Sunday, May 26, 2013

Going to Los Alamos and the Jemez trail runs

We had quite an outing in the RV. This little Lance is just 14 feet long and weighs 2100 pouncs empty. The biggest thing we can pull with the Taco.

Our first trip was destined for greatness. After struggling mightily, we managed to get the trailer hooked up to the Tacoma and drove it over to our house, where there is no parking, and set it all up,blocking our neighbors' driveways for only a little while. After a great deal of organizing and figuring, we got it all set to go and headed to Los Alamos. Both dogs were in the back seat of the truck. At least initially.

It's a two hour drive to Los Alamos. Oops, make that three hours when towing the trailer. And going into a dead end lot. Which meant I had to back out...oh hell, call it four hours. Meanwhile, in the back seat, Sadie is getting irritated with Scout because Scout keeps stepping on her.

Finally we made it to Los Alamos and headed to Camp May. Our plan was to boon dock somewhere along the road, but after driving up the road, we realized that the "dispersed camping" we'd read about was really just some washed out roads.

So we headed UP the Camp May road. Straight up!  Holy shit, it's a narrow, winding road going straight up. We made it, in first gear, and found a site. Definitely have to back in and the drive was angled the wrong way. OK, no problem. Problem. Problem, problem, problem. I'm driving and Mary Ann is giving me directions....turn your wheel the other way. No, the OTHER way! Come on back, STOP! Pull forward. The other way! Two hours later (OK, I'm exaggerating. It was only 90 minutes), we're almost (so close) to being in the spot. But the damn truck has over heated. It's smoking and smells really bad. 

Now, perhaps I should say that this is a beautiful area, above 10,000 feet. Big aspens, ponderosa pines, and hummingbirds. Not many people. No water, no electricity, no TV. Beautiful. But it is NOT an RV park.


There was a much nicer site just across from the one I was trying to get into, but there was a truck in it. As we're sitting there waiting for our truck to cool down, a man comes hiking back to the truck in the "nice spot."  He says, "this site is nicer and I'm leaving." I say, "Great! Can you back this trailer into that spot for me?" He says sure. He pulls forward, he backs up and it is in the spot. He gets out and I say, "Will you marry me?" He says he just got married two weeks ago. There's one lucky woman out there!!


So, we set up, had dinner, and it was time for bed. The table converts to a bed. You just flip the table, pull down the cushions and arrange them so that....wait a minute...how did they do that? They don't fit this way or that way or this way or that way...are you kidding me? I check the manual. It says, "Arrange the cushions to make a bed." I stepped on a dog. She yelped and I stepped on the other dog. I put the dogs in the truck. 


Thirty minutes later, we have a bed, with two cushions that don
't seem to fit anywhere. I put the dogs back in the trailer, and we go to sleep. Within 30 minutes, Sadie is snuggled up next to me. Within an hour, so is Scout. I am wedged between two Rhodies and cannot possibly move. It is a long night. I definitely did not get cold.


It's morning. The sun is warm, the air is cool, the birds are singing. We let the dogs out (no one is there) and they play chase. We have our coffee and our oatmeal. Damn, this is great. Wait a minute, where did that man come from? What? You say this park is closed and we have to leave?  We finish our breakfast and do the dishes. We hook up the trailer and head back to the road. 

But we can't get out. They have closed the campground road by putting big boulders in the middle. Are you kidding me???? I take off walking and find the man who put the boulders there. He takes his big machine and moves them for us. Have a good weekend, he says, in all sincerity.
We head down the road to find the other campground. 


I pull into a promising road. Nope, no place to park a trailer. And then I realize that I will have to turn around by backing up. An hour later, we're on our way again. We find a real campground and a pull-through spot. Hallelujah!!!! We're down around 7000 feet now and it is hot. We sit in the shade with the dogs, who must be on leash at all times. I loop a long tie-out chain around a tree and attach one end to each dog. They get tangled, I free them, they get tangled, I free them, they get tangled....

We eat and get ready for bed. This time, we put the dogs in the truck for the night. At 3:15 am, my alarm goes off. Time to get some coffee, some oatmeal and get ready for the race. It's a 5 am start for a 50 mile race. I slather sunscreen (do you ever use the word "slather" for anything other than sunscreen?) all over me. I then slather vaseline (hmmm, I guess you can slather other things) all over me, especially my feet. I grab my very special toe socks. I love my toe socks. They keep my toes from rubbing each other and getting blisters. They are good! But alas, there's a hole in my toe sock!!!! Oh crap. I do have another pair of socks but they are not toe socks and they are not good socks. 


The race starts and we run past a corral of horses. It is dark and we're all wearing headlamps. The horses kick and buck and neigh. They must think the demons are out. The sun comes up and  it immediately begins to heat up, but we go up to 10,000 feet and it's nice and cool. I see columbines, shooting stars (flowers), wild iris, blue birds and hummingbirds.


The toes on my right foot start to hurt. The toes on my left foot start to hurt. The bottom of my right foot starts to hurt. I've only gone 15 miles. That means 35 more to go. I take off my shoes and rearrange my not-good socks. At about 20 miles, there's an aid station. I take off my shoes and socks and slather vaseline on my feet. That's better. At about 25 miles, my feet hurt with every step. At 37 miles, I quit the race.




We return to camp. I am filthy!! Amazingly filthy. I will take a shower in our little trailer!! I open it up and hear beep.....beep....beep....beep. It's the smoke detector. The battery is dead. We do not have another battery. I can't stand the beep. We take the battery out. Beep....beep....beep.
OK, let's just go home, We hook up the truck to the trailer. This should be fairly easy but for some reason, things just keep going wrong. An hour later, we're on the road. We arrive home at 11:30 pm. The smoke detector has quit beeping. 


My socks are too dirty to put in the washer with other clothes. I put them and my gaiters in a tub. I rinse them, throw out the dirty water and refill the tub. They are still too dirty. Maybe I should just toss them?


Monday, May 13, 2013

Another good race experience. 25 miles at Collegiate Peaks. Maybe those calf compression thingies do work!

While standing around inside, waiting for the race start, I noticed an older man (60's? 70's?). Now, if Mary Ann had been with me, she would have raised a ruckus because he had on....um, how do I say this...uh, "old school" running shorts. Remember about 10 years ago the fashion was the short shorts? He kept his. He kept his in spite of the fact that the elastic in the liner had obviously given way to gravity. And that was not the only elasticity that was stretched beyond capacity. In other words, I wish I hadn't looked. I couldn't get that picture out of my head. I kept thinking, "If only I had seen him OUTSIDE, where the temperature was in the 20's." Then maybe the old cremaster muscle could have done its trick.