Am I from Texas yet?

If staying in Lubbock, Texas this evening doesn't get my foot in the door, then I'm out of ideas. I'd be lying to say I'm not pretty down right now. Leaving Espanola this morning was catastrophic on account of Sparty's special wedging abilities, with which he can insert himself into crevices that are impossible for humans to access and should by rights be impossible for him to access as well. As a result, I had to recruit the front desk agent to help me play "Johnny Depp goes to a hotel," which involved stripping all the bedding, propping the mattresses and mattress pads against the walls, and running around the room and knocking things over until the only place he had left to hide was his despised carrier. Seeing the sheer terror in his face, and seeing Meep lying under the desk right now, clearly exhausted from another grueling day in the car, is not a good feeling. I've spent the day wondering what the hell I'm doing going to a place I have no reason to be and what the hell I've done to my life. This was supposed to be a way to travel within cat-friendly parameters, but has fallen down pretty egregiously on that front, and I can't help but wonder if I've done them any favors by changing my life plans to revolve around them, as they're clearly miserable. I realize this is temporary. We should arrive at the extended stay hotel tomorrow, and then I will kick into full gear trying to find us all a stable home base while I try to figure things out. But man, the interlude has been sucky for them, and it's getting to me. I know I need to buck up and just recognize this all for the learning experience it is, but let's just say it's a good thing Pizza Hut (don't judge) doesn't offer bleach (or forties) on their drinks menu.

Turbo-tourism and tuckering out.

Today I visited El Santuario de Chimayo and am very glad I did. It's a moving place; faith, ritual, and sacrament are powerful, even if you yourself are a godless heathen. I found myself tearing up several times, especially at the wall devoted to prayers for those in the armed services, deceased and otherwise. Also, it's breathtaking and I took ten million pictures, and if you ever wondered what color the Virgin Mary's aura is, stay tuned! That is, if I ever again have a decent internet connection. Oh, and Mr. Patron, I posted a prayer on the prayer tree for your eye surgery.  

After El Santuario, I'll give you three guesses as to where I ate lunch. Hint: the answer has the words "El" and "Parasol" in it. I swear, man, they're putting something in the chiles they stuff into their vegetarian burritos with guacamole. I also made the discovery of their delectably punishing red salsa today. I might have to move here just so I can eat there every day.

Barring this being a practical life plan (seeing as how I pride myself on practical life plans), I plan to begin the drive to Austin tomorrow. I still have no idea what the heck I'll do there, but this experience definitely drove home for me that I need a stable home base from which to operate in the interest of doing what's best for the mooshies. This will definitely make my future adventures easier on everyone. And if it doesn't work out? Well, hell, if my life is priming me to learn anything, it's that if I let the prospect of failure get on top of me, I'd be dead by now.

In other news, I drove to Santa Fe, realized I was done with tourism for the day, and turned around. The hills and sky alone made the drive worth it. Now I am once again bunkered in the hotel, with prospects and projects and projectiles to mull.

Tomorrow commences the Don't Mess With Allison portion of our journey!

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more...and introspection!

The title of this post is and is not misleading (maybe I should have gone into politics). It is not misleading because I did in fact leave the farm—amicably—today, and it is misleading because I did not leave on account of any Maggie's farm type issues. Quite the opposite. Essentially, the situation was a bad fit for the cats, and the cats were a bad fit for the situation, and this was creating, well, a situation. Throw some zany interpersonal/timing elements into the mix and the fact that if ever Allison was equipped to live it up hostel style, it is certainly not now at age thirty-one in the desert in July where the inside of the abode is always at least ten degrees hotter than the outside. In summation: I reconfigured the original timeline and parted on good terms with all. I'm so glad and grateful for the experience: for the people I met, the places I saw, and the things I did on the farm. I would definitely WWOOF again and am excited to investigate other prospects better suited to crabby thirty-somethings with traveling menageries, although one thing I learned—and learning about how to better handle this so it works out better for me and the mooshies next time around is one of the aspects of this situation for which I am most grateful—is that it would probably be better to have a solid home base at which they can remain behind in the loving care of a me-surrogate next time.

                                      

All in all, I'm proud of myself for challenging myself to go outside of my comfort zone and do something (several somethings, actually) that doesn't come easily or naturally to me, and that involved me falling on my face on several occasions—in one case literally (The Plywood Incident!), and I have the bruises to prove it. I'm glad that I came out here and had the chance to soak in this rich, strange region and see what all that Land of Enchantment business was about. And I'm grateful that it's one less what-if on what can be a rather daunting list of same. I am thankful to be young(ish), strong, and able-bodied, to have had the chance to try my hand at honest, hard, physical, and utterly necessary work, to have witnessed one of the many ways available to avoid the wage slave conveyor belt trajectory, to have mingled with so many fine folks who have managed to do this (yes, of course, our collective heaps of privilege certainly help here).

So, onward, upward, wards of the state, and wardens! Tonight I'm holed up with my freshly traumatized smoochies in (the ever-pet-friendly) Motel Six in Espanola (I have given up on trying to preserve the correct Spanish punctuation on account of it is a colossal pain to accomplish this in Blogger with an English keyboard), largely because, I kid you not, I needed to eat El Parasol for dinner. I swear, they put chemicals in the food there that make you crave it fortnightly. Or every day. Mmmm.....

Tomorrow I plan to visit El Santuario de Chimayo and perhaps venture into Santa Fe as well, or maybe I will aim for Santa Fe on Wednesday. Since it's only a forty-minute drive from here, why not? Most likely I will head on to Austin on Wednesday or Thursday.

Keep coming back, comrades, and keep yourselves apprised of what wacky new strain of transience I get up to next!

(Unfortunately, looks like pictures will have to wait again on account of the internet connection here is crap).

Photo opp!

Look! Me (my foot) getting maimed by a cactus!

Brief update.

Last night we toured the town of Española and partook of more of the general gorgeousness of this region of New Mexico. We were fortunate to have Ted as our guide: his knowledge of and passion for the area are astounding. Spartacus and Meep seem to finally be adjusting to their new (temporary) environment; I'm sure that by the time they've fully adjusted, it will be time to leave. That's Mister Mommy Dearest to you, Jack.

Today's my Saturday, so I hope to accomplish some touristing, somewhere, in some form or other. How's that for a concrete plan?

More to follow soon! And here's another picture for the road! Gah! Or not! Man, it's a shame, but like I said before, my picture posting abilities are highly limited at the moment. So form a mental image and I'll supplement it with reality (or at least Shutter Island's version thereof) when the opportunity presents itself.

Oh, looks like the other WWOOFERs and I are going to Taos today. Family field trip, woo! Hiking, earth ships, the Rio Grande Gorge. Sounds good to me!

My primary goal for today: stop getting maimed by cacti. I suspect that the fact that the only remotely appropriate shoes I have for these sorts of endeavors now have gaping holes in them may present an obstacle, but what's life without a challenge?

Damn damn damn!

It looks like I will either need to seriously stagger the picture posting or post the pictures after the end of this stint of my homeless adventure, on account of the process is like molasses in December. Self-defeating molasses in December.

The funny thing about working harder these last few days than I probably ever have before is that it hasn't cured my insomnia. Accordingly, here we have another "And Other Duties as Assigned" type post with further promises of more inspired posts to come. I have Sunday and Monday off and hope to visit el Santuario de Chimayo this weekend, most likely on Monday. I might try to drive the High Road to Taos tomorrow. We shall see!

And so, without further ado, And Other Duties as Assigned!:

* Collecting chicken eggs

* Feeding goats and horses

* Weeding, weeding, weeding

* Training grapevines on the trellis in the vineyard

* Viewing adobe huts!

* Ambrosial burritos at El Parasol

* Oh sunsets, you big show-offs

* Collecting willow branches and stripping them of leaves for a woven gate project

* ¡Estoy practicando mi español!

* And here's another picture!

Okay, let's try this picture business again....