White Sands at Sunset

This will be the last day of Catch-Up mode – It was a 500 mile drive today. Stopped at Picacho Peak State Park for a breakfast picnic about an hour out of Maricopa. We were just a tad early for the wildflowers, although the yellow desert dusting had already started, but the abundance of the Saguaro Cactus among the greening mountains made it a perfectly beautiful picnic spot right off the highway for the long drive that lay ahead.

Decided to try and hit White Sands NP and although 50 miles of the route – it was so worth it !  The largest gypsum sand dunes in the world expanding 228 square mile is shared with the US DOD (White Sands Missile Range)  where the skies are clear and valley relatively flat. The land area is the about ⅙ the size of China Lake and  perfect for missile testing.

The 1.8 mile White Sands Back Country trail was perfect for the sitting-in-the-van-too-long neck ache that I was experiencing, and as a bonus it was sunset on the sands. Hmm wonder if the Stand Up Paddle Board could have been utilized as the cafeteria tray for sliding down the snow colored dunes – that could have been fun but all that sand without shower possibilities was certainly a deterrent. 

Rio Grande Vineyard and Winery – Harvest Host Overnight.  Opened until 9pm was the perfect place for us to slip in at nightfall to their large RV parking area. There was a sign up right at the door, and we just added our name even though we had not received the email confirmation that they accepted our request.  Even John had a glass of mission wine which came from the grapes that the Spanish Friars snuck in during the time when local grape growing in the area was prohibited by the Catholic Church.  Supply chain issues for grapes getting here from Spain in the 17th Century necessitated this underground operation and the original vines have been proliferated forward from smuggled seeds.  John’s alter boy self decided the mission wine was worth a try. The staff was extremely friendly and explained these details to us.   Well, didn’t take home any Mission red, but we got the last bottle of their award winning chardonnay – would have gotten a couple more.  Woke up to a beautiful sunset over the plowed land and highly recommend this Harvest Host as and after White Sands at Sunset location.  The wind started to blow and the dust was pretty intense as we made a getaway.  

In fact the whole way through Texas was a dust storm – can’t say we really saw too much and the van is rockin here in Fort Stockton now with more wind tomorrow. I had to keep it under 60 mph the whole day.