11/29/14 White Sands

My boondocking spot near White Sands looked waaaay better in the daylight, as they always do. I need to stop getting there in the dark as I'm terrified getting there then uncomfortable the whole night because I'm unsure of my surroundings.  The "lake" was more like a pond, but it was clear and reflected the sky beautifully. The bad thing was, the entire area was carpeted with those awful stickerbushes. Ah well.



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Living room view this AM Alamogordo NM
11/29/2014 10:07:51 AM


View out the front window. Alamogordo NM
11/29/2014 10:08:10 AM

I took some pics, had coffee, and headed to White Sands.  What an astounding place! Even though it was in the 60's I felt cold, probably because it looked like I was driving through huge snowdrifts.



11/29/2014 11:53:41 AM


White Sands Nat'l Mon.
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White Sands Nat'l Mon.
11/29/2014 12:14:01 PM


Sledding at White Sands
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11/29/2014 1:34:30 PM


Even the roads look wintry
11/29/2014 1:39:07 PM

The only problem was, it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend and the park was full of people. It was very difficult to find dunes without footprints. And I got there a little late, the sun was too high. But I'll be back for sure. I enjoyed a lox sandwich in the picnic area & then headed to Alamogordo for gas. I had sorta planned to go east through Cloudcroft & then down through Carlsbad again. I was having second thoughts after a guy at the gas station said he thought it had snowed up there. Not sure if that was true, but after spending 10 minutes getting through 3 traffic lights and seeing lots more ahead, I said screw this, turned around & headed south towards El Paso. I'm not sure what was going in Alamogordo but I had had enough traffic.

I thought I might stop in El Paso, but I wasn't that tired and and it was still a bit early. I figured I'd find somewhere east of El Paso. Turns out there's about 200 miles of nothing east of El Paso. Now I was doing the mental math on the gas vs the miles to go to Ft. Stockton and I thought it might be close. I was tempted to fill up in Van Horn, but they have a rep as the most anti-RV town in Texas so I really didn't care to give them any of my money. I was pretty sure I could make Fort Stockton, and if not, I had my 5 gal gas can I bought after my last brush with fuel exhaustion in Texas. I made it with no problem and settled in for the night at the Fort Stockton Walmart, which is a popular spot. I parked near a nice Born Free that looked to be about 22' as well, but they were towing a car too. I ended up doing over 300 miles, which was way more than planned. I was tired but was still up till midnight. I guess I'm just a night owl.