Last week we were at the Albuquerque, NM Balloon Fiesta... having a great time seeing all the activity. And catching up with some family...
There's Bill and his sister, Alberta.
That's Rylee, Celeste's dog on Bill's lap. Rylee travels well in their 5th Wheel, and gets to go along with Celeste and Victor in their travels.
Bill and I left ABQ on Monday, heading south... stayed a night in Roswell, then on to Carlsbad Caverns. We've toured the caves before, but neither of us had been there when the bats were. They'll be migrating (probably to Mexico) very soon, and we wanted to watch them fly out of the cave entrance (or exit?) in the evening. No cameras or other electronic equipment was allowed so I don't have photos... We were seated in the amphitheater at 5:45 pm and around 6:15 the bats started out... in a steady stream... thousands of them! Their departure takes about 3 hours in all... so I suppose some folks can get bored after an hour or so... but we watched them until the combination of fog rolling in and dark coming on got to the point we could no longer see them. There were streams of them... just dark lines in the sky... as they headed out for their night's foraging. I wish I could have taken photos...
Carlsbad Caverns is located in SE New Mexico, and after that we headed back to Glen Rose, Texas. No easy route...
Lots of straight, two-lane road until we got on I 10 at Big Spring, TX.
The main industries are oil wells and cotton fields...
Sometimes the two sharing the same area....
We saw lots and lots of oil/gas activity, but very few "gate guard" motorhomes.
We did see this huge refinery...
The company is "Alon", one I'm not familiar with, however we saw several Alon service stations in SW Texas.
There was road construction along the way. That made for some slow travel at times.
But we weren't in a big hurry... in fact, it took us over 3 days to get from Abq. to Glen Rose. We missed most of the rain... kind of stayed ahead of it, so it went pretty well.
We did see this in a Roadside Rest area...
I don't know if dogs really use this, but I suppose they do if it's already been marked by another dog. Heck, wonder whose territory it really is?
We got back to Celeste and Victors place in Glen Rose. They won't be back for another day or so... but I got caught up with laundry, cleaning and the such....
And Bill got caught up with...
Jack
This is Victor's dog, who didn't get to go on this trip. Jack likes to mark his territory much too much... Celeste would have to put that fireplug in their rig to keep him happy.
Being the bulldog that he is, Jack loves to play fetch. However, he does not like to give back the toy to be thrown again. As you can see, Bill can pick him clear off the ground and Jack will hang on to his prize.
We left Texas this past March, so it's kind of nice to be back here again. But we'll be here only until next Saturday then fly off to Florida to board a cruise ship that will take us through the Panama Canal. That is a 10 day cruise... then back to Texas for a few weeks before we head out again.
Life is just one adventure after another!
That's All For Today!
I have heard that those bats are a sight to behold!! Glad you got to see them. So, you are leaving the country again??
ReplyDeleteAnother gorgeous header! I would like those back roads.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited Carlsbad way back when, I could only talk my youngest son into getting up before dawn so we could go see all the bats returning to the cave, and all the cave swallows coming out. We had the whole place to ourselves. :)
ReplyDeleteAlon had 3 or 4 stations in Espaniola, NM, that had the lowest prices in town by a large margin. In most towns the stations stay close to each other in price, but not in Espaniola!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'd love to see the bats fly out of the cave! I wish I could talk the spouse into a trip that far south.
ReplyDeleteWe have been to Carlsberg but never were able to see the bats, wrong time of year.
ReplyDeleteToo bad no pictures allowed.
That would be something to see, all those bats. When I trapped cats at this one seed warehouse, years ago, there were lots of warehouses on the property. I'd be there at night, just loved it, and sometimes I'd open a door, and swarms of bats would fly out, some brushing my face. It was awesome. My neighbor has two large dogs who like to play tug of war. They'll each be on one end of the tug rope, but they want a human to pull in the middle and they'll do it for hours. A good workout!
ReplyDeleteThis looks and sounds like fun.. .although Bill and his sister don't appear to be enjoying themselves much!
ReplyDeleteI sure recognize those Texas roads:)
ReplyDeleteWe will look forward to lots of Panama Canal photos!
ReplyDeleteWe saw the bats several years ago, neat thing to witness. Can't wait to hear about your Panama Canal adventures. Have Fun!
ReplyDeleteWe saw the bats several years ago, neat thing to witness. Can't wait to hear about your Panama Canal adventures. Have Fun!
ReplyDelete