California or Bust…
Day 8 – Carlsbad, New Mexico
Saturday, October 29, 2011
I know you have all been waiting for our next KeyZRV post... but we have not been in touch with civilization. Finally you can read Day 8...
Here we are in Balmorhea State Park, a refreshing Texas oasis… how could that be??? Balmorhea is located in the desert flatlands of West Texas and is popular for its San Solomon Springs. For thousands of years, this spring provided water for Native Americans and later, for Spanish explorers and soldiers. Today, the park’s deep pool over the spring attracts swimmers and divers. The park was already busy with about ten divers preparing for certification. We saw a cotton tail rabbit last night and a roadrunner this morning.
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| Sunrise on the Mesa from our bedroom window. |
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| ROADRUNNER... "if he catches you, your'e thru" |
We left the Park about 9:30am and headed North on Highway 17… nothing but oil wells, yucca trees and deserted sheet metal buildings. Gassed up in Pecos, Texas (home of the first rodeo) along the Texas Pecos Trail and stopped at La Nortena for some world famous tamales which they sell by the dozen and a “tongue in cheek burrito” with pico de gallo and fresh avocado…. OMG… so good and just spicy enough!
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| Just had to stop! |
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| Hand made tamales... spicy chicken or red beef |
We’re driving North in Texas to the border of New Mexico… where there is a lot of nothing as far as you can see. The sky is full of contrails in every direction. Drew stopped and took some pictures of a ghost town, where the whole town of Orla had moved in 1931 to its new location off Hwy. 652. Drew said it was full of really good junk… old mason jars, car jacks, kitchen sinks, etc. He could have spent hours there!
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| Orla, Texas |
Just crossed the border and we gained an hour… now on Mountain Standard Time. A new crop of oil wells pumping away in New Mexico as we continued across the Chihuahuan Desert. We drove about 30 miles North and then took a “shortcut” winding road through Black River Village over to the National Park Highway and White’s City… the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. White’s City was named after the young man that discovered the caverns in 1890 when he saw what he thought was smoke… but was actually thousands of bats. White thought there must be an awful big cave to house all those bats… and that is how he found the caverns. He spent years exploring and taking tourists to the depths of the caverns using lanterns and wooden ladders. Today the caverns are managed by the US National Park system where there are miles of beautiful paved paths with handrails. Upon entering the cavern, you walk down a mile and a quarter switchback path which takes you down 750 feet from the surface. Words or pictures cannot describe the awesome beauty and eerie feeling of the caverns… some rooms are ¼ of a mile wide. There are giant stalactites and stalagmites that have been formed one water droplet at a time over thousands of years. I visited Carlsbad with my parents over 40 years ago and I pondered if any of the formations had actually changed… things that make you go hummmm.
At the end of the two hour walk, there is an elevator that takes you back up the 750 ft. Thank goodness we didn’t have to walk back out. The caverns are well worth the effort to get there… amazing!!!
We drove another 35 miles, just past the town of Carlsbad, to the Carlsbad KOA around 5:00 pm… a total of 192 miles for the day. The KOA was very nice, clean and we were greeted by a friendly staff and Don, who guided us to our space. Brigit and Riley enjoyed running and playing at the grassy Kamp K9. The KOA hosts suggested we keep a tight leash on the dogs because there are quite a few resident rabbits that you could get pretty close to. Drew nicked named them… Francaise, Marsala, Picatta and Cheech and Chong… the two that will be fried with a little herb. Okay… I guess we’ll have to wait until The Farmhouse Restaurant in Sonoma to eat Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit.
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| Our evening visitors. |
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