Well, there's no sign of any updated info on my flight, so I'll fortify myself with their free food and get on with another day of our travel - damn, I drove to the airport, so I can't even take advantage of the free drink here (well, not much of it) :(. Back to the story before I spill my glass of London Pride on my laptop...
Monday - Have we had had enough sand yet?Monday morning and it is cold (as it would be at this altitude in May). We throw on some clothes and avoiding the jay-walking dear at 06:30 we head back down the mountain for White Sands; tidying up the camper, washing and cooking breakfast in the relative warm of the park. The big news is we have turned the corner after days of heading south. We are now westward ho! (yes, there is actually a village in Cornwall called that - the only town name in the UK with an exclamation in it).
And yes Brian, we do manage to find a desert wherever we go - oh look, some more:
What a fantastic park. No-one was there to collect our money when we entered, so I made a point of stopping at the entrance station on leaving to pay.
Me reflected in the van bumper - it was still clean and shiny at this point:
What's that old song about 'Mad dogs and Englishmen...'?
We decide to put in the effort on the highway today and get to Tucson. Not very scenic roaring across NM at 75, but it gets the job done, allowing us more time in southern AZ.
We chose to stay at Colossal Cave park. $10 for a primitive site camped below a giant cactus. Suits us, and again no-one else is staying in the campground.
The access road to the camp ground is pretty tight even for this van and past this campsite it crosses a dried stream several times so isn’t practical for larger vehicles.
When we got to the chosen campsite I noticed a hissing coming from under the van. On checking I found LPG escaping from the tank. Closer inspection showed the pressure relief valve was venting. After a while it stopped and seemed OK. I don’t know if it was just the increase in temperature here in AZ compared with where it was filled in CO, but we didn't have any further problems with it.
We don’t get around to visiting the cave of the title, but do take a walk around the grounds.
There is wild-life a-plenty – when we arrive we have to drive off a heard of dear loitering on our campsite, and I’m pretty sure this guy isn’t displaying the mandatory blue park permit.
Actually, he was probably waiting to make friends with this guy - I'm sure they would get along famously:
Stay tuned for the shiny stuff...
