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| Thursday, June 7 |
White Sand, UFOs and Bats
Got up in the morning, bright and early. One day and we were already in Las Cruces, New Mexico! We posted at Mile 835 at 7:23 AM from a place called Milagro Coffee y Espresso just off the New Mexico State U campus. After that, we headed straight for White Sands National Monument in southwest New Mexico. Here's a picture that didn't appear in the original blog: |
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| Doesn't look like much from the outside, but once you drive in... wow! What an amazing place! We had tons of fun racing up and down the dunes of finely ground, pure white sand! It looks like snow! It was very empty too. You could pick your own spot, park the car and not see anyone else around at all. Very much worth the detour off of Interstate 10 if you ever get the chance. |
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Roswell, not so much. But to be fair, we didn't spend very much time there at all. We got there at about 2:30pm and we were running short on time, so we barely had enough time to snap a quick photo. We went to the UFO Museum and Research Center to take a photo from the outside. After being invited (twice!) to come into the dog-friendly museum, we scored a free stuffed alien toy to play with from the gift shop lady. Unfortunately, we just didn't have any time to spend there. How ironic! The one place that insisted that dogs were welcome, and we didn't have the time to stay. |
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| After we made our quick exit from Roswell, we had to hurry because Carlsbad Caverns National Park closes the cave entrance at 5pm. We made it just in time at mile 1066 twenty minutes before they stopped letting people into the cave. Of course, no dogs are allowed so we had to stop by the kennels at the visitor center, but we made it in time. And we were so glad we made it! What an amazing, amazing place! We had enough time to hike the "Big Room" at a leisurely pace. It's hard to believe the caverns are natural formations because they look like something you would see on a ride at Disneyland. The sheer size of the "Big Room" is mind boggling. After the cavern hike we stuck around for a nightly event at cave entrance. Every night at dusk, what seems like millions of bats exit the cave to feed for the evening. The swarm of bats can go on for over two hours! |
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Both White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns are must sees if you ever get the chance. They are both relatively close to each other. And while you can't bring your dog into the caverns themselves, you can at least bring your dog along to both places. The dunes provide endless opportunities for "crazy runs" up and down the slopes and the kennels at the caverns are inside a climate controlled environment.
We crossed the border into Texas and the Central time zone at mile 1236 at 9:58pm. We crashed in Ft. Stockton, TX just off of Interstate 10 at a Wal-Mart parking lot. Most Wal-Marts have an unwritten policy of letting people park in their lots overnight. Ever wonder why you often see RVs parked at the far end of the parking lot? This is something that Yvette taught us and it turned out to be very useful information. You can find listings on a lot of RV travel websites for free campgrounds and find out which Wal-Marts allow it. They even have security working the lots which kind of makes it feel safer.
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