On the road by 8:30 but really it was 7:30 as we quickly crossed into Mountain Time and gained an hour. We'll have to remember that we'll be losing hours on the drive home. We debated about where to stop on our way today. There was the National Border Patrol Museum - no TOO controversial, Desert Peaks National Monument - just made a National Park in '14 by former President Obama but it was not opened -on a Saturday???? - TOO new? Anyway so we settled on White Sands National Monument. It was a bit out of the way but we try to have at least one stop a day so we aren't just driving. On today's drive we added two states - New Mexico and Arizona - that bring us up to 15 states - 3330 miles and 56 driving hours. This area of the country is very desert like with lots of scrub brush that I believe Ron is allergic to based on his consumption of Kleenex and sneezing, but it is more scenic than what we drove through yesterday. We try to spend half of our days' travel on the back roads and off the Interstate. While not green or lush there is a certain beauty in its starkness and a lot less garbage than there was before. You drive miles without seeing a house or store. Thankfully Ron found and pulled into a gas station at Fort Hancock as the ping of the low fuel light sounded. Most of the small towns that we do pass through seem very poor and depressed. We passed Fort Bliss and Holloman AFB in our travels today. The weather started to heat up and I'm finally without a jacket or sweatshirt - it feels good.
In New Mexico we had to stop for a Border Patrol checkpoint and I was sure we would get pulled over with all the junk we had in the back of the truck. They just asked if we were US citizens - they didn't ask for any ID - and let us through. I think it's Ron's honest face. While driving we listened to the Duke/Pitt game - GO Duke! We stopped at White Sands National Monument in NM. It was declared a national monument in 1933 by President Hoover. The park is 275 square miles of white sand and is the largest gypsum sand dune in the world. It looks like big mounds of snow and there were dunes of all sizes. It was really beautiful with the mountains in the background. People were sledding down the dunes. We passed on that but did climb up one of the dunes. I'm still finding sand in my shoes and the truck - after this trip it needs a good heavy cleaning. We also drove through the Valley of the Fires where all the rocks look black like they've been burnt. On our way to Gallup we stopped at Denny's for a breakfast for our dinner meal. It hit the spot. We were settled into our hotel room by 8. The manager told us it might be snowing tomorrow morning and I can believe it as the temperature upon our arrival was 32 as we are over 5200' in elevation. Time to blog and rest up for the Super Bowl tomorrow! Since we're in Gallup should we take a poll on who you are rooting for tomorrow?
As
I read over my musings I think my time in Oxford and visit to
Faulkner's house must have influenced me as this is very much stream of
consciousness.
Views along the road today
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| The Valley of the Fires |
Views of White Sands National Monument
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| The more mature dunes |
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| No this isn't snow although it sure looks like it - this is sand! |
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| But you can sled just like on snow |
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| We made it to the top |
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| Less mature dunes are taller - they look like snow moguls |
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| Some vegetation does survive |
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