Road Trip to Santa Fe

It can be a pretty long ride to Santa Fe….going as far as Lubbock was easy and the next morning we met precious Lou Ann in Plainview for breakfast. She has known me since I was 10 years old….We had so many laughs in an hour and a half….very, very good…I don’t know what was so funny but it was invigorating. She sent us off with a bag of fabulous cookies which we devoured before we made it to Halfway, TX!

The ride from Plainview to Santa Fe is pretty desolate. If I drive here by myself I will go up to Amarillo and take IH 40 on into Santa Fe.

Our rental is great, the same one Babs, Belinda and I had last year. I could live in this house. It is only a 10 minute walk to the Plaza and very comfortable. Sadly it is only available by the week not the month. I have found a little studio that Len and I will look at this afternoon. I think it may be smaller than I want though.

OK, back to the story. What have we been doing? We have had a LOT of together time and it is now important to have some time out. We had a fun outing at 10,000 Waves Japanese Spa…complete package included a very spiffy private hot and cold tub with sauna, followed by a same-room extreme hot oil head and neck rub, therapeutic massage, and finally a salt glow rub. I have never been so soft! We did enjoy that….I was worried if Len could do it for more than one reason….a little too Zen and also he had a major fall while riding his bike the morning of the spa. His arm looks like hamburger meat and he will have major bruising. But he toughed it out even during the salt rub. Although I did overhear his therapist ask how the salt rub felt, meaning is this good. He replied, “It feels like sandpaper.”

Mainly we have been sightseeing and geocaching the Santa Fe Visitor Center’s Sparrow Route..designed to get you all over town and to see some of the hot spots. The ‘passport’ gives the coordinates and pretty vague clues. You use either a GPS designed for geocaching or an Iphone app…that’s what we used. The app is ok, I think we will buy a real device if we continue this. Len and I did pretty well with this. No fist fights, anyway! He is better, of course, at understanding the app. I. on the other hand, have an intuitive sense of direction. Anyway, after you find the location you go in and ask them to stamp your passport. After completing all 8 spots the Convention Center validates the passport and a prize is given! Not a trip to Europe….It is a year long free cultural pass…to all museums and events. So I will just have to come back.

What else….Len has played golf at the Black Mesa course recommended by Sally and Dick H. but since the big bike crash he won’t be able to play any more this trip so he will be back on his bike tomorrow for renewal. He plans a 30 mile ride in the hills. I told him NOT to fall or get hurt. Or dehydrated. Or run over. Or, etc. etc.

Today at breakfast at the Santa Fe Bakery I saw my brother’s Doppelgänger. After looking at this photo look at this photo then the others, it is clear they are doubles. Even this guy’s parents agreed. He asked me if my brother was also wanted by the FBI…I said, “Surely.” The Santa Fe Stranger is the guy with a bandana around his neck. In my old age, I may get confused!

















A Few Days Later
We are home safe and sound. We ended up staying an extra day at the house…it was a good decision, too. Len did another bike ride without incident and I had a glorious, glorious time at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market. Oh, how I loved that place. I enjoyed tasty baked items, kissed puppies of unknown heritage, and I swear, inhaled second hand pot! Free, free spirits! Oh, and I sampled YAK chili! I mean, the animal YAK not yam. Later on Saturday, Len and I went to an arts and crafts show on the plaza and ran into folks from our church! Small, small world as Babs would say.

We left Sunday to go home via Hatch, NM for the Hatch Chili Festival. It was very much like the Belton 4th of July Parade. Very small town and sweet. We bought roasted chiles and took photos. I think chili or chile is misspelled. Oh well. From Hatch we drove on to Fort Stockton–at this point Len was just a wee bit ready to be home. Too much of me might just be more than even a tough man can take.
It was a good trip. We had lovely meals at The Shed, El Farol, Andiamo, Harry’s Road House, and take out from my favorite-ever grocery store, Trader Joe’s. I did in fact forget all that has been looming over my head. But now I am home. I found out today that tomorrow at 8:00 I see Dr. R about the results of the Ocontype text. I am grumpy. I had to call the hospital and learn that he was going to be gone next week. When I told my Nurse Navigator that it made me nuts she checked and I guess the results have been in….for how long I don’t know. I will check it out tomorrow. Grrrrr. I just have to make this work. I have been humming the Aggie War Hymn. It got me through my doctoral program, it will get me through stinkin’ cancer.

That’s Just the Way I See it!