Finally, after so many welcome and farewell parties thrown in our honor by all our friends in so many different states, we’ve hit the road south. There are no more friends to visit in the States, we’re on our own.
Pics here https://goo.gl/photos/nFrJYkDs9d5VNvSq7 and here https://goo.gl/photos/M9MFgjiYU3M1Jg9f9
We started our way south from Denver on Oct 11, We spent the night at Cimarron Canyon State Park, in the Carson National forest.We arrived late and there were no spots, so we parked and set up camp at a site reserved for the camp host. Not a problem, as it turned out.
We headed to Santa Fe the next day. We visited the museum of International Folk Art and strolled downtown. We’re trying not to cram too many museum visits in one day, as the kids get bored, so we skipped the Georgia O’Keefe museum and a few other ones. A pity, but gotta make everyone happy…
Thursday was shower day – we camped for a change at a KOA campground near Santa Fe. I tend to dislike these KOA campgrounds, as they are too crammed for my taste and cost 2-3 times as much as National Park camps. Most of them look like a giant parking lot and there are many big rigs parked next to each other. However: they do have good showers, so it’s worth visiting them once in a while. Oh, and they have wifi 😉 By the way, the networks in those campgrounds are over-saturated, so one is better off using mobile data. Our experience with T-mobile has been very spotty at national parks and forests – coverage is practically non-existent, but I presume it’s the same with all mobile operators.
Friday we drove to Manzano State Park in NM. Ah, the smell of fresh pine trees, the cool shade, the privacy! Loved it! I made a big fire and we had a BBQ and enjoyed a cool night under the New Mexico starry sky. Then a visit to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. These are tent-like rock formations in the Manzano mountains. I think we’ve seen enough rocks and arches in the last few weeks, so off we go.
Then started again to White Sands National Monument. We stopped on the way to see the Salinas Pueblo Missions Nation ruins. These are ruins of villages built by the native Quizino (?) people starting in the 13th century, and then “improved” by the first Spanish Missionaries, when they became to cultivate the locals. In one of these villages, the first Spanish missionary who got there, carrying only a bunch of books and his faith, organized the indigenous women (mind you, not men!) and had them build a church in two short years. Now that’s what I call organized labour!
We spent last night in Oliver Lee Memorial Park, in the vicinity of Las Cruces NM. The drive here was lonely, in a good way. We took some side roads and ended up not seeing a single car for the majority of the trip. Nice! Also, what a change in climate and scenery from the Manzano mountains. The landscape is deserted, red and sandy, cacti all over the place. Gotta watch for rattle snakes! Our site is against the backdrop of several rocky hills, with a view of the plains on the other side. Majestic sunsets, where everything is enveloped in a rich adobe light. The temperature is in the upper 80s and at night it cools down to the 50s – good bye, camper heater, at least for now. They say this area of NM gets an average of 350+ sunny days per year. Dug out the sunscreen, ditched the pants for shorts, Mexico here we come!
We’re getting well adjusted to life on the road and camping. I’ve even been treating myself lately: took a shower this morning, although a cold one – 2 showers in 3 days, way to go!
Today, finally off to see the White Dunes, the kids have been anticipating this for a while. But first, quick stop in Las Cruces to pick up a package from the local UPS store.
A side note: our journey in the last days has been interspersed with frequent stops at Walmart. I am officially a fan! If you check our satellite location tracker, you will see that our stops at Wally’s are many and frequent. They tend to have the basics and more, but there may be some glitches with their supply. I stopped yesterday at Walmart in Alamogordo to look for propane adapters and the camping gear shelves were literally empty! As one employee explained, the start of deer hunting season was last night and they ran out of several camping items. People, do you really need to carry a BBQ when hunting deer?!?
Off to White Sands now. Ta-da!
P.S. Pictures to come when I find wifi.
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