November 12, 2019
Carlsbad RV Park
Today, we were heading out to Carlsbad on a road without services for almost three trailer hours (179 miles). Since we generally do not go that long without refilling, I got a 5-gallon can of gas to keep in the truck’s bed.
I also wanted to wash the trailer, so we stopped at the Star Truck Wash just up the road before taking off. This was the first truck wash that was NOT a Blue Beacon, but it had good reviews on Google. They did an OK job and appeared to do a better job scrubbing, but because they did not have but two people working and did not use a spot-free rinse, it did not get as clean as I would have liked, and the trailer and truck had lots of hard water spots.
We took a path that took us around the Franklin Mountains and we stopped at the last gas station I could find on the map in the outskirts of El Paso before we hit Hwy 62 toward Carlsbad, The road was good and the steepest part was when we went through the Guadalupe Pass. Lisa did all the driving.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We got to Carlsbad RV park and set up by 3 pm, so we decided to run down to Carlsbad Caverns National Park before the visitor center closed at 4:30 pm. When we arrived, the Park Rangers said we had enough time to take the self-guided tour of the Big Room, so we bought tickets, which were good for three days and headed to the elevators to descend 750 feet into the caverns.
The caverns were huge and much more beautiful than Mammoth Cave. It was dimly lit, which made it seem even bigger. There were very few people there, so most of the time, we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. The Big Room tour was 1.25 miles long and mostly flat, so walking was easy. It was very impressive, and our pictures didn’t even begin to capture the incredible formations we saw.
We took a little over an hour to complete the tour and then went up to the visitor center to watch their movie and see some of the displays. We were about halfway through the movie when they started announcing that they were closing.
The sunset is early now because of daylight savings, so we saw a beautiful sunset on the way back to Carlsbad. The road to the caverns from the park entrance was about 8 miles long and pretty curvy which made Lisa a little anxious.
Guadalupe Mountain Brewing Company
We went to Guadalupe Mountain Brewing Company for dinner. It was a little different because it did not have table service, and you had to go to the bar to order food and beers. We bought a flight of beers to go with our dinner and bought a second to taste even more of their extensive offering.
November 13, 2019
Roswell
Today we decided to go to Roswell today.
When we arrived, we were pretty disappointed with the lack of alien-themed attractions, but there were a few. We first stopped at the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which provided detailed information about the alien ship that had supposedly crashed and landed nearby. It did a good job of creating doubt about whether there was a government conspiracy in covering up the incident.
We then walked down a couple of blocks to a McDonald’s that had a playland area the shape of a spaceship with McDonalds characters in various space costumes. We passed an Invasion Station souvenir shop with some fun alien displays along the way.
After McDonalds, we walked down to the visitor center, where we talked with them briefly about Alien-themed attractions, especially restaurants, since we were hungry. They told us there was little interest within the town in promoting their alien connection, and there were not many things for us to see. They suggested we visit various free museums, art galleries, and the zoo while we were in town. They did have a photo booth where we could get a free picture of us with some aliens. They even emailed you a copy.
On our way back to the truck, we passed another alien-themed souvenir store selling called the Alien Zone. In the back, they had a “museum” that had various static displays of aliens doing silly stuff that you could take selfies with. It cost $5 to see it, but we decided to splurge since there was little else to see.
Sitting Bulls Recreation Area
Since we ran out of things to see in Roswell, we decided to just eat our packed lunch and head to Sitting Bulls Recreation Area to see its waterfall. The Recreation Area was over 20 miles down a back road near the city of Carlsbad, and it had a gate that closed at 4 pm, so we had to rush to get there in time. We arrive a little after 3 pm and walked around the base of the falls which was very beautiful. I tried to guess on an alternate road home since we did not have a map or cell phone coverage that took us deeper into the Lincoln Forest. The path took us higher into the mountains where we actually saw trees and some deer. The higher elevation also gave me cell phone coverage where I discovered that we had to turn around in order to get back to Carlsbad.
Lucky Bull Grill
For dinner, we decided to go to the Lucky Bull Grill in Carlsbad. It was a popular place and the food was good.
November 14, 2019
Carlsbad Caverns
Today we wanted to back to Carlsbad Caverns as well as check out Guadalupe Mountain National Park.
At Carlsbad, I wanted to walk the Natural Entrance self-guided tour which we were told might be too steep for someone with bad knees so Lisa decided to go through the Big Room self-guided tour instead. I really enjoyed walking down the steep staircase and ramps but it really did not provide any better views of cavern wonders than the Grand Room tour did. The Natural Entrance tour ended at the Big Room, so I was able to find Lisa by walking counter-clockwise through the trail. We then finished walking through the museum in the visitor center
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Afterward, we ran down to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park visitor center. I got my usual magnet and talked with the park rangers about the Guadalupe Pass and the high winds that sometimes go through it. She told me stories about how the winds get so high that it can rip doors off and tip vehicles over, but she did not recall any incident where a trailer had actually been blown over.
They recommended some easy hikes that we could take. The Pinery Trail started at the visitor center and runs a short .75 mile path to the ruins of the old Pinery Station, once a favored stop on the original 2,800 mile Butterfield Overland Mail Route. Along the trail were signs describing Chihuahuan desert vegetation. There wasn’t much left of the house except a few walls, but they had a couple of signs explaining the importance of the stagecoach route and this stop which was very interesting.
A couple of miles down the road was the Frijole Ranch, an old pioneer ranch. It was only .2 miles long trail to a spring that used to provide the water for the ranch. The ranch, unfortunately, was closed but it looked like it would have been interesting to see. The spring itself was concealed by cattails so we almost missed it. It was interesting contemplating on what life was like there.
We then drove south to get the best view of the high points of the Guadalupe Mountains that are on all the brochures. Along the way, we found what looked like trash along the road, which we discovered when we pulled over was actually cotton. While standing on the edge of the road looking at the cliffs, a truck carrying bales of cotton came by with chunks of cotton peeling off of it. Now we know where the cotton came from.
White City
We then decided to go drive up to White City which was the gateway city to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It was a tiny village that didn’t have much more than a campground, a store, a couple of different hotels and cabins, and a restaurant. We checked out the store before going over to the restaurant for dinner.