Refueled and rooted anew by the love and reality of family in Colorado, I am off to the southern deserts.
My first stop, out of curiosity, is White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, a long days drive from where I departed this morning. This natural wonder is about smack dab in the middle of southern N.M.
An area in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin, it comprises the southern part of a 275 square mile field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. It is the largest gypsum dune field in the world, and rather awesome to frolic in at sunrise.