More Days in Taos

May 9-10, 2012

We had a 3pm apt at the tire place in Taos on Wed.   We went in early to go to the library to use the internet.    Missy tried to get the new maps downloaded to Jane (our new GPS), but it wouldn’t go.    There appears to be some kind of network block on downloading.   This is a bummer, because we’re still having issues with both Jane and Karen.   Jane tried to get us to turn down a side street a ½ mile from a major highway.    Up till then, we were going with the theory that her gaps in intelligence were due to a needed upgrade.   A lot of times Jane and Karen disagree on a route, and even what roads exist.    One positive is that at least one of them at a time will have the correct data.    We’ll have to use both until we can get Jane upgraded.

Went to the tire place.  Did not go well.    The other rear tire was deemed worthless.   (The same tire that had been declared “good” the day before).  I’m sick of thinking about it, and writing about it.   I’m anxious about the decisions we had to make, and supremely nervous for our next trip with the fitty hooked up.    That’s all I’ll say about that.

We decided to stay in Taos for a few more days.   We’re enjoying the weather and the scenery.   We’ve had the campground to ourselves the past few days.   It’s peaceful and quiet here.  I suspect that traffic will pick up over the weekend, though.    In our CO rivers book, it says that there is an annual Mother’s Day kayak race on the section of the Rio Grande right by us.    I don’t know if it will be on this year, though, since the river is low.   On AW, it’s listed as low runnable.   We keep meaning to go take a look at it, but so far other things have popped up.

On Thursday we went for a drive to test the new tires and to check out a possible boondocking site.   We did a scenic route through Taos and over the high bridge.   This snuck up on me and I was terrorized having to drive over it.   There was construction going on ON THE BRIDGE; they had it set up so only one lane went at a time.  The driving lane was riddled with busted concrete patches and it seemed certain that the whole structure could only be seconds from collapsing into the gorge.   (I have a slight phobia of driving over open bridges, and it’s rationally exacerbated when that bridge is under construction).    After making it safely to the other side, we pulled into the rest stop that was right there so we could get out and go back and see the view.    It was stunning!    So far down to the bottom of the gorge.   And the gorge is hidden from view up until the last second.   Seriously, you could be 100 feet away and not know it was there.    I’m really glad we got the chance to see this.

We could not find the boondocking site.   The blog poster just gave an intersection and that was it.  We assumed it would be obvious once we got there, but no dice.   So we headed back to our campground.   We took the scenic, windy, steep dirt road from the top of the mountain to our site.   It was a neat drive.   We got back to camp and enjoyed some relaxing time in our new loungers.   There are some tenting sites in this campground, and those sites get shelters (for shade).   Since no one is here, we set up the loungers in one of the shelters.   This gave us an unobstructed view of the mountain behind.   This is my favorite view of all the campsites to date.