Entries this day: AAM_turkey_day AM Carlsbad_Caverns Jackie Leaving_Carlsbad gage_NM

AAM turkey day

12:43am MST Thursday 28 November 2002

I slept from pleiades to orion, and now there is ice on Scott's windshield. I've got to pee and I'm choosing not to do so in this parking area; I'm going to drive to Carlsbad (some miles) to find a 24 hour something hopefully. And to warm up.

Oh, it wasn't ice; just fog on the inside.

2:34am

Wandered aimlessly around a Super Wal-Mart, looking for that perfect something to fix all my woes. Found nothing, but saw some cute Power Puff Girls blankets for only 15 dollars and watched the end of Ice Age also available for 15 dollars. Wandered out.

I'm stopped at a Rest Area (with no restrooms) / Weigh Station (closed) to sleep some more. Considered stopping by one of the motels for shower/bed/electricity, but decided I'm not that desperate yet.

Why must i become desperate before I'll spend some $ to get nice things?

Good night again.

Wow there is a flare burning on a short (30 foot) pole behind me. How is it possible that I didn't notice that on my way into this parking lot?

- - - -

During the night I woke up once and the flare was off. That's how.

AM

6:10am MST Thursday 28 November 2002

Heehee. MST = Mountain Standard Time. I'm on Mountain Time!

I'm waking up to a thin band of red/orange/yellow on the horizon which deepens to dark blue behind me.

I'll be first in line at Carlsbad Caverns. I hope that doesn't mean I'll be waiting forever...

6:41am

Oops. I looked at my phone which is still on CST, so I have an hour plus ten minutes to wait. I think I'll ride my bike around.

7:37am

Wow. Fun ride. Downdowndowndowndowndown down down down down the hill for about 12 minutes. Had on my thermal shirt, T-shirt (U2 concert), hoodie, helmet, jeans, socks, shoes, heavy leather gloves. Was still a bit cold with the sun just barely peaking over the hill at various points.

Then back up.

Up.

up

up.

up.

Up

up

For about 24 minutes, including a couple stops for very short rests. Tight tight tight quads once I reached the top. Oh, and there is a downward slope at the top of the hill so I was able to reach top speed again going back up the mount to the visitors center. Nice.

Now I'm hoping to be able to do a strenuous caving tour that requires crawling. I'll find out when the open in 18 minutes.

12:13pm

Done with Carlsbad exploration. I'll write in a moment. Kinda headachey now. I'm going inside with computer to see if I can use an electrical outlet to recharge my battery.

Carlsbad Caverns

12:22pm MST Thursday 28 November 2002

Basically I walked down the "natural" entrance (which was quite unnatural with its asphalt path winding down into the cave) and wound down to the Big Room (named because it's really big), walked around its perimeter and then took the elevators out.

Coolest stuff I saw included some volunteers cleaning red clay out of the Long Man's Bathtub (long skinny pool thing) which had been coated in clay by the original explorers back in the day.

Also cool was the eagle in the zoo. I don't have a picture of this, but the formation looked like an eagle soaring into the rock, including his face and one curving wing.

This formation I saw only because a ranger showed it to me. That was on the fourth time I saw her as I circled the big room. The third time I saw her she was talking to some people and telling them how the US government considered using Carlsbad Caverns as a fallout shelter in case of nuclear war. Only problem is the constant air exchange in the caverns. "All" of the air in the caverns circulates out in 48 hours, so that means all the air would be filled with radiation in 48 hours. D'oh!

I didn't get to do one of the "strenuous" tours; apparently they are booked well in advance (weeks) and I think they only go on weekends.

Oh, the other cool thing was story of how the Spirit Room was discovered. Some cats in 1985 used helium balloons to float two ropes up to an apparent chamber in the ceiling of the big room. The ascent was 225 feet or so and once climbed, revealed some 750 feet more cave to explore.

Another story is that speedy airflow through a hole in the floor marked the entrance to 100+ miles of cave that has been explored only by scientist type people. I forget the name of this part of the cave, but it starts with an L.

Lechiguilla (sp), according to the girl ranger who just walked by me (our fifth encounter today).

1:31pm

Okay; I have just slept sitting in a chair here in the lobby area of Carlsbad Caverns visitor center. Battery is at 85% charge. I'm going to roll out and visit..... something out west. I'll probably drive along I-10 to Tuscon and see if I can find my second cousin Jeanette.

Or maybe I'll go a bit north and ... there was something up north I considered visiting White Sands National Monument maybe.

I do know that I plan to drive along I-8 because it's souther than I-10 and would take me just north of restricted military bombing and gunnery range, so maybe I'd get to see or hear some explosions or see some planes and such.

87% now. :-)

1:51pm

As I was leaving, saw her a sixth time and she asked if I had visited the Lechuguilla room. I hadn't, but now I have and can now spell the name correctly.

Visiting that part of the cave would be quite a journal entry indeed.

Jackie

2:28pm MST Thursday 28 November 2002

Just visited with Jackie, one of the Cave Restoration Foundation volunteers that was cleaning Longfellows Bathtub (I had the name wrong before). She has been doing this type of work for four years now. Used to live up in Alaska working in the fishing industry (tells me not to have raw sea bass because it often has parasites) on a fish ferry that carries fish from the fishing boats back to shore so those cats don't have to stop fishing. Her boat would also deliver mail to them and such.

She inquired a bit about my adventure, so I gave her an adventure card; my first to give out on this western state tour.

She had to split to connect with her fellow cave cleaners at 2:30.

Leaving Carlsbad

3:34pm MST Thursday 28 November 2002

After visiting a natural shelter "used by Apaches" et. al., I had some indecision on where to go next. I flipped a coin to help:

Roswell? No.

White Sands? No.

El Paso? No.

Las Cruces? No.

past Las Cruces? Yes.

Do I need to know how far past Las Cruces? No.

Am I ready? No.

Journal entry? No.

Check the oil? Yes.

I checked the oil and it's fine.

Are we ready? Yes.

859.1 miles since Dallas.

4:01pm

It's actually 5:01pm CST as I'm back in Texas.

Very straight two lane highway here. I drove straight 13 miles from White's City toward El Paso. Then veered right and crossed over into Texas. Short mountains loom ahead of me overlooked by the waning sun. I have a name for this type of terrain now: chihuahuan desert. I imagine that is a proper name instead of a type of desert, but it works for me for now.

Lots of rocks, lots of scrubby bushes; very little juniper. Some pear cactus, barbed wire fence on both sides of the highway. Mostly just some scrubby bushes I can't identify, but that look dark brown ab out 3 feet high scattered to cover 35% of the terrain.

CCAUTION HIGH WINDS AHEAD. Now that was a big warning sign.

Maybe I should drive with both hands on the wheel instead of just one knee while typing.

4:23pm

Wow. A new record for Scott: coasting 80 mph downhill. Coasting. And that was with some brake application to keep me from going too fast.

We're on the west side of the Guadalupe Mountains. oh! There's the big sign again.. I'll turn around to get the picture.

See? Big. Scott was right beside the sign for the picture.

4:39pm

What the hell is this? No vegetation. Just white. Well a little vegetation but nothing like before. What is it?

Salt. According to this historical marker:

RESENTMENT OVER PRIVATE CONTROL OF
  THE SALT LAKES IN THIS REGION,
  OFTEN CALLED GUADALUPE LAKES,
   LED TO THE EL PASO SALT WAR
              1877
 WHICH ENTAILED THE LOSS OF MANY
     LIVES AND MUCH PROPERTY

915.3 miles traveled since Dallas.

5:59pm

Scott just pushed a guy in another Camry about 3 miles to a gas station here in El Paso. Easy, thanks to same height bumpers and nice flat straight roads.

Waved adios to him as our cars disengaged. I continued on to the next gas station where I found fuel for 2 cents less per gallon: $1.349

Just called Janette and Josephine to wish them howdy but no answer, not even their machine.

6:39pm

Wow El Paso is none too small.

I kept thinking "okay this has got to be the end" but El Paso kept coming and coming. Then I realized I was on 62/180 and *not* on I-10 as I desired; had I missed it? I stopped and looked at the map, decided I had probably not missed the exit to I-10, continued on a bit and realized I hadn't even made it onto the map yet!

Yup, El Paso is bigger than the one horse town I thought it was. It even has a mountain sporting a big star worthy of the state capitol.

gage NM

8:57pm MST Thursday 28 November 2002

I'm tooo tired to make it to Tuscon tonight, which is just fine because I've been unable to reach Jeanette on my cellie. She apparently has married some cat named Kim, according to my mom's cousin Mickey.

So I'm at a rest stop just west of Gage, NM on I-10. Rest stops in New Mexico are cool because they allow a body to stay overnight. Signs say we can't stay more than 24 hours. That's plenty of time to get a good night's sleep.

9:27pm

There are railroad tracks behind me. Three trains have gone by since I've been here. Fast trains, too. I dunno if they're going 60 mph, but let's just say that I won't be trying to jump onto one of these trains.

Good night.

5:05am MST Friday 29 November 2002

Good morning.

I'm still at the rest stop outside Gage. My phone seems to have a super tired battery. I have to hold my car charger onto the phone to make it charge, and even then it's not always charging. Silly phone. I just tried using the outlet in the restroom, but it didn't seem to work. Pooh.

1137 miles traveled since Dallas.

My neck muscles are sore from sleeping weirdly, and my right calf is sore from driving. (Scott has no cruise control)

Let's roll.

Oh, I should check Scott's oil first.

5:21am

Oil is fine. What took me the longest is opening the sealed plastic packaging around the flashlight.

5:36am

Mile marker fifty-one, I just crossed a sign that said CONTINENTAL DIVIDE ELEV 4585 feet four five eight five. But my road is flat flat flat flat flat. wierd. I-10 west.