I joined John for the latter part of his travel fellowship through the Southwest and Mexico. We stopped at a magical place I remembered vaguely from my childhood: White Sands, NM, where the world’s largest gypsum dune field makes for an exceptional alternative to the lack of snow in this part of the world. 275-square miles of pure white vistas was an astounding sight to behold, as was the miraculous sunset light bouncing off these corrugated steel picnic huts. (My fellow ’80s babies will also remember a certain man-band in white linen outfits prancing about here. Perhaps I was inspired by Boyz II Men, but, on a more personal level, an animated gif depicts just how excited I was to to be here.)