The Road to Taos

Brrr. Rick didn't connect our water hose because of the possibility of freezing. Good move! We stayed warm overnight with our electric heaters and electric blanket. The guys checked into getting tires for Dennis & Ess' camper, then they drove to the rental car place to pickup a vehicle. Rick decided to rent a 6 passenger van to help us getting around. None of our trucks are big enough, so we would need to drive 2 vehicles. It just made sense to have one vehicle and one tank of gas. Ted drove 'the girls' to WalMart so we could shop for supplies and groceries. I have to remember to drink plenty of water. The elevation here plus the arid weather equals easy dehydration. I fought a headache all day, which eased when I drank more water.

We changed our Santa Fe schedule a bit and drove to Taos today. It is about 140 miles round-trip from Taos to Santa Fe. We stopped at 'El Sanctuario de Chimayo' - a pilgrimage site for Roman Catholics. There is a beautiful little chapel dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. The sancutary is considered to be on holy soil and is believed to have healing properties. The chapel is lovely and contains many sacred artifacts. When we arrived, they were celebrating daily Mass. The pilgrims make the trek beginning this Holy Week, usually on Good Friday. We changed our itinerary to avoid the masses of people walking on the road. I am terribly uneducated about the entire subject, so if you would like to know more, google the subject. Sorry....

The scenery on the High Road to Taos was fabulous and sad. While we were stunned by the beauty of the landscape, it is clear that many the people along the road live in poverty. Driving the winding road to Taos took longer than expected and we were getting hungry. We brought our grill to make hot dogs/grillers for lunch. We parked along an overlook area that only had one bench and a concrete wall to sit on. Hey, it worked for us and the scenery was beautiful. As we were eating, two couples from Kokomo, IN parked behind us and we talked and joked with them. We continued on to Taos. I guess I expected it to be a little more clean and tidy so that was disappointing. The temperature rose through the day and got up to about 60 eventally.

Past Taos, we headed toward the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. The gorge is stunning as is the bridge itself. We parked on one side of the bridge, then walked across taking pictures along the way. Rick and his fear of heights only made it halfway across. He headed back to get the van, then drove across to meet us on the other side of the gorge where there is a nice park. Poor Rick. We all laughed at him being terrified, but I know it is scary for him.
We headed back to Taos and then back to Santa Fe by way of the Low Road, which follows the lower Rio Grande River most of the way to Taos. We saw entirely different scenery this route. We stopped at a turnout to take pictures and there were several men fishing on the river bank.
The guys thought this would be a good way to spend a day. More poverty along the way...Sigh.
Back at the campground we rested some until time to go to dinner. We called granddaughter Brittney & husband David to have dinner with us. We loved seeing them and we will love having them near us again in Indiana.