Day Ten - going nowhere

All my travel today was up and down the mountain. It's nice not to have to drive anywhere. I think I understand how to ski bumpy terrain now - just a matter of working on it some more.

Going to a wine tasting event after a day of energetic skiing is fun, but perhaps not the best technique for serious wine appreciation. Pretty much anything tastes good after a day on the slopes, with possible exceptions for Zinfandel and New Mexico wines. Sorry, NM, I love you but I'm not coming back here to drink the wine.

Tomorrow - off to Durango, CO. I'm trying to put off getting too close to LA, so I'll mess around in Colorado/New Mexico for another couple of days I think.

Day Nine - a day off

So I took the day off driving today to ski. Taos ski valley is about a 25 minute drive from Taos (a little further from the earthship where I stayed last night).

There's not much to say today other than Taos is pretty steep. Also, I think I've finally figured out how to ski bumps and I'm planning to practice that more tomorrow.

Day Eight - I love New Mexico!

This is what driving across the USA is supposed to be like. No more freezing rain, icy roads, crowded interstates, chain restaurants or 20 meter high billboards. Instead, blue skies, quiet country roads, incredible scenery, little stores and towns with a main street and not much else.

I ignored the GPS' advice, which was to keep going from Amarillo on the interstate, and instead took off on a little state road. Immediately the driving got more interesting. Yeah the roads were long and straight and the country was flat, but at least I felt like I was actually in Texas, not just driving down some generic interstate with periodic stops at Shoneys, Burger King or Hooters.





Once I crossed the New Mexico border, things started to get even more interesting. The Rockies made a welcome re-apperance on the horizon.



The road to Taos took me right up into these mountains, through a steep canyon and then across an alpine plateau before descending down onto the Taos plain.

Taos itself is a cute town, full of adobe houses, expensive art and, I've just found out, great little places to eat. It's also home to the earthship community and that's where I'm staying tonight.



Earthships are made of car tires, bottles and rammed earth and they are entirely self sufficient, collecting solar electricity and rainwater. They're also incredibly comfortable. The temperature in here, where I'm writing this blog is a very pleasant 70 degrees with absolutely no heating and the air is moist, presumably as a result of evaporation from all garden beds inside the house.





The contrast when you walk inside from the -10 degree, super dry high altitude desert outside is remarkable.

But the desert is beautiful too.





And just down the road from here is a huge bridge over the Rio Grande. Everything in New Mexico is astonishing. Just an incredible place.



Tomorrow I'm heading up to Taos Ski Valley for a couple of days and I'll hopefully attend the wine festival that's happening up there this weekend too.

Day Seven - going west

The land west of Dallas is what I expected Texas to look like: flat, scrubby plains with a few cows wandering around looking lost. I didn't expect snow or fields full of ice, but I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised after last night.


I spent the morning getting schooled by Rob at Dominion (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/36218) and waiting for the ice to melt sufficiently for me to open my car door. It was a good thing I had to wait as I think the roads were pretty bad this morning. I can't recall how many accidents I passed on my way out of town but the most spectacular was a semi-trailer that had overturned and scattered boxes of something across several hundred meters of the highway.

As usual with driving in bad conditions, half the drivers slow to a crawl and the other half speed up. Judging by the number of wrecks, I think those who slowed down were in the right. Anyway, I got through some pretty hairy sections and have ended up in Amarillo, near the New Mexico border. As far as I can see, it has nothing to recommend it other than the fact that I was driving through it as the sun was going down.

The plan is to head to Taos tomorrow, through the mountains if the roads are open and then, since I'm ahead of schedule, spend a few days skiing there. If the snow is bad, I'll head up to Telluride in Colorado instead.

Hot Springs Images

A couple of pictures from Hot Springs that I couldn't upload through the 56K modem they seemed to be running there.

Day Six - iced in in Dallas

So the ice storm hit for real on Monday. I wanted to leave Hot Springs via some back roads and stop in on the Ouchita National Forest and lake but every time I mentioned this plan to anyone in Hot Springs they looked at me like I was crazy. I took their advice and left town via the Interstate, which was pretty hairy anyway.

Made a quick stop at De Gray State Park for a nice walk in the freezing rain. Of course, I was the only person crazy enough to be there, let alone get out of my car. I did get to see a couple of Great Blue Herons close up as well as some Loons diving in the lake and what I think was a turtle.

Now at Rob's place in north Dallas. This morning my car is covered in a sheet of ice about 2mm thick and I can't even open the door. So much for warmer weather down south. I'm going to have to wait until late morning or mid-day to get out of here.


That's OK as Rob has an ample supply of games and was even good enough to let me win once last night.

Once I get out of here, I'm planning to have a long day on the road and try to reach Amarillo, near the western border of Texas so I can get into New Mexico tomorrow.

Day Five - Freezing rain and hot springs

Arkansas doesn't seem to be very well set up for tourism, to put it mildly. Everywhere I stop seems to mainly rely on some connection to Clinton as its main claim to fame. Little Rock has the Bill Clinton museum, Hot Springs is apparently where he grew up and Hope is where he was born. I suspect this stuff is going to decline in value to visitors as time goes on. The Clinton museum already has Obama shirts front and centre. Not sure if Bill & Hilary would approve.

Staying in the 1920s Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs. "Seen better times" should be the town motto if they were to be truthful. Once again there is almost no one in this giant hotel, not even in the Ronald Reagan suite down the corridor from me. The internet connection is from the 1980s (i.e. modem speed) so I won't be posting any pictures today.

I'm hoping to drive into Texas on some back roads through the mountains west of here, but the forecast is for freezing rain and snow tomorrow, so that may not be too wise.

If I don't slide off into a mountain stream, I'll be meeting Rob in Dallas and staying the night at his place.

Heard on the radio passing through Little Rock - a talk back show dedicated to helping people out with financial problems. The caller was a 28 year old with a wife, a kid and one on the way. He owed $6000 on his credit card, lives in a trailer and only just bought his first car for $600. He brings home $1100 a month...

The host, assuring him he meant no offence, described his situation as "below the poverty line, in fact at starvation level". The caller didn't disagree. Judging by the housing I've seen here and the cars on the road, I imagine this situation isn't atypical.