Stalactites?
After a late night driving last night, we slept in. We left Roswell around
noon to head for Carlsbad Caverns. We would have visited the UFO Museum
if we had seen it. Actually, I don't know how we missed it, having seen
a postcard later ... it looks like a "sore thumb" building. As it turned
out, it's a good thing we beat feet to Carlsbad when we did ...
Last year, we visited Carlsbad but we got there too late to do the
"natural entrance" tour, where you walk down into the historic entrance,
descending 700 feet over the course of a one mile walk. Last year we were
able to visit the "big room" by going down the 70-story elevator. Last
year, they stopped admitting people to the natural entrance around 4 pm.
The reason is that the cave is populated by bats that come out in the
evening. This year, they were closing the natural entrance at 2 pm.
Apparently the bats come out at different times in the afternoon depending
on the season, and this time of year they come out earlier. Anyway, we got
there just in the nick of time. We were with the last group they let in.
Entrance?
We left Carlsbad at 5 pm when the closed up. Tonight, we want to make it
to a town that has a Calvary Chapel or a Vineyard. We are heading generally
in the direction of Houston. Unless we want to backtrack to El Paso, it
looks like our best bet is the Midland/Odessa area or San Angelo.
It doesn't help that we lost an hour when we crossed into Texas. We're
now on Central Daylight Time, two hours different from our California
home. Anyway, San Angelo
looks like a very long drive, but Odessa looks very doable. We found a
Days Inn there with internet access. After we checked in, we got online
and discovered we were only two miles away from Vineyard Christian
Fellowship of Odessa. Also, there is a Starbucks nearby. So we know
where we're headed in the morning.
