Moving on to New Mexico

As we were driving to our next night’s rest, we passed some people we knew; Lloyd and Vilma and Lee and Denise 

Going the same way but staying in a different place than us. 

We chose a Harvest Host spot for the night Mesa Vista Winery. We sat around with the locals hearing about the area. 

The next morning as we were coming out of the El Paso area, we saw huge boulders and then the scenery changed to yucca plants and some small Joshua Trees. 

We are staying at Dog Canyon dispersed camping tonight, Saturday. The weather is perfect, 70 degrees through the day with a nice breeze and then at night it cools down to around 55 degrees. This is our view today. 

 After we got set up, we visited the White Sands Monument, in the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. It’s the largest gypsum dune field in the world, covering 275 square miles in the Chihuahuan Desert. As the winds blow, sand shifts. They have to plow the road when the drifts cover the road.  Wow, so much white sand dunes but no water. It was crazy. We walked on the boardwalk to learn about the natural habitat. 

Can you see the bleached lizard in here. He’s camouflaged. I only picked him out because he moved. 

Then we drove around the dunes and I got out to walk on them. It was so different than sand at the beach. It wasn’t hot, in fact, it was cool. There were people and kids hiking and riding sleds down the dunes. 

Great stop. 

Sunset

A day at the Desert Museum

The Desert Museum had a mix of trails around different cacti settings and indoor desert animals. The pollinator section was interesting we saw hummingbirds and butterflies. We spent 3 hrs hiking, reading the signs and taking pictures. 

Can you spot the bird’s nest built in the cactus?

Fishhook barrel cactus 

The tallest cactus we saw. 

Totem pole cactus. 

Back at the campground, we needed a picture of the 3 brothers before everyone goes their own way.

Tomorrow we head for Las Crucea. NM. 

Leaving Grand Canyon for warmer weather

Since Lew, Denise, Lloyd and Vilma left the day before, we decided it might be a good idea, too. Lenny any Banko thought it would be a good idea, too so they wouldn’t have to wear their sweatshirts!  

Headed south near Tucson to BLM land where we had stayed before. 

Beautiful drive down through cacti forests, instead of trees

Already warmer here. Warm temps in the 70s in the daytime and 45 degrees at night. I’m ready for this. 

After we set up, we took a little bike ride through some of the cactus. 

We wanted to have a fire tonight, so we started gathering dead wood from some kind of plant. Not our usual type of wood but it made a nice fire for andouille sausages and s’mores. Now we’re camping!

A nice sunset and moonrise. 

Night all. 

Look what we woke up to on Tuesday

Here’s what we woke up to this morning - the difference a day makes. 

Lew, Denise, Lloyd and Vilma decided it was too cold here, so they left 2 days early to head south. 

It quit snowing about 2 pm so we headed up to the Canyon to see what it looked like in the snow. At first, there wasn’t much of a view, then it cleared a little and the sun shone. It was gorgeous. 

We drove east on Route 64 and got these shots. 

We got lucky and saw 2 elk as we were coming back. 

One last selfie before we leave the Grand Canyon tomorrow for Tucson.