Have a nice trip, see you in the fall.

 Because some mountains are ostentatious, I present the Sangre de Cristos:

Lenticular clouds AND a moon. Whatever, mountains.

A joke you've heard ... Mountains are not just funny, they're hill areas.

Because some cats are ostentatious, I present Sophia:

Sophia is 1/4 of the reason we were in Taos, but a bigger 1/4 than most. For being one quarter, she was more like seven-and-a-half-eighths.

Our friend bought bird-safe collars for her natural-born killers. I'd like to exclaim, "They really work!" I'd like to exclaim that, but the fresh bundles of feathers we found each day exclaimed otherwise.

We get it. Yes, you're very pretty, sunrise.

Kit Carson Road

Likewise

We were here on Kit Carson because our friend has a show at The Ranch at Taos, and because we spotted coffee.

Caffe Tazza

Taos colors were at their peak for us.

Taos was kind to me. I played with kitties, and read, and gazed out at mountains in all directions. I felt inner conditions gently ease, unknot, and rearrange themselves. I had solitude; I had dear company. 

In my opinion, Taos to T or C in one day is excessive. I felt pretty beaten-up on both ends. But, an overnight also seems excessive if there's an ETA on the line. 

 It was fun to meet Judy, and to see Chris again, back in Truth or Consequences. Judy is from the same tiny village in New York State that I am; in fact, I can picture her house.

Judy and Chris, Elephant Butte, NM. 

But, where's Roxanne? Let's get some selfies!

  

Oh Judy, everything's fine. 

Judy said, "I think you have ... " CLICK!
"Do you think it's possible there's ..." CLICK!
"I'm pretty sure you've got ..." CLICK!
"Hold up a minute, your ..." CLICK! 










We're back "in town" briefly to care for some pups, and then we end our summer season in TorC and head for Arizona.

Still slippery from the soap. Bits and pieces (watch your step).

Do you follow RV drama?  The latest is over a situation in Van Horn, TX, where an RVer was ticketed for napping at a truck stop.  The driver was Billy Bob, although he doesn't talk much about it in his blog.

Little towns enact these ordinances (often) after pressure from local RV parks.  Don't let anyone sleep here unless they sleep here.  It happened here in Lake City, where there are seven RV parks that I can find.  Because of the internet and a growing knot of boondockers and traditional RVers who might just want to rest overnight, grab a bag of groceries and a tank of gas and move on, the city government and Chamber of Commerce were made to understand that RVers do it on wheels.  We can roll on into the next town and spend our money at other diners, grocery stores, laundromats, movie theaters, etc.  That ordinance has been tabled here.  

People who want to stay at a park do not want to overnight at a truck stop, and vice versa.   These are not the same bodies of clientele.  Still, the overnighters leave their money behind in a town, whether they pay to sleep or not.  Small businesses other than the parks should understand that they suffer from these ordinances (often made to look like "protection" from the dreaded homeless).   The RV parks here in Lake City are still full, even though an RV can legally spend the night here in the world's smallest SuperWalMart parking lot (north side, along the holding pond, if you're taking notes).  This is a win-win-win.

Am I missing something important?  Tell me about it.  If you're right, I'll agree with you.  Fill out my fancy-schmancy poll on the left sidebar. Apparently, we are staging our own de facto boycott of Van Horn by staying in Florida.

ETA:  Steve asked about lists of RV-unfriendly towns:  RVUnfriendly.com.
ETA, again:  Van Horn municipal ordinance.  Look for chapter 12.



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My new hard drive arrived! My Mac-certified technician was here waiting.





Then some magic happens, and ...


Annie tried to talk me into a 1 Tb drive, but foresight makes me itchy.



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How did you decide on your blog spam security precautions? I have no protections (except for the Blogger spam trap). Have you had trouble that causes you to proceed with more caution?

For you guys who go with word verification, would you ever consider making it part of the comment page, rather than a second hoop to jump through? Or, does the extra page discourage what you want to discourage? I'm asking because when we're really OUT in the boonies with limited connection, a second page just when I thought I was flinging my comment at you home-free can make me give up. Extra loading time = rather eat a donut instead. So, you get fewer comments from ... hey!



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While we're here, we're going to do the driver's confidence course down near Tampa.



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Squawmama, are you guys still at the Stephen Foster campground? What are you doing locally for fun?

Blogo

Because I am hot.

Because I am thirsty.

Because things are looking up.

I've tried Bleezer and ScribeFire since we parted. The picture problem is always the sticking point, and if I can't add a photo from my computer, I may as well post from Apple Mail. They were free, but Blogo will cost me like love always has. I'll guard my heart until I see this show up online.

We're cruising down I-75, just discovering our dash A/C. Here you go, ladies - your Slow Learner's Permit!

I talked to Bruno back home this morning. She is just about ready to pack away the long underwear in her bureau (the drawer drawer). In NYS, we never really "put away" our winter clothes, we just give them a conditional rest. I think resting the longjohns before Memorial Day is foolhardy, but that's just the way she rolls.

We were planning to leave Georgia this morning, but horses happened. We could have muscled the dolly around and backed out, then done our prep in the "main" driveway instead of pulling out frontways, nice and easy, where the horse trailers were parked; instead we drank more coffee and narrated the horse dance, Mystery Science Theater-style:

Hi! I'm a horse! Just one horse! STOMP!

From what I see in the bottom of the trailer, you must be more than one horse.

Nope! Just one! NAY! ONE! I pooped ONE [stomp] TWO [stomp] THREE times!

I know, right!? Hilarious. Then we narrated the dogs:

Hi! I'm a dog! A shepherd! Nip! Stay inside the perimeter, please! Hey, you're another dog! [Aside to horse: Here, guard yourself while I take care of something.] HUMP! INAPPROPRIATE HUMP! EXCESSIVE HUMPING! ENOUGH HUMPING THAT SOME HUMAN SHOULD STOP ME! I'M OUT OF CONTROL!! [Other dog: bite] Okay, I'm under the trailer.

So, the point is that we waited while the horse people did what they do, and used the time to spruce up the place. Carrot used the time to pee over the side of the box more than usual, and the horses used the time to try to kick the dogs. It was time well spent for everyone, which is more than I can say for the time you've spent reading this.