Thoughts

Opinions - Reflections - Meditations

Projects

CS - Design - Misc

Travels

Adventures on Earth

Hear about how we stumbled upon Los Alamos National Laboratory in a suspicious U-Haul, swam across White Sands National Park, and avoided missile ranges — all to fix a broken car.


Travel advice: if you found yourself in a U-Haul driving through the [Los Alamos National Laboratory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alamos_National_Laboratory) in New Mexico — home of the Manhattan Project — the military officer at the gate will tell you to turn around. Shucks, because the way back is 50 miles of winding mountainous roads. The trick is to put on an innocent, lost face and politely ask them to search through your truck. And if you're the average Joe who doesn't carry explosives for leisure, they'll let you through fine! This is a proven technique, and you just saved extra commute by short-cutting through this remote research site hidden in the New Mexico Jemez Mountains range.

This was part of a mini road trip my friends and I took from Padre Island, TX to Denver, CO. I plotted for you what our route roughly looked like. It wasn't the most direct path by any means. But we got our hands on a cool 15' U-Haul truck with our car in tow, so why not live it up and explore the corners of Southwest America at a generous 12 MPG?

![Map of the route we took from TX to CO.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/route.png)

Why the U-Haul? Our car, the trusted 2014 Subaru Outback (yes, [the one we traversed the Continental Divide in](/posts/trail-ridge-road)) died two hours into this trip. The car's had trouble before, but I guess after it saw the ludicrous GPS route we plotted, it decided to cash in on its PTO.

Our only other option was to fly home and ship the car back (jetBlue wouldn't let us count the SUV as extra check-in luggage). But this kills the adventure we had planned and shipping a car isn't cheap. So we put our management-consulting-striving-cost-cutting-analyzing brains together and realized that the blunt of the cost was having a service transport our car from TX to CO (over 1,000 miles!). Bootstrapping hustlers we are, why don't we do that ourselves and avoid the equity dilution?

![Fitting right in at the U-Haul rental center.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/u-haul-rental.jpeg)

Luckily, there were U-Haul rental sites near our car's death bed. Probably the youngest customers at the rental desk, we saw the hesitation in the representatives eyes as she calculated the likelihood that these three nomadic 20-year-olds would return their truck in one piece. Fate had the odds in our favor, and we got the keys an hour later.

![Loading our SUV onto the U-Haul trailer.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/loading-car.gif)

Give a few college boys keys to a truck-trailer, and where do they go? Roswell — we really wanted to find the aliens. Our first destination and our stay for the first night was at a campsite just outside of where those from planet Xiashiavenith landed. We had brunch at a McDonalds shaped like a saucer.

![Shenanigans at Roswell.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/roswell.jpeg)

We set sail for the natural wonders of White Sands National Park, and the less-than-natural military bases that encircle the park.

![The vast, endless white dunes.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/white-sands.jpeg)

Advice for travelers: the endless rolling sand dunes are deceptively repetitive. If you think you know where you are, you probably don't. We almost got lost between these sandy peaks, but the fun we had swimming through the soft terrain wouldn't have made that so bad.

![Swimming at White Sands National Park.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/swimming-in-sand.gif)

But if you do get lost, there's a few military bases surrounding the National Park that can help guide the way. They are known to post helpful road signs for the curious traveler.

![Road signs signifying nearby military bases.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/military.jpeg)

For that night, and most nights on this trip, we discovered the convenience of essentially having a mobile home. The 15' truck offered plenty of first-class sleeping quarters in the back. Sleeping pads are _highly_ recommended.

![Our sleeping arrangements in the back of the U-Haul.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/shelter.jpeg)

Over a thousand miles of driving later through mountain ranges, forests, deserts, towns tiny and big, gas low and full, campgrounds legal and illegal, we made it into Colorado. Our final memorable destination was the [Rio Grande Gorge Bridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande_Gorge_Bridge), a unique divide that separates Eastern and Western United States.

![The immense height of the Gorge Bridge.](../assets/post-images/u-haul/gorge.jpeg)

This rather comical trip did teach us important things. We learned that there's often crafty ways to solve stubborn problems. The "unconventional" is only so because most people don't stretch beyond their comfort zones. We learned that adventure lies at every corner of the world, under every small rock alongside unbeaten paths. Our journey was certainly not about the destination, but about how we chose to spend each mile we traversed, and how we avoided running out of gas multiple times.


Avoiding military bases in a U-Haul

Drone adventures atop of New Hampshire's dense forestry.


New Hampshire is the home for my college experience at Dartmouth College. Mount Cardigan is one of many lovely peaks in the state. We took a short hike up with our drone for sunset.

<figure>
  <iframe width="100%" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/75YFaQbvLns?start=73" title="Cardigan YouTube video" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</figure>


Mount Cardigan, NH


I'll write about this adventure soon! In the meantime, check out the other tales.

- [Avoiding military bases in a U-Haul](/posts/u-haul)
- [Drone shots on Mount Cardigan, NH](/posts/mount-cardigan)
- [Traversing the highest continuous paved road in America](/posts/trail-ridge-road)


Journey to the East

School would definitely be closed on snow days.


A bridge between Eastern and Western United States, Trail Ridge Road traverses over the Rocky Mountains' Continental Divide as the highest continuous paved road in the United States. It's a moderately winding path that sneaks between breathtaking, impenetrable 14ers flanking on both sides.

![3D view of the road's path.](../assets/post-images/trail-ridge-road/path.gif)

We took our Subaru for a workout, driving up the more than 3,000 foot elevation gain. None of us flexed our NASCAR skills, however, as the road was tightly hugged by sheer cliff dropoffs — guardrails are not welcomed here. Some mountain martial arts was on the agenda, though.

![Martial arts at 10,000 feet.](../assets/post-images/trail-ridge-road/martial-arts.jpg)

At around 11,000 feet, we appreciated a whole new perspective of the Rocky Mountains. During most visits to this grand range, all the peaks tower above you in domineering awe. Yet here, we stood among them on an equal plane. Viewing the park in this top-down way truly conveyed its grandeur.

![A top-down view of the national park.](../assets/post-images/trail-ridge-road/perspective.jpg)

There still were, of course, many peaks that towered far above us. My camera offers them the most respect.

![Pictures of Rocky Mountains' peaks.](../assets/post-images/trail-ridge-road/mountains.jpg)

This excursion was part of my Colorado adventures in the spring of 2021.


Ziray
Hao

Home

Thoughts

Projects

Travels

Travels

Avoiding military bases in a U-Haul

Mount Cardigan, NH

Journey to the East

The highest continuous paved road in America

Big and bendy adventures in TX

Sandy steps

Journey to the West

ZirayHao

Travels

Ziray
Hao