Ketchup

     See how ketchup is a summer condiment, and I also have to play catch-up since it has been so long since my last post?  Well, I've been pretty busy, so I think my lack of attention to this blog is justified.  The trip out to New Mexico was just the beginning of the adventure I have been looking for.  

     As I entered the Portland airport terminal I hefted my brand new backpack onto my shoulder and felt a snap.  Yes, my maiden voyage of the backpack quickly turned awry as the shoulder strap broke off.  Quickly swallowing my frustration, I prepared to head to my gate.  My flight path was to take me from Portland, ME, to Washington, then to Indianapolis, then finally to Denver.  Why I bought a ticket with so many stops is beyond me.  Due to thunderstorms on the East coast, I was delayed in Portland for several hours, thus throwing off my connections.  I made it all the way to Indianapolis (my first time there), where I realized that it is a smaller city than I had originally thought.  I was stuck.  

     After a couple tears of frustration, I picked up my backpack by the remaining strap and felt another snap.  There went the other shoulder strap.  I spoke to the women in the USAirways booth (a couple of the very few employees remaining in the building at such a late hour), and they told me matter-of-factly that I should have tried to re-rout myself in Washington.  A manager came to see me, and was able to put me up in a nearby hotel.  Thank goodness.  She booked me on an early morning flight to Denver, and gave me vouchers for dinner and breakfast.  Too bad all the restaurants were closed at such a late hour.  I went to bed on an empty stomach, hoping I would awake to the early morning alarm.

   The early morning wake-up went without a hitch, and I was quickly in Denver.  Diane arrived to pick me up, and told me that the car she borrowed from her mom had just been serviced and was ready to rock and roll.  We hopped in and headed to her house to load the car up in order to leave by 11am.  As we pulled away from the airport we heard some loud belt sounds from under the hood.  We pulled off to check on it, and Diane quickly contacted Sears, who had done the work the day before.  They didn't give her the answers she wanted, so she asked to speak to a manager.  They informed Diane that a manager would be available on Wednesday.  This was Sunday.  Diane took the car out to Brighton to her ex-husband to take a look at.  The air conditioner was broken, and it was discovered that nothing under the hood had been re-bolted after the work was done.  A fancy, LED flashlight was also discovered floating around under the hood.  Diane's ex-husband, Abdul, re-bolted one item, and we took off for Sears.  When we pulled into Sears no apologies were forthcoming, rather the young men there were happy to see their flashlight again.  After they re-attached everything we drove away with Diane feeling much more comfortable behind the wheel.

     We finally made it to Diane's house, where we packed up everything in order to get out of town by 3:30.  Four and 1/2 hours late, but all was well because we were on our way to Santa Fe at last.  The girls who went with us, Anne and Kristen, were very nice and we all got on quite well.  We had the windows rolled down since the air conditioner was broken, and the music was up loud as we blasted south.  When we reached Colorado City, 2.5 hours from Denver, we pulled off the highway for gas.  We noticed the hind end of the car giving off a bit of smoke, and when we sidled up to the pump there was smoke pouring out from under the hood.  "Not a good sign," we thought to ourselves.  Diane quickly called Abdul to ask about this problem.  I'm not quite sure what Abdul said, but Diane approached the car and removed the radiator cap.  Since the car was still very hot there was suddenly steaming antifreeze shooting out from under the hood, leaving an EPA nightmare underneath the beast. 

     Anne held a AAA card, so she called a tow truck, while Kristen called some family members who, coincidentally, lived nearby.  After nearly 3 hours' time, the arrival of Kristen's uncle and the tow truck driver, and the hypothesis that the thermostat was the source of our problem, we decided to head back to Denver.  We would have access to Anne's mother's car and we would leave first thing the following morning to try again for the Ghost Ranch.  

     Our 6.5 hour drive to Abiquiu, NM on the following morning was without much drama.  We pulled into the Ghost Ranch at 1:30 in the afternoon. After setting up camp we went out for groceries with our orientation packets in hand to peruse during the drive to the "grocery store."  We noticed in our info packets that one of the instructors for the week would be none other than David Bowie, and as the evening's orientation and safety meeting drew closer we could feel ourselves becoming more and more excited.  The meeting particulars seemed to drag by as we waited to be introduced to the instructors.  We were mildly let down when we learned that our David Bowie was not THE David Bowie, but rather a very serious-looking African-American man.  

     The week flew by as we learned our new art arena.  Our days were very routined since we had to be up and out of the campsite for the day fairly early.  We were the only ones on the ranch for the week who did not get dining hall food, our original thought being that if we were camping we could make food at our campsite.  This didn't work out so smoothly since we couldn't seem to acquire any cooking fuel.  Luckily, the building where our art class took place was equipped with a full kitchen, so each day we brought our groceries and dishes to the arts building to cook (about 1 mile walk).  Our days were filled with visits to Santa Fe, hikes, "grocery store" runs, and morning and evening classes.  We produced a great deal of work, and were often hard at work during our afternoons off.  The art show on Saturday was an excellent opportunity to feel like a genuine artist as we all showed off our products.  We attended the gospel music concert on Saturday night, and enjoyed the high energy there.  (The ranch is owned by the Presbyterian Church, so many of the classes are religious.)  

     On Sunday we arose leisurely, and were off again, heading back to Denver.  In Denver we created a slideshow of our adventure, and Diane and I were able to spend a few last moments enjoying each other's company before heading back east.  The biggest adventure on the return trip was when Diane backed her mother's car into an audi parked behind her.  Everything else went off with no problems, and Spencer even remembered to pick me up at the airport:)  All's well that ends well, and there are plenty more adventures to come.