Travels of Geo Nova: Caravan Ends

The Caravan Ends and The Last Phase of The Road Trip Begins

The last stop for the caravan is a small town north of Santa Fe, New Mexico called Pojoaque. The trip up there from Albuquerque was along what is known as Turquoise Trail. We made the trip in the company of 2 other trailers from the caravan. We made several interesting stops along the way. The first was at what was billed as a Turquoise Mining Museum in a very small town with only 1 paved road and a series of dirt roads. The museum turned out to be a collection of mostly junk that was run by a suffer dude from New York. The next two stops come under the category of B and B. The first B was a small café lunch spot that made the best cinnamon rolls(Bakery) and the second B was the Santa Fe Brewing Company.

We made several trips into Santa Fe, a city with a rich history and a strong arts culture. It was the terminus of the famed westward route known as the Santa Fe Trail. We managed to visit the Georgia O’Keefe museum and the Albuquere museum of art.

Just north of Taos is a development known as Earthship, a project that produces and espouses the construction of homes with recycled materials that are environmentally friendly and self sustaining. They collect rainwater on rooftop collectors and manage to use the water 4 times to meet the needs of the homes and their gardens. These people were passionately devoted to their lifestyle. After our visit at Earthship we stopped to see the Rio Grand gorge as we headed back to Taos for lunch where we found another B, the beer and fire oven lunches were great.

Just a short distance away from Pojoaque is Los Alamos, the home of the Manhattan Project, where the first Nuclear Bomb was developed that subsequently was dropped on Japan bringing World War II to an end. Most all of the original buildings from that era are gone but there is a great museum and the National Parks had an interesting lecture on the subject.

One morning we had some free time so we went birding in Espanola. There were several, we believe, man made ponds along the Rio Grand River. Here David finally got the elusive Cinnamon Teal Duck along with about 20 other birds seen previously. One of which was migrating overhead, we saw 2 Sandhill Cranes flying south. After which we joined up with the rest of the group for a fabulous lunch at a ranch. Then as we headed back to our RV Park we had to stop at the local weavers. One had local apples that we had never heard of. David loves tart; well for him they were good.

Our last official caravan visit was to Bandelier National Monument, a large park that features ancestral puebloan structures both free standing and dwellings in alcoves high up on the cliffs. We did a great hike into the canyon that provided stunning views of the surrounding area as well as the canyon below with an array of ancient structures.

The caravan culminated with a banquette where we presented our 4 leaders, 2 couples, with special gifts as a token of all our appreciation for their hard work. Diana along with several others made 2 pillow covers out of kerchiefs depicting the 4 corners area. She had everyone sign the kerchiefs. She then sewed them on a piece of deer hide that was fringed on the edges to make them into pillows. She also made special earrings for one of the leaders and the other needed a lanyard for her badge.

We departed the Caravan with many sad goodbyes and headed west to visit Bryce Canyon NP and Zion NP that we missed due to our wedding trip to New York. The first night on the road was spent in Winslow Arizona, a town made famous by the Eagles song in the 70’s. We meet friend from Florida there and had a delightful dinner at the famed La Posada Hotel.