La Valle Canyon - FR207

Phoebe's been in the shop for over three weeks. After a week in a duplex -- rented with hopeful optimism of her quick rejuvenation -- that ended after a night of post-fourth-of-July revelry I moved into Schvoogie; Michelle, thinks he looks like a house slipper.

Every evening I unbolt the passenger seat so I have room to stretch out. I'd remove it completely but can't figure out how to get it loose from the seatbelt. 

"The High Road to Taos"  -- as it's known -- is one of New Mexico's most lush. There're streams in many of the canyons and the mixed conifer forest combined with the afternoon "monsoons," make for a mushroom hunters delight.

Of course, it's camped to the hilt. And, unfortunately, there're cows and sheep.

 The cowshit reeks and breeds flies. Psilocybin likes cowshit too, but that luck eluded.

Puff Ball

Boleta

The Leaking Eye

Finally home after a long day of cat-sits, judo and grocery shopping. I was exhausted. 

As we sat in the car I told her I can feel myself growing a liiiiiitttle weaker every day. If I force myself to exercise I get so tired afterward I have to take a nap...sometimes for several hours. Will loading -- when in the wilds --  necessitate a pre-move nap? Fortunately, the days will be long enough it'll probably work for the middle months of the summer.

Seeing the impact of these guys "leaving" is pretty tough. Karen's still upset over Ralph (it's starting to get a little better after 4 years), but then Keith, and a few months ago Duane, one of Michelle's assistants (he was only 33 but had wrangled depression for years), and now Fred (Keith's Dad). The implications of one's own departure are impossible to ignore. And I'm still speculating on when to pull the plug;  I definitely don't want to get caught in the throes of "the system" through some inadvertent misstep or, god help me, incapacitation. 

They've been testing various psychedelics on terminal cancer patients for years and have had good results with alleviating the pre-death anxiety. I've had three pre-journey zoom meetings with a guide who does integrative counseling for psychedelic journeyists. 

The other day, in a discussion about perspective,  he said "I'm not trying to convince you of anything, just offering food for thought." Journeys are so ineffable...especially the high-dose ones. It helps to have confidence in the guide, but it's almost impossible not to convey SOME perspective. And it can be EXTREMELY difficult, as anyone who's "experienced" knows, to guide (help) someone toward finding their own answers without influencing them....esp when every micro-nuance of prosody is evident and/or open for interpretation.

Now time to get ready to leave for the leaking-eye appt.

Virgin Galactic Spaceport & Shrooms

I like to move every couple of days and after some map perusal settled on Engle (sometimes spelled Engel and/or Engele), on the east side of Elephant Butte Lake. It turned out to be nothing more than a junction with buildings belonging to the Armendaris Ranch (a Ted Turner conservation collaboration). At some point I'd noticed the Point of Rocks on my topo map; they were due south, on the only road, about 20 miles.

It was nearing suppertime (4 pm) when the pavement ended. I was bumping along enjoying the afternoon when suddenly the phone rang!! It's illegal to use devices and drive so I immediately looked for somewhere to pull over and there, less than 50 feet ahead, was a two-track into the wilds. Her timing is sssOOOOOOoooo exquisite!!

I wondered who had put the rock there...and why.

Eager to be away from the main thoroughfare, I tried multitasking.....checking the washouts to see if Eggbert could get through. She felt ignored, but I couldn't stop myself when I noticed this magnificent specimen...further evidence of global warming.

After moving around the bend we unpacked. During the night a couple of trains went by but they didn't honk-and-wave so it was tolerable. In the morning I hiked up the nearby hill and was astonished to recognize Virgin Galactic's spaceport just over the way. If you know what you're looking at, you can make out the huge SE facing windows of the hangar-main spaceport facility. For those unfamiliar, it's that dark-brown line at the far right exactly half-way down. The lighter area above the dark-brown is the roof. Virgin Galactic's website has more photos. (10/31/14 Crash kills one injures another.)

The main entrance.

No access to the front yet, at least not for the hoi-poloi.



Here's Eggbert in full regalia.The bugnet is a double bed REI special. Note trenching tool at lower left and "new" hat on dashboard. I got it for $1.00 at the Mental Health thrift store in Socorro. Every Tuesday is half off. It fits better than any before.