Another Super Albuquerque Day

Got up yesterday morning and worked out in the hotel gym before breakfast, then shot the breeze with folks about what they did Tueday and what they were planning for the day.  Hardy and I left for the desert again a little before noon.  We went out the same general direction we had gone Tuesday with the same intent as before - just drive til we found somewhere to walk and then walk it.

Not long after we passed where we had been Tuesday we found ourselves driving up a long winding gravel road.  For a long time we found no particularly promising place to walk.  Several of the places out in the dry grass desert are fenced and marked "no trespassing" even though there is nothing around but desert.  We finally took another side road that looked even more remote than the one we were already on.  It was on this road that we made the most interesting discovery of the day - a Native American sweat lodge.

Hardy and the sweat lodge

A sweat lodge is a small structure built of willow or aspen that was covered in hides.  (Nowadays the cover is usually blankets or tarps.)  Basalt rocks are heated in a fire outside the lodge then put into the lodge where water is poured over them to steam up and fill the lodge.  It's a lot like a sauna.  It is used in traditional purifying ceremonies  and to just stumble on one was pretty cool.

After looking at the lodge we walked farther down the road until it finally opened into a broad field.  We checked out the field a little before heading back to the car.

In the trees overlooking a field

After we got back to the car we kept driving and looking for another good place to walk, but we got into a part of the desert where there just weren't any places we could explore without fear of getting shot by folks who might not want us walking around their land.  (And it was pretty obvious that they wouldn't want us out there.)

We literally drove to the end of every dirt road we could find, probably close to twenty miles just on dirt roads.  The bad thing was we had no idea where we were which was, not incidentally, also the good thing.

Finally after a couple of hours we came over a rise in the road and - voila - civilization.

We drove around in the flat part of the desert for another hour or so before heading back to town.  Then several of us went to dinner with Frank and Amelia again.  We also met up with Derrick Penny who some of you may remember from last season at Barter.  Derrick had to cut his stay at Barter short due to some serious health problems but I'm glad to say he's doing great now.  He's currently in a production of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later here in Albuquerque.

I mentioned Frank and Amelia's effort to found a new theater company here in Albuquerque.  It's called the Duke City Repertory Theatre and they have their first meet and greet a week from this Saturday.  You can get more info about the theater on Facebook. Go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Duke-City-Repertory-Theatre/130123938801  I'm sure they'd appreciate your support.

Well it's back to work today.  We have a show tonight at the University of New Mexico's Popejoy Theater then immediately head out for a long overnight drive to Waco, Texas.  Our stay in Albuquerque has been great but we've still got two-thirds of the tour yet to go.  Onward and upward!