Yesterday we went to the White Sands National Monument. I had hoped to go early in the morning before it hit 100˚, but CM had read that it is best at night. So we ended up entering the park at around 7pm and we stayed until 10pm. Last night was perfect and I’m sure I will never forget it.

Although you can hike through the park on foot, we chose to drive through it. There are several pull-offs along the route that you can park at and wander off on foot. As it turned out, the first pull-off was the most isolated. The rest always had a lot of people, but there were still amazing views.

We saw the sun set and that’s when things really got interesting. It was almost a full moon and the white sands really reflected the moon’s light. As a result, even though it was dark we could still see for miles. CM and I sat at the top of a dune and let the kids run around. Widget drew pictures in the sand while Midget tried to build a “snow man”.

It was a great night. By 9pm we couldn’t see anyone else on the dunes and the air just howled in our ears. At 9:30 the park ranger stopped by with a friendly reminder that we needed to be out of the park by 10. He was a nice guy and we promised that we’d follow the posted speed limits. We took a little video when we got back to the RV and then we headed home.

Midget and Widget fell asleep instantly. We drove back to the camp site and parked. Everyone was so sleepy that we didn’t even plug in or put out the slideout. We put the kids in their sleeping bags, sand and all.

This morning everyone woke up in a good mood and there’s a layer of sand over everything in the RV. I don’t mind, though. It was a great experience.

Right now we’re at a campground in New Jersey and what a difference it is.

First off, it really was like the movie “RV”. As we drove up, about six people sitting outside their RV and drinking what appeared to be Margaritas started waving and smiling at us. I can be pretty antisocial at times, so that was a little weird for me. CM asked me would I prefer them to be rude and standoffish or drunk and friendly. I chose the latter and when we walked over and introduced ourselves after we had parked.

CM broke two things on the RV already. (I know he’s going to be mad at me for telling you all this, but I think it’s funny.) He broke the handle you use to extend the TV antenna. Then he broke some rubber weather stripping on the slideout. (A slideout is a part of an RV wall that slides out to make the interior wider.)

Midget and Widget hit the ground running. This campground is more like a glorified parking lot and they had tons of space. In the city we don’t let them get any more than ten feet ahead of us on the sidewalk. Here, there were no cars and nothing blocking our view of them, so we just let them run.

Ummm….there are a lot of bugs. They aren’t too scary, but they’re fast. We opened the door for 30 seconds and 2 huge moths flew in. Also, we think that the bugs were small enough to climb in through the window screens. So now we’ve closed the windows and are running the AC.

Last but not least, I think the bathroom is starting to smell. That could become a big problem, but for now I’m going to be optimistic and hope that a couple of air fresheners will clear the odor right up. I’m sure I’ll be posting more about that later.

Have we ever RV’d before?

Maybe that’s a good thing because the answer is — No! It’s true, I haven’t been camping since ‘99 and I have never overnighted in an RV. The same goes for CM. I just wanted to put that out there for those who think that we’re outdoorsy people who like to live off the land. Nope!

We’re just two crazy kids with a dream.