White Sands, New Mexico

 Sorry, I made the jump from the laptop to the chromebook and it lost my travel log...so, we 

have two Midland posts. We left Midland with the hopes of never returning.  We were determined not to stop anywhere near El Paso because the Department of Defense is currently in the area helping them move bodies because the numbers are so bad here, but I have forgotten what driving in the

southwest is like.  We don’t see anything even vaguely resembling civilization for miles and we are miles and miles from anything.  I told John that we have reached the point in the drive when you don’t pass up a gas station because you never know when the next one will be.  We do manage to get some groceries, get some gas and some lunch

before getting to El Paso.  I never knew this city was so big.  It’s huge and there doesn’t seem to be anything going on except normal life as you drive down the center of town on the interstate.  We can see the border crossing and the fence delineating Mexico from the US and there’s a moment of “Why didn’t we bring the passports”, but that passes quickly

as we hold our breath driving through and into New Mexico.  We are not far past El Paso to stop for the night in Las Cruces.  We needed to make hotel reservations coming out of Midland and picked really well in this Fairfield Suites because New Mexico’s lockdown is being taken seriously here.  This hotel takes it seriously and the rooms are clearly socially distanced, the breakfast is

brown bag with a menu of different choices that are all good.  There’s a great nook for Oscar to do his school work and he loves the little sofa that he gets to sleep on.  We drop our stuff and head out of town to hit White Sands National Park before dark and it closes.  It’s beautiful driving out of town, past the missile range that runs through here and out to the park.  We are able to obtain the last

sled that someone is bringing back to the Ranger Station and head out into plowed road that look like we’re back in some serious Michigan snow.  At the end of road, we got out and headed up the white dunes.  The sand is so cold and it doesn’t blow around like the sand at Monahans.  We get to go up and

  down several high hills and enjoy watching the sun set over the white sands.  The sands seem to glow in the light and I start to see why the license plates here say “Land of Enchantment”.  Because it is enchanting tonight.  Great first day in New Mexico even with the ranger station closed so that we now own a sled from the National Parks….

     Note to others that might go to White Sands and want to sled....check with your hotel first, because when we gave them our sled, they mentioned that they had a room full of them that they give out to people staying in the hotel.