Saturday, 12 July 2008
Orient Land Trust, Villa Grove, Colorado

I had a bit of a restless night, and as the sun brightly shone through the window of the car I recollected where I was and slowly got up. The campers on both sides of me were also already cooking breakfast. I headed down to the co-ed restrooms, awkwardly doing my business while a naked woman was doing her hair next to the urinal bringing up a conversation while i’m peeing. Awkward because perhaps women talk to each other while in the bathroom, us guys often don’t. Definitely an intriguing element of Valley View Hot Springs aka. “The Orient Land Trust” that reminds me so much of Pagan festivals such as Starwood and many of the like. Reminds me of a time when I was in a communal shower at Starwood in the open court and this naked woman wanted to wash my back for me. Ahem. Attractive naked women in an open court shower while said male is naked wanted to scrub you = uncomfortable situation. I think that sometimes they do it to see if they can get a rise out of you, literally 😉 But that’s hedonism for sure. But naked people at the Orient Land Trust certainly more respectful of space and boundaries than I’ve encountered at quite a few Pagan festivals.
Headed back to the car and decided to whip up a veggie bacon + avacado + garlic + egg omelette. Doug was still passed out in the bunks so didn’t try to wake him. He’s such a night owl. Probably went to bed shortly before I awoke. Avacado madness with breakfast. What did you do to me Mary? Met my neighbours and they were excited to hear I was an archaeologist so ran into their RV to grab some projectile points to show me. Afterwards I contemplated a hike up to the bat cave/old mine, but decided instead to soak in the hotsprings and do a sauna. Sooo relaxing. Very nice. Met some interesting people, including a didgeridoo player who taught me the secrets of circular breathing. Now if I could just repair the beeswax mouthpiece to my didg, I could try it out. Finally ran into Doug and we headed up to the middle pool for some soaking. Fabulous. Did some tarot readings and got some messages I’m not sure how to interpret in terms of my love life. Hmmm. Serious contemplations.
I got sun-burnt (bad) (yes I used sun block) and after lunch, being already late afternoon, decided to leave early and go see the Great Sand Dunes since Doug hasn’t seen them yet. I have a annual National Parks Pass so its free. On the way, we passed by the Colorado Gator farm (several hundred alligators live there – no joke) which is supposedly built on these boggy muddy hot springs making a unique eco-system in the Colorado desert where Gators could live. Too unreal. Just down from it was a very kitch-y UFO tower and Doug informed me that this area of Colorado is a hotspot of UFO activity flocked to by many UFO’ers and conspiracy theorists as its a county with the most reported cattle mutilations and abductions. The winds were pretty high at the Great Sand dunes, but running up and down the dunes with Doug barefooted definitely gave my feet a sanding/cleansing. The winds caused a sandblasting effect on our bodies no different than any would expect from the Sahara, and cleansed our beings. So nice (except for the overpowering amount of sand infiltrating our bodies). Afterwards, in an attempt to try to take a picture of a brilliant orange orb disappearing past the mountains we swung by the UFO tower to climb atop to take a good picture, but alas my camera slipped and broke. I think its broke for good. :: sigh :: Met the UFO tower caretaker, she was interesting. We started driving back and realized we were on warning signs for running out of fuel and over 60 miles to go till the next gas station. Uggh. It was a frightful journey. We barely cruised into a town and got to a gas station. $4.23/gallon. Uggh. After that it was Seafood burritos at some Mexican restaurant, the best part was the fried ice cream for dessert. We pulled back into the Springs shortly after 1 am. What a trip.

UFO Tower vortex and shrines

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