October 22, 2017
Lazydays KOA
Tucson, AZ

We left Bowie and headed west on I-10 today. We drove about 100 miles and arrived in Tucson.

Lazydays KOA is a very nice park with lots of amenities. They have paved roads and gravel sites like any other KOA, but this park is very high end for a KOA.

Nice neat sites with small shade trees....

Very few occupants at this time...

They even have a section where the sites are covered....

We have a regular size pull through.

The temperature has gone up a bit since Las Cruces. Here it's in the mid to low 90s but it is expected to drop to the mid 80s next week.

We will be taking the motor home to Freightliner of AZ tomorrow to get some warranty work done as well as some regular maintenance (6,000 mile check up) so depending on how long that takes we may have to stay in the rig overnight (or two) at Freightliner.... doesn't that sound like fun?

Once we have that behind us we will be back at the KOA and will start doing some sightseeing as well as checking in with Marilyn's cousin, Jean, who lives here. We plan to be here for 3 weeks before making a mad dash to San Diego so we should have plenty of time to see everything here.

October 21, 2017
Mountain View RV Park
Bowie, AZ

We left Las Cruces today and drove 170 miles west on I-10. We experienced heavy winds and passed numerous signs warning drivers what to do in case of a dust storm. Just across the NM-AZ border is the interstate exit known as Bowie, AZ.

This is another RV parking lot. The difference here is there are so few customers that you get to pick your own site. So we chose one between two RVs (windbreak) with two small shade trees.

This is just an over night stay as we work our way to Tucson (tomorrow).

October 18, 2017
White Sands National Monument
NM Museum of Space History
White Sands Missile Range Museum
Alamogordo, NM

Today was sightseeing day. We wanted to hit these 3 sights and lucky for us they were all in the same direction. We left the park at 9am and headed northeast out US Hwy 70. We stopped first at White Sands Missile Range which was 33 miles away, but unfortunately when we got there the Base was in a lock down condition and nobody was going to get in, or out. So we kept going another 30 miles out US 70 to White Sands National Monument.

Visitors Center....

The sand is created from gypsum which makes it very white....

the white sand gives you a feeling of being in snow...

After the White Sands National Monument we drove another 20 miles to the New Mexico Space History Museum. This museum is located in the town of Alamogordo.

The museum sits up on the side of the mountains to the east and looks out towards White Sands Monument. This picture shows the white sand dunes in the distance.

The museum is inside a beautiful building....

There are lots of exhibits and hands on displays. Here is Marilyn flying (crashing) the Shuttle while making a landing...

Beam me up Scotty.....

We had a lot of fun but when you've seen Cape Canaveral and Johnson Space Center, we're spoiled. However, if you're in the area it's a nice place to visit.

After the Space Museum we headed back to White Sands Missile Range to see if the lock down was over. Lucky for us it was. We gave our IDs to the guard and he did a quick background check before letting us walk in to the missile museum.

White Sands is an active Army Base so security is tight.

There are two buildings with exhibits and an outdoor area with all the missile displays.

The main museum building...

This display seemed a little out of place. I believe it shows the local animals and predators...

The V-2 Rocket...

Many of the outdoor pictures did not turn out well because I had to take them into the sunlight. For security purposes I was only allowed to take pictures towards the mountains and away from the base.

This was a really cool museum, especially if your into rockets and of course all the history of this area and coming on to an active base made it a special experience for us.

October 15, 2017
Hacienda RV Resort
Las Cruces, NM

Well this morning we made a last second decision to see if we could skip the next overnight RV park and go straight on to Las Cruces. We were facing two short trips, 100 miles and 80 miles or one longer trip (for us) of 180 miles. I called Hacienda in Las Cruces to see if we could come in a day early and they told us we could. So after a 3 hour trip running south on I-25 through barren country we came into Las Cruces.

Hacienda RV Resort is a very nice park with paved roads and meticulously manicured gravel sites, a club house, laundry, exercise facilities, meeting rooms, business center, and concierge service.

Nice large site with privacy border...

Easy in and out...

Just up the street is a Rally Hall which is a large meeting facility for RV Rallys.

Las Cruces is bordered on all sides by beautiful mountains....

Check out the finely raked gravel ;>)

Believe it or not there is a lot to do here in Las Cruces. We will be here for 6 days and there are 3 places I want to visit.

White Sands National Monument

National Space Hall of Fame

White Sands Missile Range Museum

We are 44 miles north of El Paso, TX and the Mexico border. This is as far south as we will go. When we leave here we will be heading west on I-10 heading towards Tucson and ultimately Southern California.