On to Alamogordo

Sadly, Nancy, Ginny and I said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways. We had spent the day before having coffee at the Blue House in Carlsbad and browsing the book store. A delightful day. I highly recommend the Blue House, very cozy, great coffee and a nice atmosphere. The day was quite, sunny and Foxy enjoyed several walks and rabbit attempts. Here are a couple of pictures we took before saying goodbye.

The one of the three of us I took by holding the camera out in front of us. Nancy kept saying the camera was pointing the wrong way and I kept adjusting it sideways. She meant that the liens was pointing away from us. The first pic I got was of the table in front of us. Geeze, you would think I would know when the camera is not pointing at me. Oh well, I got on the right track and took another pic. Ginny and Nancy were great to travel with, very laid back and easy going. I really had a wonderful time with them.

The first stop on the way to Alamogordo was Artesia, NM where I had coffee with a lady who wanted to see my Casita. She had emailed me through Casitaclub.com and I agreed to meet her. She is thinking of buying an egg but not sure how she would like it. We had a nice chat and I showed her through the Casita.

The drive to Alamogordo was lovely, a scenic drive through the mts and Cloudcroft at 8500+ elevation. Tons of snow on their little "Ski Cloudcroft" and it reminded me of when the kids were small and we skied at Geneva Basin. A really cute mountain town. Getting down the other side at 7% grade was a little hairy but nothing the Egg couldn't handle. Fortunately, the roads were clear. Coming down from the pass offers a view of White Sands that is nothing short of spectacular. At first, I thought it was snow on the plains and then I realized it was White Sands. When I leave this a.m. I will go back through White Sands.

We are camped at Lee Memorial State Park overlooking the valley. Really beautiful, still in the Chihuahuan Desert and I had no idea it was this big all the way from Mexico through NM and AZ, Amazing. Fox and I explored the camping area just to check things out. The sites are quite large and private with about 16 hookup in all. I chose to stay in one without hookups since they were on the perimeter and faced the valley. The evening was very quiet, not a breeze stirring and you could just feel the clean air. On our rounds we noticed a fellow camped with his car and pop-up tent. We was sitting on top of the picnic table polishing a pair of BIG, BLACK, COMBAT BOOTS! Whoa, I said to myself, this dude looks like a "shooter" back from Iraq with PTSD and out for revenge. Hmmmmmm, I thought, better keep the door locked tonight. I had visions of him wielding an AK 47 at all the campers with anything bigger than a pop-up tent. Those boots were certainly shiny and he had his head bent over the task and was oblivious to the world. He didn't even look up as I passed by with a smile and "hello".

We made it through the night so no snipers, coyotes or mt. lions. The sun is coming up now filling the air with a pink Alpine Glow. Inspiring! This am we move on to Deming and maybe a little rock collecting in the desert. I heard you could take 15# of rock out of Rockhound State Park! I'm all for that, make mine a big diamond, ha!