A Week at Ghost Ranch
Sunday, July 22, 2007 - The Sunday before I left for New Mexico my church held a commissioning ceremony to send me on my way with prayers and good wishes. See transcript here...
Saturday, July 28, 2007 - Flew to Phoenix to visit a friend from college whom I had not seen for 18 years. This stop was also part of the peace I was seeking. After Carol (my wife) died in February I found reconnecting with friends from our past to be very healing.
Monday, July 30, 2007 - Flew from Phoenix to Albuquerque where I caught an airport shuttle to the Ghost Ranch facility in Santa Fe (about an hour ride). I stored my suitcase there and set out to see Santa Fe but a thunderstorm sent me scurrying back. The conference center bus to Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu left Santa Fe around 4 p.m. and we arrived in Abiquiu about an hour and a half later. After we had checked in at the office, the bus took us to our bunkhouses. My room was in the Finch bunkhouse located high up on the mesa. I stowed my bag in my room and hurried down the zig-zag trail to the dining hall but the dining hall had just closed. Fortunately the staff took pity on those of us who arrived late from Santa Fe and gave us dinner. There was a welcome session after dinner where, among other things, we were advised not to step on rattlesnakes and not to cross streams during flash floods! After the welcome session I walked back up to the mesa and sat on the veranda in front of my room for several hours just watching darkness fall over Chimney Rock.
Travel note: according to my GPS, the Finch bunkhouse is located at latitude 36 deg, 20.08 min north, longitude 106 deg, 28.35 min west, elevation 6550 feet.
