What Happened Next....

OK, so it has been a while. Did you think I had forgotten you? Fallen off the face of the earth? Lost interest? Not a chance.

Writing about my adventures became…well…complicated in NM. Nothing bad, just overwhelming, confusing…life changing.

Up until Santa Fe, I had known when my time was drawing to a close in each place and where to go next. I lost that “knowing” in Santa Fe. I kept postponing my departure and kind of lost interest in visiting whatever the next place was going to be. I was thinking insane things like “I could live out here”, but each time the thought came up I was overcome with doubt and guilt and insecurity. I felt like I probably ought to leave, but as I said before, I was going to go reluctantly. I decided I would after all go to Taos, because, well…I was so close…might as well…

On what I thought was my last night there, I met a new friend who felt like an old friend, who told me about a woman I wanted to meet in Crestone, CO, who led me to an B & B up there…

I did go to Taos first, where I had some wonderful food and saw some amazing sights, but felt overall uncomfortable there. I think now it was because I knew I needed to keep going up to Crestone. It was a couple of hours drive from Taos, across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, past the Earthship Biotecture development (imagine Dr. Seuss meets Lost in Space kind of houses) and ‘cow crossing’ signs with UFO stickers hovering above the cow silhouettes, then north through miles of oh my God this is so beautiful! I saw tumbleweeds tumbling, starting with small wispy ones gradually increasing in size until one about 5 feet across came barreling into my path! There were dust devils spinning in the distance, looking like smoke from camp fires, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park…sand dunes…in Colorado! There were rolling hills of tan and gold and deepest green, leading to amazing mountains.

The road turning into Crestone looks like it will run you right smack into the side of a mountain, big and beautiful and capped with snow. I drove up to the B & B, on a gravel road named Moonlight Way….mountains on your left, a sweeping view of the valley to your right, leading to more mountains further out….and deer, deer and more deer on the side of the road. It was snowing as I arrived, light and pretty, but ever so cold. I saw shooting stars from my room that night.

Breakfast the next morning was amazing. Delicious and organic, with plentiful food and happy conversation. I was thinking to myself, this was a great little place to stay, when suddenly…….!!

Marcia, the owner of the B & B, said to me, Please forgive me for being so forward, but I have to tell you…you have found it. You have found what you have been looking for. St. Francis has been with you on your journey and he wants you to know you have found where you belong.

When I picked my jaw up off the ground…and stopped shivering from the goose bumps that suddenly covered me…and remembered how to speak again…I burst out “This is the best breakfast I have ever had!”

St. Francis, as some of you know, is special to my sister and me. We know he is with us and guides us, he brings peace and knowing, and he pops up in the most unexpected circumstances. Like breakfast!

I felt expansive and liberated and happy…and taller for some reason. A friend told me later that day that I looked like every cell in my body was smiling.

In my last post I said I finally left New Mexico, reluctantly. Reluctantly, but on a mission. I began my trek back east to tell my family that yes indeed, this wacky gal is really moving out west…Santa Fe is calling me! I knew it! I knew it!!

As I type this I am once again back in my favorite little inn in Santa Fe, with rental properties lined up for viewing over the next few days. Then it is back to Florida to pick up my beloved puppy dog and bring him out here to start a new adventure with me in the wild, Wild West.