Forest Road 141 Revisited

Caleb Smith was in Albuquerque, giving a talk, and I missed it. Too many things piled up - kids and 4-H events and a sick donkey and a friend needing her animals fed while she went away (we have a reciprocal arrangement, and it was my turn.) I couldn't figure out how to squeeze a 6-hour roundtrip car ride to Albuquerque into the available windows of time, so I went walking instead. I planned an evening walk knowing I was going to miss meeting Caleb in person, and thinking I was fine about it, but I'm still kind of out of sorts and cranky. Living out in the country and being a stay-at-home homeschooling mom is great, I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's life, but it can be a little frustrating to be so tied down by the requirements of children and animals. This walking project has been such a great antidote for frustration and restlessness - I really wanted to thank Caleb in person for inspiring me to begin it, and give him a hug, and I really would have enjoyed listening to his talk. I hope he had a big enthusiastic crowd.

So, we headed out after chores, when the day was just starting to cool off, up to the end of 141. Three dogs, two kids, two adults. Not really much to say about the walk, except that we had a long uphill slope that went on forever, saw only two other vehicles the whole time, and one elk, and one of my dogs got on the trail of something and didn't come back to find us until we were done walking and were driving one vehicle back to the end where the other was parked. It was getting dark, and I think Cynthia was more worried than I was that my dog was lost in the woods or had been eaten by a bear - I wasn't planning to start worrying until the last minute, but it was kind of contagious.

Saw more animals on the drive home than while we were walking - Cynthia had a close encounter with a deer and saw a fox, and there were elk everywhere on 12 between Reserve and Apache Creek.

So, Forest Road 141 is done, at least all 18.8 miles of actual pavement. Only about 115 miles of paved road left for us to walk in Catron County...