Our Great Americian Road Trip - On To Carlsbad Caverns

 

From Yukon to Carlsbad Caverns for 573 miles there is not much to see, at least that is how it felt to me.  We followed I40 west to Amarillo along the old Route 66 route and then turned south toward Lubbock.

When Richard was about nine living outside Amarillo, he watched the western sky darken before the sand blew so thick we couldn't see the road in front of our house. No sand today though, just the old sun beating heat down on us.

Driving south of Lubbock through the Permian Basin ( shaded pink area on map to left) seemed as if we were traversing an alien and desolate land. The Permian Basin is home to the oil, gas and mining industries.  We had reserved a room at the only motel in Whites City located at the entrance road to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  Whites City consisting of a few tourist shops, an RV park and the motel is not a city at all. So we ordered Mexican food for dinner in Carlsbad to take with us.

In the evening, we drove up to the visitor's center, walked a short way to the amphitheater above a cave opening and waited for the bats to emerge. 


Hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats emerge at dusk each evening, the emergence lasting as long as three hours. These bats are very small weighing only a half once but have a wing span of eleven inches.   We watched the the bats emerge in swarms, spiral counter clockwise and disappear across the horizon for about twenty minutes before leaving. Photo taking and talking are not allowed at the amphitheater so I snaped a photo from the trail leading back to the car. 

Checkout the New Mexico Travel Guy's article on Carlsbad Caverns including the bat emergence.   

Early the next morning, an elevator dropped us 750 ft below the surface to the floor of the Big Room.  The Big Room is, well, really big, about 8.2 acres or more than 6 football fields. We followed a 1.25 mile self guided path around the perimeter of the room, stopping often to gaze at different formations and read informative signs. Our photos just can't capture the immensity of the Big Room. Well over 2 hours later we rode the elevator back to the surface for lunch the park's cafeteria before continuing our way to Las Cruces. 











Still Growing




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