Tex-Mex Spring Break Tour; Day 4

 The plan today was to visit Carlsbad Cavern National Park.  The website said it opened at 8:00 and the first 1,000 people who showed up got tickets.  Everyone after that got the big green weenie.  We left the hotel in Carlsbad, NM at 7:15 AM under clear skies with a temperature of 48 degrees.  We arrived at the cavern parking lot at 7:45 AM and were shocked to see all the cars already there.  The line to get in was backed up to the far reaches of the parking lot.  One lady ahead of us claimed she was about 450th in line.

With good intentions we got in line.  Thirty minutes later we'd moved about 30 feet.  It appeared our wait would be a good two hours, maybe more.  The website also said to expect a wait of up to an hour for the elevator bringing cavern visitors back to the surface.  None of us wanted to spend the entire day waiting in lines so we hit the road.

Route 62 took us back to Carlsbad, NM and route 285 took us north to Artesia, NM.  The website, roadsideamerica.com, tipped us off to numerous larger than life sculptures in Artesia.  One was an oil derrick floor with men drilling for oil.  Around the derrick floor were other sculptures related to oil drilling in Artesia's history.  Along Main Street were several large sculptures of old west figures.  We spent time checking them all out.





It was 11:30 by the time we were done exploring the statues in Artesia so we decided to eat lunch at LaFonda located next to one of the statues.  The food was good but I think they were short staffed because it was a long wait for lunch.  It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry.

With full bellies we were off for Alamogordo, NM on route 82 westbound.  Chris and I started out top-down because it was 75 in Artesia.  The wind was brutal.  I felt sorry for Carl and Marge on the motorcycle.  It had to be miserable.  Along with the wind was dust, some so thick I had to slow before driving into it because of reduced visibility.  I was soon sorry the top was down because the interior became extremely dusty.  I would have stopped to put the top up but was afraid the wind would rip the convertible top off the car as it started to go up.

About 60 miles or so out of Alamogordo we started climbing in altitude.  And it got cold.  The temperature hit 79 before we started up and by the time we reached Cloudcroft (at 8,650 feet) it was 48.  I found a sheltered spot to put the top up and after a bathroom break we traveled on to Alamogordo, where it warmed back into the 60's.  The wind and blowing dirt continued, however.

Just north of Alamogordo we stopped at McGinn's Pistachio Land, where we bought some pistachios, ate some pistachio ice cream and had a photo op with the world's largest pistachio.

After 205 miles we called it a day in Alamogordo at 4:30 PM.  It was 61 degrees.  No point cleaning the vehicles this evening as the wind was still blowing dirt around.

To see all the photos taken today click on this link - Day 4 Pics

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We continued east to Walsenburg, LaJunta, and La
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 11

Image
A beautiful, sunny and warm day! After our B&B breakfast we rode away on our golf cart at 9:45 AM. It was 51 degrees. We spent an hour or so exploring Cedar Key again and Chris did a little shopping on Dock Street. Morning is low tide. It was strange seeing boats sitting in the mud at the marina. This next picture is of the marina at high tide. At noon we had to return the golf cart and then we walked to lunch at Tony's. After lunch we walked the Railroad Trestle Nature Trail. We went to the Cedar Key Scrub State Park to walk but found it uninteresting so we didn't go far.  Back at the B&B we watched a movie and then watched the sun set. We drove a whopping 13 miles today (not counting miles in the golf cart) and our high temperature was 68. A very relaxing day! Tomorrow we start home. Click here to see all photos from today - Day 11 Photos  
Read more