Las Cruces to Tucson

Josh woke up early this morning and went for a run, and we got on the road shortly after that. Unfortunately we only spent maybe three hours with our hosts in Las Cruces, which is definitely the shortest time thus far. We left early because I kind of made a mistake while planning our route: I thought we would hit White Sands National Monument yesterday, but since we went through El Paso we skipped it. We decided to leave really early so we could backtrack and visit it before heading to Tucson!

The dunes were really neat! Josh picked out the highest dune he could see and decided we should climb it.

I thought it was so we could take some nice (and silly) photos ...

... but I learned that it was because he wanted to roll down the dune. I ran down the dune, filling my shoes with sand in the process...

.... and documented Josh's attempt to roll down the hill.

He has been getting sand out of his jacket, eyes, pants, wallet, nose and shoes all day! On our way back west we passed the White Sands Missile Range, and we had to stop because Josh was super excited to visit! The museum was very tiny but the missile park outside was pretty neat.

After visiting the missiles, we continued on to Arizona.

We made it into Tucson around sunset and first stopped by a bike shop so I could have my front tire repaired; it broke a few days ago :( We met our hosts, Kindra and John, shortly after. They live in a cute house and we have our own nice room! They invited us to Chuy's - a different chain from that in Texas - and we met three of their friends, Kindra's brother, her sister and her fiance. We had a few margaritas and called it a night!

My high was seeing Josh tumble down the dunes... I'm not sure why he wanted to do it, but it was really cute! Josh's high was visiting White Sands Missile Range. My low was being so tired so early every day! It's only 9 PM here and I'm ready for bed! Josh's low was getting sand everywhere, including his eyes. Josh's "ho" was seeing yet another Tom's of Maine toothpaste at this host's house :) My "ho" is passing two border patrol stations on our way to and from White Sands: it is the definition of racial profiling!