White sand

Well, actually it's gypsum but who cares, right? The area is called White Sands National Monument, so we're sticking with the white sand thing. And white it is ... really, really white. I've never seen dunes like that, and to see them at sunset was absolutely beautiful. Yes, I know - that word again. I can't help it though. *shrug*

My day began less great. For the first time this trip I had to really think about where I was when I woke up this morning. I wasn't quite sure about the state, let alone the town but then it came to me: Gallup, the Navajo Nation capital on the old Route 66. Well then, I thought, let's see what this little town has to offer. The answer is, not much. There are some interesting neon signs from the old Route 66 days and every other store (at least) is an Indian Trading Post specializing in Kachina dolls, Navajo pottery, or dreamcatchers. Or all of the above.

I pointed my car south today, towards the warmth, and the drive was quite uneventful, if not to say boring. After the rugged, beautiful landscapes of the first ten days of driving out here, this stretch of New Mexico desert was ... bland. Desert to the right, desert to the left, and I kept thinking about John Wayne riding along there. It was - again - the classic Western scenery, complete with tumbling tumbleweeds. I threw some Western movies theme music on and drove as fast as I was allowed.

I am now in southern New Mexico, not too far from the border to Texas and Mexico, which was first noticeable by the large number of Border Patrol cars. I think I saw the first Border Patrol some 120 miles north of the Mexican border. What they were looking for up there is anybody's guess. I was stopped on my way to White Sands too, just like everybody else and had to show my papers. We're still at least 50 miles from the border ...

I spent a bit of time at the local Wal-Mart tonight and for the first time in forever I was surrounded by Germans who all seemed to do their shopping here in Alamogordo, NM. The reason, of course, is that the Air Force Base up the road, Holloman AFB, houses about 650 German Air Force officers and their families. It's where they get most of their training.

White Sands, by the way, is not only known for its white sand but also as the center of early US space travel and missile activity. White Sands Missile Range is just up the road and I might check out the space museum tomorrow. Or I might go down to Mexico ... wherever the mood takes me.

Route 66



White Sands National Monument