8/7/03 Thursday - Last full day in Taos. I thought Marc was going to take me out somewhere, perhaps to Santa Fe but due to business concerns, he had to stay put. So out on my own I went! I ate at nearby Cafe Tazza, now my favorite coffee house, and then took a beautiful drive to Taos ski valley. I went up the chair and hiked down, probably getting a blister (it was nothin' compared to the blackout). After a pleasant 1 hour and 15 minute drive, I arrived. It was nice weather and there were great vistas including Wheeler Peak, NM's tallest mountain. After the hike, I ate lunch near the base lodge, an asparagus salad with field greens and brie, fairly healthy and non-Mexican. I conversed with a woman whose husband was hiking up the hill (brave guy). I told her I said hi to a man who doing that, perhaps her husband. I then went up the chair a second time just to go down the chair and then say goodby to the pretty young lass Hana who was manning (womaning) the chairlift.

I then drove to the Millicent Rogers museum which had native-based art. I enjoyed the 13th-14th century Anasazi stuff more than the modern stuff involving pottery, rugs and the like. It was mildly interesting. I then drove back into town, took a pic of the unusual adobe McDonald's and came back to Marc and Jennifer's house. We ate dinner at the resort where Jennifer works called El Monte Sagrado. Food was exquisite and Marc and I had dessert port wine at the bar. We went back to the house and Marc previewed the Bollywood films he was going to show next week at his Third Eye Cinema and showed me an amazing Bollywood snippet from the 60's with go-go scenery right out of the 60's TV show Shindig. But I was rearing to go to Durango. Before I left he gave me Jim W.'s phone number since he lived in Pagosa Springs, a town I'd be traveling through on my way to Durango. He bankrolled my first recording studio experience with The Ravers, where we recorded our punky single Cops Are Punks way back in 1977. I have not seen him since -- 25 years!

8/8/03 - Friday. I left before Marc & Jen got up or Jen left for work. I left around 10 am, stopped at a cafe on the outskirts of Taos for an omelet with red and green chiles (remember what that is called? Huh? Christmas style -- go back for remedial reading). I then stopped again at the Rio Grande Gorge rest area for my last pit stop so I left around 11:30 from the Taos area. Again for much of the drive I was the only on one on the highway then a couple of local trucks came by. Where do they come from? They tailgate ya, and I don't like it! I end up slowing down, pulling over toward the right and letting them pass. Again, there were endless vistas until you enter the mountains, getting gas at small town such as Tierra Amarilla, passing by towns like Chama on my way back to Colorado and Pagosa Springs where I ran into highway construction and one of those godforsaken pilot cars that lead the one-way traffic past the construction zone. I finally got to Pagosa Springs, had a subway sandwich and called Jim who was there!!! He gave me directions to his house and I found it. We hung out for a half hour. What a trip! It's amazing how we both changed in 25 years! He still makes jewelry. Jim showed me around his house and his jewelry workshop. He offered to have me stay but I on my way to see Chris in Durango. His wife Roseanne is a checkout woman at a local supermarket. She came home for a late lunch. I took a pic, then drove back to Route US 160 west enroute to Durango.

I was feeling tired but kept on trucking. My cell phone began to beep at me! After days of no signal, Durango brought it back to life. My cell phone was cooing, hey look at me! I'm alive! I arrived in Durango and stopped to fill up my gas completely since it was cheaper than NM. It turns out I had voice mail from Chris. He told me where he hid the keys in case I arrived before he did. He was returning from Silverton (60 miles north of Durango) where he had been working for a week. I couldn't find them and called him on the cell; he told me and I found them, let myself in and was accosted by one then 2 cats, Sid and Liz, who is in the bed with me right now. (This simply refers to my writing the journal at night in bed ... not in real time.)

Chris eventually arrived, we talked, he had to go out to pick up his kids Hannah & Kyle which are both great kids! I talked a lot with Hannah. I showed them my digital camera and took pix of all of them and showed them the pix on this here Mac. Chris brought a pizza for dinner and a rental movie for the kids. We then went out to Durango's classic olde town main street. It was much more real than Taos with real stores, not curio shops and art galleries. We stopped for a beer and talked about women. Some OK women at the bar but as I said befaw, I'm not "on the make." We shared good experiences and had some beers. We also ran into his ex-wife Lyndee while walking, a little nervous moment which Chris handled with aplomb. We went back home. I showed Kyle the Mac chess game, did more digital camera stuff. My bed was setup in the rec room, some futon and the cat Liz is staying with me as I watch Jay Leno and shut this thang down! G’night!

8/10/03 Saturday - Chris & I went out to Breakfast on Main Street in Historic Downtown Durango, then walked along an art street fair as Main Street was closed. I bought some fragrant mint soap from a NM soap maker woman. His lovely girlfriend Susan joined us as we had some tea and smoothies at another shop. We walked along Main Street and I took some pictures. Chris was interested in a ceramic tile depicting chile peppers, more NM stuff. And then I had to leave. I checked my Denver friend Linda's number again and I had programmed the “new” wrong number correctly so I didn't bother to call. On my way to Ouray! Ourraaay!!!!