A long day of driving. I took a short nap at the continental divide, otherwise an uneventful drive. Just an endless barrage of signs announcing the next "Indian trading post" and fifty reasons (almost literally) why you should stop there. At some point along the drive I decided there wasn't much point in driving all the way to Carlsbad since I wasn't expected until tomorrow so I decided to drive to Bandelier National Monument. The whole drive past Santa Fe had sheets of rain like suspended waterfalls, backlit by the setting sun. It feels good to be out on my own with no particular plan in mind (at least for a day) but a little unsettling too. The rain is deafening, the lightning strobes the forest around me and the thunder rocks the car. I have a strong sense of being alone.
Today I ran through Bandelier in about an hour as most of the monument was blocked off because of prescribed burns. Still saw some neat ancestral Puebloan ruins and evidence for a pretty well-organized civilization. Then the lengthy drive. Saw a building in Vaughn that said "I buy rocks and things" and also "Female vocalist wanted." I drove to Carlsbad National Park and then to a caver's house where I met the other 7 people I would be exclusively associated with for 7 days. What a rag tag bunch we are with an age range of about 25 years, Californians, New Mexicans, a Texan and two French Canadians (3 females, 5 males). I'm getting antsy for tomorrow, but really excited.
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