Camping near White Sands National Park with Covid-19

But that's okay I'm sure we'll be going through this area again sometime soon. I'm going to take advantage of traveling in a big truck and I'm going to go take a nap on the dock. I have a cargo net to get locked in for all those bumps, bridge transitions. All right well we have arrived at the truck stop and we're gonna get some fuel. And Sondra went upstairs a little bit ago to get a little rest and I'm gonna go wake her up and see if I can find her. Somewhere up there. And it goes by really quick and we're snoozing. There she is. Feel good to snooze a little bit? I'm gonna get some fuel. Sounds good. Now that I'm awake, kind of, while David is getting fuel for the truck, I'm gonna go get some fuel for us. David gets an extra gold star today because not only are we getting the fuel card discount here at this truck stop, I don't know where we're at, but there's also a Chester's chicken, which we really like. It's probably some of the best chicken, even better than Publix, I hate to say. So I'm gonna go in there and see if I can get about 10 to 14 tenders. Looks like our timing was just right because apparently they were closed yesterday and they reopened today. Yay. That is 20 pieces of pure yumminess. As soon as they cool off enough then I'm going to put them in the fridge. And she concurs. Yes. I turned Randy's voice off because I didn't like hearing both of them. Okay, you only want one to scream at you instead of both. But I'm the moderator, I make the final decisions. It should have said like rest area on the side. No, it does not. All right, well I think this was the exit we were supposed to take, so all we did was just go down the frontage road and hopefully the rest area, yeah there it is, corn, so right over there. Really don't see anybody else, so I think we'll be good to go. Okay, we made it. Piece of cake. We had a nice quiet stay at this parking area. You can't call it a rest stop because there's no facilities, but they do have picnic tables and trash cans, but real quiet. No other trucks were parked here, so we had a good night's sleep. It's right off the interstate, so we did get some of the road noise, but that's okay. How did they ice center on that road? Oh, he sure did. He was trying to go. Oh, poor guy. Rest area, teepees. Just a sunny, clear breeze just to see forever. This is the greatest kind of days that we like to have and we're about 60, 70 miles east of El Paso and we're starting to see the Mexican border. Wow, I cannot believe this guy is riding his bike on the interstate. So that mountain range right there, that's where the Mexican border is. It's just on this side of the mountain range, so we're pretty close. I know when we get closer to California, you can actually see the wall and I'm not sure if it's up there or not, but it's pretty cool to see. Really enjoying a variety of Mexican stations that we can pull off now. It's always fun to listen to the music. Very upbeat. We're probably at the closest point to the border. It's kind of tough to see. The wall is right over in that community area. I took a picture with my camera so hopefully the zoom in will be much better. El Paso. Love Texas flyovers. I think Dallas has the highest one with the high five. Downtown El Paso. And of course there's a Whataburger about every quarter mile. As it should be. As it should be. David is salivating. I am. I can smell it. I get a cell tower like that out west in the Sierras, but in the desert? Really? Driving through Fort Bliss in New Mexico and it looks like they want us to go through some sort of border crossing. See this quite a bit in the southwest along the Mexican border. Smile. We're getting our picture taken. Dim the lights. Usually we always get asked, how do you get the smart down? And then the other questions about produce and unwanted passengers. We assume our border crossing protocol. Yes. Take the sunglasses off. Don't pop the brakes. Smile. Answer just the questions that are being asked. Yeah, this is border control. The base of the mountain is our campgrounds to our exit. We have some railroad tracks to cross over, but they look pretty flat, so we should be good. Uh-oh. I'm gonna be some trouble. Maybe they're just... Yanks. So I guess those little spots up there at the base of the mountain are campers, and that's four and a half miles away. Well, I'm sitting here standing guard of the rig, making sure people can get around us. Sometimes people will be a little concerned about getting around, but if I need to pull forward to make it easier on them, I'll do that. David's outside right now surveying the land to see what's the best approach to our campsite. I'm not sure where he's at. He's out there with the park ranger. Let's see if I can zoom in. Thank goodness he has that bright orange shirt. I still can't see him too well, but anyhow, I'm so pleased to check with him. I'm going to turn. David is going to take every bit of the road that he can. Better jackknife the truck in order to avoid the curbs. Look at that. You rock. Right. Well, David's not leaving me. He's going to pull forward and stop, and then what we're going to do is we're going to kind of get our strategy and game plan put together. Yeah, get into the site. We'll know how to back in appropriately. Before backing into a site, we always want to check out the terrain, see how we want to approach it, the angles, where we want to put the tires, and yes, even out in the desert in the middle of nowhere, people find us. They come out of the woodwork and they want to ask us questions. How do you get the smart up there? Are you sure you can fit? We answer them all, go about our business, and hopefully, without incident, back into the site. A lot less uneventful than we thought it would be, so now we're going to start the unhooking process, and then we're going to park the truck on the other side of the rig, and this is going to be our home for the next couple of days. It's going to be really pretty. Park next to the trailer, and then once we get the bedroom slide out, then we'll know exactly how much room we have to play with, but this is just trusting your partner. I felt like I was going to go off the cliff here like Thelma and Louise. Well, we got the smart off and pulled the truck forward in a different direction to give us a little bit more room between the large bedroom slide, and I guess we got really lucky because the doors also slid open, and the dovetail on the back of the truck is parallel with the roads. I just descended on Oliver Lee Memorial State Park here in New Mexico. It's a beautiful evening. I'm going to actually take down the solar panels because we're dry camping in the park, but it's gorgeous, really nice, beautiful sunsets, and this is our first one, and we'll be here for about five nights. We'll see White Sands National Park, check out a zoo, maybe go to Cloudcroft, do some other stuff, whatever we find. Some hiking will be a lot of fun, too. Well, today is Saturday, and we are off on a little adventure. I can't remember where we're going. We're going to the ranch house tour. That's right. The ranch house tour. We're in Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico, just a little south of Alamogordo near White Sands National Park. I'm still not feeling well. So, this morning will be a ranch house tour. This was the gentleman that was, the park was named after Oliver Lee. We're going to see his ranch house, and then this afternoon we'll see another structure. This gentleman built the water viaducts and a lot of rock walls in the area. And we're caravanning. We're following the volunteer, and there's probably about five to ten cars, and we're going to be crossing over some gates going through DOD land, and then we'll get to the ranch. And I think this is the original trail to El Paso where the wagon trains went to. Phase one, the gable on the left-hand side there, there's three rooms, and then there's like an L off the third room, and that's the kitchen. What Mr. Lee needed a range for was water. I mean, he dug a well out at Lee Well, and there's water in that canyon up there year-round, and so he builds a ditch that's just laying right on top of the ground. It captures the water up in the canyon. It comes out, and it runs straight down here. Besides being a historic house and area just off of the state park, this is also a set of a Disney movie, Scandalous John. Didn't do too well. That's why you haven't heard of it. We finished with the ranch house tour. Can't wait to get over there and get... A beautiful day. We've driven to White Sands National Park. So as we were coming in, the big signs that are expensive to replace say National Monument. So I was getting a little worried, but when we came here then the regular National Park sign says National Park, not National Monument. Yeah. So Sondra can get her passport stamp. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's what it's all about. The passport stamp. And the stickers. And the stickers. So we're going to drive into the dune field and just check it out, and then we're going to come back with slides. Yeah, we're gonna go sledding and we're not gonna have to freeze our rears off. Exactly. It should be nice. We are leaving the visitor center and going into the entrance station. David got the senior pass, and it's a lifetime pass. So now we're able to enter any National Park for us or anything. National Monument. Yeah, for free. And if we do any camping or anything, we get all that half off. That's right. There are some advantages of getting old. A few. A few. So I think this is the first National Park that we've ever been to, and we've been to quite a few, that actually gave us this huge warning list. I mean, is there anything hospitable? Is that the right word? Hospitable. Hospitable in this park. Of course, it is the desert. It is the desert, but fear for your life, people. And they have it in like, I don't know, 8 to 12 different languages, too. All right, so this is pretty cool. I mean, but it's really warm, but it's really cool. It's like snow everywhere. So by pure dumb luck, the other night we wanted to watch the Clint Eastwood movie, The Mule, and they actually filmed him driving through the White Sands National Park. And this is a dirt unpaved road, you can tell. Or a sand packed road. Yes. Hand of some sand at Great Sand, I mean at White, where are we? White Sands National Park. And it's sparkly. Very sparkly. And it's just cool. Literally, the temperature is cool as well. It's amazing. You dig about an inch below, and it's just cool. You go about three inches below, and it's cold. Very neat. The sands of time slip through my fingers. We're going to spend a few hours this morning at the Alameda Park Zoo here in Alamogordo, and see what kind of animals. Supposed to be some wolves, and bobcats, and a cougar, or a puma, or a mountain lion, or however you want to call it. Free food at the buffet. After the zoo, we decided to head up Highway 82 to Cloudcroft. Going through the only tunnel in New Mexico was pretty cool, but it was, after all, just a tunnel. Getting up to an elevation of 8675, we saw the aspens turn gold and yellow. It was really pretty. Cloudcroft's a ski resort in New Mexico. Thank goodness there was no snow today. Into the ravine, and what you hear behind me is, yes, water in the desert. This is Dog Canyon. Hiked up near the end of it. Beyond this gets a little sketchy. It's a bit of a rock scramble to this point, but it's really pretty. Hiked this afternoon. Dog Canyon Trail behind me. Actually, this was not built by the Park Service. It was established here already when they established this park. So, this has been around for about a thousand years, used by the Mescalero, Apache, and other people that were here for hundreds of years. So, I'm further along on Dog Canyon Trail, and this is a nice little overlook. The trail switchbacks this way, and you get a great view of White Sands National Park. It's that little sliver of white that you see in the background, and that's just a beautiful view from up here. And I'm gonna trudge on and see where this ancient trail leads. So, I'm about the mile and a half point on the Dog Canyon Trail. First part was pretty steep. The second part was relatively flat, actually. They're on some what they call benches or flat areas, and then now gradual ascent and further into the canyon. So, the trail goes on behind me and probably going to go up somewhere near there, but not all the way. The view from midway up Dog Canyon. Our original plan was to stay at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park for five days, but Sondra wasn't feeling any better from Fredericksburg. Matter of fact, her temperature had spiked to 104 degrees. So, on Halloween night, we went to the hospital. They ran a battery of tests, and after several hours discovered that, yes, she had gotten COVID. She had the virus. We stayed at the state park for another 10 days for a two-week quarantine, and then decided to pull up stakes and head east for the holidays.