Ojito Anticline

The White Ridge Bike Trails run atop the sides and and into the surrounding desert. There're hoodoos, the "hogbacks" (see: https://newmexnomad.blogspot.com/2022/05/ojito-hogbacks.html?m=1 and other interesting formations.

Return to Ojito

There's just no comparison to being "out" somewhere where there aren't early-starters going by either dragging some huge "house" behind them or warming up their engines before embarking in a modest rig like mine. 

Linda Vista Campground

I can also enjoy missing the happy yammering of the walkers as they take their dawg(s)-- or themselves -- out for its/their morning constitutional.

Quieter Than Their Keepers

And I HAVE to appreciate the additional lack of the hum, however discreet, of the generator across the way (from that 30' Bounder) that you KNOW is keeping them feeling "just like home" with their  microwave, toaster and/or tv..... likely all at the same time.

Yes, I felt the need of a ready source of water to swab myself down after a night of lying, well, one SIDE of me lying, in my own pee and the Campground provided that.

But over the course of three days, we got the systems worked out and can now self-satisfiedly return to the peace and quiet of DRY (non pee-soaked) dispersed living.

As the lady said, "Old age ain't for sissies." "I'm in trouble," I rejoined.

I may be a sissy, but by god I'm an effing *resourceful* sissy!

And thank you David for helping defray the cost of the incontinence pads, diapers and Paw Pads (puppy training pads) that made up the major portion of my efforts at coping.

A Night to Forget

Tired from my meeting with the dakini, I took a room at the Silver Saddle motel in Santa Fe. For dinner I gorged on a delicious meal of fajitas from one of the many family-owned restaurants;  it included more grease and fat than I've eaten in years. 

Tuesday I drove to Jemez Springs and spent the day resting and late in the afternoon went to the Ojito Wilderness to camp.

As evening came on the wind came up and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees; by dark it was cold. Without signal I had no way to know what the weather might be but April in these parts can often include snow.

Around 10 p.m. I was forced to get out....and the "looseness" was disconcerting. Two more trips over the next hour had me hoping I might make it through the night, but it was not to be.

Around 1 a.m. I was awakened with a "full load" in my underpants. By the time I managed to exit into the night the bag was soiled beyond use. 

I estimated the breeze at around 25 - 30 knots and could only guess at the wind chill... "bracing" to say the least. (post event research suggested the temp was in the low 30s.)

After swabbing the lower half of my body as best I could, I rolled the bag and tossed it onto the roof rack.

Cosmically, or so it now seemed, I'd found a sleeping bag behind a gas station the day b4. It was neatly rolled and bound with twine...nothing and no one else around. I debated taking it, but after some thought went ahead. I planned to launder it b4 use, but I had no hesitation as I cut the twine. It was a pleasant surprise to find it was clean with no smell at all though the pilled flannel lining indicated it was far from new.

It's incidences like this that incline me to believe in a "higher power" though even that phrase smacks a bit too much, for me, of dogma. Still, after standing in a  "breeze" at near-freezing temp to swab shit off most of my lower body, I couldn't help but marvel at the "coincidence."

It sure was good going down, though.

Yellow Flower - Ojito

There're places where it's so beaten down by cattle grazing nothing grows. But after parking I walked around to begin unloading and found this. It made my day; it's why I live this way.

A Close One

Ojito

It was June 29th we left Ojito and dropped Phoebe off at By the Book. The wilderness and public lands cover a good-sized plotz in the neighborhood of Cabezon Peak, but this part isn't as well-known. The access road isn't easily seen nor is there a highway sign pointing to it. During the four days we were here we only had one vehicle go by. Yaaaayyy!!!

Zia Pueblo Grazing

Phoebe's clutch gave out. I adjusted it a couple of months ago but then it needed it again. I now have to turn her off, put her in 1st or reverse, then start her again. For some reason she doesn't start rolling until I let the pedal out, but then I have to shift by matching the engine speed to the transmission. She goes into the shop tomorrow.

I've been camping in the Ojito Public Lands (BLM). It's a pretty area with cliffs at varying distances and even an anticline.

Last night at 11:30 a large plane buzzed us; it was touching to realize they're thinking of me.

It started raining last night and has continued into the day. I'm reading Narcissus and Goldmund and listening to a series by Ram Dass called Conscious Aging. It's about dying and utilizing the process to access another level of awareness. It's surprisingly good.

Here're a couple of photos I'll submit to the BLM in case they don't know how (badly) over-grazed the range is. 

The side with more growth belongs to Zia Pueblo.

It turns out the permittee, the person or organization leasing the grazing rights to the lands on the near side of the fence in the above pictures, is Zia Pueblo. I've heard talk of returning the National Parks to their (former) Native owners, but I ask you, Would you give land to someone who demonstrates this level of disregard for public stewardship? 

Of course, this begs the question, Why does the Bureau of Land Management tolerate such disregard?

Maybe because I (you?) haven't complained?

Escape From ABQ

It's the same every time. I plan to be in Albuq three days, a week at the most and it turns into more than a month. 

I DID get to meet with a cardiologist and am scheduled for a phone appointment with another next month. I got my meds resupplied and, most wonderful of all, got to spend quality time with Ms. Cook.

And today we, that's the royale we, Phoebe & I, escaped -- to the Ojito Wilderness. Cosmic as it gets, having traveled highway 550 from Farmington to Albuquerque NUMEROUS times, this time I saw a small road that leads into the Ojito. And it needs 4WD so there's not a lot of traffic.

Free Again

Michelle and I have a trip to Colorado planned for the 1st week of October so I only have a couple of weeks...not enough time to wander far. And that window in Utah will be opening soon; the Fall one, that is. This year it's The Swell. Or Goblin Valley. Or maybe Grand Staircase-Escalante. 

The nice thing about this stage is knowing it can change in a split second; planning is just indulging the whimsy.