unwinding

July 1, 2009

Water therapy is hard to come by in New Mexico. Coming here from Seattle eight years ago, we could practically hear our skin drying like beef jerky in the sun. Every now and then we'd treat ourselves to an overnight at Ojo Caliente, the local hot springs, about an hour or so from Taos. It was heaven for body and mind, and we'd always go home feeling like al dente spaghetti; throw us against the wall and we'd just stick there.

After two or three of those trips, which weren't cheap when you added up the springs, hotel, and food and all, we decided to buy a hot tub. I had a Canadian doctor at the time, and she was actually willing to write me a prescription for the thing. So we financed the five grand, justifying it in as many ways as we needed to. Bottom line, we really wanted it. We needed more regular water therapy.

If you've been keeping up here, you know that we sold our beloved hot tub a few weeks ago, in preparation for this Big Adventure we're just beginning today. We've missed the tub terribly the last couple of weeks. Too unfair to do the hardest work of our Taos time and not have a way to properly relax. So we decided that our first day out on the road would be short on driving, and long on pampering. We're back at Ojo for the first time in about four years, and once again, we're in absolute heaven. Even in hot July weather - over 90 today, I think - the hot pools are nothing short of divine. We spent all afternoon out there, lazing from the arsenic pool to the iron pool to the soda pool to the cool pool to the mud pool. We've earned this, and we soaked up every drop and every wonderful minute.

Late in the afternoon, paddling around the big cool pool on a borrowed blue foam "noodle", I noticed myself spinning in slow circles, half-heartedly swinging one leg and waving one arm so I spun in slow counterclockwise ripples. Counterclockwise... I realized I was unwinding. No wonder it felt so good.

This has been a perfect way to start this trip. It won't always be this restful, but one full day of goofing off isn't too much to ask. At least I don't think so. Tomorrow... I don't know about tomorrow. I sort of know, but all day today I've been "hearing", "Don't get too far ahead of right now. Don't try to know too much." Another way of saying, "Be Here Now" I guess. Well here we are, and H3ere is really good. Like I told Rick this afternoon, "This is way cooler than camping in our driveway."

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