Albuquerque; Heading West; Churchrock; Boxed In; A Long Distance Cyclist; Ty and Lady Gaga? An OMG Moment

On Tuesday, we arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for our next tour event. We set up camp at Kirtland Air Force Base, only 5 miles south of Unity of Albuquerque. It was about 93F, very hot in the scorching sun, when My Lovely Bride suggested we get in a run before her presentation. As she jogged off, I wussed out, using the excuse that, "Sweetheart, I have too much to do right now. I'll run later when the sun goes down." I actually did have to load all the books, DVDs, audio visual equipment, screen, etc., that she needed for her talk, so it wasn't a totally lame excuse. Really.


Rev. Jude and Rev. Gordon showed us wonderfully warm hospitality at their Unity Church on Candelaria St., and we had a great turnout of very enthusiastic folks, many of whom were not even members at that particular church.








After her talk, there were many people lined up for book signings. I have to relate one incident that struck me as particularly significant. A woman was waiting to have her copy of Messages of Hope signed. Suzanne was just handing the book to her when she did a double-take, and said, "You've had a loss; it's a man." The woman appeared quite startled, and said, "Yes, I have." Suzanne then asked the woman to email her, and they spoke the next day. Suzanne has been a medium for several years now, and I have watched her throughout the process, but I continue to be amazed at her attunement to higher consciousness and her compassion to those who have lost loved ones...

The next morning we got underway, heading west yet again. I-40 took us across high desert for an overnight stop in Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Sin City, Nevada), and on to Red Rock Park in Churchrock, NM. The wind was blowing a gale, and sand was pelting The Coach so hard I was worried about the paint being blasted off... nevertheless, when My Lovely Bride said she was exhausted from the night before, and needed a nap before dinner. I took the opportunity to go for a hike, and discovered why Churchrock has that name....








The trail up toward the peak had several arms, two of which I followed into box canyons with steep walls at the end. These were used by Navajo and Zuni Indians as killing places for game like deer and elk, and by ranchers later on as convenient natural corrals. 










The trails got progressively more and more narrow, until I was climbing over rocks and wondering if a cougar was waiting around the next bend for an unsuspecting desert sheep or solo hiker. (This is where the husband sends his wife ahead to recon...)

The red sandstone here is about 200 million years old, and was laid down in the age of the dinosaurs. At sunset and sunrise, the rock is a beautiful shade of pink, and takes your breath away. The stables at lower right are used for rodeos held near the campground.

When I was walking Rudy and Gretchen Thursday morning, I met Stefan, a bicyclist from the eastern sector of Berlin, Germany, who is taking six months to travel across the USA. A former physics and mathematics teacher, he is enjoying his trip, saying that everyone he has met has been very friendly. He started in Los Angeles 11 weeks ago, and pedaled up to Yosemite and across Death Valley into Arizona and New Mexico. (Hey, if he made it safely through L.A. traffic, he's golden!)








I had a very amusing email from our good friend and spiritual artist Barry Mack in Portland, Oregon. He had noted that my Google listing showed over one million views, and said that I must be a rock star like Lady Gaga. If he only knew how many nights I stayed up until 0300, hitting refresh on the blog hundreds and hundreds of times to get my numbers up like the girl at left...    ;-)








Finally, Suzanne had a real OMG Moment today as we were crossing Interstate 40, almost giving Your Faithful Correspondent a heart attack. Click here for more details.