“Road Trip USA 🇺🇸 Part 5 of 6 ~From Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, Heading for White Sands National Park New Mexico” October 2024

• November 4, 2024
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

WE STILL BE ROAD TRIPPIN!

Day 1

Daryl’s’ Birthday!

4:00AM-8:30PM

We continued driving towards White Sands National Park in New Mexico, from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, and eventually looked for an overnight motel.

We enjoyed another part of thee old Route 66 we had not been on, too. It did get dark on us, so that made it hard to see motor motels, but in this town there were three to choose from. We got very lucky.

3 hours

175 miles

We Stayed at Carrizozo Inn, New Mexico

One Night

From this point on, we looked for the old-style motor motels that are single level, where we could back in to our parking spot, right in front of our motel door for the night. There was generous outdoor lighting, at every motel like this and nobody bothered with our stuff in the bed of the truck.

These motel-styles are often cheaper, than chain hotels. Some were updated. Some were not, but they were fine for us. As long as they are clean, and have hot water, we are happy!

Something else that was super great, was, we had no rain, for this entire trip. We had a tarp for the back to cover items, but thankfully all was dry. In fact. We had sunshine for all but our last day.

Day 2

5AM-2PM

We drove the rest of the way to White Sands National Park in New Mexico for our visit.

1 hour

73 miles

I thought this National Park was a bit magical. The sand was so white it reminded me of snow. The roads get plowed here, as if it were snow, too. It never melts, though and just keeps blowing around. No doubt maintenance has their hands full, keeping the roads, drivable.

We arrived on a very sunny morning with no wind. It was a pretty Park to drive around in, and all the extra miles to get here, was worth it to me.

The park is close to an Army Missile Base.

The White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), is the next-door neighbor to the National Park, and has had a historic past.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II took place on December 7^th, 1941. This caused the United States Government to respond. The U.S. military established a permanent presence in the Tularosa Basin during World War II, creating White Sands Proving Grounds, which is now called White Sands Missile Range, as well as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, known today as Holloman Air Force Base.

White Sands Missile Range was also one of the key locations of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb during World War II. The testing of the first atomic bomb took place in 1945 at the Trinity site on WSMR, 65 miles north of White Sands National Monument.

After World War II, White Sands Missile Range became home of some of the German scientists, including Werner Von Braun, who were instrumental in the conception and development of the V-2 rocket. Managed by the U.S. Army, WSMR has supported and continues to support essential defense and space exploration programs for all branches of the military services and NASA, as well as other forms of scientific research.

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK

White Sands was established as a national monument in 1933, and re-desginated as a National Park in 2019.

Today, its location between several military bases means the Park is sometimes closed, due to missile tests. Visitors are always encouraged to check before making the trek.

This property is a unit of the National Park System that includes more than 143,733 acres, at the northern end of the Chihuahuan desert.

In addition to containing the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, including gypsum hearthmounds found nowhere else on earth, the park is home to the globe’s largest collection of Ice-Age fossilized footprints and tells more than 20,000 years of human presence.

Long ago, an ancient sea, covered most of the southwestern United States. It was during this time that layers of gypsum were deposited on the seafloor. The rise and fall of the sea level, millions of years ago, started the process of making the gypsum sand that covers the Park, today.

White Sands is the planet’s largest gypsum dune field. It covers 275 square miles, and is continually expanding. This surreal environment is particularly enchanting at sunset.

We had a great visit, and continued driving to our next National Park; Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

We had a long drive ahead of us.

Click here for Part 6 of this six part road trip: 

“Road Trip USA 🇺🇸 Part 6 of 6 ~Driving from White Sands National Park New Mexico, towards Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, Stopping in Anson, Texas for 1 night and Wildersville, Tennessee for Another, and Finally Reaching Mammoth Cave National Park and Continuing on Back to North Carolina through Virginia” October 2024