The Bi-Polar Snowbird, Part Duo!

But, that is for those of you with entirely no imagination what-so-ever. For the rest of you, I have a few things to tell you that you just will absolutely not believe. I mean some very cool stuff. Of course, I don't expect everyone to believe me, but that's allright. I am a writer, first and foremost, and a photographer if the rumors I have heard are true, (but that's another Hub!) so technically, it is MY job to make you fall in love with this article. So, how am I doing so far?

When I last talked to you, I was complaining about the snow and the cold, and explaining just how much I and my significant other wanted to escape it's grip. I mean, just how bad do you figure it is when the hardy guys and gals of Minnesota can't take their annual Polar Plunge because there is a minus 40 degree wind chill, (Incidently, that would be a Bi-Polar Plunge if we were to participate.) or drive their snowmobiles because it is too cold for the fuel to flow? You have to admit, that is alot to put up with. After all, I am an Arizona boy.

I believe it is totally unfair to ask anyone to endure that kind of weather! That is just my opinion, and you do know what they say about opinions, don't you? Opinions are like, well, um, the part of the body you sit on. Except you don't actually sit on it, though it is the general area. (C'mon, don't make me get technical here, I am trying to keep it clean for all the kiddies who are Web Surfing without their parents permission who may have stumbled upon {no pun intended} this.) Anyway, before I get lost in the sentence, everyone has one and they usually stink!

So, that said, I and my afore mentioned significant other continue our quest for the sun. Oh yah, and for warmth. Sweet, wonderful, soothing, can't get enough of it, WARMTH! Not the Hot Pepper kind of warmth, but the kind that just embraces you and makes you want to strip off the twelve layers of clothes you are wearing to bask in it's glory! Seriously! I'm not wearing all these clothes because I have no room in our closets or dressers! I looked like the Michelin Man on steroids when I left Minnesota a few days ago. (No I am not a comedian now that you ask. I have done some stand up however! Really! In fact I even had one guy pee himself, but I"m not entirely sure it wasn't the alcohol he had consumed doing the talking at the time. Anyway, I gave it up. Not that I was unfunny or anything, but I was so nervous I almost shattered both knee caps because my legs were shaking so bad! But again, that's another Hub!)

Have I totally lost you yet? Go back and start all over again. I'll wait. (Meanwhile, I will try to figure out what I was talking about.) Oh yah! I was going to tell you about some cool stuff we have seen.

Well, first of all, you know that snow stuff I mentioned earlier, in passing? As of the evening of the 29th, the only snow we saw was on the tops of the distant mountains. That alone is worth a couple of Yippies in itself.

Oh! Sorry. I'll keep you in suspense no longer! We left Colorado Springs on a very sunny, but chilly day, and continued south. Our sights were set on Las Cruces, New Mexico. We were all set to make the dash in one fell swoop. But, we only made it as far as Taos. It was no fault of ours that we got way laid there. (Actually it was no one elses fault either that we only got that far, but it just sounded good to start the paragraph that way.) To tell you the truth, we were captivated by the area. There are a bunch of people who are starting a very cool developement in the Taos area. The homes they are building in the middle of the high dessert sorrounding the Taos area are called Earth Ships. The materials they are using are all recycled. Large tires are packed with earth and then stacked like building blocks with bottles and aluminum cans stuffed in between to fill the holes, and the entire thing is then covered with adobe. (Mud made of straw and clay.) The result is, extremely thick walls that are very, very sound and weather proof, not to mention thick as the dickens. These homes are also partially dug into the earth. The average temperature stays at a cozy 65 to 70 degrees throughout the seasons no matter what the outside temp is! Pretty cool, huh?

Not to mention the fact that these homes are totally green. Most have what they refer to as living roofs! Yup! It's true! These folks put dirt on their roofs and plant stuff on them! The idea is to catch the little bit of moisture that does come from the sky and harvest it. Under the dirt, there is a network of piping which collect all the moisture the plants don't use and funnel it into a cistern buried deep in the ground for storage. The moisture is naturally filtered through the soil and is as fresh as a mountain stream as it enters the cistern where it is stored for use as drinking water for the family who lives there. Not only that, the water which is used for laundry, or dishwashing is also recycled, and refered to as grey water. It too is recycled. Indoor green houses and planters all through the interior of the home use the grey water, and in turn filter out the bad stuff and the water goes, (You guessed it!) back to the cistern all fresh and filtered to be used once again! Now if that isn't just the coolest thing, I don't know what is!

But, it dosen't just stop there. Nope! These people are just amazing! They don't rely on the electric companies either! Nope! They even make their own electricity! They use solar power and wind energy to power up their homes! No kidding! These homes are completely self sufficient! (I told you I had some cool stuff to tell you!)

Not only all that, the motel we stayed in, the Sun God Lodge in Taos has a rather infamous room. Room 112, which not long ago went through a remodel, was used and is featured in a popular movie. Part of the movie, Twins, with Arnold Schwarzenager and Danny Devitto was shot there. For those who might try to repeat our steps will find a very comfortable, very clean and very cozy place to stay, with extremely warm and kind managers running the whole shabangs! I give them five stars on the Akeejaho rating scale, but again, that is just my opinion. (Please refer to paragraph three for a refresher on opinions!)

However, no matter how fascinating all this is, the night we spent there was cold and there was, I shiver just talking about it, snow on the ground and only 7 degrees outside! Yuck! So, we did the only civilized thing we could. We left. (7 degrees, are you serious? What else could we do?)

Now, along the way, we had a most generous offer from a fellow Hubber. (Thank you so very much Netters!) She wanted us to head toward Alamagordo, New Mexico. Unfortunately, we already had made the decision to head westward. We made our way to Las Cruces and made a right toward Arizona. Surely we would find some warmth there!

We ended up in Benson, Arizona. I lived there back after I graduated from high school, and before I entered the military. Sadly, that was 34 years ago. You know what? I didn't recognize a thing! (Who'dathunk?) Not to be a poor sport, we found a National Park and pitched our tent. In fact, there are some pictures to follow that show the stark but beautiful area we were sorrounded by. However, what they don't show is that at night, following the 65 degree day, it dropped to 32. Ever sleep in a tent, in thirty two degree weather? It's not pretty. We had flannel sheets on the air mattress, and five blankets on top of us, sweat suits, hats and mittens and a scarf on. Needless to say, it was a bit chilly! Not being complainers, we just grinned and bore it, and got the hell out of there the very next morning.

So, here is the deal. We left Minnesota and headed toward the southwest on our sun quest. Benson put us nearly on the Mexican border, and we were still freezing the back of our fronts off! Mother Nature was being less than cooperative!

So, off we went. Myself doing the driving, and my significant other white knuckling it through the mountains. (By the way Mr. Truckdriver who nearly ran us off the highway, just because you have your blinker on dosen't mean you can automatically pull into the passing lane without looking! You never know when there is a vehicle about half way passed you.  I should find you and charge you for the laundering of a couple pairs of rather stinky jeans!)

For those of you who have never traveled west of the Mississippi, I have to tell you, there is an absolutely different beauty to the lands we often refer to as the west. The word desert is a totally misleading one that brings to mind areas of land that are empty and useless and devoid of life. For those of you who have been out there, you know how untrue that is. The desert is beautiful. The ground supports hundreds, if not thousands of plants, animals and birds. Just because they choose not to show themselves twenty four hours a day does not mean they are not there. (Case in point, the coyotes who howled all night in the National Forest we stayed in outside of Benson. We didn't see them, but we sure heard them! At least I think they were Coyotes, though in retrospect, perhaps it was the young couple a few tents down from us.)

Anyway, without haste, we loaded up and were out of there the next morning. Of course by the time we got on the road, it was 65, but just the thought of the prior evening was enough to keep us on track! We jumped on good old I-10 and headed toward points farther west which showed promise of snowless terrain and warmer temperatures. (I mean, there just has to be someplace where a couple of snowbirds can find a place to roost!)

So, onward and westward, kind of. Well, more like west and north, toward Tucson and Pheonix. Okay, I cheated. I really hate driving through pheonix, so we made our way to Gila Bend. (Thats pronounced Hila, not Gila. I just wanted to tell you that so if you are ever out here you can say it right and not get laughed at. See how nice I can be?) Anyway, we caught a small road straight north and made a left at Buckeye, Arizona which brought us to:

Wait for it:

I can hardly believe it myself! But here we are. The rock and gemstone  capital of the west! Quartzite, Arizona.

What a place this is. A town that grows from 500 to 5,000 during the winter. A gathering of rock hounds from all over the world. (Okay, from North America anyway.) But the rocks here are from all over the world, and there are tons of antiques too. (And I am not referring to all the retirees either!)

So, I guess that is where I will leave you all hanging. I mean I can't write about this place untill I have explored it, now can I? No! That would be terrible journalism! Worse than usuall!

Don't panic! I will write more. You just have to be patient. (Besides, it isn't real easy to find Wi-Fi in the middle of the dessert, and to tell you the truth, the last cactus I plugged into didn't give me much electricity to charge the Lap Top. And besides, I still have the entire return trip to document. Oh yes my patient and beloved readers, there is much more to come! (Unless we end up in the belly of some ravenous Coyote!)

Till next time, Happy Bipolaring from the south west! Right now I have to go and get this Scorpion out of my pants!