The Long Riders' Guild received an email from
Adam:
"We hope to make a 2000 mile horseback
ride from our home in Colorado down to Mexico. We carry the intention of being
of service along the way... helping out old ranchers and folks on the
Navajo and Hopi reservations with their homes and work. Also, we have non-profit
status and are running a pledge drive to share with seven different non-profit
groups, both local and national. Care of our friends the horses is top
priority. We will travel slow and easy. Connection, respect, presence and
honor take the reins over covering the entire distance."
We wish you a happy and safe journey!
December 2005
Adam has sent the following email to The Guild:
222 miles so far...
At the insistence of John Mestas and his son Alex, we left out of Manassa,
Colorado in a Dodge diesel, towing the horses behind us. The cold was bitter,
relentlessly numbing our digits, but not our spirits nor our determination.
Alex drove us over the icy, lifeless Chama Pass, saving us a five day ride
thru the the frozen countryside that surely would have taken its toll on us
and the horses.
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We were dropped off in a parking lot in Chama... New Mexico at last!!! The
air was a few degrees warmer, the grass a little greener, and for the first
time since we left, we could no longer see the Crestone Peaks from which we
departed. The magnitude of this adventure began to take shape, and we started
riding south with a fresh and excited energy.
For three days, we followed the side of a paved road, sleeping out under
the stars, until we came upon two retired police officers riding their bikes
twenty four miles round trip to the post office in Tierra Amarilla, New
Mexico. Gretchen and Grady invited us back to their earthship home, where we
spent two days expanding our hearts and minds with kind, sweet conversation
and the first green salad we'd seen in two weeks. We shared songs and ideas
with these kindred spirits... fellow travellers and rebels at heart. They
inspired us with their openness and their prolific ways of creation...
artists, cabinet and kayak makers, bio diesel chemists, and they catch all the
water they use to live on their rooftops!!!
The time came for us to move on, so we repacked to lighten our loads, and
headed out into the brutal winds of the New Mexico desert. We crossed the
ancient dam at El Vado and moved slowly thru the Jicarilla Apache Reservation,
surrounded by divinely placed cliffs of yellow and gold rising up out of the
rolling hills covered in sage and juniper.
By this time, our steeds seemed to both accept and anticipate the day's
routine... highlined to graze at night, a heavy dose of grain in the morning
as we pack them up, and then walking, trotting, walking thru the day...
anywhere from seven to twenty one miles, depending on the weather, water, and
grazing we encounter. This pattern seems to groove with their natural tendency
to keep moving and their willingness to work...They are shining examples of
true service, strength, and courage, beckoning us to rise up to the
opportunity to respect and honor their bodies and souls. Give thanks!!!
So, the cold returned with a fury, dropping down to five degrees below zero
at night. The camp fire became our church, luring us to sleep at night and
thawing us out in the morning. We pushed on, following dirt roads down
uninhabited canyons, god's country speckled with the blemishes of an industry
on the verge of extinction... oil rigs and tanks and pipelines humming and
backfiring in the otherwise silent landscape.
We arrived in Lindrith, New Mexico an hour after sunset in the harsh cold,
hoping to find a cafe to warm up in. Turns out there ain't much in Lindrith...
a post office, deserted rodeo grounds, and that's about it. Except, of course,
for some of the kindest, most down to earth folks we've ever met. Paul
Sturdevant passed us on the road and stopped to talk. He ended up helping us
stall and feed our horses at the rodeo grounds and offered us shelter and a
hot meal. His lovely wife, Eva, dished us out some homemade chilli with
locally grown beef, and Jeremiah ate meat for the first time in seven years.
He's still processing and digesting that one, and is back to being a
vegetarian these days. We stayed for three nights, meeting their whole family,
helping Alcarillo and Amadeo remodel the laundry room, and discovering that
our different perspectives acted more as a conduit for energy exchange than as
a hindrance in communication. Our willingness to judge those who live
differently than us is rapidly falling away with every mile we cross and every
beautiful person we meet. God bless the Sturdevant family and the comforts of
their home.
Back out into the desert, moving west along J19, the days are warming up,
and we are steadily covering ground... giving thanks for the challenges we
face, the steeds that carry us, the friendship in which we learn to work
together, and the miles we cross...
Post Script...
I am astonished at the willingness of people outside the Crestone Community
to contribute to the pledge drive. Folks who have nothing to give INSIST upon
making donations to a school and a library that will benefit children a
hundred and fifty miles away... our children, our neighbors, our community.
Meanwhile, these people are forced to ship their own children to a school two
towns away, due to the lack of economy and funding in their community.
Amazing, and I am moved and inspired by their actions. God bless their
generosity, their kind hearts, and their faith in our intentions.
For more information, please go to Adam and
Jeremiah's website:
www.cominginfromthecold.org
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