More Days in Santa Fe National Forest

April 22-23
We're still having great weather during the days. Sunny and breezy with temps getting to maybe the lower 70s by mid-afternoon. (Our mornings are still quite chilly…mid to upper 30s). When we do get passing clouds, it REALLY messes with you. Whereas with the full sun treatment one can be under a sun umbrella and be in a lightweight shirt, with the clouds and wind, you need a hat and fleece. I've seriously had times where I've been putting on and taking off layers 5-10 times an hour. Not that I'm complaining! Just trying to be an accurate reporter…
Missy and I worked on our firewood stockpile. She got everything cut to size with the electric chainsaw. I went off on a search party for smaller stuff…using clippers and just gathering from downed trees. When I got back, Missy said the chain came off the chainsaw. However…she was able to get it back on herself! Yay Missy! We're not sure if how much longer we're staying here. We might move to a different boondocking site at a lower elevation. Either way, we're all set for firewood for a good bit.


(Sorry for all the extra hard returns. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the laptop screen got busted in our last move. There are about 3 coinsized inkblots in the screen, so I need to hard return sometimes to get the cursor to where I can see what I'm typing).
Jeremiah drove the truck into Santa Fe bright and early on Monday Mmorning. He got a ride back to our campsite from one of the bodyshop workers. That was nice! On the way back, they passed a crew filming "Breaking Bad"! How exciting! The sherrif was stopping cars to ask what they were doing going up the mountain. Also, the worker pointed out Gene Hackman's house. Jeremiah said it's a mansion on the hill.
I had thought it was supposed to be a 4-5 hour job. But 5 pm rolled around, and still no sign of the worker. Jeremiah didn't seem concerned. I hope nothing surprising came up during the repairs. It's a little worrisome being out of the loop and not having a vehicle. Luckily, we do have the scootie if we really need to get to town to see what's up.
I finally got to take my long hike with Cassie. (I didn't go on the weekend because there was a lot of people here, many with dogs). We had the whole trail to ourselves on Monday afternoon. It was a beautiful trail through the forest and mostly next to a rushing creek. I tried to go to the end of the trail, because I bet there is a great overlook of Santa Fe. But, alas, it was too far. On the way back, it was mostly uphill. I couldn't manage more than a slow crawl before I'd be wheezing like an asthmatic. Cassie, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all. Do dogs even get affected by altitude changes?
Hopefully tomorrow we'll get the truck back and then we'll make some decisions on what we'll do next. It's still a little stressful not having firm plans…still getting used to this new retired lifestyle.