Our day in Taos was unfortunately a bit uneventful. We were hoping to visit Taos Pueblo, an ancient pueblo that is home to one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. Unfortunately, every year Taos Pueblo is closed from February to April, so we were one week too early to visit. We didn’t find out until we drove in, so we were disappointed as we could see the incredible adobe buildings in front of us that we’d have loved to explore.
Because we don’t lock in our itinerary until pretty much the last minute (often the day before or the day of) as we don’t know how long we’ll stay in one place, the downside of this is that we can miss out on some activities. Another place we were hoping to visit was the Couse-Sharp Historic Site, which focuses on the art and scenery of the American Southwest. To visit, you need to book a docent tour in advance, which takes about 2 hours. While the online hours listed are 1-5pm, if there isn’t a docent tour happening, then you can’t go in (even if you don’t take the tour). On the day we went, there had been a docent tour booked in the morning, but not for the afternoon.
Taos has a quaint old town reminiscent of our visit to Santa Fe, so if you do visit, there are also some boutique cafes, stores, galleries and souvenir shops. Lisette was lured into a local tea store, but thinking of the overflowing tea varieties in the RV, resisted from buying more tea to add to the existing collection.
Would You Live in an Earthship?
Have you heard of an Earthship? These are the ultimate homes to live off the grid. We both agreed that it would be absolutely incredible to live in a completely self-sufficient way, with food, energy, clean water, shelter, garbage management, and sewage treatment all taken care of without any reliance on outside infrastructure. The Earthship was developed by architect Michael Reynolds in the 1970s, and the buildings look so eccentric compared to standard homes, as they’re made using earth-packed tires, colorful glass bottles, and aluminium cans. Everything is deeply considered when it comes to how the house is designed, and how it can reduce its ecological footprint. In New Mexico, the birthplace of the Earthships, there are over 100 of them set against the beautiful, mountainous backdrop, and the concept has taken off around the world, with people learning to build their own Earthships in countries including Japan, Honduras, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
It was absolutely fascinating to do a self-guided tour (cost $9) and learn more about the Earthships, how they are built and operate, and see aspects like the types of food being grown, to how water is used 4 times to be as ecologically-minded as possible. Hopefully Earthships will become more mainstream in the future, and they can continue to raise awareness in more communities around the world about the benefits they bring in cultivating a more sustainable way of living.
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
A mere 4 minute drive away from the Earthship community is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which stands 198 meters (650 feet) above the river and is the fifth highest bridge in the United States. It has been awarded the “Most Beautiful Steel Bridge” and you can drive or walk across the bridge to see all the way down to the river below (apparently people fish down there?), as well as the deep gorges surrounding the water.
The visitor parking was full when we went, but there’s a place to stop on the opposite side of the visitor parking (which is clearly a tourist attraction as there are also vendors on this side). It’s a bit of a narrow path if you walk along the bridge–just enough for 2 people to pass each other. We enjoyed walking along the bridge, particularly because the weather was idyllic and we were wearing t-shirts like it was summer, although if you’re afraid of heights it may be a bit intimidating! We saw a few people nervously holding onto the railing as we walked across.
Welcome to Colorful Colorado!
From Rio Grande Gorge Bridge we continued north, soon crossing over into the state of Colorado–our sixth state on this road trip so far (6 out of 48!). Google apparently chose the most efficient way for us to arrive at our selected destination, Grand Sand Dunes (where we’d go the next day), but a big chunk of the road, the 12, is unpaved, which made for a very uncomfortable and at times, nervous drive, as the gravel flicked up to hit the pipes underneath our RV. And we’re not a 4WD, so we have to carefully navigate the road as we hit every little bump.
We found a fantastic spot to stop for the night on Lake Como Road, where people can camp and boondock. Here, we met a German family who were at the start of their 2-month adventure around the American midwest (and we gave them a few tips that made us feel like well-travelled veterans)! In the evening, we got to enjoy the most incredible sunset that looked like the sky was on fire, reminding us of the simplest but best things about RV life.
Route Map
