Amazing Views, Pheonix, AZ to Carlsbad, NM

 

I am grateful not to have been in the path of Helene and Milton.  If I had a house on the coast I would sell and move to a safer location... or live on wheels like I already do.

I say that, but when I moved to Inverness with George in 2016, it felt like we had moved to paradise. I was so happy to be surrounded by new friends, experience great winter weather with many sunny days, and enjoy sitting outside without swatting mosquitos.   

I could send out an email to my biking friends that we were putting on a pot of chili and would love it if they came at a certain time to help us eat it.  And suddenly we would have a party of more than a dozen smiling folks.

If you are wondering why people keep rebuilding in an area hit by hurricanes, it may be they just can't face leaving their happy place, where they have found a community of caring and fun.  It is their paradise. 

As far as I know, the Inverness area may have gotten over 10 inches of rain from Milton and there are scattered power outages.  But I have not heard of major damage yet from my Inverness area friends on Facebook. 

Within hours of Milton's departure, my friend Debra had already returned to her home, raked her yard of debris, and as I write this she is waiting for the power to come back on.  Thanks to Beth and Marti and weatherman, Denis Phillips for keeping us informed as the winds and rain came.

I won't bore you this time with all the great views we have had since I last wrote to you.

I will try to stick to the highlights.  But before I do, I want to thank those of you who responded to my request to know what you are reading.

Thanks to Ruth (two novels) and Kathi (Liz Chaney's book) for sharing the good books you are reading.  Here is a list that looks interesting.

We didn't meet up with our friends to ride in Pheonix!  I was bummed but it got to 110 degrees.  They ride in the evening when it was cooler.  Bob assured me if I wore a cotton shirt and wet it every half hour I would be fine.  I was worried that stopping to wet my shirt every half hour I would lose the group and be miserable and lost.  It was going to be 99 degrees at nine pm.

The pool sounded like a better option and I invited Bob and Rose to join us.  I don't blame them for choosing to ride with their bike group. 

Cosmic Campground

I was concerned because our next stop was a campground without power.  If it was 99 degrees at night we would be searching for an alternative.  But this campground I really wanted to experience.   

Cosmic Campground is on BLM land and is a certified dark sky place.  The sign said it is one of only two officially designated in the world.  The other one an observatory in Chile!  

I read online later that there are now four certified places.

It was a campground in a National Forest that doesn't take reservations. It is First Come First Serve.

One of the reasons it is good for star gazing is it is at a higher elevation.  The temperature was comfortable for sleeping.

It was cloudy at bed time, but we set the alarm and got up when the sky was clear.

We had a great clear night.  There were so many stars and a nice view of the milky way... our galaxy. 

We'll go back there again when we return to NM.  It was my first experience camping on BLM land.  This one was improved with graded roads, and clean pit toilets.

Next we headed into the Gila Mountains to see the ancient remnants of the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

About this time I was worried about our friend Bruce who lives in the summer in an area near Asheville that was hit so hard by Hurricane Helene.  Too much rain in the mountains was bad.  

Someone posted this on Facebook.  Steve spent part of his career as a Lineman.

The road to our campground and on to the ancient ruins was paved and long and winding.  I think it was 28 miles but takes 1.5 hours to drive.

We passed a huge mine on our way.  One of the biggest copper mines in the world.

Our campsite overlooked the pasture where the horses would come to relax in the evening after hauling tourists on back country rides.

The trail to the ruins is about a mile.  There is a creek and in the vast desert, the water attracted animals and plants.  This made it a great stopping-off place for nomadic tribes and the clan that eventually settled there.

We had learned the difference between pictographs and petroglyphs when we went to the petroglyphs presentation in Capital Reef National Park in Utah. 

Here the paintings are faint but still there after 100s of years.

There is a general store near the campground with a fountain and pond out front.  Across the street from our campground was a more rustic campground with natural hotsprings.

The store had this sign.

Ancient people camped in the cave in the cliff there for 1000s of years and one group lived and planted crops for a few years, building the walls and rooms for sleeping and food storage.

Ok, our next stop was White Sands.  There are no campgrounds nearby.  So I found an rv resort in Las Cruces.  

We drove 50 miles to get to White Sands from our site.

It was 90 degrees out.  We went to the visitor center, took a one mile walk in the sand (that was enough), and ate our picnic lunch.  

It was surreal to be driving on a road which looked like it was covered in snow and plowed while sweating with the ac running.

We didn't stay long.  We stopped at the White Sands Missile Museum on our way back to La Cruces, NM.

We had to get cleared to enter, it is located on a military base where they still test weapons.

I found it nice that the Museum starts out by telling us about the land and the native peoples and animals that occupied the land before it became a missile testing facility.

I was hoping to see a road runner while we were out in the southwest.  One posed for me in a tree right in our campground.

We went the next day to the site of Prehistoric Trackways.  Only, again it was 100 degrees and a sign explained that the tracks themselves were moved to the natual history museum in town.

So we drove to the museum and got to see the tracks while in the air-conditioning.  Smiles.

They also had the fattest snapping turtle we have ever seen.

Adjacent to the history museum was the art museum featuring black and white photos by a Florida photographer.  He used do do color photos.  No one would buy art for their home.  So he started to put clocks in his art.  It turned out people would buy art for their wall of it had a practical purpose.  At one time he had 200 employees making and selling pictures with clocks in them.

His black and white pictures were great and I added a couple parks to the list of  places I want to go in Florida.

Steve learned that La Cruces was having a pride parade and a jazz and blues festival while we were there.  Cool!

We picked out a blues band we wanted to hear.  The music was good in a really old part of town that was part of Mexico before the US took it over.  Messilla?  Anyway I got to dance a lot.  It was good.

Our last day in La Cruces we went to the Pride Parade and entertainment.

Some woman was walking her ancient tortoise through the crowd. 

There were scientists there explaining different meteor rocks they had.  One rock we could not touch, it was the oldest known rocks.  It came from before the beginning of our solar system.   He explained how they know and how they dated it.  The rock is 4.5 billion years old.  I would explain more, however I didn't retain it. It was all in science words above my pay grade.

We learned of several scientists that were not heterosexual.   Sally Ride had to keep her life secret in order to become an astronaut. 

Carlsbad Caverns

What is the difference between a cave and a cavern?  One has an R and N in it.  

Steve said the Carlsbad Caverns can be added to our list of this Summer trip's highlights. 

We had two days in the area.  The park requires you to have a reservation in order to enter the cave.  I made reservations for both days.  I, at first, thought that was a wrong idea, but after seeing the cavern on the first day, I was glad we would be able to see it again on the second day.

You can take an elevator down 700 feet to tour just the big room.  Or you can decend into the cave on foot.  Steve's hip was bothering him but he didn't complain as he grabbed his cane and we headed down down down the paved trail.

At the entrance cliff swallow were flying in groups.  Dancing.

At the entrance you can smell the bat guano.  It was so strong at times my eyes watered.

As we were walking down down down, we could look over the edge and see the trail serpentine below us.

We saw what they call "popcorn" decorations.  They are formed by splashes... and more ways but if you want to know more ways they were formed you can buy the book in the gift shop. 

At the bottom of the mile and a half decent, there is a snack bar in the dim light, and fully functional bathrooms!  

You go down the cave hall and enter a modern bathroom.  Mind blowing what our tax dollars can do.

With 500,000 visitors a year they soon found out portable potties wouldn't be a good idea.

The big room is a mile long loop.  Every turn is a new amazing formation, what they call decorations.

The formation below is called the lion's tail.  You are looking up at it.  See it?

After our self-tour we learned there is an audio tour you can rent.  I decided the next day we would do that.

They have other parts of the cave that are more delicate and they have guided tours.  But when I tried to reserve 30 days ahead I was a bit too early and then the next day, I was too late and the spaces were all taken.   

We had some time to kill before sunset when we could watch the bats come out.  So we grabbed some lunch and went for a trike ride near a reservoir in town.

We only did six miles, but it felt good to pedal and explore.

During the day there are hundreds of cliff swallows dancing around the entrance to the cave.  In the evening people sit on stone ledges awaiting  for the bats to exit.  Bats have been using this cave for thousands of years.  They sleep here during the day and then fly out to eat insects at night.

A ranger told us a bit about the cave and about another cave in the Guadeloupe Mountains.  The Carlsbad Cavern is 30 miles of connecting chambers.  But the mountains are like Swiss cheese.  There are many caves.  One is very beautiful with lacey formations.  It is only open to expert researchers and cavers.  It is 100 miles of passages!

He then took questions.  I kept waving my hand.  I had a burning question.   The ranger didn't call on me and there were a few people near me that wanted to help and whistled and yelled.  I finally got picked... I was so afraid I would forget the question.

When we were walking down in the cave I knew how very dark it would be if the lights went out.  So I asked, "Do you have a backup generator?"  

Yes they do.

Later a guy in the back with a longish dark beard asked, "Do bats poop square cubes?"

I tried to hide it. But I started to laugh (quietly,  ànd the people around me heard and they started laughing too.  I was wiping my tears.  Oh my, do bats poop square cubes.  Lol.  

Then the bats started to fly out of the cave.  One, two, then 12, then 20 , they swirled out and all head up and to the right.  Soon it was a long line, looking like smoke.   Off in the distance we could see a group break off and head a different direction. 

Though in the 1800 people knew about the cave, Jim white was 16 when he saw this line of "smoke" and rode up to investigate.  He was the only one brave or foolishness enough to grab a torch and go in and investigate.  The hole and entrance was steep, he had to climb in.

He and the early tourists he charged to take into the cave were on my mind as we entered the cave on the second day.

This time we had our audio guides.  There were signs with numbers.   We would punch the number into the old style hand held phone and listen to the narration about that part of the cave.  It was great.

I noticed the bat and swallow poop on the ledges and walls near the entrance.

They guess there are 400,000 bats flying out each night.

We learned that the lighting was designed by a light designer that worked on Broadway plays in NYC.

The green in the pond is not algea.  There is no sunlight here.  Stupid tourists tossed pennies into the pond long ago.

Speaking of bacteria, scientists are studying a bacteria found in these ponds that eats rock.  They think it might help fight cancer.

We also learned that the artificial light did cause some growth in the cave.  Now they use LED lights that doesn't mimic the sun's rays.

It is mindblowing to be in such a big space so far underground.  As deep as the empire state building is tall.

And to think of the tourists that toured with Jim White, climbing over rocks and down rickety ladders holding a lantern.

Journey Continues

Well, I managed to lose another set of shampoo and body wash by leaving it in a shower in La Cruces. 

I have an excuse though.   I got a bladder infection while we were there.  And on my way to the shower, the urine just spilled out of me like the water breaking on a pregnant woman.

So I was busy thinking about rinsing and wringing out clothes and finding a clinic on a Sunday while traveling.  

Which I did and am feeling better.  

And I learned that the reason cranberry juice is good for preventing bladder infections is because it prevents the bacteria from adhering to the wall of the bladder. 

We are now in San Angelo, Texas and I have ridden my bike to the gym and now the Bearded Barrista to eat and write to you.

Now that I am done, I am going to shop a bit before heading back to camp.

Steve took this picture of the sunrise at camp this morning.

Oh, and if you are wondering, yes, we are still getting along very well while sharing a small space.  He is a great adventure and travel companion.

Till next time, I hope you find yourself smiling often.