The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

You think maybe a town might come up with a better name than Truth or Consequences, which sounds like a daytime game show from the 1950’s, but no, we’re parked in Truth or Consequences. We rented a CCC camp adobe cabin on the Rio Grande where the boys of the ’30s had built a dam and lived in these cabins. The view was great, overlooking the reservoir and Elephant Butte Island, an oasis in the semi-arid wasteland of southern New Mexico. Trouble was,the cabin had septic issues, crap gas backed up from, oh, 1960 to the present and finally after dark we loaded the conestoga and vacated the building since nobody was around to maybe move us to a different hut.

The trip is taking a turn toward the Goofy, hopefully not the tragic. There are probably lessons to be learned here, but … we are not lesson learners. We are people OTHERS learn from , possibly YOU/ Sure, we could have planned more thoughtfully, we could have looked at the weather, we might have opted for Hawaii, any number of alternatives, but not … we decided to roll the dice, let Lady Luck dictate our chances.

It’s only Day 4, not even half way through this Odyssey. What, us worry? Tomorrow we either haul down the Rio Grande to Big Bend, Texas or we circle back north up through a mountain range and even colder temps than here (which is at 20 degrees shortly after dark). Taos will be 1 degree tonight and Hawaii will be 75 degrees. Back on the South End it’s 18 degrees.

So okay, Hawaii wins. Forget Hawaii!!! We’re here and we can’t drive to Hilo, forget it! We’re headed to Las Cruces where Ansell Adams photographed the full moon rising over that ghostly cemetery. Right now the moon is quartered. But the stars are endless. Maybe we should travel at night.

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