White Sands and Missiles - DAY 3

Excited about Breakfast

When I checked into the hotel on the second night, I saw the menu of the “free breakfast” and was quite impressed

They were a variety of eggs and omelets and pancakes diner style.

You can see in the pictures besides one person in the red t-shirt I'm the only one walking towards breakfast. It was early and I wanted to start fresh for the White sands Park day

I sat down and ordered my breakfast option number one and I was NOT not disappointed

Yep that's a double negative there folks.

I took one bite of the egg realizing it's made from some kind of chemicals and I just threw the entire breakfast into the garbage and skipped breakfast for that day.

I also took a picture of the wide six Lane road that is the main artery of this city and you can see there are no crosswalks and while at 6:00 in the morning it's quite easy to cross but any other time of the day it's literally impossible without risking your life

630 Am Breakfast run

Chemicals - not food

Who wants to play FROGGER?

White Sands Park

I arrived at the White sands Park 1 hour later than anticipated which is 8:00 a.m. instead of 7:00 a.m.

The ticket office and visitor center were both closed the park itself was wide open so I ventured in and did the entire loop route.

During the first little hiking trail I bumped into Ted and Shannon my first “people I'm talking with” since Hidden Trails part 1

Ted was a naval submarine Commander and spent many years underwater and Shannon is a recipient of a heart transplant so definitely two very interesting people to meet

They are from Washington State and decided to focus on more traveling. After their visit in this neck of the woods, then they will go to St Louis Missouri where Ted is from and then other interesting places…they may even find a few in the Hidden Trails Blogs 😉

The white sand dunes are absolutely incredible.

Words cannot describe what the eyes can see.

It's just miles and miles of soft white sand dunes

I tried to take as many pictures as I could of different angles and different types of dunes with and without vegetation and I hope you can participate in the excitement with me because it definitely was breathtaking.

I laid down on the Sand by one of the low bushes and took a little nap and this sand is very interesting because it doesn't stick to anything not to your clothes not to your skin not to your shoes so the minute you get up you are sand free

We need to export this sent to all the beaches!!!

OK - here are a TON of pictures....

Here we meet with Ted and Shannon

Missile museum

New Mexico is where all the big bombs and missiles are tested before they go live and this has been happening for many many years. So it is fitting that the Missile Museum be located near the area where the big bombs are detonated.

I put the GPS coordinates in Steele - and he brought me directly into the main entry gates of a big army base where we were stopped of course and frowned upon because we're supposed to park outside the base and then walk into the missile museum although there are no signs so how the hell would anyone know

come on US army -- wake up

They take your driver's license and 20 minutes later, after running a multitude of security checks and background checks - they write you a pass so you can Cross by foot into the museum

The museum has an air conditioned building with the entire history of the development of most of the missiles and bombs used by the army Air Force and Navy and outside they have a 10 acre lot full of artifacts of defense missiles and the crafts that deliver them - things like the phantom jet the Patriot missiles and others.

One thing is very apparent - that humans are extremely capable and creative at developing weapons very fast.

Mechanical calculator used for complex rocket science calculations

Drone to drop bombs on ships

V-rocket

NOT a UFO!!

What the Atom bomb was in

Victoria's Mexican food

My good friend Michael Chioca told me about an amazing restaurant in El Paso, so from the missile museum we launched ourselves to El Paso and visited Victoria's Mexican food restaurant

I ordered what Michael suggested - the fajita beef meat plate - and I was not disappointed.. yes that was a single negative meaning it was AWESOME.

I took one bite of this meat and my eyes rolled because this was the best fajita meat I have ever had anywhere to date.

I just told my wife Ronit that it would make sense to find a cheap ticket to El Paso, fly in for the day, go to Victoria's for lunch and come home just to taste this great Dish. THANK YOU MICHAEL !

There was live music and single man band playing and I “twitched” live feed most of the lunch. Not me eating but more the band playing and the atmosphere.

Where to next??

Lunch was done at about 2:30 p.m. and I was not entirely sure where I should go next.

One option was to travel south right next to the Mexican-American border but safety was a concern and I did not hear back from my sheriff friend so I decided to keep that route for another time.

I drove from El Paso towards Carlsbad and found a beautiful little hotel right next to the caverns where I had toured the second day.

It was such a confusing couple of hours. Switching between Central and Mountain time more than a few times. And just today we crossed between New Mexico and Texas more than once as well.

From this point tonight - I will make a decision if we're going north south or east..

You all will know about what the decision was next blog.

Gnite everyone!!!

BTW - Here are a few pictures from the grocery near my hotel. Actually had a working payphone!!