Coffee for light travel and packable

When packing for a bicycle trip, weight and size matters. When packing for a tandem, two people on one bicycle, weight and size becomes even more important. One of the main questions people would ask us is, "How much gear weight do you pack?" We weighed everything one year and our gear turned out to be 100 pounds. That's really not bad considering that single cyclists (people traveling on a regular bicycle (not tandem)) carry 50 - 75 pounds of gear. 

Now we travel in, what some people would call, a tiny travel trailer. We call it a luxurious mansion on wheels, our 17-foot Casita Spirit Deluxe travel trailer (all things are relative). While we can pack a lot more, space still plays an important part. I've seen all sorts of inside trailer modifications just to accommodate a conventional coffee brewer. One of the items we've taken from those bicycle

Ontologists hit the road

Tandem float in a hidden paradise

We arrive at Lake Roberts, nestled deep in the Gila Wilderness, early mid-week as laid-back campers wave a greeting hand to our entrance. We pay for four weekday nights planning for our departure on Saturday morning in anticipation to this mountain campground’s cool allure to weekenders escaping their daily grind. We pass the mornings floating on this little mountain lake, watch families of ducks escort their young, frogs yelp and leap from the path of our tandem kayak, and listen to the breeze rustle through the trees and the conversation of birds. We are fugitives of the desert heat as we rejoice at the night’s refreshing chill and watch as the sun’s rays retreat and leave a sight of a seemingly endless starscape.  Oh, how we forget how many stars there are! We retire to our little trailer as the crickets and frogs serenade us to sleep. We soon realize that we are in paradise. Days pass with afternoon excursions of hikes, local explorations, and naps as afternoon thundershowers roll into our alpine abode.

Friday arrives. Our set departure date is Saturday. Early weekenders begin their take over. We bed down early hoping for another float on Saturday morning. Campground sounds filter into our world mixed with conversation and children's laughter. Air filters the good out of distant music and only the bad tones and beat seem to reach our ears. The quiet time rule is ignored until sometime past midnight. Overall, everyone is content and happy; we drift to sleep.

The campers awake with lively conversation and we feel a need to stay another night. Saturday night, we are treated to a night of amateur karaoke blasted through disco speakers for the campground to either appreciate or, if you were trying to sleep, tolerate. Sunday morning is cast in overcast clouds which keep the lake even cooler. We, again, decide to stay another day. We watch the magical timer wind down for those folks, who still toil and keep society running for the rest of us, pack up all their camping gear and leave. The lazy weekday camper again listens to the crickets and bull frogs sing their own brand of karaoke.  

Two old farts floating around on Lake Roberts

The wise old traveler once said, "The art of travel is to be able to deviate from one's plan."

We started out last week for a rather large lake called Navajo Lake located on the New Mexico, Colorado border, but we heard of a bluegrass festival in Cloudcroft (Sacramento Mts about 130 miles from El Paso) so we took a day off and swung by and had an enjoyable day watching people pluck strings and sing songs with a nasal touch. Then, of course, we realized that we were only about 20 miles from one of our favorite hikes, (Bluff Springs, water spurting out of a cliff, lots of wild flowers and fresh from a rain the day before) so naturally we had to take a day for this.

Morning found us on the flatlands of the Tularosa Basin where The Whites Sands National Monument is located and that along with a beautiful morning just begged for a tandem ride around the area. By the time we finished it was starting to get a little hot so we tried to think of somewhere within striking distance that we could go to get cool. And then "POP!", we remembered the little lake in the Gila Wilderness that's up about 7,000 feet and is only a 4 hour drive and we were on our way. We told ourselves, "It's just a stop on the way to Lake Navajo."

Well, bright and early we put the kayak in the

beautiful calm water of Lake Roberts and float around and exploring the little nooks and

crannies and by the time we made it back to camp we decided to stay another day. Lake Navajo will just have to wait another day.

Next day . . . (read ditto here.... beautiful weather, nice calm water...yada, yada, yada). We pay for another day of camping. Lake Navajo will still be there tomorrow!

And the next day (another ditto....) Well, by now you're getting the picture, the cool mountain air had us trapped and we spent almost the whole week there paddling and hiking.

Then, on our way to (we thought) Lake Navajo, we stopped to visit our friends in Rio Rancho and explore the beautiful Aquarium and play games. Each morning coolness begged for a tandem ride which we obliged and rolled around the hills of Rio Rancho among baloonists.

We came the realization that Lake Navajo will have to wait until next time.

We did have a great time even though hardly any of it went according to plan. I'm beginning to like this retirement shit, but, alas, it probably is making me even more flaky or undependable to those that are expecting me do things or be places on time.