Nestled in New Mexico

Well we have moved beyond Texas and have nestled nicely in New Mexico in the Tularosa Basin.

Totally surrounded by mountains, the view is breathtaking.

We climbed to 9,100 ft when we visited Cloudcroft, just 16 miles away from our campsite. Unfortunately, the high altitude resulted in much colder temperatures. Not enough snow to ski and too cold to golf; so we didn’t stay there for long but sure enjoyed the ride to and fro!

The Tularosa Basin has no outlet to the sea. As such, water either sinks into the ground or collects in low lying areas known as playas. When the water evaporates it leaves behind grains of gypsum. Just west of Alamogordo, there’s a large collection of these gypsum particles know as White Sands.

Standing on the dunes and looking at the miles and miles of sand, we felt like we were in the middle of the Sahara. These dunes are constantly moving and changing shape. Driven by the strong southwest winds, the sands cover everything in their path.

The National Park staff has to clear roads and parking areas on a continuous basis as we do when clearing snow. The plowed roads look just like snow.

In fact, the dunes could be mistaken for hills of snow so you could hardly blame a person for trying a little sliding while there! Even Benji and Zoe got into the act.

Despite the cold temperatures in the mountains, temps in the valley have been very conducive to golfing. In what seems to be an unfortunate trend, the Security folks at Holloman AFB wouldn’t give us access to the base on our own. That being said, a very nice gentleman named Bob, who winters at the campground we’re parked at, is a retired Army serviceman. He has access to the Base and he took us golfing there.

When we decided to visit New Mexico, we hoped to see some spectacular desert and mountain scenery. So far we have not been disappointed. It’s amazing to see the different types of vegetation found in the desert. Wildlife seems to be in abundance, everything from roadrunners to coyotes (no snakes, though).

This week it’s on to Las Cruces and a visit to Billy the Kid’s home town and perhaps a trip across the border into Mexico.