I was just going to camp for one night and decided to stay for 4 nights. Great place to explore from. The first day i drove into the town of San Luis. Cute town as i drove through. I stopped at a coffee shop that was calling my name for some reason. As i ordered a coffee i spoke with the owner, very nice lady. I asked about her coffee machine as i could see it was having a steam leak. She informed me that one had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting a tech to work on her machine. She also explained that the other coffee shops call each other for help when someone has a breakdown and what to do to get it fixed. Can you say business opportunity for me. hmmmm.
So I drove out to see some land i had seen online. 65 acres for 70 thousand dollars on a hill. The land is about 6 miles outside of San Luis. I had studied the satellite photos and found the land within 20 feet. It is right up off the floor of the valley and some great views.
I drove back north through FT. Garland and on to Alamosa. I spent the afternoon walking downtown going through the shops and speaking with shop owners and other locals. I also spoke with the only coffee shop but they were just line employees and really could not tell me who fixes the machines.
I drove back to my campsite and had fun watching a movie after skyping with my son. It was rather different to be talking online with friends from my tent.
The next day i drove down to Taos New Mexico. I drove south early and had a great morning to drive. I saw a few rattle snakes and ended up having a race with with a 5 point deer who then had to cut across the road in front of me instead of just waiting.
When I arrived in Taos I decided to get some breakfast so i found the place the locals lined up to get in. I had my favorite biscuits and gravy. Place was a gold mine busy as all get out. It was Sunday so all were out for food. I then spent the day walking through the town and through the shops. Met some great people and some that one wonders how they sell anything when they wont even say hi to the people that come in.
I also found out that it was the first annual Gay pride festival on the downtown green. Lots of vendors and artists. It was cool.
I ended the day in town with a stop at the farmers market and tried some really good local fares. Goat cheese and vegetables as well as fresh baked goods.

I left town by going west towards the land of Earthships. I had heard about the earthships from my first wife and she had some books about how to build one. They are burm homes built into the earth with a southern exposure. My kind of living off the grid and totally green. The base of the house is dirt filled used tires then adobe over them with cans and bottles in the spaces to fill in. The front is angled glass with a greenhouse in front. Look it up sometime its quite a good way to live. The land i was looking at I had thought of building a container house.
I drove north to Alamosa and back to FT. Garland to my camp site. As i was going to my tent after a shower i met a great couple and spent the evening talking. Gordon and Sherry are from New Mexico and have the same views on life as i do. They have a great rv and have some land that they plan on building on not to far from the camp site.
They gave me a tour of their land and we some some walking around. My knee was still a bit sore but it felt good to walk in nature. Spent my last night talking with my new friends and had great conversation.


I left the following morning and drove north on 285 through Salida and some small towns along the way. I finally ended up in Jefferson were my sister had taken my son and me to camp a couple of times before. I got the best camp site with a western view and amazing sunsets.