Monday – Our Travel day started early! ☀ Bright sunny, cool morning, greeted by deer & lots of squirrels. On the road passed Old mines 7 quarries. Arrived at our first stop along the Mexican Border Wall…Chamizal National memorial Park. Toured the exhibit hall, watched movie on how this land once was Mexico and how involved President John F Kennedy was involved. Earned our Jr. Ranger Badge. Next stop Sam’s club in El Paso – $3.24/gal…90.396 galloons = $300.00. 🥤 Diet Coke time and picked up a few supplies at the grocery store. Back on the road. Texas has very decorated bridges & ramps. Felt violated going through Border Patrol this time for they didn’t ask us any questions and just waved us through! The last four miles to our destination was rough looking as in deserted run down town, homes, cars etc. 5pm we arrived at the State Park, site 23. Enjoyed the evening watching a beautiful sunset and the moon coming up over the mountains behind us. Power at park kept going out so slept with the windows open! Traveled 223 miles today.
Tuesday – ☀Hot sunny day started at 8:30am. We stopped in the Town of Alamogordo, NM population 4335 for our Diet Cokes to start this adventurous day. It’s 11:30 and 92* on our drive to White Sands National Park. On our way we passed the Holloman AFB & 1941 Bombing Gunnery & Missile Range. This is the birthplace of America’s Missile & Space Activity. The AFB established in 1942 named after George V. Holloman (pioneer in guided missile research). Also home of the 49th Wing & Educational & Training Command for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Twice a week for 2 hours this stretch of road is closed for practice!!!
Amazing to see these Sand Dunes in front of us and for miles. We visited the visitor center, earned our badge and took the 8 mile drive down into the sand dunes. Nothing but white, glistening sand. Super fine sand. I took the saucer down a slope! Took a few trails and so amazed how the sand sparkles.
Time to find a self serve car wash to clean up “Mr. Hard to Park” then found the local Elks Lodge where we had a drink and mingled with the locals. Bartender made some recommendations so off we went. Took the mountain road up to Cloudcroft, stopping at the Old Apple Barn. It was a cute, unique store with a brick and tiled outhouse! Driving through Lincoln National Forest was Gorgeous! Through tunnels to Mountain Park, elevation 6750 ft, then stopped at an Old Train Trestle overlook before getting to the small town of Cloudcroft. We had lunch at Brother In Laws BBQ before heading back down the mountain. Stopped at Speedway to top off the tank….20.997 gallons @ $3.11/gal =$66.54.
Took a walk around CG then sat outside since the power blew again and then we started to pack things up. Another beautiful sunset. Camp Host Bob stopped by and chatted for awhile. Traveled 117 miles today.
Wednesday – Started at 8am –Breakfast, Showered, shaved, packed up everything….filled and cleaned tanks and pulled away from our beautiful site on the mountain! 11am and 96* we’re on the road. Passed Pistachio land who claims to have the largest Pistachio! Along the drive train tracks which the trains are over a mile long that have 3 engines in front, middle and end! 🚅🚋 Amazing all the containers double stacked. For over 100 miles now nothing…no towns…dust storms and tumble weeds (like right out of a western movie). 3pm we see a sign for Gran Quivira Ruins in Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument but it’s a dirt road and we decided NOPE and at that time the phone rings…scares us since we’re out in BFE and it’s the campground at Oliver Lee and asked if we were coming back tonight! Tim stopped the truck….we both looked at each other as I grab our reservation book to realize (OOPS} 😳🤦♀️OH SHIT we left a day early! We have never done that in the 44 years we’ve been camping. Plus it was a beautiful site and nice bathrooms! UUUGGGGHHHH! Quickly scrambled to see if we could extend tomorrows site but unfortunately no, but there was only one site available for tonight! We’d have to move but that’s ok. Along the rest of the drive we saw Pronghorns, cows, horses, goats, and donkey’s.
Arrived in the town of Manzano…went to the visitor center where we explored the exhibits, movies and talked with the ranger. This old town has a population of 890 with an elevation of 6313 feet, it’s known for the Missions – Quarai, Gran Quivira, & Abo’s. Now a 16 mile drive up the mountain dirt road to Manzano Mountains State Park. As we were driving up the mountain it reminded us of our beginning days when we drove to Colorado…the big green trees, the crisp clean air and the aroma of pine tree. Helped us forgot our big OOPS! Lol. So site 16…very tight between 2 pine trees but Tim got it in there with very little room to spare on either side. All set up and it was a very windy cool night. Traveled 169 miles today.
Thursday – 9am 56* & 7% humidity! Relaxing morning…big breakfast then at noon we moved over to site 14 now for 2 nights. Much bigger site and this one has electric! Opened all the windows for this site was in the cross breeze. At 1pm we headed down the mountain and found an old gas station that OMG it had fountain Diet Coke! Happy Camper! Passed a lot of BNSF trains again over a mile long with lots of engines on our way to the first Ruins. Arrived at Abo’s Mission Ruins. Walked the trails, into the church and buildings. Headed back into town but rerouted down a dirt road along the RR tracks due to a head on collision. Stopped at ranger station to get our badge then walked over to the B Street Market which is a cute grocery/everything kind of store with a deli. So we ordered a chicken avocado Panini, & yogurt pretzels. Yummy! Walked the town and found an old time Pharmacy, It had an old fashion ice cream parlor in it and had a little bit of every kind of goody there. We enjoyed sharing a milkshake. Drove down to the old Shaffer Hotel then headed back to our site. We took a walk around both loops and its now getting cooler and windy. Yup 56*. Movie night after dinner Traveled 57 miles today
Friday – 7:45am 43* Sunny day. This morning was repair day, journal and blog morning. At 2pm we left for Quarai Ruins. There we wondered through the missions and took a hike on one of the trails. Found another hike that we did before heading back to our site. We took a hike at the campground that was a 2 mile loop. We enjoyed a nice campfire as we edited pictures. Curled up and watched a movie and double checked our reservations before packing up for travel day tomorrow! Traveled 19 miles today.
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