Each time I think the scenery on this trip can’t get any more beautiful, something new surprises me.
This morning, Michelle and I hopped in her car and headed north to Taos, Earthship Biotecture, the cute village of Arroyo Seco, and ultimately to my new host’s place in Santa Fe. Along the way, we crossed the bridge of the Rio Grande Gorge. (Yes, the Rio Grande. I had been unaware of this gorge, and it was stunning in person.)
All along the drive, the October colors were starting to show in the trees, the mountains, and the sunlight and blue sky that was filled with gorgeous puffy clouds casting otherworldly shadows on the hills below.
After we crossed the canyon bridge, we soon arrived at the Earthship Biotecture community and demonstration site. After having been vaguely aware of this place, and of the concept of Earthships, for some decades, it was so cool for me to see them in person, to feel their scale and their place within the landscape, and to learn more about how they work. I found our self-guided tour to be very inspiring, although also a bit disheartening when I considered what a small percentage of building plans in the United States make use of these commonsense sustainable principles and practices. I encourage you to take a look at the Earthship Biotecture site to learn more. They even offer internships, if you or anyone you know might be interested in traveling to Taos for a three-week stint of living and learning on-site.
After we had our fill of the Earthships, we headed over to a sculpture garden in nearby Arroyo Seco, which was bathed in incredible light. We found some lunch at a local café, and then marveled at the spectacular natural color of the fields, trees, mountains, and sky as we left.
Sometimes it almost feels like too much for me, to take in so many inspiring sights, so much beauty, and so much rich human interaction in such concentrated time frames. But, that is a big part of this journey, and overall I am loving it. Tomorrow I plan to venture into Santa Fe to see the sights in a town I’ve always heard good things about. (My host—the son of some Portland friends—lives just outside of town in a beautiful New Mexico styled house, complete with multiple fruit trees!)
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I woke up this morning on the train, after an admittedly fitful night of sleep as we jostled around curves all night. (I got a nap this afternoon, which felt divine, though I hope it doesn’t keep me awake all night tonight.)
I made my way to the dining car for a nice breakfast of oatmeal, fresh fruit, and potatoes. Because of social distancing, I ate at a table alone. This was kind of sad, because one of my favorite things about train travel over the years has been the camaraderie of the dining car, being seated with new strangers at each meal and hearing about each other’s travels, present and past. But, at least the scenery was glorious.
The next couple hours I spent in my roomette and the lounge car, enjoying the beautiful Southwestern views.
My good friend Michelle met me on the platform in Albuquerque, and we hit the local co-op so that I could replenish my supplies, then relaxed in her home until her husband returned from work, and then we all went out to dinner at one of my favorite Albuquerque restaurants, Annapurna’s.
After the meal, we returned home and played with the cats until a friend of theirs arrived to chat with me about my travels, which was fun and pleasant in their outdoor living-room area.
Now it’s time for sleep again. Tomorrow I’m excited to check out Taos, New Mexico, and especially the nearby Earthships!
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Well, it was an action-packed last (for now) day in Los Angeles! The temperatures looked more manageable than yesterday. I still chose to postpone my visit to the Huntington; I want a full day to appreciate its splendor, and probably 70s-ish temps would be optimal, which I hope to find in late October or early-mid December, when I come back through. But I did venture out for those chilaquiles!
I had it all planned out: I would bike part of the way, and then take a city bus for the rest of the way, including the hilly part.
But when I biked to the bus stop, what should I discover but that the bus ran so infrequently that it would deposit me at Sage Bistro after 11 am… when the brunch menu would no longer be available!
I thought, hmmm, could I actually bike the whole way after all? The timing seemed iffy, but I thought I’d give it a try. (I was hoping to avoid the cost of a Lyft, and in addition, my Lyft app was acting up, not allowing me to open it, so it didn’t appear to be an option anyway.)
As I felt stress rising in me, I reminded myself that I am capable of going with the flow. It might be a fun challenge to see if I really could cycle the whole way. And if I were to arrive late, I could enjoy something else on the menu; I know that their whole menu is delicious.
I set off along the Arroyo Seco bike trail. (The name means “dry streambed,” which was quite accurate.) This being LA, the trail is accessed by cycling along a freeway on-ramp for about fifty yards. I was perplexed and frightened by this prospect at first, but I went with the flow, and found what I thought was the trail.
But.
It turned out I took a wrong turn early on, and ended up on another trail, which sadly was made of bumpy concrete, and after maybe a quarter mile, it dead-ended.
I could feel those chilaquiles slipping from my grasp, and I was having a hard time letting them go.
I made a gut decision to try calling a Lyft after all. Miraculously(?) the app opened this time! I cycled back to the point where I found I could join the actual trail, and biked it just long enough to enjoy the experience of the smooth pavement in the middle of a canyon. Then I exited to a surface street, and ordered the Lyft. In the “note for driver” field, I indicated that I had a “small folding bike” with me. I marveled at how perfect this Brompton is for my way of traveling. I can take it on buses, trains, and in car trunks, and then ride it like a “normal bike” as much as I want, when and where I want.
The driver appeared within three minutes, and we easily stowed the bike in the trunk. After I hopped in, we got to talking, and it turned out he was a University of Oregon grad (was even wearing a U of O jersey!) and furthermore, hailed originally from San Diego.
It felt like the magic was returning. Perhaps calling the Lyft was just the right thing to do!
He dropped me off at 10:48. I wheeled the bike around to the back of the bistro where I recalled that the entrance was. I found no bike parking (boo) but locked it to a railing.
I was seated a few minutes before 11:00, and the server handed me a brunch menu. Those chilaquiles were to be mine!!
They were as wonderful as I remembered.
Afterward, I had planned to take a bus home, because the sun was direct and the mercury was showing mid-80s, and Google Maps had shown me when I checked earlier that there would be 1000+ feet of elevation gain to get back to my cousin’s place.
But I checked again… and bizarrely, Google Maps had apparently changed its mind—it was now showing only about 300 feet. I knew that the bus would drop me at the foot of a 200’ hill I’d have to climb anyway, so I figured, OK, I’ll bike the whole way!
In any case, I needed to stop somewhere to pick up dinner and snack provisions for the train ride this evening. I busted out my HappyCow app (it shows where all vegan and vegan-friendly establishments are, worldwide) and it showed me a nearby place called Kitchen Mouse, with grab-and-go sandwiches. Perfect! I pedaled over there and found a “loxdown” sandwich, which looked ideal for my purposes. (The “lox” is made from marinated carrots.) I also selected a decadent-looking s’mores bar.
I made it back up the 200’ hill, feeling pretty hot and sweaty by the crest where my cousin’s place sits.
I recalled her earlier invitation to use the complex’s pool. Perfect! I had a few hours free before she would pick me up after her work to head to Union Station.
The dip in the pool was wonderful. For most of my time there, I was the only one in the water, and the temperature was absolutely perfect.
After the swim, I returned to the condo and began the task of packing up all my things, when I was startled by the sound of raindrops(!) on the skylights. Shortly afterward, the rain was joined by lightning and thunder! My cousin had just been telling me yesterday how little rain the area had had for the past year. (She estimated six days of rain during the entire year. Wow.)
My phone’s weather app had shown no indication of this storm. It had predicted a 40% chance of rain on Friday, but otherwise full or partial sun for the entire 9-day forecast.
And yet, here it was: rain pouring down outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and lightning flashing through the skylight, followed by claps of thunder.
How bizarre.
I was a bit concerned about how we should load up all my gear into the car; I didn’t want it getting wet before boarding the train. We managed it all in the complex’s garage, and made the drive in the storm.
The rain had mostly abated by the time we arrived at the station. My cousin helped me to reassemble my rig just outside the front doors, and then we said goodbye and I headed straight to the platform. I made it up the ramp with the whole rig together, then took it apart when I arrived trainside. This time, I found a helpful sleeper-car attendant, and plenty of room to stow things in my now-usual way.
I ate the loxdown sandwich and s’mores bar (both amazing! Go to Kitchen Mouse next time you’re in LA!) and then enjoyed my signature Amtrak cocktail in the dimly lit lounge. Once again, I had hoped for some human connection there, but ended up sipping solitarily.
Such is life. I’m on the train to New Mexico, and it’s lovely. The attendant made up my sleeping quarters, and then kindly bent the rules to allow me to still sit up and type this in the neighboring roomette, since it’s unoccupied.
There is no WiFi on the trains, so I’ll post this tomorrow. Soon, I’ll drift off to dreamland, and then shortly after I wake, we’ll be pulling into Albuquerque, and the next stop on my wondrous journey.
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And early in the day, I started having all kinds of tech drama with my phone. (Specifically, running into hard data limits on the plan I share with my sister and her partner.)
Plus, I woke up this morning feeling disoriented and out of sorts from some bizarre and stressful dreams.
Things don’t always flow smoothly.
I had been really looking forward to these two destinations today, but I could feel that they were not in the cards this time around. And fortunately, as I reminded myself, LA is the one spot I will be visiting not once, not twice, but three times on this year’s journey. Late October and/or mid-December should(??) be better-weather times to enjoy the Huntington.
As for Sage? I’m still going to try to get those chilaquiles tomorrow, before I leave for Albuquerque on the evening train. I plan to combine bicycling and transit to maximize time efficiency and avoid tackling all that climbing right now.
But today turned out to be a day for sitting inside to stay cool, doing lots of texting and phone calls with my sister and Verizon, and then eventually having a good Zoom chat with my sister—my first since before I embarked on this journey three weeks ago.
We managed to get the phone plan all squared away, and my initial sense of stuck-ness is now returned to the flow of things working out.
Eventually, in the late afternoon, I did venture out to a local vegan burger place, and enjoyed a tasty and reasonably priced meal. I made it back up the 200 feet of hill to my cousin’s place, and even sat for a little while in the dusky light in the park next to her complex.
When she returned from a late day at work, we spent several hours in wonderful conversation about family and life. And she even shared this family-favorite photo of our grandparents on a cruise before they were married (gasp!) back in the late 1930s.
My days don’t always unfold as I hope or expect, but at the end of this day I am feeling happy and satisfied.
Perhaps chilaquiles tomorrow… or perhaps an as-yet-unknown adventure?
And then… heading east on the train!
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Today was a full day of train travel: roughly 10 am to 8:30 pm on Amtrak’s majestic Coast Starlight. My Warmshowers hosts were kind enough to drop me off at the train station in San Jose, which made my morning much easier. I did have some more stress loading my bike and trailer onto the train, which I guess will simply continue to be a theme. In this case, no Amtrak employees said anything discouraging, even as I saw that they did see my bike and trailer. But when I boarded, the luggage area was uncomfortably full. I had a few minutes of near-panic, wondering what on earth I could do to find a place to stow these items. We boarded about 15 minutes before departure, so there was time to work on it, but there were no staff in sight for most of that time. I asked a fellow passenger to help me heft the trailer onto the train, but then I worried I would have to get it back off the car and maybe into the little baggage area on another car. After awkwardly attempting to rearrange some other passengers’ bags (which were also rather heavy and bulky) and realizing I just couldn’t squeeze out enough space in that area, I finally walked along the outside of the train until I found an employee, and asked her what to do. She said to “put it in that little room next to the baggage area.” Hmmm… did she mean the little quasi-baggage car that they seem to have in some coach cars now, and I had somehow overlooked it?
No: “There are passengers in there, but don’t worry, there should be room.”
Hmmmm… OK…?
I went back, and sure enough, that extra room had seating for passengers, and a space for a wheelchair. There was one passenger napping in the front seat, but a large wheelchair space ahead of him, which thankfully was unoccupied and appeared to be just the right amount of space for the trailer. I dragged it rather unceremoniously into place, then went back and hoisted the bike onto the third rack in the baggage area (oof! I definitely felt all of its 40 pounds) and then slunk upstairs to my seat, hoping all would be OK.
It appeared that it was, and when I disembarked, the conductor helped me to unload it all. Then I did have to struggle to reassemble everything on the platform, and make my way down a steep and narrow ramp while pushing the trailer as a cart with my left hand, and rolling the bike with my right, and then figure out where to meet my cousin, who was picking me up. But I sorted it all out.
The train ride itself was as beautiful as always, although the rolling hills were definitely browner than I was used to, since I usually take this train in the winter for sunny getaways in southern California, and the hills are greener then.
I did find myself feeling a bit bored and restless on the train, which felt sad. I wanted to just fully embrace the ride! I always hope for magical interactions with other passengers, but sadly they do not always happen, and today was one of those days. I did take an hour or two to sit in the sightseer lounge car, first eating my prepacked lunch at a table, then sipping my “Amtrak signature cocktail” (I mix it myself: sweet tea with vodka, from the lounge) from a sideways seat overlooking beautiful vistas.
But then I returned to my seat, and succumbed to scrolling social media on my phone, despite knowing that both my battery and data plan were running low. I wished I could be more “Zen,” simply enjoying the scenery and breathing deeply. But, such is my way of being in modern life, I suppose. I did listen to some music on my iPod, and write in my journal. (And, of course, snapped all these photos!) But having the feeling of social connection through my phone felt important, so I chose to indulge.
When we arrived in LA, I was so happy to see my cousin; it had been a couple of years at least. She has a new place now, where I’m happy to stay for the next two nights.
Tomorrow (or today, when you read this, since I forgot to ask her about the WiFi so I’ll post this in the morning) I will brave the 90+ degree temps to cycle to Sage Bistro, and then the Huntington Gardens, in Pasadena. Perhaps I can take a dip in the pool afterward to refresh.
Now, a good night’s sleep!
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Another full day! After a leisurely morning, I hopped on my bike for a brief excursion into downtown Campbell, a charming little town. I biked along the vibrant main street—filled with mostly locally owned shops—and then wended my way along the riverfront path on my way to a grocery store to replenish my Clif bar stock and pick up some food for tomorrow’s train ride, before heading back to my backyard tiny house.
Shortly afterward, my hosts and their neighbor and I all piled into the car to visit Hakone Gardens, a 100-year-old Japanese garden in nearby Saratoga. We stopped at a nearby Veggie Grill for picnic-table provisions beforehand, and enjoyed them in the pleasant shade of the garden.
The shade throughout the garden was very welcome, since the temperature was about 90 degrees today. It felt very comfortable in that environment.
After the garden, we came home and rested for a bit, and then headed out to San Jose’s First Friday free art walk. We visited several art galleries, and walked the blocked-off main street lined with artists and vendors, and my hosts encountered half a dozen old and new friends along those few blocks. For a city of a million people, it felt very neighborly.
Then we went to see a play in a local theater a few blocks away. The theater is just now reopening for live performances. (We did need to show proof of vaccination and also wear masks indoors.) It felt good to see a live play again; it had been a couple of years for me.
This has been a wonderfully full and rich stay in Campbell/San Jose! Once again, I am so appreciative for warm and generous Warmshowers hosts.
Tomorrow, I’ll be boarding the train again, this time for Los Angeles! I’m looking forward to seeing my cousin, meeting up with a Facebook contact, enjoying my favorite chilaquiles at one of my favorite restaurants, and exploring the incredible Huntington Library gardens!
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!
Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!
Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a fairy godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)
