Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 01:47:07 -0400

From: Eddiehintz@aol.com

Subject: Trip Report: Denver to New Mexico

Hey now,

It is now 7:45pm 20 August, we are headed for my sister's place in Clovis, NM. We're on our way back from a side trip, a whopping 480 mile round trip up to Taos. We went up to look at the Earthships-a self sufficient housing alternative built out of materials most folks consider garbage. The outer walls of the houses are made from used tires stacked like bricks and rammed with dirt, and the inner walls are made from cement with tin cans in a honeycomb fashion. The houses are designed to be self sufficient, using solar power, a rain catching system for water, and a drainage system that uses greywater to feed your very own garden. I really like the idea of living independently of city utilities, and the whole environmental concept of these structures. If this arouses your curiosity check out these links. So this morning we got up at 7am to take the drive up to Taos, finally got on the road about 9am. Got to Taos at about 2:30, via a circuitous state road through a scenic national forest. Beautiful, but slow. And we arrived at the Solar Survival press office, and the entryway was plastered with signs saying that it cost $5 for the tour, and there were nice brochures for us if we didn't want to pay the $10 (5 each). I went inside and explained that the $10 they wanted was our gas money to get home-we have absolutely no spare cash. And the woman stopped smiling and said no dough no go. So we took a little tour of our own, private road or not, as we were not going to dive 500 miles for nothing. Problem was, Sam needed to see the interior of a finished house... Finally we decided to send Sam in with the $5 and I would wait in the bus.

The tour consists of watching a how-to video, and a walk through of the completed house. Sam said all she wanted to do was see the house, so the lady said just go ahead, and keep the $5. Sam felt that she was kind of snotty about it, and I would tend to agree, from my experience with her. We definitely came away with a sour taste. It would seem that, in this case anyway, making a fast ten spot was more important than the environmental statement they are supposedly making. I understand that business is business, but when you advertise your business as saving the planet, the almighty dollar should run a close second to the original goal. Heck, some of us stiffs actually PAY to help the environment-god forbid! I still want to build one of these puppies, I just want to do it while giving Solar Survival as little cash as possible.

Enough of my whining. Let me get you up to date. We stayed with Stuart Habel and his girlfriend Kit (whose last name I neglected to get) at their place in Denver. They were wonderful company, and fed us like kings with fresh goodies from the garden. Turns out that Stuart had ulterior motives-there's a '78 westy in Texas he's got his eyes on, so I'll be paying it a visit for him once we get home... ;-) It was Stuart who provided us with the information on the location of the Earthships at Taos, as they intend to build one themselves. They showed us lots of pictures of a friends that is under construction up in Colorado, and some blue prints and whatnot that they had, so we really only needed to see the interior of a finished one to really get a feel for the concept. Oh, and Indra chased their unfortunate cat up a tree, took several hours before the poor cat was down... Indra only wanted to play. ;-)

Upon taking our leave from Stuart and Kit, we stopped off at Vintage Aircooled Motorwerks (that's how he spells it) in Denver, and spoke to Josh, who it turns out had intended to go to Inuvik with the group. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him. We got the sender unit for the Oil Temp gauge, and I showed off some of my Inuvik damage, including the busted right side vent wing. Josh said he had that too, but I had no cash left. So he let me take it on credit! Even helped pull it off the existing bus. Good guy, not many folks give complete strangers credit at their first meeting. Josh said he specializes in used hard to find parts, especially older stuff. His web page address is http://www.diac.com/~vintage (this address is no longer functional, as of 4/99), look him up if you're in need, he did me right...

I installed the oil temp gauge at a rest stop south of Colorado Springs, and of course changed the oil in the process. For the last several hundred miles I've finally had a semi-accurate report card on all my engine work, and I get good marks. Generally I stay around 180-200, and mountain passes usually only drag me up to 230 or so. I'm pretty happy with those numbers.

After that we continued south to my sister's place in Clovis. Had some pretty awesome lightning displays on the way down, as we scooted right in between two big old angry thunderstorms. Pretty amazing stuff, and so close that it looked like a camera flash hitting the entire horizon. I have to admit it made me a little nervous there for a while. We got to Amanda and Mike's place (Amanda is my sis, Mike her husband) about 11 pm, and they'd waited on dinner for us! Amanda made a great veggie and pork thingamadoo, and we all had a good time. Last night I made Tofu spaghetti, it came out pretty good. I usually make it with Ground Beef, but Sam's friend Giselle corrupted her while she was in Los Angeles, and Sam's back to being a Vegetarian again... I guess I'll have to sneak away for my steaks now... ;-)

And that brings us up to date. We plan to head home tomorrow evening, it will be nice to get home. However, it also means back to the old grind. And the first thing I have to do is take the spare engine out of the bus and get it back in the bug where it belongs... Happy happy joy joy. So it all comes down to this, one last long run-487 miles-and our odyssey is over. It won't be our last.

Peace,

Eddie

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