Day 14: Into Texas where we crossed from MDT to CDT and back to MDT, and back into New Mexico. We had lunch in the Guadalupe Mountains, and toured Carlsbad Caverns, and went on to a border town just this side of Texas where we (accidentally) stayed in a Oil Roughneck Fracking Camp.
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Two sides of the line. For our first bight of Texas, they have quite an interesting lone star to greet us between Las Cruces and El Paso.
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Did I find it reassuring that they didn't finish the Welcome to Texas sentiment with, "or else?"
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Interesting hills ahead as we climb out of the El Paso valley, where the Mexican land border finally reaches the Rio Grande.
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Sneaking suspicion that the engineers of this pass did just a bit of extra blasting to get it down to exactly a mile above sea level.
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INS Checkpoint acrossUS-62 coming down from the pass. They just glanced at us, heard our midwestern inflections, and waved us through.
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US-62 in Texas. Just another long road.
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Quite a few impressive yuccas line the road. But the road signs are distinctive. Note that JCT is quite readable, but if you don't know the road already, you probably can't read it on the fly.
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A better look at the yuccas.
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We haven't lost sight of mountains, altogether.
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Snapshot of the map showing how we cross from Mountain to Central and back to Mountain time in Texas on US-62/180. Note the disclaimer, too.
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Salt flats? That's interesting. OTOH, Maybe this is the top edge of the old salt dome that contains all that oil they found around here.
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Some more fun roads into the Gruadalupe Mountains
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Unlike yesterday's tourist stop, here they have signs. I like the National Park Service.
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We've seen more impressive mountains. But it was nice to get out and walk around. Pant.
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The remains of a Pony Express stop. The visitor's center ellucidated its history.
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A couple of points. Up in the remote areas, I often have seen waterless urinals. At this one, they have an explanation of how they work. I hadn't guessed, but now it seems obvious. Secondly, exactly who would those handrails help?
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We had a quiet lunch up in the Guadalupe Mountains, under shelter.
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I found more goatheads!
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And back into New Mexico, the state we'd left almost 5 hours ago. Thus is the pace of progress.
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Another long road view, with partly cloudy skies.
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Entering Carlsbad Caverns National Park, they don't warn you about how sinuous the roads will be. It was fun, and I was glad not to be pulling a trailer.
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Yes, I took hundreds of pictures down the hole, in Carlsbad Caverns. I will politely only share a few. This one is looking almost straight up at tons of Damoclean ordnance hanging overhead.
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Karen mugs for the camera, pointing out (yet another) stalagtite.
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Carlsbad Caverns: Shelves of calcite form where once there was a surface of a pond. Eerie to see this fossil of a long gone water surface.
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Remnants of tools used by early explorers.
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I liked the sign for Mirror Lake. But getting a picture is problematic when drips keep rippling the mirror.
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First thought, "Dance Party!" Second thought: Where in this perpatually dripping cave might anyone think there was a dry floor?
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Reflections in a puddle.
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Trying to get a longer exposure and do an in-camera HDR while steadying the camera on a railing. The blue swirl is the flashlight of the park ranger sweeping the cave to get out the stragglers. It's closing time.
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The ranger with the last straggler, who (along with the two of us) are the last out of the caverns this evening.
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Finally to the elevators waiting to get hauled up. There are two sets of two elevators, but one pair is out of service because one of that pair has a problem. They need to have both of a pair working, because the only way to rescue anyone stuck in an elevator is to have the adjacent elevator functioning.
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Visitor Center closed, parking lot empty. As often happens, we are the last to leave. Note the low sun illuminating the gusty wind via my camera strap shadow.
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Remember the winding road? That's the next bight of our switchback route out of here.
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Reminders of home.
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Looking back as the sun sets
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Dark rays converge ahead of us. It seems mystical, even when we know this is the shadows of tall clouds far behind us on dust in the stratosphere.
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We're in oil country, now. Plenty of rigs like this, both roadside and in the distance.
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Welcome to the Shale Lodge, Hobbs, NM. I found them as a Lodging Google search. Called, and made a reservation. They told us that dinner was included. What? Welll we found ourselves guided by Google through dark industrial parks, and finally found the place. Couldn't get into the parking lot because it was full of bustling trucks and men in reflective safety gear. So we parked on the street and walked in to the office. Also the dining hall. It was the 7pm shift change, and this turns out to be lodging for shale workers. The desk assured us that it was okay for civilians to lodge there, as a couple of family rooms were available. So we had a hearty plate of pasta alfredo with bread and potatoes each before moving into our room. It seemed crowded because the beds are oversize, presumably for the tytpical big, tough shale worker.
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Each bedside lamp had a spotlight for reading. Why isn't this a motel standard?
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Of course, desk, fridge, microwave, and a video console that I didn't bother firing up to see what they had for games and such.
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I also have to mention the tub. A big, tub. With the shower head at over seven feet. This is a place for big, oily workers to really get clean.
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