the view from my seat

Boulder, CO - Albuquerque NM
What an amazing day today was.  It started out with a perfect breakfast with the whole DeBergh crew in Boulder- around 1030am at the same place that Germain and I had breakfast with Marcus last year when we stopped in for a day on our way out west in June.

It was sad to say farewell to them all but I know Ill see them all again soon so I gave hugs and hit the road by 11am.
A few fun random shots I took at the beginning of the trip... Charlie is going to love this first one- a trailer that sells pirate ships... interesting.  And good ol' J.C. he seems to be present all over the back country spots, people love posting signs about him everywhere.

Upon departing boulder, I was a bit uncertain about my first planned stop- a place called Bishops Castle that I mentioned the last time I wrote.  I didn't know much about it but saw it on TV a few years back and figured it could be interesting to see, so I plugged it into the GPS and off I went.  It was a detour off the main highway (RT 25S) that ate up about an hour of time with back roads, but the San Isabel National Forest was very tranquil and I can't say for sure why, but I connected with this area in the type of way that just makes you smile while you are driving through-

and once I arrived at the castle, my smile simply transitioned into much bigger smile... I knew it was going to be a good day the second I stepped foot in the muddy driveway of the castle... The man who has dedicated the past 40 years of his life to building this place must be completely nutz- but I loved it- I felt like I was on a real life goonie adventure- especially because when I arrived, with the exception of one girl, I was the ONLY person on the property.  After wandering around in silence for a while I ran into her and we chatted a bit about the place and she gave me some great into to get me started exploring-  I climbed everything that you could possibly climb, though it seemed a bit unsafe at times, I put my trust in this crazy man and just absorbed every bit of it with a smile on my face.

I climbed to the very top of that tower on the left... that is where the super high areal shots were taken from.  what a rush.

This little shack is also on the property- the owner, who still works on the place, uses this as a second home/ workshop and a gift shop during the summer.  Apparently he has a day job and lives about 45 minutes away, but he is often here on weekends to greet visitors... too bad I missed him.

There used to be a stove hooked up in that big main space, and the exhaust was routed up through the dragons mouth- awesome.

Now that you've seen some of these images, how cool is this place?  The platforms up top were literally swaying when I was on them, but for some reason I just knew Id be safe.  You might be wondering if any building code was utilized while building this... Nope.  Railings are too low- structure is insufficient in some places, welds are broken in some areas- and as a result, this castle can never actually be lived it, it is merely a piece of artwork, but it is a piece of artwork that is free to the public and is a place I highly recommend checking out if you are ever driving south on 25 through Colorado.

Then I was back on the road, after almost 2 hours of hanging out at this place and meeting some really nice people, en route to my second point of interest- hot springs in Las Vegas, New Mexico (which is NOTHING at all like Las Vegas, Nevada).  On my way to the hot springs, I got some interesting photos- check it out:

I presume this trailer occupant must be some sort of musician?

My 2007 VW factory GPS takes me on dirt roads- does yours?

This guy was starring me down so I had to stop in and take a quick picture of him and his friends.

Once I got a bit further down this road, a man and woman in a small pickup truck stopped me by flagging their hands out the windows.  They told me not to go left at the end of the road because they had just been through a hail storm that would crack a windshield!  Based on how dark the skies were ahead, I believed them- so I thanked them and made sure to turn right (thankfully, that was the direction I needed to head anyway- but look at that sky... I had to stop for at least a couple pictures- risking that storm catching up with me...

And then it was safely behind me.

And into New Mexico I went.

It was just an amazing sky kind of day, but sadly, there wasnt much else to see in New Mexico... though I have a feeling that there is a nice view out my window right now- but arriving in dark leaves it a mystery until tomorrow morning.

 I didnt arrive at the hot springs until 815 pm- in the dark.   I was a bit nervous in general about being here, but as Eric DeBergh told me when he could sense that I was apprehensive about doing something like this one my own, "Dennis, you just have to do it" which I did- and it turns out sitting in 108 degree water after a day on the road was JUST what I needed!
 -I am finding that the more that I push my comfort zone on this trip, the more satisfied I am at the end of the day.  Traveling alone can be a bit unnerving at times, especially when you want to do something like going to a hot spring... I had no idea what to expect, but I put my trust in myself, drove to this middle of nowhere location in a strange little town, and I went in.

This was a picture from my car of the springs- its hard to see because it was dark and I just rushed to get a quick picture without my tripod, but down by the orange lights there are big holes in the ground that you just, well, jump into.  There are about 5-6 of them and they are all about 4 or 5 feet deep and vary in temperature from around 100 to 110.  I was in one that was about 108 (according to a guy who comes here often)

10 minutes later, in wet shorts, I got back in the car and drove the last 2.5 hours to the lovely Sandia Peak Inn in Albuquerque, NM, which seems to be a really nice place thus far.  Funny story- the proprietor of this fine establishment is a nice indian lady and when I got here at 1015 this evening the doors were all locked so I had to ring a doorbell- and she came out in her pajama's to check me in- but she was very nice and welcoming, so I feel good about being here.

Well, thats it.  Bed time.  Thanks for following.
Tomorrow's itinerary is still uncertain, but one thing is for sure- West is the direction Ill be heading.