Taos - landscape filled with mementos, a cross standing alone at edge of a hairpin turn,
a mangled car folded in a ditch, a bridge of questionable reliability thatched together with rope
and branches. all dirt and dust and relentless sunrays. intriguing, austere, sick of squinting.  

rachel has a unique way of mapmaking, as north is positioned at the bottom of the paper, and south on top.
this was quite a story, and so i asked her to make me a map to help orient me to all of the places she drove me.

fortuitous circumstances ever since stepping off that greyhound.

a simple question turned into a weekend spent in a mini school-bus turned into an ice cream truck, adopted on the spot by rachel
[creator of this map] and selling a kaleidoscope of ice-creamy goodies to tourists at royale gorge right on the rio grande (remember rio, duran duran!).  an entire day of making couples with bright orange fannie packs smile with relief at something cold, sweet, and saturated with food coloring, or at least something to placate their whining children. a lovely profession! all day long into the night, supplies at rachels house, blankets as the desert is colder than ice cream at night, pickles and sodas and her gigantic dog.  11pm gas station phone booth directions to somewhere between here and colorado, and then, first class "seating" at the party since the promoters were overjoyed to see our colorful bus pulling up. it seems as if everyone is happy to see someone who surrounds themselves with ice cream.

steady flow of people all night, rachel was happy to be making lots of money, and i was happy with my new home and profession. morning time 3 hours drive back, few winks of sleep and then errands, driven to a place called "the mesa" this very flat area where hippies rent out a quarter acre of land for dirt cheap and live there with whatever truck or shack that they find or build.

she needed to see a mechanic friend to tune up the bus. his plot of land was a sea of rusty junked cars and parts; he lived in a log cabin that he built and decorated with lots of skulls and bones and the slogan "i am NOT your daddy." he said it was to ward off all the lazy hippies who want to bum cigarettes or car parts from him.

when rachel dropped me off, i stared off at that gaudy yellow vehicle covered with flamboyant stickers and posters as it scooted down the street like an overweight yellow hippo in a clown costume, and felt sad to see it go. i see i'd become quite attached!