Feb 29th
It’s one of those days—Good News/Bad News
Good News: It rained all night and the camper kept us dry
Bad News: my usual time of waking up at 4 am is ridiculous now that we are on Mountain time—3 am!! So I took 2 melatonin and a Delta 9 CBD
Good news: I slept for another hour
Bad News: the WiFi Booster that I spent so much money on it DOES NOT WORK! After long phone calls we had arranged to have a replacement sent to the KOA at which we were spending the night.
Good News: It arrived safely and I was able to switch it out and it works—kinda. No miracles but better than nothing. We have to pack it up and send it back by UPS
Bad News: The local UPS store doesn’t open until 9 am the new morning
Good News: Woo-Hoo! Let’s have breakfast at a local eatery
Plan today was to go to White Sands National Park 4 hours away
Bad News: Joanne called the park and it is closed today because the local air force base was test firing missiles and protocol requiring park closure
Good News: Breakfast at the cafe and time to go to both sites at Guadalupe Mountain National Park
Bad News: There is heavy fog and there is nothing to be seen. Ranger suggested we wait til noon—the fog might lift
Good News: We started off heading for White Sands via Guadalupe Mountains
Bad News: 50 miles on the road and we see a sign “no services Next 119 miles
F&#@*!
We have 103 miles worth of gas indicated key my car. I kept driving…Joanne is searching Gas Buddy…I kept driving…Joanne calls the park ranger to see about availability of gas
Good News: Park Ranger says there’s gas…I kept driving…Joanne confirms that we can buy gas at Guadalupe Mountains visitor center….I kept driving
Bad News: “No” the Park Ranger says…”The only gas is at White City”
Good News: I had already done a U-ee on a two-way highway and driving back the 27 miles back to White City
Bad News: Did you get that? I had to do a U-turn on a two-way highway and drive back from whence we had come!!!
Good News: By the time we got to our first stop at Guadalupe National Park, the clouds were clearing and we caught glimpses of the peaks. And the views were even better by the time we got to the second visitor’s Center
Good News: Joanne called to find out when White Sands National Park closed
Bad News: Closes at 5 pm and we were estimated to arrive at 4:45 and we have found that it takes us longer than Google Maps predicts because we drive slower pulling a trailer.
Good News: We made it by 4:45, got our maps and entrance info—gates close at 6 so we had an hour to drive around, take pictures, and we feel the we had a great visit!
Good News: We made it here (Meadow Mountain RV Park), we are set up, the heater is on as we are camping on the slopes of Alamo Peak (9,700 ft) that still has snow on it and it is 45 degrees outside.
We both agreed that it had been a great day!!! Long but wonderful