City of Rocks Day Two

I’m starting my second full day here at City of Rocks.  The wind seems to have calmed down, but that may just be the early morning way of things.   When I made this reservation a while back, my thought was that this would be a good place place to break with the rhythms of my usual living.  A few days ago, as I played with alternate routes, I considered shortening this stay, so I could fit in time at other interesting-sounding places down the road.  No.  I’m enjoying my time here.  Three nights was right.  

A few notes:  

I need to get a clothesline.  I need to bring along some clothespins from the stash in Tucson. I need some routine for dealing with cleaning clothes, like the sweatpants I spilled juice on. 

Grey water disposal.  I’ve been surreptitiously dumping the dishpan on a friendly local cactus, rather than letting it flow into the holding tank for dumping later.   I feel a little queasy about this… but it’s what I’d do if I was in the tent camping area down the path … maybe I’d feel better about it if I got some “biodegradable” soap.  Dr. Bronner, where are you?

The “neighborhood” of campsites I’m in has names for each site, based on the 9 planets we used to have.  #3 is “Earth.”  My site 7 is “Uranus.”   

Even though I have unlimited water and electricity, I still find myself turning off the lights.  I’m aware, here, of limits.  Limits of internet bandwidth.  Limits of space.  And even though I’m not doing this in search of simplicity, as I adapt to the limits of my living this way, the result is simpler.  In short, I’m paying attention more. Spending less time on autopilot.  Less time on line, more time watching the birds and the shadows move across the rocks as the sun moves across the sky.  What would it be like to live like this all the time?  

New Mexico is pretty cool.  Lots of state parks like this one, in lots of different climate zones.  At about half the cost of Arizona state parks.  For $225, I could buy an annual pass, which would take the daily cost if a site like the one I’m in to $4 per night.  As it is, I paid $14.  (AZ would be $35.)  I’d have to spend 23 nights in NM to break even on the cost of the annual permit.  Seems unlikely … 

Next stop tomorrow is Gila Cliff Dwellings nat’l monument.  I plan to camp at Gila Hot Springs campground, maybe for a couple of nights.  I had thought I’d go back into Silver City and then up NM 15 to the Gila area, but there are cautions about the NM 15 being twisty and steep.  Hmm.  There’s another option , which is actually shorter, given where I am now.  I guess I’ll talk to one of the campground employees in the course of today.  

Breakfast time.