Going no where fast

still working on action shots

Nothing as soon as we crossed the border. Absolutely nothing. The landscape turned into open dessert and the only interesting thing to note is the name, and the slogan of New Mexico. First, the name; Nate and I tried to imagine Canada creating a province called New US where we are not allowed in.... weird. Second the slogan of New Mexico is “the enchantment state”. What are they smoking? There is nothing enchanting about vast, flat, dry, desolate wasteland.

endless road

 I would not call our Las Vegas detour with bulls chasing us down dirt roads enchanting, thrilling maybe, more terrifying than anything else but not enchanting. La Fawnda was not enchanted when she lost her voice in New Mexico. Oh, please excuse me, I'm not sure if I properly introduced our Honda, La Fawnda to everyone yet, she's a great o'gal, has been with me since 2003, 245k, born in 1992 and is currently our home sweet home. Anyway, she lost a pin that creates quite a low roaring when her engine sores, sounds like a race car now. Apparently this is 1000 dollar upgrade for some cars but I feel like we beat up and abused her.

State patrol stopped all traffic on a freeway and asked everyone for drivers, license, proof of registration and title. Nate and I technically don't have current registration with my married name as we unsuccessfully  attempted the process of change in ownership through the mail and decided to take care of it once we moved. Fortunately the police officer waved us on after about 10 seconds of fumbling through the glove compartment.

Roswell, the alien town, is quite large and we hoped to find a greasy dinner with alien memorabilia but were unsuccessful. If anyone knows of one that's still open please make a comment for the benefit of the readers on this blog. Our stop was brief and we beelined for our first primitive camping site almost murdering a million rabbits along the way. We enjoyed a pretty sunrise here.

Carlsbad Caverns was by far the highlight of our New Mexico experience. Nate still talks about how serendipitous it was that we happened to pick up a book in Denver that led us to the caverns. The study of stalagmites and stalactites in school seems to be the most vivid memory I have in the study of rocks. We got in free with our golden national Pass we purchased in AZ. When we visit Yellowstone the yearly investment of 80 dollars will not only have paid for itself but saved us money. After walking the equivalence of 75 stories and a couple miles we were deep inside the earth and overwhelmed by the vast size and variety of the rock formations.

natural entrance complete with bat dung fragrance

Thank goodness we were lent Kurt's back up camera to be able to capture these images. After a few hours on the trail of the caves we got to the end of the tour where there existed an underground airport. The line to the elevator was an hour wait so my impatience won over my laziness. As we started up the path we had to bypass a ranger orientation about the climb back up the natural entrance of the cave. The rangers wanted to know if we suffered from hypertension, heart issues and wanted to make sure had used the restrooms and had a supply of water with us for the 1,000 foot elevation climb. What has American health deteriorated to these days? They also reminded us to pace ourselves, so as not to be overcome with exhaustion. All I can express is gratitude for my health and the ability to climb steep elevation and still carry on conversation. We got out, made lunch, ate and came back into the main lobby by the elevator to finish reading the exhibit before people in getting in line with us made it up.

In the 1980's there was another cave discovered near Carlsbad Cavern that is over 130 miles long and they still haven't found the end. We definitely look forward to visiting again enjoying, dare I say, the enchantment of the caverns.

we did go through Roswell, but this picture was taken near the caverns