We had such a great week, running around, seeing everything there was to see. Of course, there are still things we want to see, but, that is for another visit. Our friends are such great hosts and I think they had fun, too, with all the stuff we did. I think they needed a vacation by the time we left on Friday morning.

Our next stop, again, about 5 1/2 hours down the road, was Las Cruces, NM. Paul & Stephanie, Boomer friends of ours, who have gotten off the road & settled down into a house they built for themselves, have a place to stop for a night or several in their side yard with hookups. We had stopped by there in late October of last year & since we were going right through there again, stopped again for a short visit. And, as usual, were wonderful hosts. We didn't get any pictures because we took them last time we were in town & are on this very blog.

We stayed the weekend & on Monday morning, we were off again, headed to Texas. We had driven past the White Sands National Park before but didn't stop, so this time, we decided to do so. Never mind that it was a windy day, we went anyway. We did stop at the visitors center first & saw a short film about the park.

We learned about the yucca plant and what happens to it when it gets engulfed by a dune. It sends out shoots higher than the dune to stay alive. So, the next time you see a 30 ft dune with a yucca plant on top of it, remember, that is a 30 ft plant! So, what happens when the dune moves on? The yucca plant collapses on itself because it can't sustain the height by itself. On the other hand, the other grasses that are growing on the dunes, take enough sand to adhere to the roots of the plants, so when the dune moves on, there are little cones of dirt and plants left behind. I took pictures of that so you can see what I'm talking about. Very interesting stuff! Also, that is not sand you see, but, gypsum, so when we went in there, it was like a white out, almost like looking at snow.

Did I mention it was a very windy day and we're going into this sandy area????? I guess we should have waited for a calmer day, but, we just decided to go for it. You could see the sky was hazy from all the dust in the air. When you see the pictures, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It's a fairly narrow road going into the park, but, when you get to where all the dunes are, it's almost impossible for two cars going in opposite directions to go through at the same time, (never mind RV's), because of the drifting sand over the road. The tractor with the shovel was having a busy day.