Santa Fe

Old trucks really do it for me, and New Mexico has a gazillion of them.  This one crowned a roadside hill near Ojo Caliente and forced me to hit the breaks and do a high drama U-turn in the snow.  (We will not tell the car rental agency how well their little SUV does snow donuts!)

Well, I have.  And it was totally by accident.  Even with a crackerJack GPS and a neatly folded road map, I still had no idea where I was when I arrived in El Rito, NM.  Luckily they had a Forest Stranger station (it’s in the Kit Carson National Forest, apparently) where I could stop to “ask directions”.  OK — so I asked them how to get to Ojo Caliente, instead of asking them where I was.

This is what most of the buildings looked like in this quaint little burg.  The only real street was about 1.25 lanes wide with buildings sitting in what should have been the road shoulder.  Turns out that this is one of the oldest settlements in Northern New Mexico — with a very old and recently restored church!  And in Googling this town, I find that they have commenced a wild horse round up here in the hills only today!

The big excitement was finding the bears!  Winding my way over a curvy road towards Ojo Caliente, I crested a hill and see two black bears ambling along the roadside towards a bridge!  As I approached them (camera in hand!), they went down under the bridge!  Was I going to get out of the car to follow them and get a candid shot?  No, thank you.  Just take my word for it that I saw them.

Finally — the road sign that I have been looking for!  (Are we still in the U.S. of A. here?)  And I am off on the next misadventure.