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Our Practice Run for Retirement
We got a late start as we left Dallas, as Dessa had predicted. I'm glad I listened to her (for many reasons) and booked an overnight stop in Abilene on our way to Carlsbad Caverns. The 500 miles to Carlsbad wouldn’t have been that bad in my G37 (with a little speeding) but when we tow the trailer I only drive 65 mph (and still get less than 10 mpg) so it was going to take us longer and for the most part we weren’t in a big hurry. The drive across Texas is nothing to write home (or blog) about so we won’t.
The first stop after arriving in Carlsbad was of course Walmart (not because we are trailer trash but because people gotta eat) but the next day we went to check out the Caverns. As soon as we turned off the highway on the road to the visitor’s center it was like we were in a different place. It suddenly became quite scenic, so we stopped and took pictures, of flowers of course (and as you will see, the cactus were in bloom and some had bugs on them – Dessa was ecstatic). However, when we made it to the visitor center parking lot, we were dismayed to see lots of school buses. End of year field trips were in full swing. Bummer!!!
We got our tickets and headed for the cavern in an attempt to stay ahead of the middle school groups that were coming. Since they really did not stop to look at anything or read the plaques, they quickly overtook us. As it turned out, there were probably two dozen groups of kids. All noisy and using their phones as flash lights and shining them in our eyes as they passed. Bill had brought his tripod to try to take non-flash photos and he blocked most of the path whenever he used it. This was probably annoying (mostly for Bill because he had to block the kids from knocking it over), but did not keep us from being amazed by the sights (by the way, I got some fantastic shots just hand holding my wonderful camera without using the flash – which also annoyed Bill). Fortunately, all the kids took the basic path and we eventually had the cavern mostly to ourselves. Total hike inside was 2.5 miles (and almost 1000’ down. This cave complex is huge, just the Big Room is 4000’ long, 625’ wide and 255’ high and it isn’t even the biggest of the over 80 Carlsbad caves) and took us 5 hours (a couple hundred 30 sec exposures can really add up). I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to explore the cavern in the early days without the lighting; the paths and the elevator back to the surface.
We spent our 2nd day in the Carlsbad area exploring the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park. It's the #1 thing to do near the city according to Trip Advisor. Carlsbad is a pretty small town so we weren’t expecting much. Bill got to see his first real roadrunner (not quite as fast as the cartoons imply) and we managed to spend several hours taking pictures - all in all a pretty good afternoon.
We headed for Las Cruces the next day. We took a back route, so we could avoid the Interstate for a while. This took us through the Lincoln National Forest (the birthplace of Smoky the Bear). Just as we were exiting the forest we came to a tunnel and Bill had a minor melt down. The tunnel came as a surprise and there was no notification of how high it was. Our trailer is 13.5’ high and Bill had had a previous experience RVing where he had to turn around because a tunnel in Utah didn’t have enough clearance. There was no way we were going to be able to turn around our 60’+ on this 2 lane so he had some reason to be concerned. Fortunately however the clearance was 17’. I guess this is something he will remember to check more carefully during future route selection.
The weather was great and the 50 mile stretch through the Lincoln Forest was such a nice piece of road that we decided to unload the motorcycles when we reached Alamogordo and ride all the way back across. It was a fantastic 100-mile detour of curving roads rising from the desert to the 9000+ alpine forest! To top it off, we stopped at The Old Apple Barn for some great pie. Once back in Alamogordo, we reloaded the bikes and drove the final 90 minutes to the Las Cruces KOA RV Park.
Las Cruces, "The City of the Crosses", is the second largest city in NM with a population of 100,000+. We only had 1 day in town and we spent it driving back to White Sands National Park (just outside of Alamogordo). We had intended to stop here on the way to the RV park, but our spontaneous motorcycle ride the day before had preempted that plan. On the way to White Sands along Hwy 70 we had an interesting experience. The entire eastern side of the Hwy was funneled off into a Border Control checkpoint (and the nearest border is 50 miles south in El Paso). We drove past a dozen or so cameras, a guard with a dog and then pulled up to the final guard who asked if we were both Americans. Bill said yes and they waved us through. I wondered what they would have done if he had told the truth about his Canadian citizenship? :-)
WSNP is 275 square miles of pure white gypsum sand dunes, the largest in the world. Our first glimpse of it the day before as we drove down out of the Lincoln Forest was amazing - that bright white sand set within the broader brown and scrub brush of the desert landscape. It was such a contrast!
Besides hiking, the park suggested sledding. Bill is an old hat at tobogganing from his winter childhood in Canada but since the cold is not really my thing, this type of sledding sounded better. We bought a saucer and wax at the visitor center and headed for the back of the park for our hike and some hills.
We opted to take the longest hike, which was 5 miles. It was noon by the time we got started, and already getting pretty hot. We had seen signs saying not to hike during the hot part of the day but what the heck. After the first few dunes, I was having second thoughts. It was really hard to climb up the dunes, but on we went. (we managed to find several of the local earless white lizards and even some desert scrub flowers but they weren’t pretty enough for Dessa to photograph)
Somewhere out there, were flats that used to be full of water, where all the sand was created. It was pretty cool feeling like we were the only people on earth out there. We could see nothing but dunes in every direction, with mountains in the distance. The clouds would cover the sun and cast rolling shadows on the sand. By the time we reached the flats at Mile 2, the wind had started to blow and we were getting sand blasted every time we crested a dune. Too late to quit now, the path turned back towards the parking lot, and now the sand was blowing in our faces, mouths and ears. We could begin to understand how people who get lost in the desert end up sun burnt and wind burnt with those awful cracked lips. In our case we ended up a little thirsty and with nostrils and lungs (and a truck) full of sand. We eventually trudged all the way back, staying in the dune valleys as much as possible to avoid the worst of the sand blowing wind.
Even though we were exhausted from our hike, we headed for the large dunes near the parking lot to try out our new saucer. This of course meant hiking back up the dune so we could slide down. Although not as fast as tobogganing, according to Bill, we both did it half a dozen times and had fun. We were definitely whipped as we got back into the truck and headed home.
After a much needed shower and a couple of beers, we went to Old Mesilla for dinner (about 5 miles from the campground). This tiny town was once the capital of the Arizona Territory and has some interesting history (it was here that Billy the Kid was tried and hanged). We went to Pepper’s Café for dinner. It was in a beautiful heritage building, is supposedly haunted, and claimed to have the Worlds Largest Green Chile Cheeseburger. That is what we ordered and it was delish.
New Mexico is the 5th largest state but with a population of only 2 million. There are a lot more things to do and see than we have had time for so we will likely be back in the fall. For now, it’s time to get back into our Covered Wagon and head west for Tucson.
- comments
Ashlee Looks like yall had fun! And got more of a tan! Haha. Hunter misses yall!
Bill and Dessa Barnes We miss him too, and everybody else of course. :-)