Keenesburg to Trinidad and Back to Taos - 07.02.23
I delayed my trip to Ecuador by one week (I’m supposed to be in Ecuador at this very moment). I had some serious flow disruptions as we headed into the summer solstice. I guess Saturn is in retrograde… whatever that means but it’s fkg up my Chi. Also, I ate a poison apple on my birthday in a hot springs in the San Luis Valley, stepped in a puddle, got a spider bite, the sun was in my eyes… and this and that.
Eventually, I found myself in a holding pattern in a barn loft in Keenesburg, CO. It was like waking from a dream… like when Frodo has the Ring on his finger and he’s in the WraithWorld and then takes it off… and then ‘shhhhhoooppp’, he’s sitting in a barn loft in Keenesburg, CO.
Yup… I use lots of movie similes and metaphors cuz I was a TV kid… and life is a movie.
Anywho, it had already been a pseudo plan to take a few light vibration days in the farm lands to organize my gear and prep for a round of adventure. Keenesburg is Northeast of Denver and the Airport and the start of a longggggg stretch (all the way to Lake Michigan) of prairie and farmlands to the East. It is extremely peaceful… just the sound of birds, and the breeze, and maybe you hear a car or two drive down the gravel road each hour. Except. Except we’re in a perpetual monsoon season and my barn loft is smack in the middle of thunderstorm/hail/tornado alley of NE Colorado.
And here I sit. In the middle of nowhere. Heavy storms, hail, tornado warning until 9pm. The winds pick up… and then pick up more… and even more… and then silence. - I had an experience around a tornado when I was 14 with my friend after school. It was a heavy storm with hail as we walked home. And then it all stopped suddenly and was eerily calm. It was nothing more than curiousness to us. We had made it back to his house as the storm whipped up again and then the phone starts ringing. His folks, my folks, someone’s folks… were all checking on us because a tornado had touched down a couple of blocks away. It lifted some cars and dumpster in the parking lot of the Bowlero bowling alley. Made the news and everything. And also… we were 14yo… so… “cool!!! high-five!!” #truestory - so… I could feel the air pressure change in my room in the loft… and I’m thinking, I have absolutely nowhere to get cover. That’s it, man! It’s over! Newspaper headline: “Self-Absorbed Taos/Denver/SF Artist/Wryter/Amateur-Whistler is Hurled into Space by a Tornado!” (I’m all about the “ / “ this chapter… we don’t have to be just one thing ya know).
So much for peaceful moments. There wasn’t a tornado to my knowledge but I was ready to move on. I had a few more days until my flight so I was figuring out what to do next. I was quite aware it was going to be a holiday weekend and going to the mountains was off the menu. I had sorted my gear and Indiana Jones Junior here forgot his lil’ Orphan Annie Decoder Ring (amongst other things) in Taos and you’re not getting far in travels without it. Try finding one of those in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Not happening! I had the options of floating around the Fort Collins area and gathering missing items… or making the haul back to Taos for my misplaced gear.
I did the calculations and if I left Keenesburg a day early I could make it Taos, collect my gear, and then get back to Denver on time for my flight. BTW folks… the cost of a simple room share Airbnb in Denver is more than in SF and Northern California. I luv you Denver, but you’re not all that. Since I pay rent in Taos… I should probably sleep there once and awhile.
I ran some errands around the Lochbuie Area. Picked up a package, filled up with gas, went to the bank to withdrawal $300 in $5 and $10 bills. - Ecuador travel tip: bring small bills. Try dropping a $20 bill in a store for some Doritos… they will not even look at you. One time in Quito… having dinner with my Bolivian friend… I tried to pay a $54 check with a 50 and change. Nope! They refuse to take large bills… even when it’s close to the amount. They explained this and that and I didn’t understand but that’s the deal. -
I hit the Pepper Pod country restaurant in Hudson for a big-ass country breakfast. The place is filled with country people that say “y’all” and tip their hats and greet each other cuz everybody knows everybody. I’m like… ummmm you guys are literally 33 minutes from downtown Denver. Welp y’all… our world is what we want our world to be.
As I marveled at the amount of food on my plate and chipped away at it, I punched in my route on the Google maps. There’s not a lot of options but since I was so far NE of the city I could take the Eastern route through Bennett/Strasburg and skip the delightful I-25 corridor all together and land in Trinidad. Ok then… let’s make an adventure out of this.
I packed up the pod in Keenesburg and headed south. Well groomed dirt roads and you can do 50mph comfortably. Next to no cars, beautiful farms, and stop! The bridge was closed off from severe flooding. It was the second washout of the trip. I refused to make my way to the I-25 so I found more farm roads and made it to Bennett. The route takes you SE and all the way to Limon, CO. It seems like quite a haul out of the way of the direction I needed to go and I definitely questioned my decision more than once… but it really was smooth sailing and the drive was easy on the nervous system.
I reached Limon and was making good time despite the detours and the distance. For the record, if you do this route… stock up on coconut waters, Mentos and Doritos in Limon because there is fck all South for the next 10,000 miles.
There’s a bloop on the map called Ordway and then onto Highway 350 through the Comanche Grasslands. There are signs for towns but there ain’t no towns. One wee on nature break and picture stop at Delhi which is just a handful of abandoned buildings but cool photos none the less… and lots of ghosts.
Again, smooth sailing with next to no traffic… I mean, no traffic. Supposedly it was 36 minutes more than the I-25 route, though likely an hour extra, but the ease and peaceful drive… and the boy is happy. Plus, it’s places I‘ve never been or seen and that happens to bring me all kinds of joy.
I pulled into Trinidad and decided to stay the night. It is 2-1/2 hours to Taos and I could easily make it there with the time I had but it’s about the journey and not the destination… and the people you meet along the way.
I found an inexpensive room share with PoetDana. Yup… she’s a poet. 75 year old Berkeley expat, rare book peddler and art dealer/ former gallery owner. The house was full art and collectibles but the highlight was the rich conversation with my host. Life, art, poetry, the processes of… and the connections with people. And this is why we stop for the night 2-1/2 hours from home base.
Light patrols of Trinidad, which happens to be a secret gem if you’re looking to get out of the mush, and then onto NM. Ghost town of Dawson, Eagles Nest, Angle Fire and then plopped right back down into Taos Valley without incident.
I have one full day in Taos to pack up my decoder ring, malaria pills, and all the drawers I had left behind the first time. (Blue Collar Dictionary: draw•ers /drôr/: underpants) and I feel on track.
Some notes on a disrupted flow, bumpy road, shit week… whatever your experience happens to be. They happen and they will continue to happen. It’s life. We fall into a well and when we break out of the cocoon we are still a caterpillar. A few more scars from the last version but with more lessons under the belt. No, it’s not fun… but does it happen for a reason? Should we view it as a positive experience? Should we accept the change and look forward to growth? You bet your sweet ass!!! So… we take off the Frodo ring, and put it in our pocket, take one hobbit foot and step into the flow… and then the other… and the mists will solemnly rise, and the world lies spread before us.
☯️
“We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
- Charles Dickens
