Taos Day 3 — Off The Grid

Taos is proving a good place for me.  The days are warm, the sun hot, the nights  cool. Last night it was 46 degrees in Taos and probably cooler here some 14 miles further north and 1,500 feet higher where I am camped in a sparse area of cactus, scrub grass and pines just starting to make a comeback after a forest fire a few years ago. There there are elk, bear, rabbits, deer, foxes, raccoon and coyotes, although where they get their water is a mystery.  I have not seen elk even though their droppings are everywhere — like deer pellets but much bigger. There is also a Buddhist monastery a few miles up a trail I plan to visit soon.

Although I am house sitting, I am working and sleeping mostly in my bus. Last night I slept very well, waking only to add a blanket.

My host does not leave until Wednesday. She is kind and spiritual with great intellect and silent compassion.  It is another stroke of luck or fate that landed me here after the loss of bus companion.  The desert is a place for peace and healing.
                                                               
I should mention the stars.  There is no ambient city light out here.  The desert air is clear and dry.  When the moon sets, the thousands of stars in the sky become millions, and through the center of it all the Milky Way runs like a faint and glowing distant highway of the gods.    JNR

Desert skeletal tree.

Casa Tolteca:  off the grid and under the sun.