May 27, 2017
My first full day in Las Cruces, New Mexico I headed about an hour northeast on Route 70 to spend some time at White Sands National Monument, a 224 square mile area on the southeast end of the massive White Sands Missile Range. I had stopped here briefly back in 2014 when I made a very ambitious tour of New Mexico (a story I will share in a future post) and had only spent a few minutes at White Sands. Today I had more time to enjoy the area.
While I was stopped in one of the parking areas I spotted the same guy I had spoken with about a week ago while visiting the Marfa Lights Viewing Center. He was parked in an adjacent parking area with shelters for primitive camping, which he was doing during his driving tour of the western US. He lives in Pennsylvania and drives a distinctive orange Jeep with a red kayak on top. I marched across the sand dunes to say hello (again) and marvel that I had now seen him twice in one week. Small world…