We left Deming, NM, continuing our eastward trek. We stopped at a rest stop and didn't realize it was THIS rest stop. I've seen this roadrunner 2-3 times while driving by.
Once we got to El Paso, we cut off the I-10 to head east to Carlsbad. It's pretty desolate country out here. This is part of the Guadalupe Mountains, and in front of it is a lake...well, it was a lake, or maybe is a lake sometimes. Not today though. It did show a blue lake on our GPS.
We arrived at our RV site around 1:30. We keep flirting with time zones because we crossed to the Central zone while driving in Texas. But then when we crossed back into New Mexico where Carlsbad is, they're on Mountain time. Just the way the roads work, we drove through a piece of Texas to get here.
Anyway, we enjoyed the afternoon here until the winds came up. So Monday afternoon was quite windy, but yesterday afternoon was crazy windy again.
Yesterday was our day to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. The name has been in my head since I was a kid. My dad used to get National Geographic magazine back in the 1960s, and I would browse through them (probably 8-12 years old). One of the cover stories was about the Carlsbad Caverns. Anyway, we're here! The caverns are in the Guadalupe range.
Gerard is standing in the amphitheatre they use at dusk when the bats come flying out of the cave. And of course the cave entrance is in the background. We went in through there.
Unfortunately, this is the wrong time of year. The bats come out looking for insects, and the insects aren't really buzzing around just yet. It's too early in the year. So they don't start doing that until April. It would be a neat thing to see though.
This is the side of the hill, and the cavern entrance is just below.
There are 2 ways you can go in - walk in through the natural entrance (which we did) or take the elevator down. The elevator goes down 754 feet (about 250 m).
It was difficult to get decent pictures down here unless I had my tripod along (which I didn't). But I got a few. This was a giant column (stalagmite).
This is an old rope ladder still here from the 1920s/1930s when the Carlsbad Caverns were first opened to the public. There are a couple of remnants left here to show people what others used to go through to explore the caves. Yikes.
This was on another column. Rather pretty looking.
A small alcove of smaller stalactites.
Once we got to El Paso, we cut off the I-10 to head east to Carlsbad. It's pretty desolate country out here. This is part of the Guadalupe Mountains, and in front of it is a lake...well, it was a lake, or maybe is a lake sometimes. Not today though. It did show a blue lake on our GPS.
We arrived at our RV site around 1:30. We keep flirting with time zones because we crossed to the Central zone while driving in Texas. But then when we crossed back into New Mexico where Carlsbad is, they're on Mountain time. Just the way the roads work, we drove through a piece of Texas to get here.
Anyway, we enjoyed the afternoon here until the winds came up. So Monday afternoon was quite windy, but yesterday afternoon was crazy windy again.
Yesterday was our day to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. The name has been in my head since I was a kid. My dad used to get National Geographic magazine back in the 1960s, and I would browse through them (probably 8-12 years old). One of the cover stories was about the Carlsbad Caverns. Anyway, we're here! The caverns are in the Guadalupe range.
Gerard is standing in the amphitheatre they use at dusk when the bats come flying out of the cave. And of course the cave entrance is in the background. We went in through there.
Unfortunately, this is the wrong time of year. The bats come out looking for insects, and the insects aren't really buzzing around just yet. It's too early in the year. So they don't start doing that until April. It would be a neat thing to see though.
This is the side of the hill, and the cavern entrance is just below.
There are 2 ways you can go in - walk in through the natural entrance (which we did) or take the elevator down. The elevator goes down 754 feet (about 250 m).
It was difficult to get decent pictures down here unless I had my tripod along (which I didn't). But I got a few. This was a giant column (stalagmite).
This is an old rope ladder still here from the 1920s/1930s when the Carlsbad Caverns were first opened to the public. There are a couple of remnants left here to show people what others used to go through to explore the caves. Yikes.
This was on another column. Rather pretty looking.
A small alcove of smaller stalactites.
All in all, it was a great experience to go through these caverns. The place is absolutely huge, and there's so much more to them not available to the public. National Geographic people are doing more research down further. Definitely the largest we've been through, and we've been through quite a lot. I wouldn't say it was the most beautiful, but certainly worth the side trip. Very cool.
When we were done at the caverns, we went into town to grab a few things and fill up with gas.
Today we're really heading out to find our way home. We're on the road and heading to Amarillo, Texas, for the night. That's at the I-40, so we'll take it east for a while until we get to Oklahoma City, then we'll take I-44 northeast as far as St. Louis and then northeast to Indianapolis. We think we're heading over to I-75 from there because there are no RV places open this time of year in Michigan, that we've found. But we know of one open on I-75 in Ohio. Anyway, we haven't booked anything beyond Amarillo at this point.
We're ready to be home.
Safe travels! Looking forward to seeing you at Wing Night!
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