Carlsbad, New Mexico...here we come! It was a perfect day for traveling under blue skies and temperatures at 80F (26.6C). With 2,002 miles under our belt, we were venturing into a new state and a new time zone. Our watches went back another hour to Mountain Time and we were officially two hours behind the clock in Florida, which was in Eastern Time.
By noon on April 26th, the temperatures started to climb to 95F (35C) and driving conditions began to change. The daytime sizzle from a desert climate can create small to large updrafts of tremendous heat which climb skyward into cooler air above. These vertical winds pick up the dry sand from the ground (and anything else light enough) and form whirlwinds, known as dust devils (or many other names all over the world). Now a motor home (or, for that matter, a semi truck, large van, etc.) is not exactly the most aerodynamical vehicle, so when it becomes windy enough, you can feel the vehicle being pushed from side to side. We felt this happening as we noticed the winds began to increase with gusts of 40-50mph (we used iPhone apps, "The Weather Channel" for destination checks and "Radar Cast" for live NOAA radar during our journey). Then, advisory signs put us on higher alert.
Lucky for us (and all other drivers on that road), the storm wasn't huge and just as quickly as we entered it, it allowed us to exit unharmed. Phew! The humbling of mother nature never ceases to amaze me.
That day I saw my first tumbleweed blow across our path. Then we came upon the small village of Pecos on highway US17 north. Covering only 1.7 square miles (4.4 km squared) and sitting on the bank of the Pecos River, Pecos didn't offer much to see except lots of dust. All I could think about while driving through this tiny village were the old American western movies I watch and how women were constantly sweeping dust out their front doors. Now I know why. We were now headed "West of the Pecos", a famous term that referenced anyplace west of the Pecos River as desolate, wild and rugged.
The winds that blew through Pecos not only picked up huge amounts of dust, it carried tin roofs with it. I thought this was an interesting way to keep roofs in place while making use of old, used tires.
Our next stop came into view. As the men checked in at registration, Janet and I played a little in the gift shop.
This campsite was called a "buddy site" and allowed for two large rigs like ours to park end on end. At $42.00 US a night (after a Good Sam discount), it was roomy enough and long enough. I was amazed at the range of landscape and weather we had experienced thus far on our journey. We had traveled from lush green forests to barren dust and endured floods of rain to sand storms...and we had only just begun.
Nothing says home more than good food and we certainly weren't roughing it. Ralph set up his outdoor kitchen and made beef shish kabobs with tomatillos and veggies while Janet made rice pilaf. Rick and I prepared our dining room table inside our rig (complete with LED candles) and the four of us enjoyed a tasty meal indoors that night.
The next morning it was 44F (6.6C), sunny and windy. Rick and I took an early walk around the campground and had a little fun. We even found a live baby turtle zoo.
Then we four set off to see Carlsbad Caverns.
I was always in awe at the variety and colors of flowers we found along our journeys.
This was the amphitheater for viewing hundreds of thousands of Brazilian Free Tailed bats as they exited the cave during the months of May through October, around dusk. These bats enter the night in mass to find food. The program called Bat Flight Program is a special event and requires inquiry in advance.
As luck would have it, the elevator that descended from the visitor center level of the caverns to the very bottom (the Big Room trail) and back was inoperative for maintenance until the end of May. So the only way in and out of the caverns was via the large, historic natural entrance. The route itself followed the traditional explores' trail and descended 800 feet into the Earth following steep and narrow trails through a tall spacious trunk passage called the Main Corridor.
Looking down into the mouth, the walkway disappeared deep into the dark.
Once inside the mouth, I looked back at the last bit of sunlight before we descended.
The cave was dimly lit but offered easy to read, self guiding information kiosks along the way. The temperature in the cave remains a constant 56F so jackets or sweaters were advised. There were over 2 miles of trail to explore. Highlights along our route included Bat Cave (which was 200 feet below the surface), Devil's Spring, Green Lake Overlook and the Boneyard, a complex maze of highly dissolved limestone rock similar to Swiss Cheese. We even saw a single, 200,000-ton boulder that fell from the cave ceiling thousands of years ago and was given the name Iceberg Rock. Beautiful formations of stalagmites and stalactites graced the floors and ceilings in such unusual formations and textures that they just begged for a photo. There was even a Bottomless Pit and gorgeous pools of water, one that shone in a brilliant blue-green.
This particular formation reminded me of the beard of tentacles worn by the immortal Davy Jones in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Restrooms and a snack bar/gift stand were available 755 feet down. It felt kind of strange being so deep underground and seeing a t-shirt kiosk. It gave us a chance to "fuel up", hydrate and rest. Realizing we had disappeared 80 stories into the ground and now we had to walk back up another 80 stories made us tired just thinking about it. However, we eventually saw daylight again. The entire trek that day took us about five hours with plenty of rests included. When we got back to our rigs, we were exhausted and made it an early night of sound sleep.
An interesting fact: this cave was a "gold mine" of sorts...if you wanted to make a career out of bat dung. Yup, bat "poo" or properly referred to as bat guano. Can you imagine shoveling guano in a cave, all day by lanterns? Between 1902 and 1958, guano mining occurred at this park. The first miners collected droppings in sacks. Workers ran an ore train into the cave on a makeshift track. Miners filled ten sacks of guano, load them in the car, and push it to a hoist bucket that raised the entire load to the surface. There was a plant in town that processed the guano by drying it and screening it for a uniform size (another "interesting" job there too!). Then the guano was sold by sack to farmers who used it as fertilizer.
The next day as we exited our campground, we were "reminded" of some important check list items. Another seventy-eight miles and we reached Roswell, New Mexico, via highway US 285 and with temperatures at 86F (30C).
My first UFO sighting!
Then our first (of many) alien sightings as we reached the Town and Country RV Park in Roswell, New Mexico.
We hung around the campsite during our first full day at Roswell while Janet and I created our own "mother ship communicator" hats. We knew the history of Roswell and wanted to have some fun and giggles with it. Now for those of you who don't know about Roswell, this is for you: in early July, 1947, a mysterious object crashed on a ranch thirty miles north of Roswell. The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a statement claiming to have recovered a crashed "flying disk". An article ran on the front page of the Roswell Daily Record and the next day, RAAF changed its statement to say that the object was a weather balloon, not a flying disk as they had earlier claimed. This revised statement sparked much controversy and has continued to be a topic of debate for more than sixty years later. This is known as the "UFO incident". It put Roswell on the map and tourists have flocked here ever since to catch of glimpse of this famed city. The city holds an annual festival dedicated to the incident and it attracts all kinds of "followers" from around the world and other galaxies.
Our finished projects on display.
That night we cuddled under blankets and watched a movie under the stars. Both of our rigs have outdoor television and entertainment systems which came in handy on nights like that.
Janet slept in the next morning so Ralph, Rick and I went to breakfast in town. We decided on the Cowboy Café and we were not disappointed. Of course, the whole town joins in on the intergalactic fun.
Unbeknownst to us, the menu also had a burger called the Cowboss Challenge. We watched as six guys each took on the challenge of eating a $20.00 US, three pound burger with fries for a chance of a complimentary meal and their picture on the Wall of Fame. Even the top of the hamburger bun was branded with a hot iron displaying the Cowboy Café logo. When we left, the only guy close to finishing was the one in the black cowboy hat while the others admitted defeat. What an appetite!
I got such a kick out of the store across the street from the café. Now this place would have made any cowboy smile...saddles, hats, lassos, spurs and boots. The lassos were especially colorful - I wanted one of each. Now all I needed was my own horse.
The time of reckoning came. We went into town to visit the UFO museum and it gave Janet and I our chance to show off our space hats. We were amazed at how many people enjoyed the hats, shook our hands and wanted photos taken with us. Even the museum employees walked up to us and gave us "kudos" and were impressed with our use of colanders and whatnots we purchased from Walmart and the Dollar Store. 
Needless to say, our guys were a little hesitant about being seen with us.
More "out of this world" encounters...Roswell was lots of fun!
On May 1st we were back on the road at 9:00 a.m., after a night of strong winds and rain. The temperature outside had dipped to 41F (5C) and we had learned that 50-60 miles north of us, it was snowing! We went up mountainous terrain and reached an elevation of over 7,750 feet as the temperatures began to drop even further. When we reached Ruidoso Downs, in the Lincoln National Forest, the skies grew grey and rain began to fall. Then I saw it...sleet/slush rolling down our windshield. It was hard to believe we were only 81 miles away from the desert!
Within the remainder of the one and a half hour drive, the clouds cleared, blue sky appeared and temperatures shot from 36F (2.2C) to 71F (21.6C). The landscape changed dramatically from green to beige and evergreens were replaced by thorny brush. What a land of extremes!
Going through the Organ Mountains, we passed the White Sands Missile Test Range. This is a United States Army rocket range of almost 3,200 square miles (8,300 km squared) and is the largest military installation in the United States. It was established in 1945 to test long range rockets. On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb test, code name Trinity, was exploded at Trinity site on the northern boundary of the range.
Lovely mural on the side of a storage tank paying tribute to the seven crew members lost in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986.
We crossed the Rio Grande River in Las Cruces and saw this giant roadrunner high atop a hill. The roadrunner was designated the official state bird of New Mexico in 1949.
A border check in Mesilla Park was a temporary slow down but we were quickly on our way again and said "hello" to another new state...
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