Home Sweet Home

Here at Mom - N - Pops RV Camp we take our train sets and miniatures very seriously. 

To the left is my living room, study, den, Master Bedroom Suite, and storage bin.  Note the fabulous color combo of the tent and dining table.

The Honda did very well on the trip out here, no breakdowns (the car kind), and averaged 36 mpg or so with all my crap and two bikes on top. (Thank you M and A for the bike racks - hooked me up once again!) 

If you want to stay here just make sure you stay in line, Pops don't take no crap. 

More Bandolier pix

Bandolier's canyons and exposed ridges have a huge variety of plant life. They get a lot of sun but also a lot of rain and many of the canyons have running water through the year. 

I will be back to see more of this place! 

Bandolier Wilderness

First Physics test is done Thursday morning. Time to hit the food store, and head off to the woods for a long weekend camping trip. We called the park service for info on the Pecos Wilderness, 8000' - 13100' elevation (2500 - 4000 meters). "Nope snow is gone" they said. 

Dave C and I head off to to car camp the first night and head up the next morning. 3 days of rain, sleet, snow, hail have been hitting the car camp area and lot's of snow further up. Had we known, we would've brought snowshoes and actual winter gear. Instead we were prepared for less severe stuff. 

Eating oatmeal for breakfast while getting hit with a lovely wintery mix of rain and sleet, which then twisted into hail, and finally a several minute blast of snow, I suggested we descend in altitudeto that lovely canyon country we had seen on the drive where the sun was...so we changed plans and headed into the Bandolier Wilderness. 

Bandolier Wilderness is 30000+ acres and is tucked next to Sante Fe Nat'l Forest and other wilderness lands. It's a series of canyons created by massive volcanic activity. Much of the canyon wall is pock marked by holes from exploding hot gases at cooling time, it's very interesting to see, and made a great home for pueblo dwellers along the way. 

We averaged 5 miles a day on canyon bottoms, up and down canyon walls, and on the ridges. That was plenty at altitude with packs. Made for a lot of spare time to watch, listen and have a taste from a flask. 

The first day we got hit with some t-storms along a canyon floor, and then the temps dropped and got a nice blast of hail about the size of rock salt, which felt a bit like rock salt too. We found a rock overhang to get out of the weather and stayed relatively dry. Where was that sun? 

The weather shifted the next day and had more typical beautiful blue skies and lot's of sun. Very few bugs and brilliant star filled skies made for great sleeping outside the tent. 

It is bear and mountain lion country, so you have to hang your food up and away from where you sleep. There was obvious sign of many elk nearby. After the moon rose I awoke to something tugging on my sleeping bag. From a deep sleep I could only think bear or mountain lion, and in one fast motion I unzipped my sleeping bag as I bolted upright, ready to yell like hell, and jump up in front of some unknown beastie. A coyote had stumbled on me in a goose down bag and gave it an exploratory tug. At the sound of the zipper he jumped sideways about 10 feet and then went into quick recovery mode, flashing that coyote grin and loping around a bit before heading off into the night. Adrenaline was coursing through me and my heart was in high gear so it took a while to calm down and go back to sleep. Pretty much every noise for the rest of the night made me perk up a bit to check it out. 

Shiprock NM text, photos

Shiprock is a monolith that thrusts up to the sky some 1800 feet (600 meters) and is an awe inspiring sight. You can see why it is a holy place to both contemporary and past people. I was running errands on the west side of town, and saw it in the distance and had a few minutes, so off I went. 

Bisti Wilderness Photos

Bisti Wilderness Text May 16, 2008

One of the perks of being in the four corners area of New Mexico is the amazing geography in all directions. The Bisti De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a severely dry and wind whipped badlands. Not much grows there, though there is life. When water happens it is usually destructive. 
Dave C from the RE program and I went out for a hike, it's about 45 miles from Farmington. 

There are no trails, you just wander and explore, trying not to get lost. We followed a couple of washes east, and then connected to a wash where the sides began to grow. After a couple of hours the sides of the wash had grown to about 100' (30 meters) high and quite steep. 

When it rains there is pours and when it pours the land is so dry that it can't absorb water. It flash floods. At some point we had to scramble up the 100' sides, and expected to go over the top and down the other side and head back on a parallel route. Instead we had walked far enough to just have a massive expanse all around us. No visitors nearby of any kind. Remote, stark and beautiful.

In 2008 I found myself with a decent job at a decent little company making average money and working a reasonable amount of hours. I also found had lost interest in working a regular IT job. 

In 2003 I had applied to one of the few Renewable Energy programs in the US in 2003. I realized I was in no better position to go now than I was then. I had pretty much the same job that I had 5 years ago. If I wasn't happy now it wasn't going to happen while slugging it out in IT.  

Something clicked, and I decided to make the move. I began to try to put the pieces together and they began to fall into place. For the first time in years I was doing exactly what I should be doing, and it all just felt right. 

Yes I will miss people and places and actual income. I seem to be willing to take risks right now that I was not willing to face a few years back. Each obstacle that came up I found a way to get around it.

The Goal:

1 Quit Job.

2 Finish construction on my condo and find a quality renter. 

3 Apply and get accepted to San Juan College in Farmington, NM

So I am off from Boston, MA to Farmington, NM. 

Due to a schedule adjustment, my cross country drive was reduced from 3 weeks to 5 days. I will spare you the photos of the interstates at 80 mph.

   

This summer will be pre-requisite classes, Physics and DC Wiring. Most of my summer will be class, lab, study, then off to long bike ride or camping. The RE portion of the program will really begin in the fall.