there are lovely and so very proud of their museum and bad because it had so very little Billy and so much other stuff.  Truly it might be better named "Old Stuff From Around Ft. Sumner, Junk I Liked to Collect Over the Years and Oh Yeah! Billy the Kid's Gun".  There was lots and lots of old stuff inside, outside, behind glass cases, laying out in the yard, just not much stuff on Billy.  I felt closer to Billy the Kid when I drove past the sign that said Lincoln County and I yelled out "Regulators Ride!"  Also, unfortunately the Billy the Kid Museum had that smell that antique shops and old houses get and it didn't bode well for SG's stomach.  I am not sure what that smell is?  Arsenic? Asbestos? Years of dust, desolation and despair?  Whatever it is by the time we hit outside, SG was done.  I will have you know that it was SG who broke the docent's heart this year and not me.  This lovely, ancient, old man mentioned we should see the auto yard and SG looked at me with eyes that said "I will kill you.", so I was forced to tell this tiny, crinkly, stooped old man thank you but we are done.  It broke his heart and he crumbled into a million pieces that were swept up on the hot wind and settled as another layer of detritus over the museum.  

Next up was Roswell and all of it is alien hoo-ha.  SG loved it.  I did not love Roswell.  It was hot, it was crowded and we were accosted by a crazy man brandishing a screwdriver.  I did appreciate how cool it was inside the UFO museum and they did do a nice job of presenting the material that they had.  I will now admit to being an 11 year old boy and giggling over the alien statues and the attention to detail they put into the alien posterior. 

Who knew aliens worked out?

Really.  They could have given them a gentle U butt like a Ken doll, but these aliens were given buns of steel.  This cracked me up and is still my favorite part of the museum.  So having been there do I think a UFO really landed?  All I know is this: if I lived in Roswell, NM I would pray that a UFO, airplane, weather balloon or even a tree showed up to break up the landscape, I really would.  Desolate scrub land all around, that is all this part of NM has to offer.

We are home now and while I might feel a little road-hazed, I am so very glad we took this fast trip.  It was great to see my aunt and cousin and spend time with them at their homes.  The mountains were beyond beautiful and the cooler weather was gobbled up and appreciated.  The museums may have been a bust, but they were still adventures.  SG took her role as navigator very seriously which was great because Google Maps is occasionally bipolar and I needed someone on point.  The boy played a lot of video games, but he did look up when I said "Look up!  Appreciate the mountains".  He would also provide one line of commentary from time to time that had SG and I doubled over laughing.  They were amazing and are true road warriors; they know how to enjoy a road trip for the escape it is.  The only time they complained is when I made them wait 111 miles to use the bathroom which may seem cruel but there were not a lot of places to stop.  Honest.  This year my road trip left me humbled and grateful and anticipatory:  humbled by the scenery, grateful for the company and anticipatory for where we can go and what we can see next year.