6 Months Part Duex and Alamogordo

Yes, our last post was our 6 month post.  Well, really our 6 month video post, but we knew when we put it up that we also wanted to do a text post and we are at least three weeks behind on stops.  🙂  So, let’s start with the 6 months on the road.

We’ve said this before, but our original plan had always been to spend a year traveling the country and then settle down somewhere.  Sean has always loved Florida and is an avid diver.  Sherry loves warm weather and Florida, so Florida has always been our number one potential landing spot.  Our travels have made us add possible ‘permanent’ locations such as Montana near Glacier National Park.  We had always planned on spending the winter in Florida then using the last few months of our ‘year’ to travel up the East coast.  Well, even the best laid plans can change, and we have prided ourselves on saying we will take life as it comes and enjoy it.  While in Nevada, we were contacted by an RV park/resort in Florida to stay for the winter and join a team of work-campers.  The RV park is gorgeous and right in one of our primary ‘settle down’ locations.  Sherry had been looking at several spots for teaching opportunities, and this area was top on the list.  It is also in a great location for diving.  Hmmm.  Well, we shouldn’t put the cart before the horse as they say.  We did accept the position, it too good to pass up. Sherry will be looking for teaching positions, and we will see what happens.  We have talked a lot about how much we enjoy this life and how hard it would be to change things up and get ‘normal’ again.  The worst part would be not being around each other 24/7.  Yes, seriously, we love the time together and would miss it a lot.  So, at 6 months we are loving what we are doing but also contemplating more change. We will see.  We have also laughed and said that if the ‘worst’ case is we continue to travel then ‘Oh Well’.  One final thought: as we write this we are sitting in Destin, Florida.  Technically, we have come full circle because for spring break this year in March we came to Destin to ‘test’ our lifestyle before selling our house.

When we arrived, this time, we did a quick set-up and then drove to the beach.  It was calling to us!  Just a few minutes on the sand, staring at the ocean was incredibly cathartic.  We talked about our journey from ocean to Mountains and all the land in between.  This is truly a beautiful country and we are immensely lucky to have discovered a good part of it.  Who knows what the future will bring.  Carpe Diem!

Worlds Largest Pistachio

 

Now, about Alamogordo.  While staying in Roswell, we were looking for other places to visit and decided Alamogordo would be perfect.  It was only a few hours away and we both wanted to see the white sands.  Wow, we are so sad that we didn’t have more time to stay!  After a drive across one of the central mountain ranges in New Mexico, we were soon at our new RV park (Boot Hill Resort – GREAT park and location!) and able to see the sands a little less than 20 miles off.  We unhooked and drove off to see what we could see.  Driving up to the White Sands monument we were amused to see signs that said the highway may be shut down during missile testing.  That was new for us.

There is a single road into the park that led off to the dunes in the distance.  It was remarkable to watch the desert scrub gradually disappear to be taken over by… well, white sand.  It looked so much like snow and snow dunes that we were caught up in the weirdness of a warm day and what appeared to be snow.  In fact, we were really caught off guard when we rounded a corner to see a sign say the paved road ended.  The road continued, but was now plowed sand.  Wow, so much like a Midwest snow scene…. Minus the houses, trees, well, you know.  Then, we saw fellow explorers and kids using ‘snow’ sleds to slide down the face of several dunes.   Too much fun!  We drove as far as we could, got out and walked through and on some of the dunes.  Sherry just loved it and we quickly decided to come back the next day and take some photos.  Since Sherry models on the side, we made it a glamour photo shoot.  Amazing scenery.

Photo shoot – White Sands

While in Alamogordo, we also went out to the Space Museum, saw the worlds largest pistachio, drank some wine, and realized we had to come back.  There is so much more we want to see and explore in this amazing place that we have moved it up our list of must return places.  So far: Montana, Alamogordo and the Grand Canyon….  Hmmm,  regardless of whether we give up the ‘full time’ life, we still have so much we want to see, but we are truly grateful for what we’ve done so far.

Alamogorda, NM – NASA museum

White Sands, Alamogorda, NM

After leaving Alamogordo, we had a quick dash across the state and into Texas.  We had plans to spend a few weeks in Dallas and see Sean’s daughter and son-in-law.  We stopped a few times; one stop in Amarillo was extended a day because of winds over 40 MPH and gusting to 60 MPH.  Crazy!  We used the time to catch up on work and also visit the Cadillac Ranch.

Cadillac Ranch – Texas

This was an amazing piece of ‘Americana’. A row of old caddy’s hoods buried in the soil.  Visitors were encouraged to bring paint and ‘tag’ the cars.  Sherry put a sweet love note on one and also an advertisement for loveyphoto.com.  🙂

We have more videos coming, so stay tuned for more updates on our 6 months on the road series!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Happy travels!

If you haven’t already, visit our website to view all our travel photography at:

http://www.loveyphotography.com/Traveling-Photography