Last Fall, when I built the Gypsywagen, I chose BCX grade plywood to “skin” the coach, this instead of MDO grade (marine) plywood which was unavailable in rural Northern New Mexico. This material has since proved problematic with considerable de-lamination of its outer surfaces. The fix involves a labor intensive effort of sanding and puttying […]
Once again, many weeks have passed since the last posting in this blog. It was a long, hot summer in Northern New Mexico and I must confess I fell into a long and restful period of reflection and contemplation. Like the Old Book says, there’s “a time for every purpose under heaven.” The summer heat […]
It’s a mystery really, how we live our lives. So many people, places and events inform us from the moment we’re born… even before we’re born. Naturally there are familial, social and cultural currents, which sweep us along in their streams, painting narratives onto our experience. Our perceptions and the opinions we form are continually […]
There’s history now, in the life of the Gypsywagen. Nearly a year ago I arrived at the windswept mesa in Northern New Mexico where my old friend Mose provided a space for me to construct this coach. That episode is chronicled in many of the earlier posts of this blog. Having completed the initial build […]
Ten weeks have passed since I last reported on the course of the journey with the Gypsywagen. For 70+ days the GW and I have been comfortably ensconced at the hacienda of Don Luis Torres in the beautiful countryside just south of Española, New Mexico. Luis is the brother of my dear friend Robert Torres, […]
It’s been three weeks since the Gypsywagen and I returned to Northern New Mexico. Back at the original build site, I found the former shelter the worse for wear after a harsh Rocky Mountain winter. After dismantling the wreckage of that site, I setup a new, simpler shelter to go to work on the building […]
After 128 days and 3,700 miles on the road I’ve returned to Taos, New Mexico, where I began this journey on a cold day in December 2018. Last Autumn I built the Gypsywagen on a friend’s ranch, located about forty miles north of Taos. The “shakedown cruise” of the past four months has provided a […]
After a nine day stay at the Bell Trail camp (on US Forest land) near Sedona, I’ve returned to the Flowing Springs campground (also US Forest land) on the Verde River. Both of these campgrounds are in wilderness settings along the Mogollon Rim in Central Arizona. Like thousands of other US Forest and Bureau of […]
“There is so much weariness and disappointment in travel that people have to open up — in railway trains, over a fire, on the decks of steamers, and in the palm courts of hotels on a rainy day. They have to pass the time somehow, and they can pass it only with themselves. Like the […]
In December, when I finished the initial build of the Gypsywagen, I wanted to take it on a shakedown cruise to climates warmer than northern New Mexico. For more than 100 days now, I’ve been traveling and camping all over western and southern Arizona, staying in places along the Colorado River, the Gila and Verde […]