Taos - New Mexico

March 16th-March 17th

When I woke up to another sunny day, I packed and headed to Taos.  This is a town that is near one of New Mexico's biggest ski areas.
I was immediately treated to a nice ride along the Rio Grande river.   The road snaked along some farming fields and small canyons.
I stopped for lunch at the River Gorge Visitor Center.  I had my gourmet lunch of goat cheese with blueberries, almonds, greens on a whole wheat tortilla.  I washed it down with organic chocolate milk. This is the way to eat on the road!!
I meet a young gentleman from Korea who was also riding his bike.  He started in San Francisco and was also riding to Boston.  Once he gets to Boston, he will ride up to Canada and then back across to the west coast.  He was very nice and friendly.  Good luck to him.
It was uphill after lunch.  I mean uphill!! One of my biggest climbs so far and then there was another climb.  I climbed a lot that afternoon.  The snow covered mountains a constant visual.
I arrived in Taos at about 2:30.  I went to the visitor center and asked about lodging. 
They did tell me that there were campsites up on the river, about 3 miles or so from town.
I hung out at the visitor center to charge my phone and read a little.  I then headed up into the canyon. 
It was an uphill climb at the end of the day.  My legs were tired, but I kept on going.  I found one of the campgrounds and no one was there.
I checked them out.  Snow was still on the ground at some of the sites.  I was about to start unpacking at a site, when I saw some fresh tracks of an animal.  I could immediately tell that they were not dog tracks.  Even though one of the women at the visitor center said that there would be no problem with bears;  these tracks were definitely looking like that it what they came from.
I had a lot of food with me from my stocking up in Santa Fe, so I decided to ride back down and camp closer to town.
There were no bears where I camped that night.
I proceeded to the Taos Middle School that morning to talk to two Physical Education Classes and another class in the building.  The PE classes were in their Archery Unit.  I learned a lot that I could bring back to Cougar Pride Land at my school in Sudbury.  The students there were very attentive and asked some great questions.
I had some lunch and then I headed to the Ranchos Elementary School, three miles south of the Middle School.
Here I spoke to many of the upper grades and lower grades in the gymnasium.  These students were also a great audience.  They were in their bowling unit at this school.
After speaking to the students in the gym, I went to Mrs. Trujillo's class.  There were in the middle of presenting their research on Courageous Americans.  I spoke to them and then they had tons of questions for me.  They asked who has inspired me.  I told them about two of my heroines;  Amelia Earhart and Harriet Tubman.
Everybody at this school was so welcoming;  just like all of the other schools I have visited.
After the school visits, I head to the Taos Plaza.  I read for a little while and then walked around.  I met a family from originally from Ecuador, who now live in Dallas. 
As I headed out of town, I was still hungry.  I knew that I was going into some pretty remote areas for some time.  I was in the mood for pizza and usually in ski towns you will find a good pizza place.  I did and I stopped, even though it was getting late and I wanted to ride at least 30 miles or so.
The pizza was very good and I did ride 40 to get home for the night.  It was just off the highway, with the snow covered mountains close by.  I found a sheltered spot and listening to the coyotes for awhile.  They were the closest yet of any of the nights that I had slept out.  The wind also was picking up, but I did shelter myself well.  It was not quite a full moon, but it was close.