Halfway to Cabello Lake...

Monday morning I rose up pretty early as usual, made the bed, put a few things away and drove up to the main store to go to the restroom and to get a cup of coffee.  Once accomplished, I had plenty of fuel so I jumped back on the interstate and headed east.

Side Note… That night at the truck stop I realized that I was really beginning to adjust to this lifestyle…

There is an adjustment period when you make a big change in your life or lifestyle.  I knew going in that it would challenge me on many levels, but as it is with anything, you slowly learn and begin not to just cope, but to actually enjoy the changes.  Yes, I had thoughts early on, what the hell was I thinking, but if you don’t challenge yourself, move past your current comfortable boundaries, push your limits, you become stagnant and cease to evolve as a human.  You become a cog in the machine, turning round and round on the same spindle, doing the same thing over and over, day after day, while life passes you by…

Pretty soon you’re laying there on your death bed wondering what the hell happened to your life… 

This was my push, my drive, to explore the world and get back in touch with nature and nature’s rhythm, but most of all this was my journey into the deepest parts of my being.  I wanted to discover more about myself, uncover the things I had buried deep within, and believe me, something like this, an abrupt change in your normal way of life, brings many deep seated emotions and deeply held beliefs to the surface for examination.  You don’t have to give them attention/energy, and you can always just push them back down into the depths and ignore them as you have in the past, but for me it’s the perfect opportunity to turn about, to face them head to head, embrace them, and to deal with them.  And I’m sure there’s more to come…

The journey to Cabello Lake State Park in NM was largely uneventful.  I did take some very interesting impromptu shots from the driver’s side window while driving (ummm… I know…) of a beautiful landscape with a train meandering along the track at the foot of the mountains.  I was so anxious to see if I had captured anything worth sharing.  But something happened to the camera…  okay… truth is… what happened was… I forgot to remove the lens cap…  Moral of story, don’t snap and drive…

Oh, and the Google Maps App is really awesome, and I wouldn’t want to be without it, but you can’t trust what that lady says.  For instance…  I was at a red light after just pulling out of a gas station, I thought I was supposed to turn right, but she said turn left, so I did thinking she must be right.  Next she tells me to go about 2 miles and turn right.  I was a little suspicious but okay maybe it’s a shorter route I thought.  About a block after I turned right, she tells me to turn right again, and now I’m beginning to understand.  Sure enough, after another right turn there I sat on the opposite side of the street from the gas station at the red light and she’s telling me to turn left. 

I just wish when you turn the wrong way she would say “Hey!  Dude!  I’m sorry, I meant for you to turn left out of the gas station and then turn right at the light, must be a slow cell connection.  You turned the wrong way back there!  Do you want me to find a way to get you turned back around or can you handle that?”.  But no, she assumes you’re a complete and total moron and she patiently guides you around the block back to where you started… 

And one more thing about Google Maps.  When the Google Map lady told me I had arrived at my destination, Cabello State Park, I was totally at the other end of the lake from the entrance in the middle of nowhere.  Why do I trust her…

Anyway, when I finally arrived at Cabello Lake, I stopped at the visitor’s center and talked to the lady there.  She was very helpful and let me look around the campground before deciding if I would stay or not, but t didn’t take me long to make up my mind.  I found this primitive camping spot overlooking the lake with a decent cell signal and I knew that was going to be where I camped.  



I drove back to the visitor’s center, paid $16.00 for two nights then drove up to Truth or Consequences, yep that’s the name of the town, to upload some photos and update the blog at the library and to get a few things I needed before I setup camp.

Truth or Consequences is about 15 miles north of the lake and it’s an eclectic mix of…  well I don’t really know what it’s a mix of…  an interesting place for sure.  I did find an organic store and coffee shop but she only sold herbs, spices, and nutritional supplements.  I was so disappointed…

I wandered through town and found the local public library, but the lady told me that they didn’t allow the use of memory sticks, so I didn’t get to work on the blog.  I kept wandering through town but found virtually no grocery stores to speak of.  There were a couple of small markets but I reserved them as a last resort.  When I reached the far end of town there was a Wally World, so I stopped.  Interesting, all of the parking spaces were covered, they had the roofs topped with solar panels.  It was a small Walmart, the parking lot wasn’t huge, but I just thought that was interesting.  Amazingly enough, I found some of the things I needed there, the most important items, so I headed back to the lake.

The view from my camping spot was spectacular, no one around me much, right on the lake and so close I could hear the water lapping on the shore all night, it was very peaceful.  There was a bathroom up the road within walking distance, and I jumped a coyote that night making a trip up to get water for my solar shower.  I kept snapping shots of the scenery as it changed throughout the day and night.  A very nice place…

The only negative comment I have is that it is a campground, and from my experience always means that there will be a thriving fly population, but it’s not terribly bad, just a nuisance really.  They come and go, the heat of the day seems to draw them out, the cooler periods of the morning and night they are barely noticeable.  It’s just part of the experience…

Not sure where I am going next.  I want to stay in the higher elevations until cooler weather sets in then I may travel more towards the southern lower elevations.  There’s about a 5.4 degree change for every 1000 feet of elevation, depending upon weather conditions, but as a rule of thumb, that’s true.  So if it’s too hot, move higher up and choose your temperature range based on your elevation.  Right now I’m about 4500 feet elevation, the temperature is 79 and feels like 79.  The high will be 82 and the low 59.  The sun is crisp and clear and feels wonderful, I just bask in it, but you can step into a shady area especially in the mornings and late afternoon, and you might need to cover up because it feels so much cooler. 

I’ll be updating the blog as soon as I can…