Home

The RV site was quiet and dark when I awoke.  I got up to let Zeke out, then showered, then left the Air Force Base to head west on US70.  The RV site was still quiet at sunrise wen I drove off. I was now ready to make it home by early afternoon.

It didn't quite work out like that, as usual.

I pulled over on US70 along the National Park boundary with the White Sands park (which borders the Air Force Base to its west) , and climbed a small gypsum sand hill to get a view of the park.  The sand dunes are slowly moving toward the roadway. I had been in this park before, in 2008, after the Bataan Death March Marathon, and walked around the white hills in bare feet.  The soft sand after a marathon was very soothing on my aching feet.  Today it wasn't quite so therapeutic, but it still felt good to sink my feet into the soft, warm sand.  Signs warming trespassers of a fine disturbed me, so I didn't venture out far, but this is the only place one can walk on the gypsum sand without entering the park.  I wanted to wait out the rising sun and see the light beam over the sand.  That didn't quite happen, as the sun rose behind clouds and the sunrise was rather nondescript.

Zeke was watching me from the car parked off the highway.  I didn't want to panic him, so I didn't go beyond the park fence.  Little black beetles were crawling on the surface of the sand, leaving small indentations and interesting texture to the surface sand.  The surface was marked in all direction with little bug prints.  I can watch the beetles maneuver across the soft sand all day long. 

I made it to Las Cruces shortly after 8am.  I like stopping at the Rio Grande and walking along the path.  By now the sun was up high enough to warm up the area, and there is little shade along the river walk.  The river was flowing nicely, people were floating on rafts downstream, and plenty of joggers and cyclists shared the path with me.  What a difference in water level six weeks make.

I walked a little over a mile one-way south to the I-10 overpass, then turned around.  By 10:30am the parking lot was busy with rafters and more cyclists, and I was glad to finally get on the road for the final push back to Arizona.  I was now officially tired of the long road trip.

My last stop was gassing up in Lordsburg, NM and having a quick lunch at McDonalds: a green chili double cheeseburger for $2 and a $1 soda.  It was the only McDonald's where I saw green chili cheeseburgers advertised.  They are rather tasty! Gas was $2.57, ten cents cheaper than it was on 3 June when I last drove through here.

Monsoon clouds hung over the Chiricahua mountains as I entered Arizona.  Temperatures outside topped 101F before dropping 20 degrees with the storm front approaching. What a gorgeous homecoming.  These clouds got dark fast, but I missed the rain as it went west when I was driving south on AZ80.  I had missed a big downpour over Hereford when I finally drove up at 4pm to a quiet homecoming with Kevin.  The dogs were happy to see me, too.  I got a thorough sniff-down from all of them, and Zeke, too.

The backyard grass wasn't as green as it was two years ago when I got back from Alaska.  I also noticed that none of the butternut squash I had planted germinated.  My plum tree died, but my little pear tree is showing ample fruit for the first time.

I also picked up enough dog shit from the back yard to fill a 50-pound dog food bag.

I had driven 7381 miles round trip.  It took me just 6000 miles to drive to Alaska two years ago.  It's going to take me a while to unpack the Honda.  I brought more stuff back with me than I took to Indiana.