good snow

When I was driving to Santa Fe, it was snowing, but I didn't believe it. I just refused. I went south to escape the snow.

The hostel there was packed with folks. I sat in the main room while some Americans dressed like lumberjacks played guitar. I wrote in my diary, repeated sentiments expressed here such as I wish I were good at small talk, were the kind of person whom strangers talk to. Later I found myself trapped in a conversation where a worker at the hostel talked AT me and another guest, a Brit, for some forty minutes, and the irony did not escape me.

This hostel required each guest to do a chore in the morning. I swept and mopped the floor in my little bedroom, shared with two other girls. I hadn't met either, really, and I came into the room after both were asleep so I changed in the hallway where I saw TWO large spiders.

I forgot to mention how often I think about brown recluse spiders on this trip.

The next morning my car was covered in four inches of snow. The first true miracle of the trip: I somehow thought to pack mittens, a hat, and an ice scraper. I forgave all my previous lack of forethought.



In the lounge I met other people, all travelers with plans on hold. I met the Brit (the other conversation assault victim) and the German (one of the girls in my room) and we decided to go into Santa Fe together and we did not leave each other's company for the next two days.

Saying goodbye to them was difficult. I like being alone on Da Road, but we all traveled so well together. Good travelmates are sort of like good weather. Don't question it.

In Santa Fe, I did not have the memory card in my camera. So there are no pictures of that. Downtown is full of tourists and wonderfully pretentious art galleries.

The Brit made fun of my converse. They have seen better days, no doubt, but I love them. We went to a thrift store to find me the german some warm clothes. She was wearing a hoodie from one of the guitar-playing Americans, and a heavy Polo jacket, vintage 1996, which she got from some old man. And I got some new shoes.

We made ourselves pasta at the hostel, I made some failed cookies. I talked and talked about getting a green chile cheeseburger.