10/10/2010 Arizona or Bust!

We decided to leave a day earlier than we originally planned because we got a phone message reminding Bob that he had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. Yep, we have to beat feet to Arizona.

We were on the road fairly early this morning and we had clear roads in front of us.

I never seem to tire of the scenery as we travel the highways and byways here in the southwest.

One thing I like about the southwest is that the people decorate everything! Overpasses, sound barrier walls along the Interstate and now I see this!

This is another landmark we always look for. When we see this we know it won’t be too long before we’re in Arizona. The Roadrunner.

I have a hard time concentrating on my ever present book when we have scenery like this.

And before we knew it we were in ……

…..our winter playground.

I never get tired of riding through Texas Canyon. This area is known for its giant boulders. Photographers find many photo opportunities here and its a a great playground for rock collectors.

It was still early enough that we could have made it all the way to Quail Run but we decided to find a place for the night because it was Sunday and the office wouldn’t be open. Yes, the camp hosts could have gotten us into a site but we wanted to be in a particular area and we were afraid they wouldn’t know if a site would be available for the the length of time we needed. So we got off the road early.

After dinner we wanted to watch the Phillies play and we could get it on the TV but there was no sound. Kind of took the fun out of watching the game.

Oh yeah,,,,HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED STADNICK!

10/9/2010 This Week Hasn’t Been,,,

….what I expected. When we spent six weeks in New Mexico two years ago we thoroughly explored each area we went into. We never made it to the area we’re in now and I’ve heard a lot about Alamogordo and Las Cruces. I honestly thought we were going to explore each. This week didn’t turn out this way at all.

Bob has been going over every inch of this new rig. Not that things needed to be “fixed”…..things just needed to be done as good as Bob would do them. So Bob has been busy replacing caulk because it wasn’t put in as well as it should have been, at least not to Bob’s high standards.

I’m disappointed that we’re not out exploring but I have to give Bob lots of credit for taking such good care of our rig and truck and park model and I know these maintenance things take time and there never seems to be enough time in the day and I know the store doesn’t always stock exactly what you need when you need it and sometimes its aggravating for him because he would like to be out playing too. (Wow…that was one long sentence!) I have to keep telling myself that these things need to be done and there’s no time like the present but darn it I wanna go play! So instead, I vacuumed, I dusted, I got the laundry completely caught up and got things put away as much as I could because we’ve decided to leave tomorrow instead of waiting until Monday.

So we’ll put this area on our list of places to visit again.

10/8/2010 HOW MUCH did you say????

We thought it best if we went to the Commissary today rather then waiting until Saturday when everyone and their brother will be there.

So off we went, its time to stock up. Now we know we are not that many days away from Quail Run so we decided we were going to SHOP!

The store wasn’t crowded at all so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Moving at a pretty good clip we walked up and down the aisles only stopping in sections where we knew we would buy something. As it turned out the weekend before we got here was the case load sale and evidently they had some left over because we got to buy veggies and fruit by the case. Bob just loves canned peaches and fruit cocktail.

About 45 minutes after we entered the Commissary we had a large cart that we could not put another thing into. I couldn’t have found room for a pack of gum if my life depended on it.

Off to the check out counter I go. This is where Bob says, “See ya!” and he goes to the truck to wait. My checker was really fast and she kept two baggers hoppin’! She was running my items through the price checker just as fast I could put them up.

All things checked it was time to pay the piper. We had really stocked up on meat and things like foil paper and a large package of paper towels, things that had a hefty price tag on them.

I gave her my coupons for deduction and was thinking to myself, “Well, here goes $225.00 out of the checking account.” When she gave me my total I just looked at her. Oh. My. Did we really buy that much?

Did we really stuff our cart that full? Better yet,,,where are we going to put all this stuff?????

I really did buy a lot of meat!

With the family packs and large sized pieces that I cut in two, we managed to get 39 meals out of grocery shopping trip today.

We are so thankful that we invested in that extra freezer that we carry instead of a washer/dryer.

So, I don’t need to go to the grocery store except to buy bread, milk, eggs and fresh veggies for the next two months because once a week we have pizza anyway and I had a few meals worth already on board. Both freezers are full.

So where did we put everything? EVERYWHERE there was space! I have cabinets filled to the brim, bags in the empty space under the sofa, boxes under the dining room chairs we don’t use, the basement, the closet floor and the truck! I have no idea where I’m going to put this stuff in the park model because I have less storage space there. Oh, what have we done????

10/7/2010 White Sands National Monument

White Sand. Tons and tons of it. As far as we could see at some points. Piled so high we couldn’t see over it.
Today we went to the White Sands National Monument that is just seven miles down the road from Holloman Air Force Base where we’re staying.

We went inside the Visitors Center in hopes of going through the museum or at the very least watching the movie most National Monuments or Parks show about the attraction. Only the gift shop was open as the museum and everything else is under renovation.

We drove a half mile into the park and bought his America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass
Senior Pass

This $10.00 pass now gives us access to National Parks and Monuments with no admittance fee. If we camp in a National Park, half price! Its so nice being married to an old person to someone who has reached that magical age of 62! Age does have it perks! I’m just glad they’re HIS perks!
When we drove deeper into the park it looked like snow off in the distance.

We stopped at the first trail we came to and decided to take the one mile hike. We met a very nice couple from Kentucky, Buddy and Carolyn, in the parking lot and we struck up a conversation with them. (oh geez, I’m writing this a few days later, I hope I remembered their names correctly) They hope to full time RV one day and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t meet them again somewhere along the way.
Now let me tell you something right here and now! I don’t care if it is October, when you are walking in the desert its HOT!

To get up to the trail we had to climb nearly straight up the side of sizable sand dune.
When we got up to the top this is what we saw.




Bob at the edge of the sand dune, that’s our truck in the background in the parking area.

We followed signs like this all through the nature trail.

We passed some snow sand angels on the way.

Surprisingly, as hot as the temperature was and as blazing as the sun was,,,,the sand was very, very cool. Maybe because its “gypsum sand”. You see, unlike sand that you and I know, like at the beach, this isn’t quartz based sand. Gypsum doesn’t convert the sun’s energy into heat so therefore barefootin’ in even the hottest months of the year is not a problem. In fact, the sand is so cool that families come here to go sand sledding. We saw a few today that were here for this purpose.


Footprints.

I do not wear pointy toed sneakers so I don’t know why my footprints come out like this. Bob’s footprint is on the left, mine on the right.

Lots of Yucca plants here.

The creatures that live in the White Sands have had to adapt over the years to survive their surroundings. Here is a Bleached Earless Lizard.

I don’t know how Bob even saw this thing, I walked right past it.

Besides these lizards the creatures of White Sands include foxes, pocket mice, snakes, owls, bunny rabbits, jack rabbits, and several species of birds. Oh, and ants, I saw ants. Red ones.
This is called a inter-dunal area that fills during a heavy rain and therefore allows grasses and shrubs to grow that feed the creature of the sands.

Sand….everywhere!

One of the plants that grows here in the “sands”. Of course we’re here after the flowering season but I’m betting when this area is in bloom its just beautiful.

LaVon,,,,this is for you, think of it as a work in progress, after all, it certainly looks like its dying.

Ahhh,,,Bob found another lizard.

Sand, mountain, cloud, sky.

Look at these next pictures. What do you see?

Some kind of bush?


A shrub of some type?

If you guessed either one of those you’d be wrong! These are ….. ready for this???? Treetops! Yes, you are seeing the uppermost branches of Cottonwood trees! The rest of the trees are covered by sand dune. As long as the uppermost branches stay exposed the trees will survive. You see, a month from now the trees could be totally exposed again because the wind will come and move the sand and this particular dune will disappear and will form elsewhere. The landscape is constantly changing here.
We finished the mile long hike and as soon as we got back to the truck Bob sucked down a beer in record time and I finished off a Pepsi in one gulp. Did we take water with us on our hike through the desert sands? Noooooo.
We got back on the road to finish off the eight mile loop. Looks like freshly fallen snow doesn’t it?

We’re off the blacktopped road here, it's just packed sand. The “sandplow” just came through to move the sand back to the road sides.


Scenes from the park.



The sand plow I told you about.

This man certainly has job security, the roads have to be cleared everyday!


I still have hard time wrapping my mind around that this is sand and not snow!

We pulled over and climbed to the top of one of the sand dunes. What a sight to behold!


Bob really, really, looks tan here!

In fact, considering the position of the sun when he snapped this pic I don’t think I can look any tanner either!




Bob with his pride and joy.

Just the truck.


I still can’t get over how cool the sand is to the touch. In fact it feels much like baby powder when you hold it in your hand.

Bob found this.


A closer look.

Its the top of a bag that is left in your hand when you rip it off the top to open it. This is when we figured it out! This sand isn’t here naturally! This is sandbox sand that Lowe’s and Home Depot probably delivered truckload after truckload of it here and somebody got sloppy. Sheesh! And we thought we were seeing something spectacular!

Further down the road we came to a sizable picnic area. There were plenty of picnic table/shelters for visitors and of course a bathroom. (There were also plenty of bathrooms situated along the eight mile loop)


The sun and clouds play on the sand.

The sand is being blown away from this desert plant but the roots hold it in place.



The White Sands National Monument lies within the boundaries of the White Sands Missile Range. On average, twice a week, the park and US Route 70 between Las Cruces and Alamogordo are closed for an hour or two for missile testing. Now I don’t know if this happened while we were here because we didn’t hear anything. Also on the White Sands Missile Range is the Trinity Site. This is where back in 1945 the first atom bomb was detonated. We wanted to go to the site but it is only open to the public two days a year, the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in OCTOBER. We just missed it!
As with anything else, one can look at sand dunes only so much. We surely did enjoy our time here though. It truly is an amazing sight!
On the way back home I snapped a picture of the FamCamp from the road.

….and once again we returned to Holloman.


Another adventure in the life of these full time RV’ers.