Taos, New Mexico

Day 13-15

Visiting Taos was Gary’s idea. I asked him, before I started to write this post, why he wanted to see Taos. He said that over the years he admired the drums made at the Taos Drum Company. He could never afford them as they were more like a piece of furniture than a drum you would carry around from gig to gig. He also said he heard that Taos attracted free-spirited, creative, electric personalities and it was beautiful. He was right about both. 

We took a hike into the sage brush around Taos one afternoon. It was hot and dry. The humidity was less than 2% which means there was high fire warning.

The highlight of our visit was lunch with Gary Paul a local artist and Lois Fernandez the owner of Taos Art Collective. Gary Paul is our friend Susie’s cousin. She asked us to look him up and we are glad we did. Gary and Lois told us their individual stories of how they came to be living and making art in Taos. Lois discovered Taos 40 + years ago on a trip throughout the Southeast to showcase her weavings. She finally moved to Taos 20 years ago and initially, worked three jobs to make ends meet including running the Taos Art Collective, selling real estate and teaching at a school for autistic children. She was also raising an autistic child at the time.

Gary moved to Taos five years ago and says he is “still not a local.” Originally from Indianapolis, he moved around a lot before settling in Taos. He told us a teacher once told him there was “nothing for him” in Indianapolis. So, he said he searched and searched until he found Taos.

 His paintings in the gallery were created with subdued colors, however, he told me that after a 3-month hiatus from painting, due to health issues, he is now back to painting, this time with brighter, more vibrant colors. I wondered if being in the Southwest “turns on” our love of bright colors. 

Because our camp site was about 3 miles outside of town, we broke out the e-bikes in Taos for the first time and took several rides, including to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning for a breakfast of tamales.  

On one such ride we secured our bikes to a bench in the Historic Taos Plaza. I was nervous about leaving them in such a public space, however, when we returned, they were still there. We took off for the 20-minute ride back to the campgrounds and just as we were about to arrive back at the campsite, I noticed that Gary didn’t have the backpack containing our phones and my wallet.

He quickly turned around and rode back to the Plaza to find our backpack in the exact place we had left it with all our belongs still inside. Thank you Taos for being so kind!!!