hiatus from the west, here's to the east

All apologies for not keeping up with the blog during our stay in the Purgatoire Valley.  I'd been planning an epic entry; in fact I was planning on writing several entries and back-logging them so that you'd all think I was diligently blogging.  Alas, Purgatory did its best to prevent me from telling too much about it.  Also, Purgatory hates technology.

simpson's rest

Trinidad taught me about myself, the land, work-trade, community, and canyon life.  I met some of the best people ever.  After a brief stint as a biology instructor at the local junior college, I left my first "real job" with no regrets, but considerable sadness over walking away from the only fulfilling job I've ever held.  But, adventure calls.

Sancho and I are considering buying land there in the somewhat near future.  We would like 40-ish acres, big rocks/mountain vistas, and ideally an existing dwelling however humble.  AKA canyon style. It's funny how we only lived there for eleven months but feel more connected to the place than we do to western Mass, or even our home towns.  There's something about it that grows roots in you.

pre-AT, north georgia

Tomorrow we start our long walk, Georgia to Maine, on the Appalachian Trail.  It just hit me today that I'll be walking for the next six months. I couldn't imagine anything better. 

amicalola falls

Earth Mountain Farm, Weston, Colorado

Too many things have happened since I last "blogged" to tell in detail now.

Abridged version:

In late May, due to circumstances beyond all control, we left Rockin' Egg Farm and sought solace in nearby Earth Mountain Farm.  We rolled up to the farm on a whim with just a desperate voicemail, but were greeted with kids our age, elders, children, and a delicious lunch.  By that evening we had transported all our shit (2 carloads worth, somehow), including Allen and Chevy of course, to our Earth Mountain home.

Earth Mountain crew + some more, early June

The weekend we arrived was a busy one as it was their annual "open house" weekend.  Lots of pizza in the horno oven, campfires, and musicians.   A gal named Lori stayed for 3 or 4 days and might have been the reincarnation of Janis Joplin.  She lives out of her van, travels all over, and leaves a place with barely a "goodbye."  Amazing.  She's originally from Trinidad (the nearest real town to us), so I figured I'd be seeing her in time.  In fact, yesterday, I was happy when she turned up at the Trinidad Community Co-Op.  Joni and Carter, the people who run earth mtn (PA natives - Carter went to Pocono Mtn High '87 and Joni is from Bucks County) were instrumental in starting the co-op, which is just about the only place to buy good groceries in Trinidad.  There are also crafts, tinctures, soap, jewelry, and clothes for sale at the co-op.  Sancho has some of her whittled pendants there and I'm planning on getting some knit stuff in there soon.

Allen, Rockin' Egg Farm, May

When we first arrived, we lived in our backpacking tent ("Old NorthFace") for 4 days.  Chevy adjusted (he'd sleep in NorthFace all day long), but I don't think Allen slept ever.  How relieved he must have been when we relocated to a most beautiful 10' x 12' cabin.  Besides Joni and Carter's house, our cabin is the only cabin on the property.  Everyone else lives in sweet tipis (crafted by Joni) or a tent.  What I'm getting at is that Sancho and I almost can't believe our luck -- for some reason awesomeness is landing in our laps.  I won't worry.

Cabin, Earth Mountain

Earth Mountain is way involved with the community.  Besides the co-op, Joni helped start the Trinidad Community Garden, teaches summer classes for high schoolers at the Trinidad State Junior College, and hosts day camps and overnight camps at Earth Mountain.  We've had a few day camps already - young homeschoolers and ninth graders from the Junior College.  This weekend we have our first 3-day overnight camp for high schoolers.  The camps are "up my alley" -- I went to Pocono Plateau camp for ten-ish years, even attending long after I denounced Christianity, because what is god about anyway if not mountains, lakes, campfires and crafts?

West Spanish Peak with wildfire haze, 13,625 ft, June

The month of June saw a lot of WWOOFers coming through.  At one point we had twelve WWOOFers.  Now we have four - Sancho, myself, Jen, and Monica.  Curiously, the two WWOOFers from Stacy and Chanson's that we loved so much were also named Jen and Monica.  We just lost two great people this week - Jayna and Katherine.  They'd both been at  Earth Mountain a long while and were great fun good people.  I miss them.  The energy at the farm has been different with this sea change of WWOOFers.  It is what it is. 

Joni's web of community connections has also been helping us with our Appalachian Trail plans.  We let her know that we want to save up some money for hiking, and within two weeks she had found us no less than three paying gigs.  As of now we are: helping Earth Mtn. neighbor/friend, Fred, who builds kickass notched log houses for rich people; working for the Trinidad History Museum as gardeners; and occasionally helping out neighbor/friend/ex-Rainbow child/awesome lady, Holly, clean up her property.  yeah money.

Sancho and Orion in the aspen grove

A few other things we've been up to:
1) ceremonial sweat lodges
2) learning lots about local flora
3) crafting
4) sancho's learning mandolin
5) pounding tires full of dirt...
6) milking our goat Daisy Mae and taking her on hikes
7) bouldering (sancho)
8) playing with baby kittens
9) hangin out with hippie children Justice (7) and Orion (3)
10) getting very tan

Justice

Weston, Colorado

what's up, west

Northeast PA winter was wet and snowier than usual.  I spent it holed up at 539 Thomas Street with Sancho M. Panza and felines Midge, Kevin, Allen & Chevy.  We brewed a brown ale and a milk stout.  Sanch furthered her whittling craftsmanship.  I knit a lot of thongs and beer cozies.  We got really into "Extreme Sledding."  Lots of family dinners and Wawa(R) touch-screen deli offerings.

Hit the road with Chevy and Allen sitting on our laps.  Arrived on April 20.

mountain home

 exhausted Norbie + canyon cabin 4/20

chevron loves the loft

Allen befriends the dogs

 Some things we've done so far as resident "land hands:"

• planted lots of things
• chickenwired the fence in yard so chicks can run free
• split a lot of wood w/ maul (mostly Sanch)
• prepared wood-fired hot tub
• worked on campground
• dug a deep shit hole in rocky earth
• drove the '92 F-150 (Aud)
• cleaned chicken coop
• cleaned yard
• made rock walls and cairns (mostly Aud)
• tore down a shed (Sanch)
• painted trail signs
• chainsawed a ton (Sanch)

Besides that we've been hanging out with 6 dogs 6 cats & 4 people - Stacy & Chanson (who own the farm) and WWOOFers Jen and Monica.

Monica, Sancho, Jen - West Spanish Peak

Sancho descends

Austin, Texas

 the one, the only: SALOME

So happy to visit Austin twice in one year!  We came down in May on a road trip with our best buddies Ally & Marc.  Now we're back to eat more tacos, climb more rock, and hang out more with Austin-ite/former Smith student/best bud Salome.

We made a beeline from Junction to Taco Deli - one of the best food joints ever, then spent a night unwinding with Salome.

The next day Sanch made us breakfast and we walked to the Barton Creek Greenbelt in search of climbable rock.

(passerby jealous of our hammock)

We climbed a route that we learned was a 5.9 top rope climb, but "x-rated" lead climb -- there is one tricky spot where a lead climber could take a very bad lead fall.  Thank you Sancho, our fearless leader.

 unstoppable!

That night, we hung out with Sal's fun group of friends around a campfire.  We met some of the kids back in May, so it was like seeing old pals.  I made Sal this cable knit & garter stitch pouch for her digital camera.  We were sad to say goodbye.

 must. cover. all. technology. with. fiber.

Junction, Texas

After spending the previous night at shitty Sumner Lake State Park near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, we hauled some 600-odd miles down New Mexico and across Texas.  Our original destination was a state park in Texas that promised to be similar in format to Sumner Lake - a state park built around a "lake" created by man and then passed off as a "natural" point of interest.  To be clear, there are NO LAKES in the desert.  All the "lakes" are misnomers for a dammed river/concrete jungle.

We reached the "lake" state park in early afternoon and decided to trek on to South Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas.  It was a beauty of a spot -- lots of land, hike & bike trails, free fishing (no license required - it's the Texas state park way), and two bird blinds.  I'm not exactly a bird watcher, but these bird blinds were incredible.  Apparently all it takes to see awesome birdie action is a fenced-in area and copious birdseed.  I got the low-down from a lady park ranger -- South Llano River S.P. has been feeding the birds religiously for over ten years.  That'll do it.

We had the walk-in tent campground to ourselves.

The campground host was a friendly "full time RVer."  He had quite the rig -- an enormous trailer, ample truck, and a golf cart for easy campground locomotion.  Only in America.

Despite what you may think about Texas, west Texas sure is nice.  The land is immense, the sky is huge, people are nice, and the speed limit on the interstate is 80 mph.  And you can buy Shiner beer.

(near) Weston, Colorado

mountain home

met the people & spot of our wildest/best dreams -- 2 dykes that live on top of a 9,000 foot mountain in southern Colorado - built the place with their own hands - off grid - five dogs - six cats - retro trailers - wood-fired hot tub - create awesomeness - flanked by 13,000 footers - have an empty cabin with our name on it - need help building their trails - remote - making a campground - amazing and beautiful people & pets... yeah.  We like.

dog daze

 

solar array

canyon cabin

hangboard equipped

sweet skies

Idgie

snow-capped 13,000 footers

 finished this sock - now I need to make another one

Chimayo, New Mexico

After leaving Wind Spirit, we sought out the small public library (the quest for free wifi!) in the quaint town of Globe, Arizona.  Took the scenic route through some crazy canyonlands and eventually camped in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in northeast Arizona after eating lots of DairyQueen(TM).

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

free camping

En route, we saw some people on their own trips:
-- A couple of young dudes all bare-chested and drenched in sweat climbing the canyon roads on their bikes, loaded with camping gear.
-- A middle-aged man walking the road & hitched to his back were one of those little bike trailers people affix behind their bikes in order to haul their kids around.. except his was filled with gear... Whatever it takes.

View from our campsite:

evening light

morning light

 she climby

In western New Mexico our sometimes-wonky but ever-friendly GPS unit "Tom-Tom" ("Tommie") led us to El Malpais National Monument.  A beauty of a spot!

she climby

El Malpais

natural bridge

sand bluffs

the black stuff in the valley is hardened lava flows

the mountains in the background are volcanoes

can't stop climbing

beauty rocks

self-timed

ruins

Our destination in New Mexico was Jenny - Sancho's sister Anni's best friend from Philadelphia.  She's really from Matamoras, PA, which means she's my one-hour radius neighbor from back east.  She lives north of Santa Fe in the small town of Chimayo.  It's beautiful there.

Chimayo

Jenny has a great dog named Bowie and a cat named Miranda and a kitten named Booger.  We were in heaven.

puppy love

our hike was too steep for baby Bowie

Jenny showed us a great time - first off, she took us to the spa that she works at and finagled us a free hot tub/cold plunge/sauna session.  Hell yeah.
 

We slept in her woodstove-heated home in Chimayo.  We visited El Santuario de Chimayo.  She took us to the goat farm she used to work at, and we had campfires and homemade wine with some locals.  She set up her friend to change my oil and filter. We went to a flea market with lots of crafts where I purchased some Christmas presents.  Basically, she hooked us up.  Thanks, Jenny!

(near) Globe, Arizona

route 60, west of Globe

We visited Wind Spirit Community, located in the Sonoran desert about 30 miles south of Globe -- one of the oldest intentional communities in the United States.  It formed in the 1970s under the name Christmas Star Community.  The land was almost lost during the 1990s, but some clever hippies formed a folk band and toured the country to raise money to buy the land (somehow, it worked).

view of Wind Spirit from their mountain

Wind Spirit sees hundreds of visitors yearly.  The community also hosts yoga retreats and permaculture workshops.

I hoped Wind Spirit would have a variety of members - some old, some young, some kids, women, you know.  But at this point in time it is home to mostly older, retired men.  There is one young woman there who is skilled in crochet.  I bought these slipper-shoes from her.  They are a dream.

shoes by Sylvia 

We had a great time bushwhacking (cactuswhacking) through the nearby mountains.

I learned a hard lesson - WEAR BOOTS in the desert.  Since it was so warm we just had to wear sandals -- a painful mistake.  The moment I took my eyes off the ground I slammed my big toe into several spines of a Cholla cactus.  Ow.  Luckily, we had our sharp Geber(R) blade with us -- I sliced the embedded spines off the cactus and plucked them out one by one.  Simple surgery.  Another lesson learned -- relax and the spines come out easier.

The cactus incident was just the universe's way of giving me this lucky horseshoe.  It was on the ground right near the spot where I got whacked by the Cholla.  Amazing!

thanks universe!

On the outskirts of Wind Spirit's land we found this charming shack nestled in a canyon -- our Wind Spirit home (if we lived there).

simply charming!

close up!

There are two Indian ruin sites on Wind Spirit's land (and tons in the surrounding area, and in all of the southwest).  Here's one:

ruins

Wind Spirit is nicely laid out - there are no central buildings, unless you count the kitchen.  At night, in case you forget your flashlight, the little dirt paths connecting everything are lit at ground level by solar-powered lights.  All of the homes and structures are small and cute as if built for the gnomes that we are.

dome home

sweet privy

open air sink

igloo thing - toasty at night (collects heat from sun during day)

bus village

back of "media bus"

 large/awesome fire pit, wood-fired sauna in back

chickens

signage

Overall, we learned a lot about cacti, met a few characters, ate delicious meals prepared for us, went in the sauna, saw the milky way, & generally enjoyed the sky, the land, and being covered in dust.