May 5 to May 7

When we went to Carlsbad Caverns a few days ago we had to kennel Toby while we were there. We had to do the same last time and I really hated it. But if you leave your pet in your vehicle unattended you can get a ticket. So we did it. Toby is usually cooperative about such things, but not this time. While I was putting him in the crate he escaped and just ran. He couldn't get out of the room but he had high hopes. Once I got him in there the second time, he kept pushing against the door as I was trying to latch it. We did not leave him as long this time and he didn't seem to hold a grudge. But I don't want to do that again! Meanwhile out in the parking lot, another RV had its generator and air conditioner running with barking dogs inside. Oh well, at least they were kept cool. We took the elevator down into the cavern instead of walking down. It saved a lot of time, and besides we had done the spiral descent last time. The cavern floor is 750 feet below the ground, and the elevator brings you down to a shopping and restaurant area. Also there are restrooms there. Charlie was fascinated by the mens room because the cave walls pop through the normal walls of the room. This time he took pictures and I posted one here. Returning to the cavern was okay, but I was not fascinated like I was the first time. Carlsbad Caverns are spectacular, it is so big, and the formations are huge and colorful. But I must admit that caves are not really my thing. Charlie liked it though. Charlie has begun checking the elevation of everywhere we go. His Garmin indicated that Carlsbad is at 4,388 feet. We were surprised it is that high. We left the caverns and headed to an RV campground where we stayed before. It has an indoor pool and a couple of dog yards, a petting zoo, turtles on display, and playgrounds and a playroom for kids. There were lots of kids. But, just our luck the pool was closed due to a broken pump. So, we got on the Internet instead, I read, and Toby and I did a lot of walking around the camp. I wanted to see Roswell the next day, and even though he was not interested, Charlie was a good sport and took me there. I am not into all that jazz, but what would such a town be like? We found out that Roswell is a town with a theme, and that is the little alien face. The alien face was represented in every store no matter what they were selling. A furniture store had alien dummies sitting on chairs in the front window. Even Wal-Mart had the alien face and a flying saucer painted on either side of the Wal-Mart sign! We visited the UFO Museum and Research Center in the middle of town. We picked up a little green man, a little blue man, and a magnet, and we were on our way. From there we went to the Bottomless Lakes State Park outside of Roswell. There are seven small lakes bordered by high red bluffs. The park offers hiking, swimming, fishing, and scuba diving. The lakes' greenish-blue color creates the illusion that the lakes are bottomless, but they range in depth from 17 feet to 90 feet. In 1933 the bottomless lakes area was set aside as New Mexico's first state park. Lea Lake is the deepest lake and is the only one where swimming is allowed. It appeared that a couple of the lakes were dry, but we were hoping to swim at Lea Lake. Charlie tried, but it was way to cold for me. There was a nice beach though. Charlie spotted a camper that was similar to one he had seen for sale on Craig's List. This one is a Mercedes truck that was converted into a camper. The owners brought it over from Germany and they are touring the U.S. It does not have air conditioning. See the picture I posted. Charlie was awakened at 3am when a guy came into the campground and set up his tent near us. He had an old caprice running with the headlights on so he could pound in a whole bunch of stakes to setup this big cabin tent. He was up by 7am and dropped the tent so the wind wouldn't tear it up, and then he left. I slept through it all. Charlie may have been wakeful because he was worried about the security of the park. When we arrived, a park ranger was racing from the park office to the campground. When we drove by he and another ranger were checking out a real big fifth wheel. It looked like someone had broken into it because there were 3 windows missing. An older couple are the camp hosts staying near the entrance to the campground and the beach. We don't think they were taking much notice of who comes and goes. Charlie wrote... “The camp host said they got more RVers this year already than they did all season last year. It's funny how people will buy these big rigs that depreciate thousands each year, and yet they won't take them out and spend a few thousand more for fuel when the prices get high. It makes me wonder how tight their budget is and that maybe they are paying $500 a month for an RV, and they don't have anything left for higher priced fuel. It would kill me to see that expensive thing just sitting there. I guess most of them have a 10 year or more loan on the RV and are so upside down they think they are stuck. Maybe my kind of thinking will keep me from getting robbed. I will only have an RV or trailer so old that it looks like I'm just one of the poor folks living in the park; no flat screens or anything else of big value to pilfer. The crooks are right. I think Toby's dog treats are worth almost as much as anything else in this RV. Have you seen the fancy containers they come in?”.....Ha Ha Charlie! We left the park and headed further north. We went through lots of mostly open plains. It was all fenced along the road and we saw some cattle and once a few antelope. We went through the town of Vaughn and got gas, but there was nothing else there, so once we were out of town we pulled off the road and ate lunch. Charlie aimed for another Passport America campground called Turner Inn and RV Park in Mountainair, New Mexico. Charlie said when we get there he might have to turn me in. Turner Inn --- Turn Her In. Ha Ha again Charlie! We got to Mountainair early so we paid for the night and then drove on to one of three Salinas Pueblo Missions. We visited Quarai which was a thriving pueblo when Onate approached it in 1598 to accept its oath of allegiance to Spain. Three of Quarai's Spanish priests were head of the New Mexico inquisition during the 1600's, including Fray Estevan de Perea, Custodian of the Franciscan order in the Salinas Jurisdiction and called by one historian the “Father of the New Mexican Church”. Quarai was abandoned 50 years after it was built. We toured the ruins with Toby and got lots of great pictures, I only posted a few here. Salinas is a tiny old town and we could not spot any restaurants so when we stopped at the Post Office I asked if they could recommend a good restaurant. The ladies just laughed, so I said well how about any restaurant. They mentioned the hotel, but it was not exactly a recommendation, so we headed for our campsite. We are at about 5,900 feet and just about exactly in the middle of the state. Our camp is next to a highway, though it is not well traveled, and beyond that is a train track. Lots of freight trains came through all day and all night. We both stayed up late but then I didn't hear a thing after I went to sleep. Charlie was kept up most of the night I think. So this morning we are taking it easy and planning our next move.