New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment

That is what the welcome sign said when I first entered the state.

New Mexico is certainly the strangest state I have visited. In one day I had 40+ dry heat, followed by rain, followed by snow. I've was warned that New Mexico would be much hotter than I'm used to, which is true, when it's not raining. It has rained every day since I've been here, which can be scary when there are no trees in sight. I'm not quite sure if my tires protect me against lightning; I was discussing that with a kind stranger who waved me into his warehouse when the lightning got close.

I've met some other interesting people over the past few days. On Thursday I took a side trip to the Christ in the Desert Monastery. They are located at the end of a 13 mile gravel road through a stunning canyon. When I got there one of the brothers invited me for lunch. He was a benedictine monk, an extremely disciplined calling. Most of their day is spent in silence and solitude, so he had ALOT to say over lunch. I hadn't talked to anyone in a while, neither had he, so it was quite a long lunch. After the visit he gave me a benedictine cross and a St. Benedict's rules for monasteries. (73 reasons not to become a monk). But if anyone has some prayer requests that are too heavy to be handled by the average christian, I have his email. First prayers start at 04:00 every morning so you know he's dedicated.

While biking through the forest between Abiquiu and Cuba (a town of ~1500) a ran across a hippie party. Real authentic new mexican hippies with buses and volkswagon vans and barefoot hippie kids all camped in the forest. From what I could gather they had been cleaning up the forest for the past couple weeks and someone had a birthday so they were camping and celebrating. I tried to figure out more but a rainbow appeared and they all got distracted. I camped around the corner from them knowing I would not have to worry about bears that night.

And here I am now, in Grants, right beside the legendary route 66. All the campgrounds in town were flooded and could not accomodate tents so I am in a motel. I haven't slept in a bed since Dillon, MT, almost a month ago.