Arizona + August = Snow

City Of Rocks

Yes, boys and girls. Believe it or not, we had another one of those temp extreme days. We started this Tuesday morning (ok, mid-morning) in the high 80°s and by mid afternoon pushing 100°, only to have it drop drastically in a matter of a few dozen miles.


We started off from City of Rocks geared up for hot weather. After all, we were still crossing arid, desert-like areas. And, yes, it was hot. and stayed hot. And

Sand and Rocks, Part 2

We left White Sands in mid afternoon and ended the day setting up camp at City of Rocks. 


Within 10 minutes of getting there, I had a close encounter with a rattlesnake. If you look at the video close enough, a bit below the "D", you might be able to see it. You can certainly hear it rattle!

And, you know that bit about snakes being more afraid of you than

Sand and Rocks, Part 1

We began this Monday morning with a visit to White Sands National Monument. It's a good thing we did not stay there last night because we

Camping foiled again

Ok, so this was supposed to be a motorcycle camping trip. This has not been the case, unless you consider Motel 6 camping. This has been through no fault of ours. Each night, we've been ready, willing, and able to set camp but the universe has conspired to keep us from it. Case in point, Sunday evening...


We arrived at White Sands National Monument at around 7pm ready to camp, only to be told that, due to nearby lightning, no camping was being allowed. I happened to agree with that decision - especially after having just avoided the storm that was producing the lightning up in Cloudcroft. 


The park ranger at White Sands NM was nice enough to direct us to another campsite, over 25 miles away. Nope! Motel 6 it is! Actually, this worked out fine, since Dennis was a bit reluctant to camp in a missile testing area. Not without a Geiger counter and some hazmat suits, at any rate.

Another night at another Motel 6 sees the six of us ready to tackle those white sand dunes. They are made of gypsum sand and are blindingly white. 

Desert-Forest-Desert

After spending a very pleasant Sunday morning visiting with the friends at the Carlsbad Kingdom Hall, we went back to the Motel 6, changed, then headed out towards White Sands.


The scenery for most of our trek was desert and more desert. Although it is dry and scrubby, the landscape has this sort of stark beauty one can really get into. I had to make a quick stop to put on my ear plugs, then had to catch up with the pit crew and Dennis. 


As I rode across this barren stretch, I was the only person for miles around. Probably. Once caught up, we took a break between Artersia and Alamogordo.

Too hot to roll!

Our plan was to leave Carlsbad right after visiting the cave. Well, that did not go according to plan. Oh, I can give plenty to reasons why we stayed in Carlsbad one more night. But the fact is, we stayed because it was hot. No, make that HOT!


As we made our way back down from Carlsbad Caverns, the heat

Carlsbad Caverns, Part 2

As uncomfortable as the heat was, it seems we all got some sleep (though sometimes interrupted by imagined creatures coming to get you, right YoManBob?). We rose fairly early Saturday - Dennis at daybreak, me at coffee break - and, after checking the local weather forecast (afternoon thunderstorms), decided it would be best to break camp and head straight to our next site after visiting Carlsbad Caverns (this time to enter the cave).

See how close Teams Alpha and Gamma's tents were?

YoManBob had his camp packed in 5 minutes. The advantages of