Alamogordo Walmart parking lot : free night's stay....
(oh and a friendly reminder to myself... I don't proofread or edit any of this... just getting it down is hard enough! apologies in advance for poor grammar/spelling, etc). type type type - post. 😆
Changing time zones and having recently experienced daylight savings time has really screwed us up. We were awake around 5am. Kid were hyper - shouting (annoyingly) "WalMART Wal MART!!" at the top of their lungs. Jonathan took the kids to Walmart and the Dollar General (seems to be the most common Dollar shop around the USA). They bought butter, and tequila (as you do) and some little folders from the dollar store to try and contain Amelia's growing pile of artwork!
By 10:15am we were on the road for White Sands NP again. We got up to the booth and Jonathan told the ranger that our kids wanted to ask him a question. (it's part of the JR Ranger booklets... interview a ranger section... they never want to do that page... too shy). The kids crept up to the front and asked through the window, "Why did you want to become a Ranger?" The Ranger was so nice (as expected) and told them that he loved sharing the national parks with people, especially kids like them!
We parked at the inter-dune boardwalk to check it out and look at the signage that might also help the kids with their ranger books. We witnessed one kid from a family jump into the sand on his back as if it was snow (eek... ouch). His loving family just kinda laughed at him, poor kid. Strange move by the kiddo, but granted the white sand looks SO much like soft snow and the 13c weather felt chilly.
Jonathan asked the kids if they wanted to go on the sledding dunes again and Meems was a solid YES, but Oliver was lukewarm about it. I'm so glad that we went with Amelia's decision and drove further down the dunes road to where we went last night. At the far end we saw another Navion JUST LIKE OURS!!! like exactly!!! so fun. We were so excited and parked right beside it. The licence plate was from Nova Scotia of all places! This was the same one that Jonathan and the kids apparently saw at Carlsbad. We hung around a bit hoping to see the owners roll up, then went up on the dunes again from some sledding fun.
Back to the rig for a snack and some Junior Ranger work (Amelia still loving her birdie mug she got for her birthday from Aunty Lisa and Uncle Owl).
We hung out long enough to finally see the Nova Scotia Navi owners walk up from their dune exploration! We loved seeing the look on their faces when the noticed that the Navion parked beside theirs (hiding theirs) looked identical but with a different bike rack on the back. The big smiles and head tilts were awesome. We jumped out and smiled and waved hello and were received with more big smiles and hellos!
Owenita and Aron Rogers were such lovely people! Aron and Jonathan got immediately into the mechanics of the rigs and the things they've upgraded, etc. They traded information and forums and advice. Owenita and I chatted about our travels and exchanged tours of the interiors and all the organizational tips and tricks and upgrades, haha. Love it. We posed for our picture together and exchanged contact information. Very fun.
While us Navion owners chatted and exchanged info, the kids were working hard on sand sculptures and creations. We had to drag them away from the sand "cakes" eventually so that we could get back to the visitor centre for their badges.
At 2:15pm we were heading back to the Visitor Centre by the entrance to the park and I got a text from Nic and Amy (our new friends made in Big Bend with the adorable little girls). They asked if we were in White Sands because they thought they saw our rig drive by! They were also headed for the gift shop to return sleds they borrowed and get the girls' Jr Ranger badges. We met them outside the gift shop and the girls ran over and immediately hugged our kids, so excited to see them again. Very sweet! They got their ranger badges (Jay and I returned the "just in case" ones the ranger gave us last night). Amelia bought herself a stuffy rattlesnake that she'd had her eye on last night and at another previous national park.
Back at the rig, Jonathan was chatting with a lovely older couple from Boston. Very Bostonian accent! love it.
It was back onto the US 70West towards El Paso. We passed the US Army Missile Testing Range (sometimes they close White Sands NP when they do the testing, yowzers). By 4:20pm we saw the sign "Leaving New Mexico Land of Enchantment" and the "Welcome to Texas" signs. We were back in Texas again!
Driving into El Paso we saw signage for the route to "Anthony"... xo. Our neighbour friend been on our mind a lot lately. Strange coincidence to see the sign.
We got to the Urban Air Adventure Park around 4:40pm to surprise the kids for some "kid stuff" fun time. It was much busier than expected... dark with neon glow lights everywhere, lots of kids parties happening. We were used to the trampoline park we went to in Ontario on a weekday.... hardly anyone there. It was super neat inside though and kids liked the ninja courses. The trampolining sections were not as big as the other styles of parks. They spent a couple of hours climbing around and then were happy to leave.
After adventuring (and hand washing like crazy) we drove about 10 minutes to this evening's luxury camping spot... the local Cracker Barrel! This was our first Cracker Barrel experience. They are marked in our i-Overlander app as a place to park overnight for free with permission from the business. We ventured inside their lovely gift shop and checked out the menu at the restaurant as a possible dinner option. Most things were meat-based, so we decided that breakfast may be the better option. The gift shop was jam packed with Christmassy stuff... very pretty! I'd never been inside a C.B. and it was much lovelier than expected. We all noticed the display of Scooby Doo stuff (hoodies/tees/toys/candies) near the transition of the gift shop to restaurant and thought of Anthony once again and his legacy of Scooby Doo. xo
After the kids had their fill of the store (and I managed to NOT buy the MOST ADORABLE owl salt and pepper shakers... seriously, they were so cute, but probably had enough seasoning in them for one serving haha), we went back to the RV and made ourselves a pasta dinner with veggie meatballs. Classic easy fast dinner. We got some decent wifi reception from LaQuinta hotel next door and watched Bad Guys movie on the laptop. I may or may not have fallen asleep during the movie. Jonathan definitely did. Dragged kids to brush teeth and go to bed around 10pm.
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