I got packed up and managed to have all my business finished and was on the road by 11:15. The road over the mountains from Angel Fire to Taos is pretty bad...narrow, twisty and no shoulder. The speed limit varies but is 25 mph a lot of the way. I came around a bend and somebody had driven their pick-up into a rock wall and the road was full of people trying to get him and his truck off the road. It was raining a little when I left and there were some wet patches on the road so that might be what happened. I decided not to take the "high road" down toward Santa Fe and just got back on the highway the way that I came up.
Ranchos de Taos is not the tourist trap that Taos is. In fact, it looks like a real rural village with little house
s and gardens. There is a small plaza by the church but the shops sell mostly religious 
items. There was a sentinel dog perched up on his wall watching all of the activity and pretty much bored with what he saw.
The storm finally caught up with me between Santa Fe and Bernalillo. Wind, rain. hai
l, tumbleweed, dust and sand all were coming down at once. It was pret
ty fierce for a while and there are still storms in the area but where I am now there was no rain.
I did stop in Ranchos de Toas, a little village south of the town of Ta
os. This is where the famous church is located -- San Francisco de Assis. The church was being re-mudded, which is som
ething that I wanted to see anyway. The church is solidly built and has a certain presence that causes you to stop in your tracks. This is the church Ansel Adams photographed in black and white back in his heyday (Not the one at Taos Pueblo). The work crew was on lunch break so I got a few pictures. They say the mud dries in about a day but has to cure for several days without rain. I think they picked a bad day. The local padre was sitting out on a bench talking with the workers 
and they decided that they needed more mud. The contractor thought he could get some but the padre might have to tell the supplier that he would be two steps closer to heaven if he supplied the mud. While sitting there it dawned on me that almost exactly four years ago we were at the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.
os. This is where the famous church is located -- San Francisco de Assis. The church was being re-mudded, which is som
ething that I wanted to see anyway. The church is solidly built and has a certain presence that causes you to stop in your tracks. This is the church Ansel Adams photographed in black and white back in his heyday (Not the one at Taos Pueblo). The work crew was on lunch break so I got a few pictures. They say the mud dries in about a day but has to cure for several days without rain. I think they picked a bad day. The local padre was sitting out on a bench talking with the workers 
and they decided that they needed more mud. The contractor thought he could get some but the padre might have to tell the supplier that he would be two steps closer to heaven if he supplied the mud. While sitting there it dawned on me that almost exactly four years ago we were at the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.
Ranchos de Taos is not the tourist trap that Taos is. In fact, it looks like a real rural village with little house
s and gardens. There is a small plaza by the church but the shops sell mostly religious 
items. There was a sentinel dog perched up on his wall watching all of the activity and pretty much bored with what he saw.
I stopped along the highway to take a better look at the Rio Grande -- the portion they do raft trips on. Some of it looks fast but not too rough and then there are places that look pretty bad. I understand that it is common for whole boats to be overturned or swamped but the river is narrow enough that people can reach the shore if they can't get back in the boat.
The storm finally caught up with me between Santa Fe and Bernalillo. Wind, rain. hai
l, tumbleweed, dust and sand all were coming down at once. It was pret
ty fierce for a while and there are still storms in the area but where I am now there was no rain. We are at sort of a stalemate on the land counter offers. I'll need to rethink my offer and decide what I want to do. I'll check and see what other lots are going for and see if I'm being unreasonable. I know it is still a good deal but I got a little irritated with the seller and that might be my problem at this point...and that isn't a good reason to pass it up. I'll get an extention on my decision deadline and give it some more thought since I don't have to have it decided while I'm here.
1 comment:
i like the dog!
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