8 in 13

Leaving Taos signified the start of my journey home-and I was nowhere NEAR wanting it to end (despite doing 8 states in 13 days) so I am now laying words on the page about what that route looked like, from my home location in Vancouver (where I rolled in last night). First off though, I want to start to tell you a little about the 4 photos today..the first one is of that first church ,El Santurio de Chimayo, on the High Road to Taos...that is exactly where I was standing when that kind fellow, An Apparition in Denim, passed me the bag of holy dirt. The second photo is of the San Francisco de Asis (St. Francis of Assisi) church, in Rancho de Taos, the most photographed and replicated-in-art church in the USA - some of you may be very familiar with one of the artist Georgia O'Keefe's well-known 'signature' paintings depicting it..

As you leave Taos you have to cross the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, one of the highest bridges in the country.. and when you look way way down, standing on it, fingers vice-gripped to the railings, you actually feel queazy- and I don't have a problem with heights. It was here that I got happily trapped into buying jewellry from the artists camped out next to the bridge..all selling really cool stuff, and hey, it was my lucky day too- because all the items were half price and were going up to full price the next day! (Nah, I didn't believe it either, but I played along...). Photo 3 is of the Psychedelic Espresso Bus across the road from the vendors.I'm seriously thinking of naming my first band what I just named that bus. (When I return in My Next Life as a struggling, out of work musician with a caffeine dependency...)

For someone who did not plan her route for this trip, I really made pretty good decisions about where to go and where to stop. (Hmm, the last 10 words in that previous sentence actually sum up a decent philosophy on how to deal with Life..) I could not have picked a more spectacularly scenic - and diversely scenic-route for almost 100% of the entire thing, the biggest exception being the slog through the San Bernardino portion of HWY 10 outta LA...

So from the Gorge, it was on through beautiful mountain passes ,etc to get to Durango, Colorado, to check out their newly renovated Holiday Inn..At one point, a black hawk with some kind of red colouring on it swooped right in to my windshield, then, at the last second, like in a game of chicken, he changed course. It left me wondering if that was some kind of sign in favour of the Chicago Blackhawks taking the Stanley Cup..(now if I were a betting man, I'd be all over it.)

Colorado is so pretty, with the tidiest ranches I ever have seen. They all looked like photographs-nothing moved, including the livestock. Maybe they weren't real, but exact replicas of livestock, for show. That would make for a REALLY tidy ranch.On the way to Durango, there was this sweet, quaint little town- Pagosa Springs- which looked like it just sprung out of a Gilmore Girls set (for those of you who are diehard GG fans- and you know who you are- you can truly understand how meaningful this was). The only thing not so Gilmore Girlish was this guy in his early twenties trying to hitch a ride ..he had hiking boots on, camouflage shorts, a thick sweater, a woollen toque (remember, it's hot as Hades out) , carrying a very very high backpack (as in 'how will this fit in someone's car').(And as in what/who is inside that thing?) But the crowning feature , and what I would consider the deal breaker for anyone even entertaining the notion of picking him up,was that he had half a beard. And I don't mean as in a light beard, I mean, one side of his face was clean shaven, the other half was fully bearded, with a perfect line between beard/no beard down the middle of his chin. Remember in that Batman movie, The Dark Knight , the niceguyturnedvillainaftertheaccidentthatlefthalfhisfacemeltedandburnedbuttheothersidewasperfect,that's kinda what it reminded me of, but totally different. What was he thinking, you know, for like actually increasing his chances of getting a ride? I never can understand how most hitchhikers, by nature, look sooo unpredictable, and like they are carrying all their worldly items that were handed to them when they were released from prison earlier that morning.

After Durango, it was into Utah with all those giant orangey-red rock formations, super impressive especially where little towns of green had managed to crop up in their valleys,despite the blistering heat and umm rocks and all. But the heat had nothin' on the insanely strong winds along the wide expanses of highway.I literally almost got blown off the road when a big semi screamed past me, the whole car felt like it was going to tip up onto its right side and I had to grip the wheel with all my might..and when stopping for gas in a place in the middle of WhereAmI, I had to press with all my body weight to get my car door open- against those same winds-before it slammed shut (with extreme prejudice).

The plan was to link up for an overnight with the Phoenix Phamily again in Salt Lake City, Utah, which was great..and wow, those mountains around there are like stepping into the Swiss Alps..all jagged and snowy, huge, in charge type mountains, quite yodelling-worthy. From there it was into Idaho and Oregon for more spectacular vistas and their big BIG skies..and then yesterday's home stretch on into Washington, where the rains started juussst outside of Seattle.AND it was socked in till getting home to Vancouver..but there were lotsa great views beforehand-who knew that the Yakima Valley could be sisters with the Okanagan Valley, they look so alike geographically and with all the vineyards and stuff..however, as sisters go, I would have to say that the Okanagan Valley 'got all the looks' in the beauty department...

So that about rounds out the trip, and now for the 4th photo..I took it yesterday, on my final day, somewhere in Oregon, and chose it to represent the future that lies ahead, the post-journey Journey..all bright, sunny, open to suggestion, the sky-unending ..it's all about possibilities. Yeah, sure, we all know about the rains and grey that happen later on up that same road (in North Bend, to be exact), but-corny as it sounds- what is gonna work for me is to realize that the key to this whole experience is to remember those blissful moments, drives, encounters, sunny blue skies, and use them like the transparencies our teachers used to place on the overhead projector..by superimposing all those guilt-free,fearless , calm, joyous, fun moments onto the present moment, altering it-just a little- to embody the delicious memory of the Art of That Journey ,and the Freedom of That Tour...

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts,don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and Live!

-Bob Marley