Captain's Log Day 2 - Mapping New Mexico

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Morning came early but it was OK because we were able to get a good night's sleep. At least I did. My snoring prevented the wife from having a great sleep but what can I do? It's dry here. We still didn't know exactly where we were going today other than we knew it was New Mexico. We decided the best way to figure it out would be to do it over some coffee and pancakes. What better place to do all of that then a retro 50's diner in Flagstaff, Arizona?

Lucky for us, there happened to be one of those very things in Flagstaff called Galaxy diner, a place where they had an Elvis Banana split with peanut butter, bananas and bacon and over 100 different milkshakes. We ordered breakfast and after a short discussions, decided we wanted to start the next leg going to Alamogordo, NM home of the White Sands National Monument. Never heard of it? Me either. It was Meliss' idea and was something she thought sounded fun. Who am I to argue, and even if I did I wasn't going to win.

So we paid our respects to the King and went on our way to Alamogordo with our spirits high and our brains no longer mush. I wish there were more to say about the rest of Arizona but there really isn't much to tell. Flagstaff was much more wooded then we thought it would be but the rest of the landscape didn't leave much to behold. We did pass a tumbleweed though which is something to write about, especially since it was the only thing close to wildlife that we encountered on the road thus far.

I switched over to driving right before the New Mexico border and I must have been distracted by the sheer job of being out of Arizona that I didn't notice the police offer sitting in the median to the left. I was only going 80 MPH and the speed limit was 75, surely he wasn't going to pull me over for going a mere five miles over the limit, right? Unfortunately I was wrong. Not only about him not pulling me over, but also about the speed limit being 75. Somewhere along the way, it had switched and I overlooked it. Fortunately for me, the cop was cool and let me off with a warning. No more speeding through New Mexico.

The journey through New Mexico continued as did the vast nothingness of the landscape that I thought we had left behind in Arizona. There were some pretty spots, like the mountains in the background and the yellow trees that stuck out like a neon light, but that was about it. We kept ourselves entertained by listening to a book on CD and talking about our next stop. We knew we weren't going to make it to the sand dunes in time to see anything but we talked about what the next day would bring.

The best part of the leg happened on the stretch of road between Albuquerque and Alamogordo where we happened upon an amazing sunset. Took some great pictures and advanced onward. We finally reached Alamogordo around 6 and being that it was obviously dark we drove right past the world's largest pistachio nut without a picture. Wife not happy. We found a small local motel with good reviews and decided to crash there for the night. A good meal at a sushi restaurant and then it was time for bed, another day down. We hadn't done or seen much but we were that much closer to home and had a big day ahead of us. White sands await.

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