Gypsum Dunes Guadalupe National Park to El Paso

April 28, 2008
We got up and hiked a few miles down to the overview of the gypsum salt dunes. It was a good walk, but not much as far as the dunes are concerned. White Sands Dunes are gypsum dunes and they can be seen from an airplane. Will played a little guitar and we sang some songs. We were just getting ready to head out when Law Enforcement Ranger John came along. He chatted a bit and gave us a verbal warning for parking the night here; the park likes to help out the little RV Park by not permitting parking or camping. He told us that a German artist just bought land here and is setting up a studio in the old movie theater in town; his cabin is about half a mile back on this dirt road. Orange Systems just bought up lots of ranches south of here and are testing their rockets to become a private company bringing cargo into space. Guess Ranger John wasn’t in a hurry or maybe he just doesn’t see many people; he kept Will talking for about an hour.






We headed back down the dirt road and continued around the loop to the little town of Dell. Coming in to town it looks like a ghost town with abandoned homes and toppled over grain and barn buildings. They have a nice school and some very nice ranch style suburban homes, lots of trailers, a few restaurants and several churches. Signs direct for the Agricultural Loop back to the highway. We got gas in town for $3.47. Irrigation and bright green fields stand out against the tans and dullness of the desert all around.

Back on US62. Watched a pronghorn running along the never-ending fence line; he just could get up enough run to jump the barbwire fence. We left him not wanting to see him get whacked. Lots of soaptree yucca, creosote and grass, then came chollo cactus and prickly pear cactus with grass.

El Paso is a spread out military town. Coming in you see huge salvage yards with junked cars. We decided to skip the city so skirted around to the northern Wal-Mart for some groceries and gas. Took the Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive to the top of the mountain where we settle in to watch the sunset looking down over the Rio Grande River and the city of El Paso. The sun set behind a layer of smog that covers the distant horizon, the sky filled with a glowing gold and jet trails spiraled, lights came on, the sky got dark, and stars twinkled. Kathy went to bed.

Comments

amy said…
Today is a good day to drive!! When my kids are driving me nuts and I envy your freedom...however going to your blog gives me a taste of it and I am satisfied...take a deep breath and begin deciding who hit who first!!
10:30 PM, April 29, 2008
mary said…
Yes, we all "escape" by reading your blog. It takes a special person to travel the back roads of the USA and that is what you both are,,Special People.

You sometimes scare me with the places you end up spending the night. I know how close you are to danger sometimes.

Thanks for the phone call yesterday.

Mary
5:56 PM, April 30, 2008
Unknown said…
Do you have post cards or something date stamped with all of the national parks you have been to - like the paper stamped when we were in the Hawaii volcano national parks?
12:00 PM, May 05, 2008
Unknown said…
KATHY AND WILL - WHERE ARE YOU ?

HAS ANYONE HEARD FROM THEM SINCE THIS POSTING?

WE CAN'T REACH THEM BY PHONE.
1:00 PM, May 06, 2008
Jennifer said…
Where are you guys?
2:20 PM, May 06, 2008
Unknown said…
OK - KATHY & WILL ARE ALIVE AND WELL TRAVELNG....IN THE WOODS... OUT OF WIRELESS AND CELL SERVICE. I actually called the Texas Rangers and put a Attempt to Locate bulletin out for them on Monday. I called back today to let them know I had located them. Kathy & Will - you can hide, but we will track you down! Love you!
8:18 AM, May 07, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Houston Fest Galax, VA

Image
We arrived in Galax, VA and stopped at our friend, Harold's. He was just putting the finishing touches on a cake he made for his nephew.  Harold is great in the kitchen! Brenda arrived!  We had a nice meet and greet. We went to the school across the street with Brenda and Harold and met Linda who likes hugs. Each day the three of them and others from the community volunteer to prepare backpacks of food items for children who otherwise would good the weekend hungry. They have fund raisers to get money and purchase food items that children can manage for breakfast and lunch.  They also get donations.  There is a man in Florida that heard about their need for food so ships items from Amazon.com for them to distribute. They get everything organized then run an assembly line to package items. The bags are then sent to the classrooms where the teachers put them in the children's backpacks so that no one is called to any attention. Time to head to Houston Fest whose missio...
Read more

Navy Buddies

Image
Today is a good day to drive! We drove across Amarillo, TX to visit with Will's Navy buddy, Ron.  We found him in the same park we had met him in about ten years ago. These two men met fifty years ago aboard The USS Platte.  ( Platte  made almost yearly deployments to the western  Pacific Ocean  from 1960 to 1968, including extensive operations in  Vietnamese  waters and refueling the  USS  Enterprise  (CVN-65)  task group off Korea during the  Pueblo incident . Platte served with the Pacific Fleet into 1970. She was sold for scrapping on 14 May 1971.)   Ron suggested La Fiesta Grande for an early dinner, a great Mexican place.  It was fun listening to the stories all starting with, "Do you remember...." We dropped Ron back off at home and met Don, a neighbor. See you again somewhere sometime, Ron. Okay, so check out these drinks that were delivered to the next table!
Read more

Our Own Palm Tree

Image
December 15, 2007 We woke parked at the Walmart; we have a nice spot we like way off to one side where we face a little lawn and have our own palm tree. Not many people park in this area because it is farther to walk into the store; at night a few other overnighters park in the lot, but they park up with the trucks so we pretty much have this area to ourselves. From there we drove to Victor Park, a community park with tennis courts, picnic area and fields for sports. The restrooms were locked, but no biggie as we have our own facilities. Will started up the generator and worked on a letter to the Chevy Guy in New Brunswick he has been formulating in his mind ever since we left Canada. The Roadtrek just stopped one day and we had to have it towed and lucky for us it was to a Chevy repair garage. We had our fuel tank fixed and they cut the fill tube. Roadtrek had designed a specialty one they didn’t have so they just jury rigged one. Fixed they said; we paid the bill of over a thousand d...
Read more