We are at day 5 of our Adventures in Wonderland. We left Spring, TX for our first leg of our trip. We spent the night in San Antonio, at a Holiday Inn Express which was right next to Interstate 10. The room was good, the noise was there but not too intrusive. The breakfast was above average for a motel "free" breakfast with good fixings.
We hit the road early, heading to Ft Stockton, TX where we plan to spend the night. We checked in after traveling through the Texas hill country. Yes, HILLS! In Texas! It was neat to be going up and down over the hills covered in trees and good ground cover -
We then descended into the west Texas plain and the landscape slowly changed to the sage brush semi desert with an occasional tree near the washes.
We checked into the motel and took off for our first park on this itinerary - Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The GPS wanted to keep us on the Interstate, but we chose US 285 from Ft Stockton to Carlsbad New Mexico and thence to Carlsbad Caverns. It is the classic old two lane US highway, well worn, uneven, rough, and over used. There were innumerable trucks, 18 wheelers, and some cars. It took over two hours to get there. If you're going there, make sure you have a good GPS or updated maps. Also, I emphasize, the road is ROUGH, pot holed, and busy.
We passed uncountable number of oil wells and pumps, with some few new wells being drilled. There are wells as far as you can see, from 285 to the Guadalupe mountains, both in Texas and even after we got into New Mexico. Wow, that's a lot of oil! We passed through Pecos TX. All these names ring in the memory of many people. Remember "Pecos Bill" stories?
We stopped at a tourist trap right at the entrance road to the Caverns. It had some interesting photo ops, but the restaurant was closed. Had a dried out hot dog and took along a turkey sandwich.
It's a twisting and winding 7 mile drive from the gate to the Caverns' visitor's center. Remember that it's a National Park! So, things are really nicely done.
You enter and there's the information desk right there. Then you go to the right and check in. We had already bought our year's pass and so we got the ticket to go down to the "Big Room" via a 750 drop elevator which takes 56 seconds! Beats walking all the way down since I ain't no spring chicken anymore, heck, I ain't no autumn chicken!
We exited and there's a reception area, some tee shirts/sweatshirts/spelunker helmets with lights for sale. The snack shop was closed.
We went through a small passage and then began the mile and a half walk around the Big Room. Here are some of the incredible, amazing sights:
We chose to take the elevator back up to the visitors' center, again, the long walk out would have been great but this old body had already driven 7 hours and had 2 more to get back to Ft Stockton for the night's rest!
Here are some other pictures from the center and surroundings:
And, now we're safely back in Ft Stockton. Did I mention that 285 is old, rough and a bit of a strain to drive? Yep, it is!
Tomorrow we're off to the second destination, San Diego. We'll spend the night in Tucson AZ at the Davis Monthan AFB! I'm looking forward to getting some good pictures of old warriors!
Well, that's it for today. Update you tomorrow God willing and the desert don't fry us! It was 97 today! But it's a dry heat so it doesn't feel so bad. However, if you spend more than a few minutes in the sunshine, you do know it very quickly!
Stay well, stay healthy, "Be good and do great"!!
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