One of the pleasures of traveling around is meeting other people. You get to see new sights, experience new sensations, and get to see how the other half lives.

I met Seven of Six this past weekend, in an undisclosed location near Phoenix, where he is currently working on a new, secret energy plan for the US. Very nice fella, and I thank him for his hospitality. He does tend to over-feed guests, in my opinion, but maybe that’s Western hospitality.

Of course, the real gratitude is extended to Mrs Seven of Six, who prepared the many different foods that were eaten in celebration of Memorial Day, and the nearness of baseball season, and the magical beer cooler which never seemed to empty, and who probably got to do all the cleaning up, and washing, and so forth. A very nice lady, with a remarkable ability to make things work, while pretending that Seven of Six is actually in charge.

During my travels I happened upon Taos, New Mexico, which is a pretty remarkable city. It’s fairly high in the mountains, and seems to exist under some particular pyramid, or maybe it’s surrounded by crystals or something. Very amazing place. I never saw anything quite like it, and that would include Haight-Ashbury and the East Village in 1967 and Cholon in 1969.

If you ever get to Taos, there’s a charming little internet café - coffee shop called “Wired.” It’s located in the block behind the Ralley’s supermarket, which is itself on the main drag, right where that main drag opens up from two lanes to four. Don’t think I‘m being imprecise here. I know exactly where it is. You go over to Taos Square, where all the tourists are buying up silver and turquoise jewelry, and blankets and kachina dolls. Then you go north, south, east or west from there to Ralley’s, and go down the street right next to the shopping center. Look for the wooden fence with the small torii on top.

What’s that? OK. Torii are those Japanese gates you see all over the place: the four stylized pieces of wood. Park in the dirt and gravel lot in back of the place and go through the opening in the wood fence into the outer rock garden. Be sure to stop and admire the polished marble pyramid. I’ll give you a chance to achieve a little oneness with the Universe. Believe me. In Mr Bush’s America we can all use a little harmony with the Celestial Order.

You’ll need some of that cosmic peace if you enter behind the stocky lady who orders the double-latte-mocha-with extra-chocolate-and-mint-but-with-more-chocolate-and-less-mint-than-yesterday. Relax. Breathe deeply. Find your inner center. If you’ve already got a mantra, recite it to yourself. If you don’t have your own personal mantra, try Paul – Muad'Dib’s: “Fear is the mind-killer.” Or George Bush’s: “It’s hard work.” Just relax, because it takes this woman seven and a half minutes to order her coffee, describe just how much of each ingredient she wants in it, and then pay for it with a check. Taos is that kind of town. It’s co-located in the Mountain Time Zone, but operates on its own sort of special rules. After the fifth minute, try Ms Rice’s mantra: “No-one could have anticipated this woman could survive as long as she has.”

Besides the main front room, which has the cash register where they keep the checks (and the occasional cash they get from travelers,) there are three gardens in back. These are rock gardens, with some low-water-maintenance plants, a couple of small fountains and about 64 wooden wind chimes. They’re roofed in, covered by translucent white fiberglass corrugated sheets to let in the mottled sunlight. I don’t think they get much rain, what with being high desert and all. There are no clocks. If the pyramid at the entrance did its job, you won’t care what time it is. But it’s hard to concentrate, because those wind chimes and the gurgle of water in the fountains makes you forget about George Bush, and Abu Gonzalez and Michael Hayden listening in while you talk to Aunt Mildred about her special apple pie recipe. Even Osama bin Forgotten and Mullah Omar seem somehow unimportant.