expedition56

Texas – Thursday, October 10

I got packed up and then we headed to a big park nearby to start off the day with some walking. Brackenridge Park was a huge 340 acre park with a bunch of walking trails, and Tula and I set off on a couple of them. It was going to be another hot day, but at least we were in the shade a lot of the way. We covered a little over 3 miles in the park, and then I left Tula in the car while I went into the San Antonio Zoo, which adjoined the park property. I hadn’t been in a zoo since Washington DC, and this one was known for having some endangered species. It turned out to be a fun zoo to visit with some unusual animals. The first thing I saw was a Sun Bear – kind of a skinny version of a black bear with a heart-shaped marking on its chest and really long claws to dig out honey. I also saw an endangered Komodo dragon, and a beautiful clouded leopard. And there were hippos, elephants, zebras and ostriches. Then I came to the okapi enclosure where one of the staff was feeding it some kale – they have really cool markings. I saw an Andean Condor up close, and after that I came to the tiger habitat, where there were 2 little Sumatran cubs that had been born in early August. This was the first week they’d been allowed to come outside into the enclosure, and they already seemed pretty confident about finding their way around. Although mama tiger maybe thought they wandered too far because she went and picked one up by the nape of its neck and carried it back toward their shelter, and the baby tiger was not very happy about that. The lady who takes care of them said the tigers like “bloodsicles” and frozen rats, mice and gophers for toys. I watched them for quite a while, then saw some kangaroos and porcupines on the way out. I walked almost 3 miles at the zoo, which brought me up to 6 miles for the day.

Then it was time for my donation for today. I was heading for the San Antonio Food Bank where I was going to make a donation to their Project HOPE program, which stands for Healthy Options Program for the Elderly. Project HOPE provides senior citizens on a fixed income with supplemental groceries on a monthly basis, and that helps fight hunger and malnutrition. I met Maggie, the receptionist, and then I met Dawn, who wanted to set up a short video of me telling my story. She wanted to release it nationally to all the Feeding America food banks. So we went into their boardroom and i answered their questions while the videographer was recording it. She’d already had a busy publicity day because the local basketball team – the Spurs??? – had come in to volunteer their time. Dawn then took me on a tour of the place, and it was huge. We went into the kitchens, where they have a chef-in-training program and those people prepare nearly 1000 breakfasts for underprivileged kids, and they were finishing up work on a Kids’ Cafe meal. Then we went into the storage area, and they had recently finished a huge addition and couldn’t wait to start filling it up. The San Antonio Food Bank works with more than 500 partner agencies and has 600-800 volunteers to keep everything going. Their warehouse looks like a Sam’s Club or Costco warehouse – shelves stacked to the ceiling with food. Dawn told me if the food stopped coming in, their huge supply would be gone in only 2 weeks – they deal with an incredible amount of food. Then I met the ladies who work with the Project HOPE people, and they help hundreds of seniors with deliveries to various outposts. So many seniors need assistance that they would like to be able to open a couple more hubs. I was happy to help them out a little! The lobby also had the winning entry from the CANstruction program, where various businesses create “sculptures” of canned food, which is then donated to the food bank when the contest is over. The winning entry was a plane.

When I was finished at the food bank, I was ready for a meal, and decided to return to downtown San Antonio to walk on the river trail a bit more, and to have a replacement meal at the restaurant from yesterday. I had decided to give the baby back ribs another chance, and when they came out, they looked like a half-rack baby back ribs, but still weren’t fall-off-the-bone” tender – they were a bit tough. Maybe they should just stick to their large variety of hamburgers! But I appreciated them trying to make things right, and I left a big tip for the server since my meal was free. Then Tula and I walked a good 2 1/2 miles on the riverfront, and Tula got lots of compliments about what a well-behaved dog she was as she stuck right to my heels weaving through all the people and eating areas and up and over bridges and all. I heard one lady tell her daughter Tula was a red cross dog (maybe because of her red collar and leash?!?) Tula is wonderful on a leash under almost any circumstance – when I think back to what a horrible leash dog she was in her youth, I don’t know what happened to turn her into a good one, which was even before we began this journey! She used to pull and tug so hard I thought she would strangle herself, but now she is a model of good behavior on a leash, and I overhear other comments from people wishing their dog would be so good – I’ve even heard people talking directly to their rambunctious dogs on a leash, telling them to look at Tula because that’s how a dog is supposed to behave! The only thing she won’t walk on is something metal – like a metal plate on a sidewalk, and she goes out of her way to avoid those.

When we finished our walk, we drove up to Austin, where I had a free room (from points I’ve earned) for a couple nights. There was a huge 3-day music festival this weekend which I didn’t know about, so I was lucky to have a room (had made reservations ahead of time), but there was heavier traffic as a result.

From there I went on to take care of my donation at the San Antonio Food Bank. I was going to support the

Texas – Wednesday, October 9

I had read quite a bit about San Antonio and was looking forward to seeing some of it. I headed to the post office first to mail some postcards, and that was right downtown by the riverwalk. I had to drive around a bit to find a place to park, and the lot I found was close to one of the many entrances down to the riverwalk, which is one level below street level. And it was fascinating. The San Antonio River runs through the heart of downtown, and this part of it looked like a canal. In the downtown area, there were lots of restaurants with seating right by the canal/river, and other shops also opened up to the river level. It was designed to be reminiscent of the canals in Venice, complete with arched bridges and tourist “barges” for guided tours. From the downtown area, the riverwalk continues on through other parts of town, and turns into a bike trail, so there are miles and miles of trails altogether. I passed some tile artwork, including one with a chocolate lab walking along the riverwalk! Tula and I walked 7 miles without stopping. There were dog water bowls wherever there were drinking fountains – San Antonio was a very pet-friendly city. As we returned to the downtown area, I had worked up an appetite, and found a dog-friendly cafe to sit down at right by the canal/river. They even brought out a bowl of ice water for Tula! I splurged a bit and ordered a half rack of baby back ribs – I love ribs and hadn’t had any for ages, so I was really looking forward to them. When they arrived, they weren’t quite what I was expecting – huge bones of pork that really weren’t very tender. I asked the server if they were out of baby back ribs, and she said there might have been a problem, and went back to talk with the chef. She came back to tell me the chef insisted they were baby back ribs – just a bigger cut, and that I couldn’t argue with the chef. Huh? I politely disagreed with that, and finished eating because I was starting to run out of time for my next plans.

Tula had had enough walking, so I put her back in the van and turned the A/C on – it was really hot and humid out. Then I headed for the Alamo, which surprisingly is not a national park site – definitely a historic one though, and I was glad it was a place I could visit. The defense of the Alamo is a huge piece of Texas history, even though it wasn’t a winning defense. Nearly all the soldiers defending the fort died in the battle, although the women and children inside survived along with a few other people. Jim Bowie (of Bowie knife fame) and Davy Crockett were both commanders at the Alamo, and both lost their lives in its defense. One of the signs said the stubborn defense of the Alamo earned its defenders hero status and the Alamo its status as a shrine. The fact that the Alamo is called a shrine surprised me. I always thought shrines were religious places, but I learned there are also patriotic shrines, and that’s what the Alamo was. The Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC are 2 other patriotic shrines. Visitors could go inside the original buildings (with very thick walls!) and look at some relics, but the lighting was kept low, and photos were not allowed. There were donation boxes in several places, and it had been a long time since I’d made a historical donation, and you can’t get much more Texan than the Alamo! It was fun to put a donation into a box inside such an old historic building.

I headed back to the van and got Tula out for a short walk through one other historic part of town, and then headed back to the motel. I had walked 9.5 miles today. I thought a little more about my disappointing meal, and thought I would call the manager – I know I wasn’t eating baby back ribs, and didn’t like how it was handled. The manager listened politely to my story, and then he told me it was very interesting on several counts – the chef had not been in today (there were cooks but not the regular chef), and the chef had also been experimenting with wild boar ribs for a holiday dish, and he suspected I’d been given wild boar ribs instead of baby back ribs, and he asked me how I liked them, and I was honest – not something I’d order again! He invited me back for a meal on the house if I could get back there, so I’ll see how the day goes tomorrow.

Texas – Tuesday, October 8

Pecos looked the same by daylight as it did driving in at night – flat land with oil rigs here and there, lots of trucks and the smell of oil. It wasn’t quite the western town I was expecting! Although I did see a big sign saying Pecos was the home of the world’s first rodeo. I wasn’t sure I would find anything donation-wise in town, but I did some research and read that there was indeed a food pantry in town. I drove over to the church that was listed in the website, and they told me that although they could take my donation, the actual Santa Rosa food pantry was at a different church. They told me the food pantry was only open 2 days a month, and as luck would have it, today was one of the days, and some of the volunteers were already there. So I drove over to the other church and met a couple of the volunteers and asked them if a financial donation was best, or if I should go shopping for items they were low on. They told me it was my choice, but that they could stretch a dollar pretty far by shopping once a month up at one of the big food banks. So I gave them my donation, and they introduced me to the other volunteers coming in. They were interested in my story and invited me to stay for the lunch they all eat together before the food pantry opens up. I certainly didn’t expect that, but they were so welcoming, I took them up on their offer. I had time to get Tula out for a mile of walking first, then I got back and met some more volunteers – there were about a dozen of them altogether. They had been setting up the tables to get ready for all the people to come, and the local stores had provided some baked goods, breads and produce. When lunch was ready, there was a big prayer circle with a prayer said in both English and Spanish, and then we dished up – homemade chili, cornbread, and apple empanadas for dessert. It was a delicious lunch, and I never would have guessed when I first got up this morning that I would be enjoying a homemade lunch with a new group of friends! They had questions about my journey and in turn they answered my questions about the oil business in town, and how it impacts the local people. I mistakenly thought that an oil boom was good for the whole town, but it has driven a lot of prices up at many places, which has a big impact on the local people. There are not enough places for the oil workers to stay, and there aren’t many restaurants in town, and prices seem to be going up all the way around. They told me that the oil workers aren’t as well paid as one would think – I think it’s the people at the top who benefit most from the oil boom. In Pecos, the current oil boom started last year; it tends to run in cycles. They have also discovered natural gas reserves, and are doing some fracking (I’m not really sure what that is although I’ve heard of it) which they didn’t have the technology for during the last oil boom.

While we were talking during lunch, one of the ladies – Betty – told me that her son has been a career military guy who has been stationed all over the place. He’s currently a lieutenant colonel stationed in Germany with the US Army active reserves. I asked her if she ever sent care packages because it’s been a long time since I’ve done that, and I ended up giving her a donation check to shop for items for a care package that her son and his unit would enjoy. She said she would pay for the shipping and that way my whole donation could go for food/treats in the care package – in the past I would have to keep about $13.50 out to cover postage, but Betty was going to take care of that. So I ended up making 2 donations in Pecos, and I wasn’t sure I would be making any!

We finished lunch and they got ready to open the doors of the food pantry. People start getting in line about an hour before the doors open, and they asked me to stay to see how things work. They were very organized which is a good thing, because there was a long line of people. When they first come in, they take a big empty cardboard box, and check in at the table, or register if they’re a new client. From there they go get non-perishable food depending on the size of their family; then they go through the baked good and bread line; and then into the kitchen to get frozen things like chicken and hamburger and then they get whatever produce is available. They have an efficient system and were able to help a lot of people in a relatively short period of time. They told me it’s always really busy when the doors first open, and then people continue to trickle in and out for the rest of the hours they’re open. My visit was a wonderful welcome to the big state of Texas and I enjoyed talking with Sena, Mae, Lois, Nora, Betty, Yvonne, Elisa and a couple others. When I was leaving, Sena, the elegant oldest volunteer, pushed some bills into my hand to counteract the ridiculously high price of the Motel 6 last night. I tried to return it, but she insisted that I keep it and told me I was doing a good thing. Thank you, Sena.

So I left Pecos and started the long drive toward San Antonio. The next town I came to was Fort Stockton and Tula and I got out for another mile of walking. There was a statue of a giant road runner in town – it’s said to be the world’s largest roadrunner and he is called Paisano Pete. I really want to see some road runners! I drove a couple hundred miles east and the next town I stopped at was Ozona, where we stretched our legs for a mile and a half. These west Texas towns aren’t big, and I would have liked to walk a bit more in each town, but after a mile or a mile and a half, I had pretty well covered everything. And then another half hour up the road I came to Sonora, where we walked another mile. Sonora was obviously a football crazy town – there were posters and signs and pictures of their bronco mascot all over town. By the time we finished walking, it was starting to get dark, plus I had crossed into the central time zone and lost an hour, so I drove on another couple hours and made it to San Antonio, where I would stay for a couple nights.

New Mexico – Monday, October 7

I needed to walk 10.2 miles today to finish off my New Mexico walking, and Tula and I started off our day with a 3 mile walk on the Cielo Grande Rec Area trail. And then on the other side of town, I found the Spring River Rec trail, and covered another 3 1/2 miles. There had apparently been some kind of chalk art contest, and there were some pretty imaginative drawings to look at. The path also went through an industrial area, and there seemed to be a big livestock auction going on – I could hear cattle mooing, and saw lots of big cattle trucks, and could hear an auctioneer’s voice. The trail got a little more scenic, and ended up in a small zoo – I didn’t see many animals in the cages though except for an owl, some kind of steer a few goats and a peacock. Then I walked in downtown Roswell, and so many businesses had alien inflatables, or sculptures or statues that I got a little tired of it – I just don’t really like aliens! Nearly all of the aliens are green (why?) but there were a few pink ones too. Roswell also has an alien museum and research building too – I guess there people out there who are really interested in all the possibilities!

I finally left Roswell, and took a good look at the map to figure out where I wanted to enter Texas. I decided I would head for Pecos because it’s such a Texan name, so I drove south to get out of New Mexico. On the way I stopped in the town of Artesia, where I found a big park and Tula and I walked the last of the New Mexico miles. This was oil country, and the smell of oil was heavy in the air. I expect people just get used to it. There was some kind of refinery or power plant at one end of the park, and it’s amazing how many lights come on when it gets dark.

And then I was done with New Mexico. I walked all 56 miles, and made 7 donations – the Hope Garden in Gallup, the Southwest Indian Foundation, Diaper Depot, Assistance Dogs of the West, Thanksgiving for All – Roadrunner Food Bank, the New Mexico State Veterans Home and Festival de la Familia.

I headed south into Texas – smelling oil and seeing oil rig lights and natural gas lights in places throughout the desert. There were even some constantly burning flames. Lots of big oil trucks were out and about even though it was late, and I got the last room at the Motel 6 in Pecos – with oil workers in town, rooms are scarce and I was happy I had called ahead. When I checked in, the front desk clerk told me she had just started checking another guest in when my reservation came through from the 800 number, so my reservation pre-empted the one she was working on. Towns are few and far between in west Texas, so I’m glad I was able to stay in Pecos.

New Mexico – Sunday, October 6

After a good Sunday breakfast, Tula and I started off with some walking in the town of Las Cruces. But it seemed very quiet and abandoned because everything was closed on a Sunday morning, and no one was out and about. But we quickly walked a little over a mile and a half, and then moved on. I headed east over the Organ Mountains, and on the other side was the White Sands Missile Range. A little farther on was yet another national park site – the White Sounds National Monument, and of course it was closed, but I could see a lot of white sand. At one point, all vehicles had to pull off into a makeshift inspection station. It was like a border crossing, but there were officers on each side of the car, and one had a German Shepherd, and there were about 6 other officers on standby. I got through quickly – all they asked me was if I was a U.S. citizen, and I didn’t even have to show them any identification or anything, and then they told me to have a good day and waved me on. Since I was close to the Mexican border, I’m guessing they were looking for illegal immigrants. I continued northeast to the town of Alamogordo.

I was looking for places to walk, and we headed for the old part of downtown and walked around a bit, but it was pretty warm out, with little shade. I decided to look for something on the outside of town. I heard some live music so I parked and Tula and I went to see what was going on – I had found the Festival de la Familia that I had seen a few posters for. It was a church fundraising event – for one of those old mission churches that I like. There were a lot of people around – eating, listening to music, dancing, participating in kids’ activities, and looking at auction items. The band was reminding people to buy raffle tickets. I wandered on a bit, and did some more walking, and thought about maybe buying some raffle tickets – depending on what they were raising money for. If it was for something like feeding children in foreign countries, I probably wouldn’t buy any since this is a U.S. journey – I would be interested in supporting this if the money was going to stay in New Mexico. I went back to the festival, and heard that the drawing was going to take place in about 5 minutes, and the priest himself was selling the raffle tickets. I asked him what the proceeds were going to support, and he said it was all for the church. It’s their big annual fund-raising festival, and since it’s an old church, they’re needed to do some work on it. I’ve enjoyed all these old Mission churches, and to be able to help with upkeep for one of them was a good thing. I bought $60 worth of raffle tickets and since I didn’t win anything, it was all a donation. After the drawing, I got a picture of the priest by his church, and then Tula and I drove over to a pretty neighborhood on the other side of town. I enjoyed seeing all the tidy adobe homes and cacti and flowers in the yards. Altogether in Alamogordo, we covered over 2 1/2 miles.

Then I continued heading east, with the eventual goal of getting to Roswell. I started climbing up another mountain range toward a town called Cloudcroft. This was a little resort town back in the day – a place to escape from summer heat in the desert and get up into the mountains. A train would bring visitors up the mountain, and although trains no longer run, some of the trestles remain, and the highest one was visible from the side of the road. It was a beautiful drive up into the mountains – I even passed an apple and cider shop but it was closed. It was getting to be evening, and Tula and I set off on a walk – first we went along an old train track that had been turned into a walking trail, but it was so stony, it wasn’t really good walking for either Tula or me. I decided to just venture along some of the streets off the main road, and to my astonishment, I walked into an area of old wood and log cabins and woods with trees in fall colors, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was in the northwoods of Minnesota or Wisconsin! There was a big lodge at the top of the mountain too. And to think an hour earlier I had been in a desert neighborhood looking at cactus. No wonder people like to get up in the mountains to get out of the heat – I had to put a sweatshirt on! There was even a road sign advising people to watch for snowplows, and there was a skating rink (not open yet of course) and a little building with a skate rental sign. It smelled like fall in the air, and was such a treat for a Michigander missing the autumn weather! We walked 2 1/2 miles until it was too dark to be out. There was no place to stay in Cloudcroft, so I just continued on for a couple hours to Roswell.

New Mexico – Saturday, October 5

My plan for the morning was to get to the hot air balloon park a little before 7:15 which was the scheduled time of the “mass ascension” of all the balloons. I had heard about the big international balloon festival in New Mexico, and never expected to be able to see it – I was feeling pretty lucky I was in New Mexico the week it was taking place! I had checked out the location yesterday because I wanted to know where I was going when it was crowded, and my motel was only 6-7 miles away. I figured if I got up at 4:45 and gave myself a couple hours to go 6-7 miles, I should be there in plenty of time. In reality, I almost didn’t make it. The traffic was incredibly congested and it was only inching along. I made a split second decision to take an earlier exit since I had discovered New Mexico often has roads that parallel the highway. And that move paid off for a couple miles and then I got in the long parking lines. The parking lot I was directed to was a long ways away from the balloon park, but luckily it was a cold morning, and there was a bit of a delay in the balloons taking off while they got properly warmed up. There was also a line to buy tickets, but finally I was there, and I wasn’t sure what to expect other than seeing a lot of balloons. There were literally hundreds of hot air balloons, all positioned right next to each other before lift-off, and we could get as close to them as we wanted as long as we didn’t interfere with their work, and got out of the way when they were ready to lift off. Many of the balloons were partially inflated, and there were constant whooshing noises as the balloon pilots kept heating the air inside the balloons with their open flames. Some of the fabric used in the construction of hot air balloons is fire-resistant, but it seemed there was a lot of powerful open flame around a lot of nylon!

Some of the balloons were totally deflated and spread out on their sides with the gondola basket also on its side. Other balloons were in the process of being inflated and that takes several people to hold open the mouth of the balloon. When the balloons are being inflated, most groups use something like a large fan to blow in hot air, and once the balloon is mostly inflated and getting ready for take-off, they use the propane tanks in the gondola. The balloons were all tethered to the ground with ropes. And when the ropes were released, they soared off pretty quickly right overhead. The balloon field was so huge, the crowds didn’t seem bad once we were inside. It was such a colorful spectacle – and fun to watch them all get inflated and then go gliding off – all in the same direction. There were specialty shaped balloons (bees, hummingbird, clock, lighthouse, stork, stagecoach, Darth Vader etc) and from comments I heard around me, people recognized old favorites, and commented on the new balloons.

It was fascinating to watch all the color, and movement, and I have never ever seen so many hot air balloons all at once. After a couple hours, the majority of the balloons were gone, and the chase crews had left to go retrieve them, and the excitement was over until the late afternoon lift-off. There were all kinds of food tents and souvenir tents and some people were just going to hang out all day. I got a Pueblo Breakfast Burrito, made with Indian frybread – delicious! I got about 4 miles of walking in, with the long walk to and from a distant parking lot, and up and down the whole balloon field. I made the mistake of not remembering which gate I used when I bought my admission ticket, and that created some extra walking, but I eventually found the van. It was still kind of chilly out, and I got Tula out for a walk before heading south.

Since I couldn’t visit any national parks; I figured I would head out to see other parts of the state. I was going to aim for the city of Las Cruces, and I made numerous stops along the way. The first was in Socorro and Tula and I took a short walk around the central town plaza and saw another old mission church. I continued on to the town of Elephant Butte, which was on the edge of an unexpected lake in the desert, and there was a marina and lots of people out in boats. The lake looked out of place in brown desert country – I’m used to seeing more of a green shoreline!

From there we went to the town of Truth and Consequences – which used to be called Hot Springs. In 1950 when the host of the TV game show called Truth or Consequences announced they would air their program from the first town to change its name to Truth or Consequences, Hot Springs won the honor, and the host returned every May for the next 50 years. Tula and I walked a mile and a half all around town, and there were quite a few old hotels from back in the days when they were spa motels and people would visit to soak in the springs to cure all sorts of ailments. From there I found a veterans memorial park that one of my aunts had told me about, and I really enjoyed the stop. There were memorials for all the conflicts the USA has been involved in, and a half-size Vietnam Memorial Wall. There was also a military museum on the grounds, but it was closed since it was evening. When I drove to the memorial, I noticed the Veterans Home right next door, and because I enjoyed the memorial park, it seemed fitting to make a donation to the Veteran’s Home. It was Saturday evening though, and no one answered the phone, and of course the doors were locked. So I just decided to mail in the donation with a note.

From there I drove down to Las Cruces for the night – only about 30 miles from the Mexican border.

New Mexico – Friday, October 4

I had driven down to Albuquerque last night from Santa Fe, so I was ready to start a day around the Albuquerque area. I wanted to take care of my donation first, and that was going to the Thanksgiving For All program at the Roadrunner Food Bank. They’re already working toward making sure all their partner agencies are able to help everyone have a good Thanksgiving meal. Once I made my donation, Tula and I were ready to start walking.

I was going to stay in the Albuquerque area today, and the first place I headed for was the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park. This park bordered the great Rio Grande River, and Tula and I walked for 3 miles. Then she waited in the van while I went out to walk on a couple trails that dogs weren’t allowed on. These trails were in a “bosque” – a word I’d never heard before. A bosque is a Spanish word that means wetlands, and it frequently refers to the wetlands and river forests along the Rio Grande. I covered another 2 1/2 miles on 2 trails in the bosque. Then Tula and I headed to another open space to walk that was literally called The Open Space. A good part of it seemed to follow a dry canal, and we walked another 2 1/2 miles in that area.

Then I headed for the historic part of downtown Albuquerque. Like Santa Fe, most of the buildings in Old Town were adobe or stucco, and some had lights strung on them, and there were musicians in the central plaza, and it was a fun place to wander around. There was another pretty mission church, complete with attached convent, and they were getting ready for a special blessing event over the weekend. The historic part of Albuquerque didn’t seem to be as big as historic Santa Fe, and we pretty much saw all of it after walking about a mile and a half. That made a total of almost 10 miles for today, and I headed back to the motel. I tried to get packed up as much as I could because I was going to be getting up really early in the morning to head to the opening day of the Hot Air Balloon Festival.

New Mexico – Thursday, October 3

The first thing I wanted to do this morning was take care of my donations. Last night I had read about the Food Depot in Santa Fe and they just started a new program they’re calling the Diaper Depot. When I called them, they told me they’ve identified a need for diapers among some of the Native American families and other low-income families, because without sufficient diapers their young children can’t participate in local Head Start programs, and they start falling behind. So I went to Walmart and shopped for diapers – I was able to get a couple packages in each of 4 sizes, and rounded it off with some packages of wipes. I took them over to the Food Depot and dropped them off – they had recently expanded to a bigger building behind their old place and were happy for the extra space.

Last night I also read about the Assistance Dogs of the West, and I wanted to make a donation to them too. They had a wish list on their website, and I tried calling, but didn’t get an answer, so I decided to just drive over to their office. It took me a little while to find it – it was tucked away on the second floor of an outdoor strip mall with no windows and I was just expecting a small office area. But when the lady answered my knock and invited me in, I saw it was actually a very large space, and there were about a half dozen young dogs in there, and everything was tidy and the dogs were happy and friendly, and it seems to be a very busy place. Assistance Dogs of the West provides trained service dogs to people with disabilities, and for nearly 20 years professional trainers have also worked with students, and juvenile delinquent students and disabled students to help teach them to train service dogs, which not only helps the dogs, but helps the kids too. The dogs know at least 90 commands when they’re placed with their clients, and they usually have at least 30 dogs in training every year, but there’s still a waiting list of people who would benefit from having a service dog. Most of the dogs live with their trainers, which is why there were only a few dogs in the office area, and most of them were labs. Many puppies are donated to the program – even some from the east coast! Some of their dogs become courthouse dogs, and children who have to testify in court can especially benefit from the presence of a calm dog. I was happy to be able to help this program in a small way.

The lady who showed me around told me where there was a nice hiking trail in the mountains where I might be able to see some fall colors, so I followed her directions and did indeed pass some aspens with leaves that were turning gold. I found one of the trail heads in the Santa Fe National Forest (after driving past one parking area that had a sign saying that location was a “high prowl” area – so I didn’t stop there!) and Tula and I ended up taking a beautiful 4 mile hike in the mountains with pine trees – it smelled so good! Then I passed a rec area on my back to Santa Fe and we walked another mile and a half there. I crossed a couple bridges over a dry riverbed – maybe some of these dry areas mostly see water in the spring.

Then I drove back to the Old Town area of Santa Fe and left Tula in the car while I walked around town. There were a lot of vendors in the park and along the long porch of the old governor’s palace – most of them had silver and turquoise jewelry spread out on Navajo blankets. I don’t know if this happens every afternoon or once a week or what. There were a couple bus loads of tourists walking around, and it was fun to see everything. I’m glad I wasn’t shopping for anything – the volume and variety of jewelry was almost overwhelming! I walked all over town and out into some of the surrounding area and covered more than 3 miles. I visited the oldest church in the country (built in 1610) and also the oldest house (built in 1646). Both were adobe structures, which are different than stucco buildings – I’m pretty sure real adobe uses straw as part of the mud/water mixture, and most of Santa Fe is stucco, which I read somewhere was “fake” adobe!

Then I got Tula out and we covered a mile and a half along the Santa Fe River. I actually walked around the Capitol Complex tonight, not last night. I walked about 10 1/2 miles today, to go toward the shortfall of the last couple days.

New Mexico – Wednesday, October 2

When Tula and I were out walking last night, I happened to walk past a big building that houses the Southwest Indian Foundation. It sort of sounded familiar and then I recalled that I’ve seen catalogs from them. I looked them up online, and saw information about many programs that offer support for the local Navajo, Zuni and Hopi Indian families who live in the southwest desert and are sometimes called the “poorest of the poor.” One program I saw was the Stove Assistance program, where a team of two people go out to some of the Native American houses – or hogans – to install proper wood burning stoves. As I learned back in Arizona, more than half of these families heat with wood (many cook with wood too) and they can’t all afford wood burning stoves, so sometimes they just fashion stoves out of sawed-off water barrels or other metal containers, and that of course can lead to disaster. The Southwest Indian Foundation has a 2-man team that is able to go out and install wood-burning stoves when they are available. Knowing now how cold the winters can get in the desert, this was a program I wanted to support. So I made my donation, and then I also bought a new beaded watch (my old one broke long ago) from their catalog and proceeds from that sale also help benefit their programs. For those of you who may have seen their catalogs, the proceeds from sales – a fairly high percentage – do help out with many things like food, clothing, shelter, stoves, and water (many of the wells the Foundation built in the ’60s are still in use and need maintenance, and some families still have to haul water).

Tula and I walked a little more in Gallup, and then we stopped at a park on the way out of town and walked another mile before heading east. I drove for a while, and came to the town of Grants, where I would have turned off to go visit one of the many national parks (it’s hard to see the signs for them and know they’re not open) but Tula and I just walked a mile and a half in town instead. I was headed for Santa Fe – a pretty long drive from Gallup, but then there wouldn’t be much driving for the next few days. So I spent some more hours driving, and I wanted to stop off in a couple other little towns like San Felipe Pueblo and Santo Domingo Pueblo for some walking, but that didn’t really work out. There were big Welcome signs, but then they added notices that all visitors must check in with the governor’s office (probably closed by that time of day) and no photos were allowed, and I felt like I was trespassing. I had driven into one of the towns before seeing all the signs and there weren’t sidewalks anyway, and I think they’re trying to preserve a traditional way of life. The houses all seemed to be adobe, and there were big outdoor adobe ovens in many yards and that’s about all I noticed before leaving. I read later that one particular tribe only welcomes visitors to 2 special events a year. I’m glad they’re trying to preserve their rich culture.

I finished the drive to Santa Fe, then headed right for Old Town even though it was beginning to get dark. Old Town Santa Fe was still full of people, and even though some of the shops had closed, the restaurants and cafes and other places were still open, and there were plenty of street lamps, so Tula and I walked 3 miles up and down all the Old Town streets. All the buildings are made of adobe (or stucco?) and it looked just like I would imagine an old southwest town would look like a hundred years ago. There was a central plaza, and an old Mission-style church and other cathedrals, and the old governor’s palace. Santa Fe was founded in 1607, long before America was even a country, and was the capital of the territory under Spanish rule, and then under Mexican rule, before finally becoming the state capital when New Mexico was admitted into the United States. I tend to think of the New England colonies as being some of the oldest parts of the country, but Santa Fe has been around even longer. It’s also the highest state capital at an elevation of 7000 feet. I thoroughly enjoyed walking all around in the evening, and was looking forward to returning in the daylight. I also stopped by the actual State Capitol building, which is the only round capitol building in the country. It was lit up at night, and I walked around that too. Then it was time to call it a day – I’ve got some extra miles to walk in the days ahead. I was behind due to the hours of driving today, and the late afternoon entry into New Mexico yesterday, but I’ll get caught up!

New Mexico – Tuesday, October 1

I wasn’t too far from the New Mexico border, so I got packed up and headed out, with my ears full of news from the radio about the government shutdown. Of course, my immediate if somewhat selfish thought, was that the national parks would all be closed, and I was headed into the state with the second highest number of national park sites where I’d hoped to do a lot of my New Mexico walking. But then I thought of all the European travelers I’d seen at the Grand Canyon, and I felt bad for the people who planned their entire vacation around visits to the big parks, and all the WWII veterans on their Honor Flights, and I realized my disappointment wouldn’t match that of others. I’ve at least been lucky to visit as many parks as I have. (But I also think of all the people who paid for the annual pass, and are not able to enjoy entry into the parks – kind of like paying for a meal and then being told you can’t eat it after all.) Time will tell how that all plays out.

Despite the government shutdown, I decided to go see what I’d find at the one last national park in Arizona that I’d hoped to visit, and that was the Petrified Forest National Park. It was about 18 miles off the main road, and when I got there, I saw the gate closed and locked with a sign that said “Park CLOSED due to lack of budget.” There were 10-12 other people there, and some were simply standing by the gate gazing into their park, and others were kind of milling around trying to figure out what they were going to do instead. I talked with 2 older women who were wondering why the gate was locked and if they should try another entrance, and I told them about the shutdown – they hadn’t been listening to any news or anything. They had just the one day to visit one of the parks, and were also very disappointed. The one good thing about this place was that there were 2 souvenir stores (very reminiscent of the ’60s) with lots of petrified wood items, and there were petrified logs and other pieces of wood all over the place outside, so I was able to see a lot of it anyway, and it was unexpectedly colorful and looked like quartz. One of the signs said it took 2000 years for the wind-blown sand to “polish” the wood. So I walked my last Arizona mile among petrified wood like I had hoped to – it just wasn’t in the national park.

Then I drove a couple hours and said goodbye to Arizona and hello to New Mexico. I drove into New Mexico in the arid northwest part of the state, on the southern side of a big Indian reservation. The first town I came to was Gallup, and I had done my homework earlier and read about the Community Food Pantry. They were involved with several different programs and the one that had caught my eye was Hope Garden. I found the food pantry on the outside of town after being taken in a different direction by my GPS (which they told me is not unusual). I gave them my donation for the garden, and then I met Vernon, who took me on a long tour of the garden, and what an incredibly ambitious project it is! They first started work on the garden only about 3 years ago, and it’s a challenging environment for a lot of plants, but with irrigation systems, some trial and error, and a lot of hard work, they have an amazing garden growing, with many of the typical garden vegetables, but also with some other things like strawberries and asparagus that take some time to get going. They’ve also planted a lot of fruit tress which should start bearing fruit soon, and there are also about a half dozen “hoop houses” which are pretty much like greenhouses. The hoop houses enable them to plant and grow different things year-round. To my surprise, even though Gallup is in an arid, desert-like climate, they had already had a frost, and that’s another reason for the hoop houses. Vernon works with one other gardener, and the garden is still evolving, wrapping all around the food pantry building, and terraced on the sides to get maximum use of space. The produce is taken to the weekly farmer’s markets for local people to buy, which benefits the food pantry, and then leftover things are given away to people who visit the food pantry. So it’s a good situation for many people, and it would be fun to see the garden again in a few years when it’s even more established. Vernon offered me a flying saucer squash which I would love to have tried, but I had no means of cooking it. But I was able to sample a Black Cherokee tomato (kind of sweet), a couple other tomatoes, purple carrots and white satin carrots. It was a fun visit.

It was early evening by now, and I decided to simply stay in Gallup for the night. Tula and I set out for some walking throughout town and some neighborhoods, and were able to cover about 3 1/2 miles before it simply got too dark. Gone are the days of starting a 3 mile walk at 7:00 at night! Normally I don’t mind the earlier darkness at all, but it does have an impact while I’m on my journey. I shopped for a few groceries and got a salad to go, and called it a day.