Travel day! Woke up at 8 to 49* & sunny .Breakfast, cleaned inside, packed up and off we go by 10:45 & 58*. Saw a lot of deer as we left. Back to big open areas, going through very small towns like Balmorhea which the population is only 408! 11:40 we stopped at Uncleās (small town gas station) & scored 2 Diet Cokes – $4.68 oh my! Back to a whole lot of nothingā¦.dirt, rocks, and a few small brown shrubs. Oil rigs out in the fields, Crude oil, refined oil, big drilling rigs and natural oil as far as you can see now. Even RV covered parks for the workers & lots of mobile home housing ā¦yes in the middle of nowhere. Lots of different kinds of oil trucks
So in a matter of an hour we were in Texas, New Mexico, then in Texas then back in NM now on MT Time and keeping the clocks on this time. Ā Ā BUT OMG thereās a lot of nothing as far as you can see. Around 1:30pm we arrived at Washington Ranch Event & Wedding Destination!!! Seriously! š We found the 3 RV sites & setup and walked over to the main building where we met the manager Kelly. He showed us all through the main event center & house, bridal suites then the grounds down to the lake with a beautiful arch and willow tree. Apparently the bride & groom approved us to be the only guest staying on the property the night of the wedding! We visited the graves of The Millerās who owned the property and created this paradise for his son. They died in a plane crash in 1980. There are 2 group homes on the property & rental properties which he took us through them all. He enjoyed having someone to talk too!
These 2 Florida folks were in ah of the pecan trees! We picked up all the pecans on the ground and canāt wait to make pecan pies. They are delicious! Kelly was happy to see us acting like kids and helping him pick up the grounds for the wedding tomorrow. Curious to explore more before all the guests start arriving, we took a drive and found Rattlesnake Springsā¦only to find a big snake sunning himself and holy shit I almost stepped on it till Tim yelled snake and I ran like a scared little girl! He look ornery!
Rattlesnake Springs ā is 26 miles southwest of Carlsbad Caverns National Park that is a tree-shaded riparian oasis in the Chihuahua Desert. Itās been a welcomed water source since 1500. It lies between low hills & the desert. Itās in the parkās picnic area. Lots of fish in it, wild turkeyās around. Back at the RV, we packed up Happy Hour and snacks and our chairs down to the water and enjoyed the evening relaxing to the sounds of nature. A German couple showed up for just an over nighter and we so enjoyed the evening getting to know them till late into the night. Great meeting Adam & Christina! Traveled 169 miles today.
Saturday, Day 20 ā 48* Cloudy feels like 43* with th high of only 55*
Made breakfast then at 10:30 left for Carlsbad Caverns for we had purchased tickets for a tour. Hot oatmeal & blueberriesš„£ hit the spot! We arrived and checked in at 11am and took the elevator down 800ft to meet the Ranger for our tour of the Kingās Palace Tour. Holy Shitā¦the biggest cave weāve ever been in! More than 100 caves on site, 3 different kinds of bats here too. š¦ Brazilian free tailed bats, they winter in Mexico! The park spans over 47,000 acres and the deepest Cavern is 1037 ft. in the Chihuahua Desert. Our tour was 2 hours with Ranger Margaret who was amazing and a ranger her entire life! Sheās been here for 5 years now and very knowledgeable and has been all over the US at some other amazing parks. We talked with her for awhile after the tour. She then recommended if we werenāt in a hurry to continue on to the Bottomless Pit and the Big Room! We spent a total of 4 Ā½ hours down in the caves! The most breathtaking, unbelievable cave system we have ever experienced! Though after being down for that long some of the stalactites & stalagmites started looking like Star Wars creatures! š¤£Ā It was cold down there but cold and windy outside. We finished the nature trail so we could earn our Jr. & Sr. Rangers Badges! Yes, our first senior badge! On the way back down the Mountain a very large herd of Big Horn Sheep crossed in front of us and off to the side. Cute babies too. Never had we seen so many at once. Drove to Carlsbad and found a Wal-Mart so we could stock up on Adult beverages and then ordered a Pizza from Dominoās. We stopped at McDonaldās for our Diet Cokes. š„¤ Happy Campers!
Got back to our site and the wedding šwas going on so we ate insideā¦it was very cold out anyway. It was 62* inside when we got back so on with the heater. Outside at 8:15pm itās 50*. Caught up on my journal and worked on the blog then called it a night. Traveled 69 miles today.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
44* at 8:30 am BRRRR Feels like 39* light rain Today is a cereal and fruit morning. We left for a day of adventures and on our way our lots of cows and turkeys along the roadside. On our way to Guadalupe Mountains National Park it was only 42* and we went to New Mexico then Texas at 12:45/1:45 pm! Went through all the exhibits at the visitor center then took the Pinery Trail. The clouds were coming down into the area and became very windy & cold. We earned our Jr Ranger Badge there! Drove to Frijole Ranch History Museum. Toured the ranch and did a couple of the trails. Toured the Ranch-spring (6 gallons/minute} and walked the Manzanita Spring Trail, As we were photographing š· the range it was pretty cool to watch the clouds move up & down the mountain range. We headed back and arrived back in New Mexico by 3:15pm. We had leftover pizza before walking the grounds to pick up pecans. Relaxed outside working on blog & pictures. 5pm and 55* and its suppose to get down to low 40ās. Ā Traveled 65 miles today.
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