May 7, 3:37 am – Madrid, New Mexico
I am a coward when it comes to comfort. If there is any hint of discomfort in a prospective endeavor, I am as terrified as if my life would be in danger.
I am a lily-livered, yellow-bellied coward
The discomfort I am facing is heat. I got a month-late start on the current adventure due to finances, and that means I am about to plow into some majorly uncomfortable temperatures — upper 80s here in Madrid, upper 90s and low 100s in Roswell, my next stop, and upper 90s in the next place, Austin, TX.
According to my weather app, things won’t get comfortable again until I reach Minnesota — but it will be June by the time I get there and hot weather will be right behind me. Not to mention mosquitoes and ticks. (Did I mention I have mosquito PTSD from growing up in Minnesota?)
It makes me want to run back to Taos, where the high altitude keeps things cool and comfortable, and just cancel this whole “epic journey” thing.
Don’t worry, I won’t
I’ll just keep reminding myself that as long as the van AC works, all I have to do is keep driving during the day and take friends up on their offers of air-conditioned guest rooms at night. I am not exactly traveling in a covered wagon, after all.
But I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to stop and visit good friends for as long as I’d like. I have a standing offer of free camping in the gorgeous Texas hill country for as long as I want, and I do want. Then, I was hoping to meander slowly north, stopping in beautiful places for days or even weeks to write and crochet, but this next part of the trip will have to go much more quickly.
So I’m leaving here in the morning to backtrack for a day to cooler Santa Fe, where I need to get my starter checked. I’ve had to call AAA twice in the past few days, thinking the battery was dead but it wasn’t. Apparently it’s the starter. Which means another hit to my travel budget.
Will I even have enough $ for gas to get to cooler weather? Probably not.
Taos beckons seductively
It’s always something, isn’t it? But that’s why they call it an adventure.
UPDATE May 9, 2018: I am back in Taos, and glad of it. After a good friend strongly advised me to return here, I realized it was foolish to go on until early June, when I will have another Social Security check to fund a fast drive through hot weather and then a quick run for northern climes.
In other news, the starter is fine. 🙂
