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I can’t remember exactly where I was trying to get to the day before I arrived in Taos, NM.  I was drifting around so much and stopping to see some of the sites that I fell far short of my intention and it was already getting dark.  So I went to freecampsites.net and there wasn’t a whole lot of options near Farmington, NM, which is as far as I traveled.   Found a spot that was BLM land but really an area for riding off road vehicles not camping.  So after a day of intense scenery, I arrived at the camp and it matched the descriptions in the reviews.  Basically they said, be careful not to get stuck in the sand, the hard part of the road is very rutted and good for an emergency camp, but wouldn’t go back.  That’s where I made my home for the evening.  Except for one barking dog nearby that wouldn’t quit, it was relatively peaceful.

Up and gone early I found a Starbucks and went for a coffee and some WiFi.  When I got back into the truck I was punching in directions to Taos and I noticed a guy had walked up and was standing about four feet away looking at me through the driver side window.  Since he wasn’t carrying an axe and looked normal I put down the window and said good morning.  His first words to me were, “man, you are living the dream”.  No doubt this gentleman didn’t see where I sleep last night.  You know what, he was exactly right.  Living “my dream” anyway.  After some long days driving or riding, occasionally questioning my sanity, sleeping in some desolate places, you can to miss the bigger picture.  That bigger picture at the moment is that life really is great and I am truly blessed to be able to be free wheeling around this beautiful country for a while.  This short 5 minute visit from a stranger named Chris was exactly what I needed this morning.  Really helped me refocus.  My parting words to him when he questioned some things he though he might want to do were “if not now, when”?  Mind you I think that phrase applies to most everyone, but I think it’s especially appropriate for people 50 years of age and beyond.  Even with good genes and more longevity now a days, I think that 50+ (to use a golf term) puts you firmly on the back nine of life, so let’s get a move on.  Now might be a good time to get out there, live your life with purpose and not end up at the end of this ride with a lot of unaccomplished things you wish you did.  I try and keep these posts mostly uplifting and perky, so don’t make me start posting things like “the 10 things that dying people regret most” to help motivate you. 

Okay, so I headed out for Taos again with no set plans and basically just needed to find a place to camp for the night.  Turns out that there is a public parking lot right in the center of the historic part of town where you can park an RV for an overnight or two, so that’s where I went.  After making camp (parking) I took a walk to check out the area. I was getting hungry and ended up seeing what was probably the plainest, saddest looking Mexican restaurant in the area and decided to eat there.  As suspected and hoped, the food was great and the beer was ice cold. 

At around 7:30PM I went to the town plaza and it turns out they were having a free concert and once it got going it kind of turned into a dance-fest too.  There was a Mexican flavored band playing and after about a 1/2 hour the dance floor in front of the band was getting busy.  The songs mostly just blended into one another, with a kind of Polka upbeat and the people were loving it.  Turned out to be a great party for a few hours. 

In fact there was one elderly woman who I’ll bet was no more the 4’6” tall and for sure 90+ years old and she was out there having a go at dancing.  She was barley picking up her feet, but she wasn’t quitting.  She stayed out there dancing for one long song and it took her a while to get back to her chair, but she was smiling like she won the lottery.  It was a really nice public party and Taos is really growing on me now.

Next morning I woke up early and found a laundromat called the Pinch Penny Wash-O-Mat.  Sounded like my kind of place.  The manager saw me come in, noticed what I was carrying and steered me to the right sized washing machine.  After I fired it up she looked at my clothes splashing around and said “you don’t have enough soap”.  So she went in the back room got a bottle of laundry detergent and added some more.  After she nodded with approval that it was now good, she said “come on and have coffee”.  There was a coffee urn with free coffee and while having a cup she was telling me about her family, her past jobs, her Indian tribe, this place she manages and some info about the town.  All this for $1.75.  I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen when I put another $1.50 into the dryer… what a great place.  I left once the clothes went into the dryer and got some breakfast.  When I got back and packed up my clean laundry, the manager thanked me for my business, shook my hand, wished me safe travels and waved as I walked across the lot.  This woman wasn’t the exception, most of the locals I talked to seemed this kind of friendly.

I off loaded the Fat Boy and took off riding for the most of the day into the mountains to see some of the surrounding towns.  Nice ride, good roads, sunny warm day, life is good!  On the way back I found another Mexican restaurant with the look of desperation and went in.  Food was just okay, but I had hoped I found another gem and that it was going to be better.  The most interesting part of this meal was a Latino gentleman who looked to be in his late 20’s that sat at the table across from me.  The majority of his face was covered in tattoos and there seemed to be more inked skin then untouched.  It was distracting almost to the point of disturbing, but to each their own, ‘nuff said. 

Since New Mexico is famous for it’s Red Chili and Green Chili sauces most everything I choose to order has either one or the other, or both.  Pork Tamales with Green Chili sauce, Chili Rellenos with Red Chili sauce, Beef Burrito with both Red and Green Chili sauces and I just ate at a place where I asked the waitress what’s the best thing on the menu and she told me the Green Chili Cheeseburger, so that’s what I ate.

The older part of Taos is a very art oriented community with lots of galleries.  Besides art, it feels very new age and the food is very artsy in this part of town too.  Everything seems to be over the top in correctness, organics, sustainables and renewables.  Got up on Saturday morning and walked to the main street espresso shop for coffee.  Most customers at the coffee shop had their own mugs or containers and knew the program.  I looked at the coffee selections on the big blackboard and the varieties of coffee and blends were mind boggling.  I admitted to the cashier neither he nor I had time for a tutorial so I could figure out what I want, so how about just giving me a medium sized dark roast coffee, black.  He almost seemed surprised but the “barista” looked at him and said not to worry, simple and straight forward it is.  It took a few minutes and I got the feeling that she had to make a “normal” cup of coffee especially for me.  The Mousse Shop I stopped in a bit later, which serves a variety of mousse by the scoop, also did high end torts and cookies and had a long list of where they source their chocolate from and all sorts of info on the farmers.  Some of the small chocolate bars they were selling as a grab & go were over $10.00 and a small tort could be $5.00 or more.  Everything edible in town seemed to be in line with this “good for the world and good for you too” theme or locally sourced.  Well maybe except for those little Mexican places with the great chili sauces. 

I walked to the town plaza again and now there was a farmers market going on.  Fresh local produce, local bakery items, herbs, local remedies, wools made from Alpacas that people owned, a palm reader, a guy with a typewriter that would type you a personalized poem on the spot and they even had a three piece band playing some bluegrass music.  Oh, and a guy that seemed to be emulating Jesus, if not in practice at least in his look.  It felt like hippy-ville.  The plaza was full of vendors and lots of people enjoying shopping, baked goods and the music.  Spent some hours here just people watching and enjoying the music.  Interesting observation is that so many of these folks buy into the whole sustainable, organic and local foods concept and are willing to pay the prices.  Plus it surely looks like a lot of them are biking or walking a lot instead of using the car to run down to the corner store and buy a gallon of Fudge Ripple Ice Cream to eat as a snack before bed.  They seem much more fit and healthy then most of the places I go to and people I see.  My impression is that the majority of the these citizens look happy, trim and healthy. 

So with all the peace, love, art and hippy-ness in historic Taos, what should I do on my last day here?  I know how about a rodeo! 

There’s a rodeo on the other side of town this weekend and it sounds like a perfect way to spend the afternoon.  It was run by the Police Posse and is its 51st year being held here.  Pay $10.00 per person at the gate and you’re in.  The group of elder cowboys working the gate complimented my Fat Boy and suggested that I park in right next to their booth for safe keeping, so I did.  This kind of gave me a great look at the back of this lot where the rodeo participants were getting ready.  I had my cowboy boots and blue jeans on and a dirty baseball cap so I fit right in.  I even had the chance to meet this aspiring cowboy.  

What a lot of fun this turned out to be.  It was even better then competition segments at the Too Broke for Sturgis bike rally.  These cowboys and cowgirls had real skills, could handle their horses superbly and weren’t half in the bag drunk.  The event crowd was definitely not from the artsy historic part of town.  These folks were mostly blue collar, hard working, Walmart shopper types just out having a good old time.  Instead of Chai Tea, expensive chocolates and organic foods, the snack bar here had food like hot dogs, burgers, nachos piled high with “stuff” and grilled corn.  I didn’t see any beer for sale, but some people were bringing their own coolers of adult refreshments.  The port-A-johns looked like there were from WWII and every part of the facility was just dirt, I don’t think there was a blade of grass within a quarter mile.  It was all perfect!

After some introductions, some awards, prayers (yes prayers) for the safety of the participants, the livestock, the armed forces, the police and the national anthem, it was Let’s Ride.  There was bucking bronco riding, barrel races, calf roping and tying, and the very macho event of steer wrestling.  The steer, weighing in around 550 pounds and with horns, gets let out of the shoot, the cowboy chases it down on horseback, jumps off the horse in full gallop, grabs the head of the running steer and with some luck and strength twists the steers head around until it falls over.  Taaa-Daah.  The crescendo was the bull riding event.  These riders are some brave guys strapping themselves onto the back of a ticked off Bull that weighs about 1,500 pounds. All I can say about that very exciting event is, “Mamma don’t let your babies grow up to be bull riding cowboys, or rodeo clowns”. 

They also had a couple of events where all the kids come out into the rodeo arena.  One is where they invite all the kids out and tie a ribbon to about 10 calves’ tails and when they let them out of the shoot the kids chase them around and if they can get a ribbon they win a cash prize.  These calf’s are probably 250 pounds and there were probably 60 kids out there that ranged from around 12 to 4 years old.  There’s a chance that your child might actually get knocked down by a calf or other contestant and even get hurt.  But you know what, it was all so natural and “no big deal” here.  No one got hurt, the kids had so much fun, it was all just so old fashioned.  I was laughing thinking that in NJ or many parts of the country people would be screaming and need a “fainting couch” and then would be calling child services to come arrest the parents and take the children away.  I’m not casting judgement either way, but giving a general description of the attitudes in this part of Taos. 

Final note on this is that the last third of the rodeo I started acting like I belong and walked around in some places where they were prepping the steer, bulls and other critters.  Kind of a behind the scenes look, but no one was trying to hide anything.  No doubt that these cowboys have a healthy respect for all the animals, but there’s also sorting to be done and business to tend to.  Sometimes a cowhand needs to get his point across to make the steer do what he wants and on the flip side sometimes the steer kicks one of these guys or jabs a horn into one of them.  It’s just the way it goes here. 

Final words on Taos, NM, I will definitely be back for another visit!

Campers:  There are dispersed camping sites nearby.  There is also a Walmart that apparently allows overnights, but the parking lot is small and congested.  Looks like one of those in late. out early deals.  I would not hesitate to again use the free camping in the parking lot in the center of the historic section of Taos.  If your using a tent or just have a car there are a lot of options in the surrounding mountains.

Bikers:  Taos has some great riding in the general mountain areas and is also not too far from Los Alamos and even Santa Fe, both a good day trip.  Just find a local person that rides and ask them for some good places to ride and make sure you have a pen and paper because the list can get long.

Personal Work: For sure I have been traveling slower and taking more time to wander and explore.  Every day of this trip segment was a “go where the locals go” kind of day.  The rodeo, that was new and different and I almost passed on the opportunity.  Extremely glad I reconsidered or I never would haave seen the flip side of Taos, NM.