Short travelogue.
With two little bikes in the pickup bed and travel trailer in tow, we headed west to central New Mexico after I got out of work Thursday, 9/22. I had scouted for a rest stop to spend the night in Snyder, TX. I think we got the last spot available sandwiched between a line of tractor trailers. It wasn't too bad; no unhooking, no leveling, no hookups. Just crawl in bed and sleep. And it's free.
It's always a relief to finally get out of Texas. Sometimes it feels like it never ends. Stopped in everyone's favorite place: Roswell. Where everything, including Roswell, is alien.
Arriving at the RV park in Bernardo, NM, was a relief. Set up the travel trailer and make some dinner, topping it off with a toddy sitting outside in comfy chairs.
Early next morning we drove to our rendezvous for our first day of the adobe workshop. I didn't get a head count, but I think thirteen of us participated. Joe Tibbets is a veteran adobe maker and designer. He is a walking encyclopedia of everything adobe and earth building. And eager to share it all with anyone who wants to know.
Our group was quite diverse: a father and son from Michigan, Marlin from Mexico City, Martin from AZ, a couple from Kerrville, another couple from Abilene, and a gentleman from Sante Fe (who happened to be the recently retired director of the US Park Service).
We started off with ample supply of coffee, juice, sodas and fruit while he went over the basics, starting with soils, making the blocks and constructing walls. After breaking for a late lunch, we finally got dirty.
Joe demonstrated a manual contraption called the Cinva Ram that makes compressed adobe blocks.
We had another sit-down session where Joe discussed design techniqjues, especially direct and indirect solar gain. I was very pleased to see an example of the trombe wall, which is a design/construction technique that utilizes direct solar gain and thermal mass to store heat. The advantage of this over large glass surfaces (aka windows) is that the earthen mass stores the heat and releases it when ambient temps cool. On the opposite side of that trombe wall section is a small buttress that increases the mass and heat storage. I thought that was brilliant.
The next day we all got our hands dirty. An adobe block maker from Grants, NM, arrived in the afternoon with an automated compressed earth block (CEB) machine. Only two of the group brought soil to make blocks with: us and Martin from Arizona. Martin's soil was a beautiful deep reddish-brown color and made good blocks with little amendment. Our soil required some sand and was lighter colored.
Later we learned to make an arch with adobe. It is easier than it looks; if done right.
We came away with loads of information, ideas and questions. Joe will be doing a workshop next spring on design and working up plans for adobe structures, which we plan on attending. He also plans on a workshop for plasters and adobe floors, which we are also interested in. In fact, we may be in that area for a couple months next spring. Time will tell.
With two little bikes in the pickup bed and travel trailer in tow, we headed west to central New Mexico after I got out of work Thursday, 9/22. I had scouted for a rest stop to spend the night in Snyder, TX. I think we got the last spot available sandwiched between a line of tractor trailers. It wasn't too bad; no unhooking, no leveling, no hookups. Just crawl in bed and sleep. And it's free.
It's always a relief to finally get out of Texas. Sometimes it feels like it never ends. Stopped in everyone's favorite place: Roswell. Where everything, including Roswell, is alien.
Arriving at the RV park in Bernardo, NM, was a relief. Set up the travel trailer and make some dinner, topping it off with a toddy sitting outside in comfy chairs.
Early next morning we drove to our rendezvous for our first day of the adobe workshop. I didn't get a head count, but I think thirteen of us participated. Joe Tibbets is a veteran adobe maker and designer. He is a walking encyclopedia of everything adobe and earth building. And eager to share it all with anyone who wants to know.
Our group was quite diverse: a father and son from Michigan, Marlin from Mexico City, Martin from AZ, a couple from Kerrville, another couple from Abilene, and a gentleman from Sante Fe (who happened to be the recently retired director of the US Park Service).
We started off with ample supply of coffee, juice, sodas and fruit while he went over the basics, starting with soils, making the blocks and constructing walls. After breaking for a late lunch, we finally got dirty.
Joe demonstrated a manual contraption called the Cinva Ram that makes compressed adobe blocks.
We had another sit-down session where Joe discussed design techniqjues, especially direct and indirect solar gain. I was very pleased to see an example of the trombe wall, which is a design/construction technique that utilizes direct solar gain and thermal mass to store heat. The advantage of this over large glass surfaces (aka windows) is that the earthen mass stores the heat and releases it when ambient temps cool. On the opposite side of that trombe wall section is a small buttress that increases the mass and heat storage. I thought that was brilliant.
The next day we all got our hands dirty. An adobe block maker from Grants, NM, arrived in the afternoon with an automated compressed earth block (CEB) machine. Only two of the group brought soil to make blocks with: us and Martin from Arizona. Martin's soil was a beautiful deep reddish-brown color and made good blocks with little amendment. Our soil required some sand and was lighter colored.
Later we learned to make an arch with adobe. It is easier than it looks; if done right.
We came away with loads of information, ideas and questions. Joe will be doing a workshop next spring on design and working up plans for adobe structures, which we plan on attending. He also plans on a workshop for plasters and adobe floors, which we are also interested in. In fact, we may be in that area for a couple months next spring. Time will tell.