Day 14 - Junction,Texas to Carlsbad Caverns to Roswell, New Mexico
We rest our weary heads in Roswell New Mexico this evening.
No it wasn't an intended stay but after our visit to the amazing Carlsbad Caverns this afternoon we had time to head to our next destination - Santa Fe NM.
We might have stayed in the town of Carlsbad just as we might have spent last night in San Antonio but we are finding that many hotels are booked - no vacancy! Now I know it's not the peak of the tourist season so I inquired why the crowded hotels. The good news for the country but bad news for us is that there is another "oil boom" going on in Texas and now New Mexico with companies like Halliburton renting ALL rooms of some hotels for their workers. So we push on a few extra hours trying to get out of the oil patch. Geographically speaking, West Texas beyond San Antonio into New Mexico has been the dreariest part of the trip thus far..... nothing but open spaces and scrub land.
A nice experience to see this area of the country but probably won't be a place we return to. Towns are 30 to 40 miles apart with NOTHING between. Today made two weeks on the road. It has been enjoyable. What a wonderful opportunity, not only to see family and friends during week one but to have what amounts to a "second honeymoon" with my sweetie as we wind our way to San Diego. We sense no urgency to rush this once in a life time trip opportunity as we have plenty of America still to visit. It's been a nice blend of alternating visits to National Parks and interesting cities.
Now Dad should know I wasn't lying when I told him the northern most route I picked for our trip was the "scenic way."
ReplyDelete"If this is the scenic way, I don't even want to know what the other way looks like." - Said by dad as we drove through yet another cornfield in iowa.