Ice?
Nope.
Snow?
Nope.
Sailboats?
Nope.
Sledding hill?
Yes. A saucer sled recently went down this hill.
On sand. White sand. Gypsum sand. At White Sands National Monument, New Mexico.
Miles and miles of white sand.
Accessible sand where you are invited to go play.
This is a national park, though, so be sure to empty your shoes before you leave.
TTYL,
Linda
Driving along Highway 380 in New Mexico we suddenly came to this odd landscape.
So we turned into the Valley of Fires BLM campground where we got water and electrical hookups for $9 a night with our National Parks discount card.
From our site we could see a board walk so Dave took a hike. Here’s some of what he saw.
If you’d like to see lava without the expense of a trip to Hawaii, I invite you to
TTYL,
Linda
Alexa asked what our motorhome looks like with the slides in. It looks like this.
The chairs are strapped to the table for moving but it’s a quick release buckle so we can use the table easily at rest stops. Dave’s bag and the table leaf are seatbelted to the couch. The other things there are soft enough to not kill us should we ever roll the motorhome. The footstool wedges into the recliner. The white spot on the counter is a paper towel we put there to catch drips from the faucet while moving. It’s amazing how much water sits in that goose neck faucet.
I can negotiate the aisle to the bathroom with all the slides in.
The bathroom itself is not on a slide so only opening the big slide increases the space here.
Here’s the bedroom packed for moving.
It’s far enough away to not worry about these things flying up front in case of an accident and they sink into the memory foam topper enough to stay put in any lesser stop. To sleep with the slides in we’d have to unpack the bed then Dave would have to climb over me since there is no room to walk around the bed. So far, we’ve always been able to open at least one bedroom slide which let’s him walk to his side of the bed but not put the chair there we usually sit on to dress. That’s me in the mirrored closet door showing you how “spacious” the aisle is. I quickly learned not to leave my jacket in the closet when preparing for travel.
If I unpack my footstool and sit in my recliner Dave has to step over my feet. Plus, I have to point my feet into the space one side or the other of the counter. With one slide open I don’t have to point my feet there but Dave still has to step over me.
Here’s what the table looks like in three positions: closed all the way for moving, opened enough for lunch on the road, and opened enough to insert the leaf when all the slides are opened.
Can we live in here with all the slides closed? If we have to do so. We made sure I could get to everything (except clothes) with the slides in before we bought this RV. But, I sure hope we never actually have to do so.
TTYL,
Linda
How it got its name.
The narrows. Those upright rocks line the left side of the drop-off.
The narrows with a car on it and the right side drop-off.
Looking down at the river you can’t get to from here.
I’m so glad we are not here with any children.
See Shafer Road? Coming down the far hill, crossing the middle of the picture and leaving in the lower right?
Dave spent days asking everyone he thought might know about the advisability of him driving this in our Honda CR-V. He was told it is not a technical road, that it gets a bit chunky in places so you have to be careful that sets of tires go the same way at the same time, that it’s expensive to get towed out of there, and that if he got through the bottom 2 1/2 miles he should be OK. He decided not to try it this trip. I think the next time we come here he’ll try to rent a Jeep. That was my suggestion.
TTYL,
Linda
Yesterday was the day we planned to go to Arches National Park.
The day started, as usual, with us at our computers. The difference this day was we had an excellent connection so we decided to catch up on all things computer. By the time I got around to doing the detailed research on Arches, it was nearly noon and their website said we should be planned to be gone from our current campsite for about five hours.
So, I suggested we should pack a lunch. Dave replied that if we went into Moab for lunch we’d be closer to Arches so we’d need less time for the trip.
As we finished lunch in Moab, Dave said we were just down the road from a BLM district office so it would be good to swing by there. So we did. Of course, they weren’t open on Sunday but there was a sign out front saying BLM camping information is available at the Welcome Center.
On the way to the Welcome Center we came to a grocery store and Dave turned in. We need bread and cereal. We need more but we can’t buy refrigerated stuff on our way to Arches unless we also buy a cooler and ice.
Then we went to the Welcome Center where we got information on free and cheap camp sites around here on BLM lands. On the way to Arches we decided we’d check out some of them for future trips to the area.
We never did make it to Arches National Park but we know where we can stay next time we try.
For now, our time here is up. Someone else has this site reserved for tonight and we need to move on towards Albuquerque where we have an appointment Friday to have a chip in our windshield fixed.
When we have time and a good connection I’ll post more about other places we did see while here.
TTYL,
Linda
