Remember how I told you we cheated and came into the camping loop going the wrong way to facilitate "backing" into our "pull-in" campsite?
You can see how little of the loop I had to go backwards on to get to our campsite and back-in.
Just to double check my brain's calculations, and my eyesight, I dug out my trusty (I mean rusty) slide-rule and did some complex geometric calculations to determine we were not going to be able to miss hitting that rock at the end of the driveway.
If the National Park Service would just make the loop road wide enough so that two 28' travel trailers could pass each other going in opposite directions there would be no problem.
I looked everywhere and didn't find one single suggestion box in the entire park.
Where do you go at 4:15AM with a travel trailer in tow? Walmart of course, and there just so happens to be one on the route to our next stop. Just 35-miles from Great Sund Dunes National Park is the town of Alamosa (pop. 9806) and that's just big enough to warrant a Walmart Supercenter.
I don't like driving in the dark, especially where wild animals could come out of nowhere and run in front of your lane. So we drove mostly 45-50MPH in the 65MPH zone until we reached town.
We pulled in at 5:30AM, just as Trica's walk-n-talk phone call came in, so she started walking and I went back to sleep.
When the store opened we went in and did our obligatory shopping and then at 11:30AM we walked next door to the Wendy's and ate lunch. By NOON we were back on the road to finish up the second 90-mile leg of today's travels and it had us arriving at 2:00PM just in time to check-in for our next 3-night stop in Taos, NM.
While en-route to our campground we knew we would be crossing over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It is roughly 600' above the Rio Grande River, making it the seventh highest bridge in the United States. It's span is 1280', the distance from one side of the Rio Grande Gorge to the other at this location.
Less than 15-miles further down the road we had arrived at the Taos Valley RV Park. I know, I KNOW! It's a privately owned park and we usually try to avoided them like the plague, but in the Taos area, there very few public campgrounds within a 25-mile range.
Taos Valley RV Park is guilty of the thing we hate most about private parks, the sites are very close to each other with little to no privacy between sites. Price is the other thing we don't like about privately owned parks, but Taos Valley RV Park is actually very reasonable compared to most privately owned parks.
Now the good things we like about private parks. The amenities, like free hot showers, fairly priced laundry equipment and level sites.
We've only scheduled 3-nights here while we check out the sites around Taos, so it shouldn't put us into bankruptcy at $58 a night, even though that's three times our average camping fee.
On Google Maps it's called the Earthship Visitor Center. It's an introduction to the idea of living completely off grid, kind of like we attempt to do every once in a while.
This idea is something Tricia has been following on YouTube recently and I just knew we would be going back to check it out more closely before we left Taos.
They build homes, alternately called vessels, that generate their own electricity with solar panels and wind turbines, catch rainwater and snow melt from the roofs for their water needs, grow their own food in indoor greenhouse gardens and are generally self sustaining.
The community began in 1969 and today there are 113 finished homesites. They have been averaging two or three new homes every year with no slowdown in site.
EARTHSHIP BIOTECTURE
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From a mile away it looks like any other dessert community in New Mexico.
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As you get closer you get the feeling that this one is a little bit different.
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Then you arrive at the Visitor Center and realize this place is pretty unique.First you notice all the windows that face south on the entire side of the dwelling.
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On the north side of the dwelling earth and rock is piled right up to the roof height.
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On the roof there's solar panels and large vents to bring fresh air inside.
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The nearly flat roof makes an excellent way to catch runoff rainwater and snow melt.
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Just inside the south facing windows is an indoor greenhouse for growing food.
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All the homes commonly have windows and solar panels facing south and dirt on the north.
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This permitter wall was left unfininshed to show how it was constructedusing recycled materials such as rubber tires, aluminum cans and glass bottles.
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It's amazing how artistic looking these "recycled" homes can be.This one even has a wind turbine to generate electricity on windy days and especially nights.
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How many glass bottles were used to construct this one wall?
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Here's is someone working on a nearly finished home. It could even be his own.
In case you're interested, I know I was so I asked, a half dozen of these homes are for sale. The most affordable sits on 2-acres of land, it is a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom model that is move in ready. You'll never have an electric bill, water bill, garbage bill and very little grocery bill to help make it more affordable.
You will however have to fork over $600,000 to move in! There are other larger homes for sale on 3 acre lots that will set you back $1,100,000!
If you're looking for an investment property there is an unfinished home that was foreclosed on that's 6000 sq. ft. with 8 bedrooms that needs $200,000 to finish with a $600,000 price tag. It's estimated to be worth $1.6-million when finished.
We spent about an hour looking around and learning a few things about the community. Interesting!
After leaving the Earthship property we went back to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to get some proper photos from the Rest Area located on the southwest corner of the bridge.
Taos Pueblo is one of the nineteen U.N.E.S.C.O. (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Sites in the Lower 48 States. That designation doesn't come easily and that alone is worth the reason to visit.
We've seen several sites where communities thrived a thousand years ago, but I believe this is our first visit to a community site where the descendants of the original inhabitants still live.
I'll admit, I didn't do very much research on this place, so I didn't really know what to expect, other than it's someplace we should visit.
Upon our arrival I saw a sign pointing to Visitor Parking and other sign stating that Taos Pueblo was closed. My heart sank immediately! Then a woman in the parking lot explained that the Admissions Window opened at 9:00AM, it was currently 8:47AM.
At 8:55AM I began walking towards the Admissions Window and another woman asked us to return to our vehicles and come back at 9:00AM. At first I felt this was kind of petty, but then realized I was walking into their community without permission.
At 9:00AM sharp everything changed and we were welcomed with open arms. After paying our $25 admission fee we were shown were to wait if we were interested in taking the FREE 9:20AM guided tour.
TAOS PUEBLO
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The 1850 St. Jerome Catholic Church is still used by roughly half of the Pueblo residents.Outside of the church entrance is coincidentally where our guided tour began.
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This 3-story adobe dwelling is a collection of small individual "condominium" like rooms.It is called the North House, or Hluamma in the indigenous Tiwa language.
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Generally speaking the dwellings are inherited by the women of the family.
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Turquoise seems to be a popular door color throughout the community.
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Although a few of the doors have been painted red.
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In the Pueblo Plaza there are drying racks previously used for animal hides.
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These large kiln ovens are used for all kinds of baked goods, like breads and cookies.
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Across the creek in the South House (Hlaukwima) is where most current residents live.
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The Red Willow Creek is the only fresh water source for the entire community.
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Inside the cafe/gift shop was a 4-1/2 foot tall drum made from the hollowed out stump of a cottonwood tree and the hides of two bison. The cafe operator asked if we would like to hear it and of course we said yes. Simply put, it sounded like thunder inside the small room.
All together we spent a leisurely 1-1/2 hours at Tas Pueblo, the first 45-minutes on the tour and the rest walking around and patronizing the residents arts and crafts tables in front of their homes.
Tricia purchased a pair of earrings and a copper bracelet, plus a loaf of bread and a few pastry items. I purchased a hot chocolate before the tour started, it was 50°F outside!
We highly recommend taking the tour, it's so much better than walking around reading from a brochure. After the tour you are free to walk around and revisit the locations you want to see more of.
How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List?
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