White Sands … as pure a snow!

July 3 – Thursday (Hot, Dry for most of the day, 90’s)

The next day we met Tom and Pam’s daughter Camille. She provided the horseback riding services and helped in running the store and with inventory. They actually had a large shipment come in shortly before we got there. The boys helped Tom open the store and then helped Camille sort and price items.

My wife and I were getting ready to leave. I filled my water tank with pure well water. I had not done that since South Carolina. The water was very tasty. We gathered up our children said our good-byes and left. It was bitter sweet. Tom had invited us back for another night.

We traveled for several miles and began to see signs that indicated large elevation changes from here to Las Cruces our stopping point. There were signs indicating a steep climb through Lincoln Forest than a 6% grade down into Las Cruces. As we climbed, the landscape changed dramatically. We saw trees for the first time since leaving South Carolina.

Going up Bailey’s Blessing did great, but going down Bailey’s Blessing driver did not do so good. I left it in drive and used the brakes. Bad idea! We pulled over to let traffic by and I saw smoke. Yup, I smoked the brakes. We waited 15 minutes then I started again only this time in low gear.

We drove slow but no brake problem. As we descended the landscape changed once again. We were out of the pines once again and into the New Mexico desert.

On the road to the White Sands National Monument, we could actually see rain storms in the distance…in multiple directions. This is cool!

We arrived at noon and went in to the visitor center. Here is where we found out we can sled down the dunes. How cool is that! So we rented sleds and went into the park. Our first stop were large dunes where the kids had a great time sledding. I was amazed as to how white the sand was. It truly was a white as snow. In fact, the roads were plowed just like in Syracuse but the plows moved sand not snow. In a way it reminded me of winter…yikes! See for yourself.

We drove to the heart of the dunes where no vegetation grows. They move to quickly for the vegetation to adapt. Here it looked like large mounds of snow but 90+ degrees. We walked out on the dunes and for miles could only see white. The white comes from selenite which is found near water. It breaks down as it is blown towards white sands and becomes Gypsum…you know the stuff that covered many formations in Carlsbad Caverns.

Here is where the missile testing range exists. We could not get into this facility. It is only open to the public 2x a year.

We were returning for dinner when we went back to the first sledding area. We met a family from New Mexico and talked to the about the Lord. They had a son named Ethan, which caught our attention. They wanted to hear how folks from NY came to be in New Mexico. We shared our testimony and immediately connected. They even invited us to their home. I snapped their photo.

Then a black woman started talking to us and we found out she came from Baldwinsville. Small world. We ate dinner and returned for the sunset tour. The ranger spoke a lot about the vegetation and how it needed to adapt due to the shifting dunes. The most common was the yuccas and cottonwoods. Most of the tree is covered by sand. We walked to what looked like a bush about 5 feet high. It was a 30 foot tree. The roots were growing from the top and spread out on the sand. When you look at these trees, you got to wonder where they get water. The rain that is absorbed by the sand is trapped about 3 feet down and this is how the trees stay green. We stayed for the sunset. There were no clouds so it was not so dramatic but we still loved it.

It was dark when we left for Las Cruces and we were about 50 miles away. I was driving and all of a sudden I thought it was snowing. But its summer and in the 80’s. Then I realized it was bugs, millions of bugs smashing against the windshield and car. I knew Bailey’s Blessing needed washing now.

We landed at the campground which was a motel and campground. This was great since it was late when we arrived. We noticed that this was more a redneck campground but it was very clean and nice so we did not mind. We parked next to a 1960’s motorhome and went to bed.