More high desert. Left the San Luis Valley and continued north. Desert,
desert, desert. After weeks of high desert, we’re suddenly alpine. Ten
thousand feet, lush wetlands, snowpack still melting. Then down from
Leadville by way of Tennessee Pass. Met interstate 70 at Minturn. Lunch at
Wilmore Lake, through Glenwood, past Carbondale, and settled in Basalt by
two. Level the rig, get the slides out, arrange the inside, hook up the
utilities, find the satellite, scrub the bugs off the front, put up the
windshield screens. Hot weather for the mountains, high eighties. Glad
we’re up here. The rivers look clear. Time to fire up the flyfishing gear.
Got it all set out. Found everything except the reel for my four-weight
flyrod. Job in Aspen. We’ll be here a week.
San luis valley
Santa Fe. Three days to do the job. A support organization for
environmental non-profits in a Northern New Mexico adobe. Five mile commute
from the RV Park. Interesting job. Saturday. Time to move on. North on Hwy 285 from Santa Fe. High desert. Past Wind Mountain. Past San
Antonio Mountain. No high passes. Crossed the state line for Colorado at
Antonito, the eastern terminus of the Cumbres and Toltec scenic railway.
San Luis Valley, past the sand dunes, to San Luis Lakes State Park out in
the middle of the valley. Saltgrass, rabbit brush, and greasewood. A
birding walk produced canada goose, ring billed gull, mourning dove, common
nighthawk, loggerhead shrike, barn swallow, and a new bird for us…. sage
thrasher.
San luis
Help! The sky is on fire!
Santa fe
The Santa Fe setup. And not a sunset in sight.
Taos
The previous sunset, the incredible melting sun, brought to you compliments
of some wildfires in Arizona. The sun must have set directly over them and
got so hot you could actually see it beginning to melt.
You’ll no doubt be relieved to hear that this sunset sequence is the last
one from Taos. I tried to stop, I couldn’t. I had to take sunset pictures
every single night. We are not set up with such a view in Santa Fe to be
subjected to such sunsets, so you’re all off the hook for a while. In the meantime, one more sequence to remember Taos by:
(I have the full size originals if anyone needs a wallpaper)