Brantley Lake State Park - Carlsbad, NM

Draperies

Up at 5:00, packed and on the road by 6:30.  We watched the sunrise on the Chisos Mountains; we were the only ones on the road till we got to Fort Stockton, then we started picking up some truck traffic, as we entered into the Fracking Capital of the world.  Hugh trucks carrying oil rigs, and water trucks, and brine trucks, flatbeds...you name it.  By the time we got to Pecos, we were stopped as they were moving one of those portable offices: 100 ft long, two lanes wide.  All traffic stopped in both directions as they moved it across the I-20 overpass.  Well, that added a half hour to the drive.  As we got to Carlsbad, we realized we should have turned off 25 miles back, that added another half hour to our drive. But wait, we switched from Central time in Texas to Mountain time in New Mexico, and gained an hour.  We arrived at Carlsbad Caverns right in time.  With the temperature at about 90, we were able to kennel Drex at the Visiter’s Center while we explored the cavern.  We took the elevator down the 750 ft and walked the mile and a half of walkway.  They have done a fantastic job of lighting the more interesting details.  Deb and I kept seeing ghoulish figures in the rocks! From nasty old men to mummies.  We could have taken the elevator back, but Deb’s Fitbit was calling her...take the one mile hike to the Natural Entrance (the Fitbit did not remind her that we had come down 750 ft, however).  It was a great hike, and cool!

Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom

Back on earth, we stopped at Walmart, ran the generator so we could have some A/C.  The generator appeared to have overheated and shutdown, fortunately Deb was in the RV and made the necessary adjustments, but having the generator quit is troubling...we’ll see what happens.

Our routine is to sit outside, once we arrive...but recently it’s been way too hot for that so we had coffee and bagels in the morning this time, before the heat of the day.  It’s off to Santa Fe KOA for laundry, and the pool!