Today was the first day we were able to just sit in one place and not have to get up and go or drive hundreds of miles! This cross country trip is so different than our last one. The last one our destinations were meant for long stays and we had very few 1 night stays. But that also meant really long drives in between each destination, With the RV we can stay for 1 night so much easier so we have shorter drives each day but more 1 nighters. Which get tiring after a while.
That being said, we took full advantage of not having to go anywhere and slept in today. I actually made breakfast too! I used the stove for the first time. Our stove has 3 burners but really only 1 can be used at a time. But it fits our frying pan perfectly so I made fried potatoes, onions and eggs for breakfast. Kyle threw his in a burrito and I just topped mine with avocado in a bowl. Kyle bought some avocados in CA, the greenest ones he could find. in hopes that they would last us a while. They have lasted us till Texas so thats good!
Since we got in late last night we only hooked up to power, today I showed Kyle how to hook up the wet lines. We have a fresh water hose that runs off of the city water or we can fill a fresh water tank which can hold 44 gallons. Then there is a sewer hose that hooks up to the sewer line under the RV. There are two tanks that run out of that line, the grey water thank which is from all the sinks and shower and the black water tank which is the toilet. Both of those tanks are 30 gallons each. All of that together is a lot of weight so its best to empty them when you can. This will be the first time we are emptying them this trip. We have a level meter on the inside of the RV that tells us the levels of all the tanks as well as the propane level and the coach battery levels. We have solar panels on the roof so the coach battery levels are always at full. At some point we will run out of propane and will probably need to get that filled on the trip.
Our plan today was to hit some national parks. There are 3 in the area, White Sands National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. But we took our time this morning and we wanted to put gas in the car and get it washed so we decided that we could only do one. Kyle was about to leave to go get the car washed and he noticed that the back tires on the Camry looked pretty bad. Thats not good because with the tow dolly, those are the only tires that are touching pavement. They had cracks in the walls and we decided to just have them replaced to be safe. So instead of going to a national park, we went to El Paso’s finest…Costco haha! While we waited we went and grabbed a beer, Kyle got a local IPA. I stuck with my favorite, Sam Adam’s Ocktoberfest. Tis the season after all! We didn’t have to wait very long and by the time we were done the car was ready.
It was about 3:00pm and there was still plenty of daylight so we decided to hit just one of the national parks,. We grabbed Toby and headed to the White Sands National Park, their visitor’s center closed the latest and we want to get a cancellation stamped!
The drive to the park was the most boring hour 30 minute drive through New Mexico desert. It really is out in the middle of nowhere. The highway out there is straight for days, with nothing interesting to look at for miles. We also go through a border checkpoint, they concluded that we were all citizens and were allowed to pass. This was the 4th border checkpoint we have gone through on this trip!
We made it to the visitors a few minutes after 5pm, when they closed. We were wrong to check with google maps and believe that they actually closed at 9pm. So no cancellation stamp for us, ugh such a bummer. But the sand dunes were still open so we drove over there. WOW. Just WOW! That boring drive and the visitors center being closed all were worth it just to see this park in person. We drive around a corner and all of a sudden we are surrounded by “sand” dunes which are actually dunes made out of gypsum. They are white like snow, it is such a sight to see! We get out at the first stop and walk down a boardwalk and take in all the beauty of these “white sands” while reading about them on the information signs. Now all we want to do is to go play in the gypsum, it looks so pretty! But we come to a sign that says pavement ends and on the other side of it is compacted gypsum sand. DRIVE ON SAND?! Oh we have our fair experience of “off roading” and getting stuck in the sand. But it seems so compacted and so we take a chance drive a little further and find a turn out where you can get out. (Note we made it in and out safely, no shovels needed this trip).
We take Toby and climb over a few dunes and just marvel at everything! The beauty, the feel, the silence. Its all so much to take in. The gypsum is so soft, it feels like the softest blanket you’ve ever touched. Not like sand at all. It also is cold! We are in a desert, its hot out yet you can walk on this sand without shoes and no feet or paws are hurt! We find an area to sit and take in the views, the ground is very cooling it feels amazing in the heat. Its like an AC blowing up out of the ground. As you sit there, literally in the middle of nowhere, you hear pure silence. Its a wonderful sound that sadly I’ve only heard a few times in my life. Every so often you hear a car crunching down the road (the sound of compacted gypsum under tires really does sound like crunching, again reminding you its not sand at all), but the gypsum is so dense it dampens the noise as soon as they pass and its silent again. We sit and enjoy each other, the scenery and the sunset. This was well worth the hassles of the start of our trip and the long boring drive out here.
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