New Mexico, April 2018

April 4, after spending much of the winter in AZ, it’s good to be on the road again. Heading east on NM Hwy 60 we found Pie Town, curiosity got the best of us and we do love pie…we just had to stop. Pie Town has a population of 60, we saw 3 little diners, all highlighting their pies. That’s about all there is to Pie Town, didn’t see any stores or gas stations. When we first walked into the Gathering Place diner we thought we entered through the wrong door, we were in the midst of ladies covered in flour rolling pie crusts and assembling pies. The ladies were joyfully welcoming and assured us we were in the right place. We bought a small white chocolate cherry pie for the road, however once we got out to the RV (Shorty) we just had to sample it. The pie was the most delicious cherry pie we've ever tasted, so good we went back in and bought a butterscotch blueberry. This is going to require some hiking.

White Sands National Monument...

White Sands....best kind of "snow", looks like snow, glistens in the sun like snow, and is plowed with a road grader like snow. Kids bring their flying saucers and slide down the dunes. BEST PART, it's warm, no boots, mittens or long johns needed. 

We welcomed the partly cloudy skies, the sun reflecting off the white sand is very bright. 
Little vegetation survives on the wind blown dunes. The sand has blown around this lone clump of bushes making for an interesting scene.

The sand is irresistible to scoop up and let it run through your fingers, it feels like a mix of sugar and flour. According to the park brochure, it's actually not sand but gypsum, the water table is shallow which keeps the dunes cooler compared to sand dunes in other parts of the country. One can go barefoot hiking in these dunes. 

So much white, climbing each dune only left us with more ahead.

A fellow hiker.

The red stakes mark a trail. There are miles of dunes, up and down hiking. After the first dune we lost sight of the parking lot, it would be easy to get turned around.

The outskirts of the dunes are more suitable for vegetation growth. 

All for now.