to alamosa colorado

well, like i said, i left the rainbow gathering yesterday. i went into town and sat there for awhile, debating my next move. when i first heard about the gathering this year, it was in reference to someone heading toward taos, new mexico. so, i looked at the map and made it my destination. it just seemed right.

however, when i got there, it seemed to suck. driving through new mexico is great though. i have only been through this state once and that was all at night, in the year 2003. oh, i should explain. okay.

in october or november of 2003 my friend focus and i plotted a trip from portland to miami. we were on our way to the 2003 FTAA protest that was to take palce in miami, toward the end of november. we had been part of planning in portland with various groups, i was mostly planning with indymedia folks and was to go down there early and seed the indymedia space. both the house we rented to live in for a month and the convergence space where we would set up a media lab.

how focus and i got the idea to drive there together, i dont remember. but we had been acquainted with each other since very early in my being in portland, but in those few months before november we had become better friends doing food not bombs together and such. anyway, we decided that it would be best to get to miami as soon as possible, we were driving her car.

our plan was to drive straight through. with two of us we could one drive one sleep all the way there. looking back it probably wasnt the smartest plan, but oh well. i dont remember the route we took exactly, but we zoomed down i-5 and i cut off at i-40 which took us through albuquerque. i only remember this becasue it was the middle of the night and we stopped to dumpster dive for a bit by a bakery. we got a fair amount of bread and were off again. at some point we cut down to i-10 and took that all the way to i-95 to miami. we did the entire trip in about 3 days. i remember more about our trip back, it was longer.

anyway, that is really the only time that i remember being in the state of new mexico. and, like i said, it was night. but this time, i was driving in the day toward taos. and when i got there it was getting on toward night. i was unhappy with what i had found so far, in regards to places to sleep, but i did find a nice little theater. duly, i parked around backed and checked the rear exit doors from the theaters to see if i could sneak in easily. one was wide open.

the movie i wanted to see didnt start for another hour or so, so i went and got some food hedging my bet that the door would be open when i came back. it was. i walked into an empty theater and out the door. generally i go straight to the bathroom, because it doesnt look suspicious to come out of the theater to to go to the bathroom, but the bathrooms were on the other side of the ticket taker. so i did a couple of circles until i found the theater that i wanted and went it and waited. i watched the movie "the hangover" and i laughed.

once i was done there it was almost 10, so i just went down the street to the quality inn parking lot. they generally have wireless, unprotected, and it was close. right when i pulled up i saw a security guard walking around shining a light onto the cars. i didnt know what he was looking for, but he put me on edge, i didnt want to get caught. i jumped in back and laid low for awhile, eventually i got tired of it and opened my computer to do some interneting. after that i laid down to sleep.

and it didnt come quick or easy. first night back in civilization, bright lights, zooming cars, and the fear of being caught. i tossed for a long time trying to succumb to slumber. i woke up very early the next morning, and popped right up. the frist thing i saw was a police truck praked next to me. did i pop up right quick becuase i heard something? i sat and wondered. but, no. there were police vehicles parked all around me, and eventually the cops all came back and left. i dont know what they were doing, but i didnt want to leave until they did.

once i was ready to leave i was prepared to just jump on the road and drive again. so i did just that. and shortly, i came upon a really nice quaint town. the town of taos. apparently i had only made it to the outskirts last night and thats why it sucked so bad. i was enjoying the look of the town, so i parked and walked around. i really like the architecture of the houses, they were generally squares with round edges and flat tops. mostly a dull brown or some green thrown in. earth tones. like nature, i liked it. then i came upon the little farmers markert, which was nice. i tried some free samples and walked around. i sat and watched a marionette for awhile.

then i had to go feed the meter or move my truck. i decided to stay longer and just move my truck, first i had to find it. i meandered through a number of small streets and little shopping plazas, it was all real nice, and eventually found my truck. i moved it to the free parking by the market and walked back through the things i sped through while looking for my truck.

then i got a bit lost again and i noticed that the traffic was at an absolute snarl. i found my way out to the main road and saw signs of a parade. meaning i found candy on the ground. i picked it up and put it in my bag. then walked on trying to find the parade or where the parade was going. i found some bike cops and they verified that it was a parade, but it had just finished. i walked back to the town plaza where there was an info booth.

i chatted with the guy in the booth for awhile. he told me that the hullaballo was about the rodeo. today and tomorrow only at the rodeo grounds. i told him i walked most of the way around downtown and saw no such thing. he informed me that it was a small bit out of town behind the walmart. it cost $8 and you could bring your own beer. i thought about it, but decided against trying to find it. he told me more about the history of taos and explained the "summer of love" celebration that the city was holding.

apparently in the late 60's a fair amount of hippies stormed the town of taos and kind of took it over. the summer of love celebration is a rememberence of that. and that is why the town was probably so cool, a lot of art galleries and book stores, and a lot of awareness of itself. it is a place that i think i would enjoy being in for awhile. i thought about staying longer, but decided against it. so i pushed off toward colorado, again.

but i got lost a number of times trying to find the proper highway, driving 15 miles to get 3 miles away. but eventually i found it and was on the open road again. i kind of paralleled the rio grande and just drove through mostly flat land with the mountains right in front of me. it was gorgeous. and i was rocking out to wanda jackson, which made it even better.

then i came to san luis, the oldest town in colorado. i stopped there and walked up this hill that led to a shrine. it was a nice walk. from there i decided to head toaward alamosa, it looked like a nice mid-size town and i assumed it would be more like taos, we'll see.

and see we did. i spent a bit of time here, but it isnt much. so i am going further north. see some pictures!