Saturday Summary - Week 18 - White Sands, Old Friends, and The City Different

Mar 1st - Mar 6th - Tularosa, NM (70’s) → Albuquerque, NM (80’s) → Santa Fe, NM (60’s) → Gallup, NM (50's)

Another week in New Mexico, we’ve been here a long time. After being in one place for two weeks, every day this week looked completely different from the one before it. We went from running down white gypsum dunes at White Sands National Park to reconnecting with a high school friend in Albuquerque, to making new friends and wandering art galleries and bookstores in Santa Fe, before finishing the week surrounded by red-rock desert outside Gallup.

White Sand That Isn’t Really Sand

Saturday morning, we left Las Cruces, ran a few errands, and did something that felt oddly momentous: we washed the bus. Somehow, months on the road had passed before it ever felt necessary. Seeing it clean again made the whole thing feel a little more official, like the bus appreciated the effort, even if that’s probably just my imagination.

With no real overnight plan, we drove toward White Sands National Park.

If you’ve never seen White Sands, it’s hard to describe just how surreal it feels. The dunes stretch across the Tularosa Basin for 275 square miles, forming the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. Unlike normal sand, gypsum doesn’t hold heat, so even under the desert sun the dunes stay surprisingly cool under your feet. If you dig with your feet, the sand is actually wet underneath and very cool.  It looks like winter in the middle of the desert.

We ran down one of the dunes, which was incredibly fun on the way down and… considerably less fun on the way back up. The sand kept sliding under our feet. I eventually had to crawl the last ten feet because every step forward meant sliding two steps back. For a moment, I was convinced Lucky might stage a protest halfway up the dune, but she powered through like the road dog she is.

We also had one of those unexpected road moments: we ran into Dianna, someone we had met weeks earlier at Mustang Island State Park. Meeting someone again out here (completely by chance) made the traveling world feel very small.

Afterward, we grabbed a simple lunch in Alamogordo and debated our next move: hot springs in Truth or Consequences, camping nearby to return for sunset, or pushing north. We chose north. On the way, we stopped at McGinn's PistachioLand, bought a bag of pistachios, and skipped the famous pistachio ice cream because the line was long and the mood wasn’t quite there.

That night, we landed at Tularosa Vineyards through Harvest Hosts. New Mexico actually has surprisingly strong wine-growing conditions. High altitude, scorching days, and cold desert nights create the same kind of challenging but productive environment you find in places like Mendoza, Argentina. Even funnier, the winery was started by someone from the Finger Lakes region.

The kids grew up having Fall Fun at Wickham Farms Pick n Patch in Flint, NY. Standing in a vineyard in southern New Mexico, hearing that name again was one of those moments where the world suddenly feels very small. We ended the evening flying the drone and watching a beautiful desert sunset that evening.

Ancient Stories in Stone

On our way toward Albuquerque Sunday morning, we stopped at the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site. This area holds more than 21,000 petroglyphs. Animals, masks, handprints, spirals, geometric patterns, an entire visual language etched into dark volcanic rock across 50 acres of desert hillside. Lucky had to stay behind for this walk, which actually worked out well. It was chilly, and the trail climbs over rocks that definitely shouldn’t have dog paws (or human feet) stepping on the carvings. It was one of those places where you can feel the weight of time. Wind, rain, and blazing sun have passed over these stones for centuries, and the images remain.

Albuquerque: Old Friends and Route 66

We arrived in Albuquerque early enough to explore a bit before meeting Lara. First stop: Old Town Albuquerque, where we unknowingly ordered a classic New Mexico snack, theFrito pie. Apparently, that’s something you’re supposed to eat here.

The streets were lively because Sunday apparently means classic car cruising. Custom engines, motorcycles, and people slowly driving loops just to show off their rides. We also stopped by the Route 66 sculpture in Nob Hill, Albuquerque, part of a public art project celebrating the upcoming Route 66 centennial. Visitors can actually sit in a vintage truck sculpture beneath the iconic sign.

Then we met Lara and Todd at La Cumbre Brewing Co.. Seeing someone for the first time since shortly after high school is a strange thing, it feels unfamiliar for about five minutes and then suddenly completely normal. We fell right back into conversation like no time had passed. Don and Todd had plenty to talk about too. Our campsite that night was at Coronado Campground, which turned out to be a great find. Every site has its own little adobe shelter with a picnic table, perfect desert architecture.

Monday turned out to be one of the most memorable days of the trip. Lara picked me up at the campground, and she worked on a little project inside the bus. Near our refrigerator, there are a few small ventilation holes in the wall that have always looked like a beehive to me.

Since Lara just happens to be the President of the New Mexico Beekeepers Association and the lead beekeeper at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, I asked her to paint a beehive design around them. She did, and now there’s a beautiful little mural inside the bus that will always remind me of that afternoon.

We had lunch at the legendary Casa de Benavidez, a family-run restaurant that began as a tiny three-table takeout spot decades ago and grew into one of the city’s best-known New Mexican restaurants.

Then Lara took me on a behind-the-scenes tour at Los Poblanos. We toured lavender fields, distillation spaces, and the bee operations. I learned more about pollinators in one afternoon than I probably had in my entire life before. I also left with a lavender-infused gin and lavender bug spray, two things I didn’t know I needed but now fully support.

The City Different

Tuesday, we headed north to Santa Fe, known as “The City Different.”

Sitting at over 7,000 feet, it’s actually higher than Denver and the highest state capital in the United States. Somehow, the altitude hadn’t bothered me, probably because we’ve slowly been climbing higher and higher during the trip. We first stayed with Steve’s cousin David and his wife, Christa, whose home sits in the foothills beneath Atalaya Mountain. Christa and I squeezed in a quick hike before dinner. That night, we had an incredible meal (burgers and calabacitas) with beef raised on their own farm. We didn’t want to overstay our welcome, though. I always prefer people saying “I wish they had stayed longer” rather than “we couldn’t get them to leave.”

For the next two nights, we stayed in a small rental in the center of town. Santa Fe surprised me. The city has deep Indigenous and Spanish roots dating back centuries, and today it’s one of the country's largest art markets, with more than 250 galleries. The architecture, the culture, the mountains, the food: it’s easy to see why so many people fall in love with it. Our first evening, we had fantastic pizza at Upper Crust Pizza and cocktails at Tonic Santa Fe.

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Thursday we spent the whole day exploring. Breakfast at The Pantry Rio introduced us to two local staples: green chile enchiladas and blue corn pancakes. New Mexico takes its chile seriously; servers often ask “red, green, or Christmas?” meaning which sauce you want. “Christmas” means both. We wandered around the Santa Fe Plaza, talked with Native artisans setting up their stalls, and bought a small sand painting of a roadrunner.

Ever since we saw our first real roadrunner in Texas, the symbol has followed us around. Now one lives with us in the bus. Later, we explored Canyon Road, Santa Fe, where more than 100 galleries line a half-mile stretch of historic adobe homes. My favorite stop was the wind sculptures at Wiford Gallery, the kinetic pieces by Lyman Whitaker spin gracefully in the desert wind.

We also found two perfect little bookstores: Travel Bug Bookstore & Café and Palace Avenue Books, which felt like wandering through a book-lover’s attic. By the time we made it to the Santa Fe Railyard District, our feet were exhausted. Back at the house, we did something very practical: laundry and meal prep. Three loads of laundry and a week or two of food cooked and packed into bus-sized portions. The last time we had that luxury was at Abi’s house in Tennessee… in November. We've been on the road a long time!

Red Rocks and the Open Road

Friday, we headed west toward Red Rock Park, just outside Gallup. Along the way, we chased small Route 66 moments, including a giant drive-through Route 66 sign in Grants, and drove a stretch of the historic highway itself. The landscape slowly shifted to the dramatic red rock formations of the Colorado Plateau, with cliffs glowing in the late afternoon sun. The park sits near ancient Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites dating back to around 300 AD, reminding you that people have lived and traveled these lands for a very long time. We tried flying the drone, though the desert wind fought us most of the time. I had hoped to hike, but various stray dogs were wandering near our campsite, and one clearly had strong opinions about Lucky’s presence. So we skipped the trail and spent the evening catching up on journaling instead. Not happy to miss the beautiful hike, but happy to relax with the amazing view.