Places Along the Way

My destination was the Aztec Ruins National Monument northwest of Taos near the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona; to far to go in one day, given my normal (got to fix this) late start.

Not allowing extra travel time is not wise thing, especially given the areas wide open spaces between towns and the infrequent availability of gas.  It was a pretty safe bet that there would a campground at the Aztec ruins or in the city of Aztec, but in between - Who knows?

Therefore, it seemed best to just "wing it" and hope to a find a campground somewhere along the way; if worse came to worse, as one goodhearted passerby put it, "Your in the country - you can sleep anywhere!"

Going north out of Taos on highway 64 (the route of choice to take me within a few miles of the Aztec Ruins National Monument), I was thinking that the scenery, was nothing special for New Mexico, when seemingly out of nowhere there was this magnificent gorge - the Grand Canyon Gorge of New Mexico.  This gorge, at the bottom of which flows the Rio Grande, was a total unexpected surprise.  My map showed the Rio Grande crossing highway 64, but made no mention of the gorge itself and it's spectacular!

After taking numerous photographs I got back on my Harley and traveled less than a mile before coming to an unusual looking set of buildings with a sign in front reading, "Earthship Biotecture & Biodiesel - Visitors Center."  My first thought was, "Why in the H---, would anyone build here - in the middle of No Where!"  It was a question for which I never got a good answer; perhaps it was the water - but at the bottom of a 500 foot gorge?

Yet another surprise, twice in one day, first the Grand Canyon Gorge and then Earthship.

Unfortunately, once again, I was too late.  The sign on the door read "Tours - $5 per person, (Hours 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM)".  It was 4:40 PM!

Having heard or read about Earthship somewhere in my past, and having been a "pseudo" builder and building trade's teacher, I really wanted explore the workings of Earthship; but, it was not to be.

Added to that, was the fact, that Earthship was miles from anywhere and I knew that returning on another day was, also, not an option.

Even so, there was no harm in walking around the house and taking photographs.

The design is kind of exotic or other worldly.  Lacking the square corners of a typical house, it appears (as it no doubt was) to have been molded and shaped my hand, as if, one was playing with modeling clay.
Too my surprise, architecturally, it seemed to display a Moorish influence.

An added surprise was that (given their eco-friendly environmental consciousness) the place seemed to be inexcusably trashy; but then - don't look in my garage!

I knew that the concept of Earthship was to use of
waste materials such as bottles and tires as "fill material," which is combined with inexpensive straw and compacted mother earth, as the basic building materials.  

While walking around the outside, other visitors pulled up to site only to be equally dismayed at having missed an opportunity to take the tour of the inside.  One of the assumed visitors was an attractive "40-ish" lady, who introduced herself as Christine and explained that she was from Hawaii and had come to "Earthship" to learn about its inner workings; especially (not surprisingly given her Hawaii origin) with regard to Earthships water recycling system.

Christine further explained, to my surprise, that there were approximately 40 Earthship structures in the surrounding area (I later discovered that they have been built in many parts of the world).  They are all "nearly" totally self-sufficient, producing there own energy and being so well insulated that they were comfortable all year around.

Unfortunately, she had only been there for two days; and was hence, as she explained, "not an authority on Earthship.

Without any stops (an unlikely event) the nearest town along highway 64 was Chama; at least a two hour drive and by that time gas would be an issue - there was no time for further delays!