Bottle 1: White Sands, New Mexico

Every year I get about a week off for winter break. Without fail I go back home to Los Angeles, since to do otherwise would kill my mother.  2007 was a rough year for various reasons and each day I thought about just getting in my car and going.  Anywhere.

So I thought, what better way to satisfy my wanderlust than by driving home for Christmas. The bonus would be having a car to get around a decidedly commuter city.  It all worked out so well in my head.  By the time I reached my mom two days later I was a bawling, mildly psychotic, hopped up on Red Bull and Hershey’s Kisses mess.

My one and only tip to solo chicas (or chicos) driving halfway across the country by yourself: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF REST STOPS! They are there for a reason. There are also not nearly enough, at least on Hwy 10. So even if you aren’t sleepy, pull over whenever you see one, park your car, lock your doors, and close your eyes.  Also empty the bladder, even if it’s just a drop.  100 miles later you’ll thank me for both.

It also helps not to take a 3 hour side trip to a national park, but sometimes it’s worth it. When I decided on collecting sand (the second time around). I thought, what better way to start than with a place that’s actually named after it’s notorious sand?  So off the 10 and straight to White Sands I was.

A good hour and a half later I was there.  I paid my fee to get in and parked.  Despite the crystal clear skies, it was winter and deceptively freezing.  The white sand actually glittered like wet snow, making me feel like I was back in Mammoth, where I used to “ski” (i.e. put on skis, ride down the bunny slope, and spend the rest of the day drinking hot cocoa and playing cards inside) as a girl.

The photo doesn't do it justice. In reality the sand was a pristine white.

I made my way up the hill only to be met with my first sand collecting obstacle.

I fought the law.

I have no reason as to why the US government would be opposed to it citizens nabbing a tiny bit, or bottle, of memories. I chose to interpret this prohibition as preventing full scale recreating-a-white-sand-beach-in-my-backyard-so-I’m-filling-the-back-of-my-truck-with-it sort of prohibition, which would naturally cause a dent eventually. So like all laws that make no sense to me, I chose to bend it.*

I quickly filled my very small, innocuous, insubstantial, hardly making a dent, bottle with sand before some family from Idaho (or wherever) came over the dune.  I stashed it under my seat in the car and decided to enjoy my first “white winter” in a long time by making “snow” angels.

But LA was still a day’s drive away so off I soon went.  After napping in my car and taking a bathroom break in the tourist shop.  Naturally.

*Although I am a firm believer in fighting authority at every given chance, I will try to avoid the advocation of breaking the law in my blog. Anyone who sees my doing so as “advice” or a “suggestion” or anything like that doe so at their own risk.

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