Day 5- Carlsbad, New Mexico
We must be getting better at this. We were on the road by 9:15. It turned out to be a long, boring day of driving. We went through 2 tank fulls of gas! We arrived at our campground at 4:15, which turned out to be an 8 hour drive because of the time zone change.
I can’t believe how the landscape changed in the time that we drove. We began our day with small mountains and hills which quickly became an arid desert. The roads were flat and straight, going on for hundreds of miles without much to look at except for small bushes and the occasional lone tree. We did drive by a large wind farm with hundreds of windmills near Fort Stockton. Wind power must have been generating a lot of electricity.
The RV park we stayed at in Carlsbad was pretty plain, just like the rest of our sights of the day. A few trees around the edges of the campground. They did have a nice shower/bath facility as well as a dishwashing station for those of us without running water in our campers. The pool was quite nice as well. We all spent some time in and around the water. Did I mention how hot it was? 101 degrees when we had arrived. I was a little worried that our a/c in our pop-up wasn’t going to keep us cool enough to sleep well. But, I forgot how much the temps. drop at night in this region. It was pretty windy, too, so the trailer was rocking around a bit. Thankfully none of us got seasick from it.
Day 6- Carlsbad Caverns
I was happy that the KOA we had stayed in allowed us to keep our camper in their parking lot, so we could easily drive to the Caverns without towing it the whole way. We drove about 45 minutes south (we had passed it the day before). We’re glad that we either brought jeans and/or long sleeves as the brochures had recommended. While it was close to 100 when we arrived, the further we walked down into the caverns, the cooler it became.
We opted to go through the Natural Entrance, but had not been warned to the stench at the entry of the bat cave. The sights inside were spectacular, hard to describe. It was similar to exploring the ocean floor without the water. The formations looked like they could have been part of a movie set. The photos I have seen prior to coming didn’t do them justice. We walked down 750 feet to the bottom. It’s a pretty constant 56 degrees inside and totally silent. Everyone is instructed to whisper since voices carry quite easily. It was an almost spiritual experience.
After reaching the bottom, visitors have a few choices: continue on to the Big Room, exit via the elevator, or hike back up to the top using the same path as entering. The kids decided to take the elevator back up. Ed and I chose to hike it. The large sign warned everyone that it was extremely strenuous, and it was. We stopped a few times during our ascent to catch our breath and to view the sights from the other direction. It only took us 35 minutes to reach the top, while the sign had estimated an hour. Maybe my 5 mile walks most days of the week really had paid off.
We went back to Carlsbad to pick up our camper and headed to Albuquerque. It was a 6 ½ hour drive through landscapes that were essentially differing shades of brown. More barren land for as far as the eyes could see. The only difference than the day before were the plateaus in the distance.
We stopped at a local restaurant called Peppers for dinner as we knew that by the time we got to our site that it would be too late to cook. We had authentic New Mexican food where they ask, “Red, green, or hot red?” meaning what chile sauce do you want drenched over your entrée. We chose green as this is the mildest of the three, and it was still spicy (but tasty). We weren’t too fond of the chili sprinkled tortilla chips or their salsa. I guess we’re just not used to the seasonings that they use.
We arrived at our (desolate) campground at 9:30 pm and set up in the semi-dark. We’re becoming pros at the routine now, so it didn’t take as long as it has in the previous days. Ali and I got ice for the coolers while the boys got the trailer situated. Teamwork!
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