Updated: Aug 31, Continuing eastward from Carlsbad, I headed into Texas through Gail and Roscoe on my way to Abilene for a night's rest before reaching Dallas. Then I headed across Alabama, into Florida, and to Georgia. I spent the holiday season Christmas through New Year's Day in Georgia before traveling back into Florida, working my way along the Atlantic coast to my place of domicile in South Florida.
Many mornings on this leg of the adventure were greeted by some moody and mystic fog—offering moments of contemplation plus opportunities for capturing ethereal images. December ended somberly, from a family perspective with the hospitalization followed by my father's death on December 28th.
The new year of had me driving back into Florida and returning to South Florida—completing a round trip. December 1 - 9. Carlsbad NM. Abilene TX. Descending through an opening on a hillside within the Chihuahuan Desert, you enter a large chamber—a bat cave to the underworld. Within the park, there are more than caves hidden beneath the surface. Words to describe Carlsbad Cavern don't flow easily, nor do images properly show its marvels.
To experience the magnitude of the cavern s requires a personal visit. I recommend descending through the natural entrance, walk around the cavern, and then ascend back to the surface via the elevators. North of Alamogordo NM in a remote, isolated and unpopulated area of New Mexico lies a rough-sided, obelisk marker. This lava-rock marker is 12 feet high and sits on the hypocenter where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 6, Trinity Site is a National Historical Landmark.
The camp host at the Alamogordo KOA had recommended a pizzeria in the mountain town. So instead of homemade sandwiches while driving to Carlsbad, it was homemade pizza at Cloudcroft Brewing Company. You see and learn a lot of interesting things when you travel via non-interstate roads. The interstates bypass many of them. That is a lot of solar panels on a lot of range land—no bull! Gail is the county seat for the Texas county of Bordon.
