If I was looking for adventure while on my trip, I found it today -- more than I needed. I sometimes hyperbolize, but I am completely serious when I say that I feel lucky to be alive tonight and back in my comfy casita. I was terrified, and if you know me, you also know that isn't a state in which I often find myself. Here's what happened:
The day started off pleasantly enough. I wandered out in my slippers to see what the weather was like (cold!) and came back in to get a shower and put on some clothes to head out for the day. I needed to take care of some banking (and it's times like these that I'm glad I bank at a national institution), so I did that and then went to the store that allegedly sells the best chile ristras in town. No luck with the ristras, but I was pointed in the direction of another place that might (and did) have some. Apparently the supplier for the first place had been wary of driving in the snow and hadn't made a delivery.
From the minute I walked in the store, everyone there treated me like family. This has been a recurring theme since I got here, one I have appreciated very much. At one point I said, "It's cozy warm in here and you all are so nice, I think I'll just spend the day here." To which the owner replied, "Can we get you some coffee?" I didn't want any coffee, but I was in there wandering for a while. I chose a few last gifts and as the owner was ringing up my purchases, she asked me what my plans were for the day. I told her I had hoped to go to the museums -- until I discovered they're all closed on Mondays. So she said she would help me come up with a Plan B.
Plan B seemed like a great idea, and Part 1 was. Part 2 is what got me in trouble, but I confess that I may have misunderstood the shop owners' instruction. I went to Pecos, to the National Park and the ruins. That part was amazing, and I took lots of pictures. When I tried the other part, which was driving along the Pecos River, and which I understood her to say would bring me back to Santa Fe, I found myself in a precarious position: stuck at the top of a mountain, no cellphone reception, nearly out of gas, an hour before dark. I am not kidding you when I say that I had to fight back panic and I was truly afraid I would end up spending the night in a car with no gas, and who knows when anyone might have found me. I would have turned around much sooner, but I thought I would pop out on a "real" road that would bring me back to town. The roads were snow- and ice-covered, and extremely narrow. I turned around and hoped I would make the right turns to get back to the main road, praying as I went.
I must have been cruising on fumes as I got back to Pecos. The sun had just set and I found a gas station (no small feat considering Pecos is about a block long). As I got back on the highway to Santa Fe, I started shaking and crying but told myself I needed to keep my shit together until I finished driving. I was NOT going to stop on the side of the road; that particular road did have actual lanes but no streetlights or houses, and I had a feeling if I gave into my emotional outburst, I wouldn't be able to get back on the road again -- at least, not safely. I headed for my favorite place -- The Plaze Cafe -- and my final prayer was answered when I immediately found a parking spot. (Downtown parking is notoriously difficult, and I've spent half an hour driving around looking for a spot. Finding one right away was no small miracle.)
When I got into the Cafe, "my" booth (the one by the window) wasn't available, so I sat at the counter until it was. I chatted with the staff, and I'm sure no one could tell that I'd just been through one of the most terrifying ordeals of my life. And when I was comfortably ensconced in my booth and my food was brought out, you'd better believe I bowed my head and said a lengthy prayer of gratitude, for everything.
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