B I R T H D A Y   I N   T A O S

Friday, November 19, 2004

That's the problem with long distance travel. In order to sightsee you spend the daylight hours touring. Take today for example. I toured geographically small sights, namely Taos and Taos Pueblo. When the day winds down it's time to move on to my next destination. And that moving on typically happens at night where I'm bound to miss something interesting as I make my way along.

Oh well, lets hurry and make the best of what daylight remains.

Shortly after deciding to make the best of things I stumble upon Cimarron Canyon State Park. Only covering 33,000 acres the park is small, but its impressive crenelated granite formations certainly make up for that I think. Rock climbing is allowed here but one has to be very careful because the rock is not stable. That's not surprising, the rock looks like it has been slowly crumbling away for eons.

I'm about 30 miles or so from the New Mexico/Colorado border and evening is quickly approaching. The landscape here is a mixture of flatland and small mountainous features.

The day's last call before surrendering. Well that sucks, I have hours of driving still ahead of me. Fortunately, the hours come and go and I manage to stay awake. Perhaps because soon enough I'll be seeing by ole buddy Paul? I haven't seen him in years. I met him years ago at work, he was a computer field engineer and I was a computer analyst building software for Paul and his cohorts.

I finally arrive at Paul's place around 9:30pm and it starts to snow. Yuck! I'm feeling behind the 8-ball right now. I still have much to see on my trip and the winter weather is closing in on me. I suspect this next month is going to be a chilly one for me. Oh well, it beats the old 9-5.

Paul meets me in the parking lot and directs me to my parking spot. Thanks Paul!

Paul and his girlfriend Becky greet me and welcome me to Denver. Yeee Hawww! My long drive is now officially over, I can relax and enjoy some good company. I spend time with Paul and Becky chatting and catching up. Paul managed to get me a birthday card, that was nice rather of him. There is no cake though, the lazy bastard. My good buddy didn't think to get his good buddy a birthday cake. Well, I forgive him.

I while away the evening and continue talking w/Paul until the wee hours of the morning. 1:45am rolls around and I hit the hay. It's too cold outside to sleep in the van so we drag my mattress from the van to Paul's apartment. Including the time I stayed in a cottage w/my friend Monica in Maine, this is the second time on my trip I've opted to not sleep in the van. Strangely, it seems odd to be sleeping somewhere other than in the van.