I lingered in Chama, visiting the rail yard and chatting it up with some volunteers busy restoring one of the box cars, then walking around the small historic downtown area and talking with some locals at the coffee shop. There I met Jim, proprietor of the Narrow Gauge Gift Shop, who invited me to the shop and the small inn he and his partner built above it. Jim sent me off with a small box of chocolates – I promised to look him up when I return to the area next year (I’d like to take the moonlight cruise on the Cumbres & Toltec railroad).
About an hour south of Chama I stopped in the small town of Tierra Amarilla after I saw this cool-looking sign for the Three Ravens Coffee Shop. Hailing from Baltimore where Edgar Allen Poe made ravens famous, how could I resist stopping at a place with such a name? I couldn’t. The town had just a few buildings, including an impressive-looking court house, adjacent jail, and the coffee shop. While ordering my café breve I met Phil, Barista/Owner, who was lured from his home in California a decade ago by a woman artist from Tierra Amarilla. She’s now his wife. Phil also makes box drums, and while we were chatting he sat on one of them and give me a mini concert. We talked of bicycle touring and our common love of coffee, Phil’s epic ride of many years ago when he go this Bianchi road bike up to 62 miles on a downhill run, his relationship with his son, then I told Phil about the legacy of Francesco Illy (of Illy Café, from Trieste, Italy) and he told me of his friendship with Alfred Peets (of Peets Coffee in the San Francisco Bay Area). What a warm person and a warm place!
The day’s ride was gently rolling, then mostly downhill about 35 miles south of Chama. I stopped at the Echo Amphitheatre, a large sort of open cave where sounds naturally echo off the sandstone canyon walls. While in the parking lot I noticed my trailer tire was flat – no problem, I just throw a patch on it and continue on my way to Abiquiu…or Christ in the Desert Benedictine monastery…or Ghost Ranch…or the Army Corps of Engineers campsite at the Abiquiu Reservior (I figured I’d let the afternoon decide which path to take).
Anyway I set to patching the tire: I remove the tube, find the hole caused by a small metal staple, mark and rough up the spot…only to find my rubber cement tube all dried up. Um…Houston, we have a problem. Some folks from Espaňola offer to take me to Abiquiu, but they’re driving a small Kia sedan and there are five of them, and although I have no idea how I’m gonna find any rubber cement to fix the trailer tire in a small town, I’m sure all the shops in Abiquiu are closed by now (it’s 7:00pm). Plus there is no way me and Boris and Boris’ tail (the trailer) are gonna fit with all those folks in that small car…
There’s a nice campground right here at the Echo Amphitheatre, so I figure I’ll just camp here and figure out what to do tomorrow. There’s one campsite (#8) with a load of firewood next to the fire ring, so of course I take that one. Happily I find the bathroom has hot water (yay!) so I fill up my collapsible REI bucket and take a bath. There is nobody else in the campground so I act like I own the place, walking around naked to dry off after my bucket bath, gathering kindling in my birthday suit, unpacking my trailer bag, etc. Life is grand.
I have a little can of Libby’s Vienna Sausages for an appetizer while I cook up some Ramen noodles for supper. This is nasty food but it sure tastes good while you’re on the trail! It’s windy out so I keep the fire small. The moon is full and illuminates the walls of the Echo Amphitheatre and the Rio Chama River valley which is stretched out before me. The far off town’s lights glisten in the evening air and the moon reflects off the water of Abiquiu Reservoir.
Serendipity once again – this is a pretty sweet place to have a breakdown. I just hope the cougars (mountain lions) don’t get me tonight…
