Goodbye, Jack

That is not Jack in the Arctic. Friday we had only an hour and a half trip from Oliver Lee State Park to Leasburg Dam State Park so we decided to stop off for a picnic at White Sands National Park along the way.

Park literature said there was bus and RV parking at the Roadrunner Picnic Area, and there was.

That’s Jack’s Casita in front of a picnic shade structure and our Outdoors RV behind it.

White sands is a different kind of National Park. It’s very popular, there was a line at the gate.

There is one road in, it’s paved for a while and then you are driving on hard packed gypsum, which is the stuff of the dunes.

It looks like they must plow the sand off both the asphalt…

and the gypsum.

This is the largest area of gypsum dunes in the world. The gypsum all came from the shells of ancient sea creatures. The San Andres mountains to the west contain gypsum which has dissolved in rain, run down here and recrystalized as fine sand grains.

The sand is surprisingly hard and cool.

We all took the opportunity to walk the dunes.

Even Matey was allowed.

Coming here is a cross between a beach without water and a sledding hill without snow and cold.

With our trailers we couldn’t stop at any of the trailheads, so our visit was brief, but it was an interesting place to experience.

From there we drove through a pass in the San Andres Mountains, through Las Cruces and a short distance north…

to Leasburg Dam State Park. Unfortunately this whole day use area…

is temporarily closed due to construction on the park road into it.

Jack and I went out at 7AM…

to explore the trails we could.

That’s because, although not long after sunrise,

at 7:30, it was still cold enough that I was wearing a sweatshirt, jacket and gloves,

by mid afternoon it hit 97. Notice the low and high for temperature yesterday, 44 and 97; while humidity went from 21% in the cold to a whopping 1% in the heat!

This park has yucca in bloom,

crimson hedgehog cactus,

and a mountain in the background. But Jack and I agreed that it pales in comparison to Oliver Lee Memorial. In a short time we walked almost all of the available trails, less than 2 miles.

In the afternoon we went to Hatch, New Mexico, the chili pepper capital of the world. Jack wanted to get powdered chilies for Sharon. He also got some canned chilies and Bud got a variety of dried chilies he’d been looking for. Then we went for a late lunch at the only restaurant in town open on Saturday afternoon, Sparky’s. Bud had a green pepper cheeseburger,

Jack had a chicken sandwich, because he’s not much for spicy food, and I had green chili pork tacos, which were really good. Hatch also seems to go in heavy for antiques, which were all over town.

This morning, before dawn, Jack was out hooking up his trailer by the light of a headlamp.

At six AM he was ready to take off. After spending three weeks on the road with us he is heading home. Jack, we will miss you!