Sunday & Monday, October 11 & 12 - Drove 159 Miles Today. The morning dawned crisp and beautiful as we left the Riverside RV Park at 10AM. The Junction Family Restaurant, about a mile down the road, beckoned us to breakfast for the second day in a row. The restaurant is at the junction of U.S. highways 160 and 84. Our path followed the latter 60 miles southwest, through Chama, New Mexico to Tierra Amarilla where we switched to U.S. 64 and drove east toward Taos, New Mexico. That highway was the most direct to Taos, but we found ourselves climbing for many miles, to an 
elevation of over 10,000 feet, into stratified air, clear skies, and skimpy snow patches along the roadside. There were a few out-buildings and a number of cattle in the high country, but no houses or much of anything else. 
Moon demanded one of her many breaks about that time, so we stopped near the top, but found it too windy to stay long. This passage over the high country went through the Carson Nation Forest, and after a fifteen mile steady climb, began a descent of equal distance. The scenery switched from high alpine, to pine forest, and eventually leveled off as we passed through very flat desert country. The Rio Grande Gorge was next, and we stopped at the bridge to take some photos. A few more miles and we came into Taos and stopped for the night at the Taos Valley RV Park on the south end of town.
Taos is a charming town with its axis being the road that runs due south through it. The Plaza, the heart and center of town, lies a few steps west of that axis. We parked the trailer and drove back to walk the area. Kit Carson’s home and Museum is near there along with a number of art shops and restaurants. The RV attendant suggested we dine at Orlando’s New Mexican Restaurant on the north end of town. Orlando’s was really popular and really small - with the parking lot jammed and an outside patio filled with hungry people huddled around a fire pot waiting to be seated. It was worth the wait.
That night we ran out of propane. The temperature hovered just above freezing. Mary got up to turn the thermostat up, and it seemed, for a time, the furnace was out of order. I had thought of filling the tanks in Pagosa Springs, but the place was closed in the morning (Sunday) as we headed toward Taos - now we were out and had a cool night ahead of us. We survived with extra blankets on top of us, and I was at the office the next morning at 8AM to fill our two tanks. We toured the Taos Indian Pueblo later that morning. We hooked up with a guided tour in progress and heard interesting story of its history -it is the oldest, and longest, inhabited Pueblos in the country.
In the afternoon we drove twenty miles into the mountains to the Taos Sky Valley. It was still in off-season, no snow, and it dwarfs the Alyeska sky resort south of Anchorage. That evening we ate at the Ogelvie’s Bar & Grill overlooking the Plaza. Nice atmosphere and good food. 
The San Francisco de Asis Church lies a few miles south of Taos. It is said to be the most photogtaphed adobe church in the country - so we felt compelled to add our tally to the number.
