New Mexico

The Move – Day 3

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Today we began in Tucumcari, NM, and ended in Oklahoma City, OK.  We had mostly cloudy skies, a little bit of light rain, some lightening strikes visible in the distance and mild temps.  Today’s excitement was crossing into Texas, the fascinating drive through the Texas Panhandle and then crossing into Oklahoma.  For a drive of this nature, we’re really not looking for any more excitement than that.

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We stopped into a Walmart in Elk City, OK, and from that experience, I can only conclude that Oklahoma is doing a great job of vaccinating their people.  Most of the employees were wearing a mask but NONE of the customers were.  I can only conclude that they are all vaccinated since unvaccinated people would be wearing a mask.  Right?

Day 3 miles driven was about 380.  This puts us about halfway to our destination.  Downhill from here.

The Move – Day 2

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Today we started in Holbrook, AZ, and ended in Tucumcari, NM.  The only “notable” events were crossing into New Mexico and therefore, losing an hour with the change to Mountain Time.  Very exciting.

Entering New Mexico

Just east of Holbrook, Interstate 40 passes through the Petrified Forest National Park.  Of course, you can’t really see anything from the highway but, fortunately, we visited the park back in 2013.

Day 2 miles driven was about 430.  This includes 20 miles driven in an ill-advised detour attempting to bypass a stretch of I-40 with construction in progress.  Didn’t work out.

White Sands National Monument (Alamogordo, NM)

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(Click here for more photographs.)

Two hundred and seventy-five square miles of white sand dunes, the largest gypsum sand dune field in the world.  This is the White Sands National Monument just south of Alamogordo, NM.  The source of the sand is the gypsum that is trapped in the rock layers of the surrounding mountains.  Rain falls on the mountains and the runoff collects on the desert floor.  When the water evaporates, the gypsum collects in crystal formations.  Wind then takes over and tumbles the crystals until they break down into grains of sand.  These are active dunes, moving thirty to forty feet per year.  Surprisingly, the dunes have formed in only the past 10,000 years.

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