Start 7:00 AM -
Stop 10:00 PM
Distance - 760 miles
Knowing that
Carlsbad Caverns would be open at 8 AM we mounted our bike at 7:00 and stopped for breakfast on the way, arriving at that Caverns just after 8 AM. The weather was already scorching hot with the temp in the high nineties. It was nice to see that they had a special motorcycle parking area at the Caverns. There was already another motorcycle, a Harley Road King loaded with gear, parked in the area but the owner was nowhere in site. We changed out of our riding gear into our shorts, tank tops and sandals right in the parking lot. No other humans were around.
We stepped into the visitor area and were pleased to see that our National Parks Pass allowed us access to the Caverns. We didn't bother paying for one of the tours since we just wanted to scope out the caverns on our own. We got in the elevator that went down into the cavern and immediately felt the temperature rapidly drop as we descended. The temp was actually a nice change. It was probably in the high sixties but offered an appreciated relief from the desert heat.
If you have never been in the Caverns you can't imagine how breath taking they truly are. Having studied a bit about geology in college it was truly fascinating to see how the stalactites and stalagmites were formed. Pools of clear water laid everywhere and there was a distinct smell of wet limestone everywhere. There is a circular path through the caverns that covers about 1.5 miles. Looking back I wish that we had the opportunity to access the Caverns through the natural entrance but the long hike in and out would have cut too much time out of our day. We enjoyed the coolness of the taverns and took quite a few pictures inside. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and grand the Caverns are, so I won't try. If you ever find yourself traveling through New Mexico and West Texas you must force yourself to swing by the Caverns. Try to schedule a day there. You definitely won't be disappointed.
We spent about an hour and a half in the Caverns and then took the elevator back up to the visitor center. We purchased a video about the caverns in the gift shop and headed back out to our bike by around 10 AM. The temperature had already climbed above 100 degrees. We again donned our mesh gear with nothing but underwear beneath. We needed the protection from the sun that the gear offered but the air running right through it felt good.
We began our descent out of New Mexico southward into West Texas. At one point while riding down the grade I looked in our mirror and saw a tour buss barreling down on us. I opened up the throttle and picked our speed up to 90 mph, and saw the bus was still gaining on us. I didn't want the bus to pass us since I knew the road would return to a two-lane highway so I picked up our speed to just over 100 mph and saw that the bus was pretty much sticking to that speed. Oh well, it was good to get some fast miles under us feeling relatively save from law enforcement (I figured any cop would nail the bus before they would hassle us, or at least I hoped so.)
The road flattened out into some of the most desolate desert I have ever seen. Everything including the dirt was bleached by the sun into the brightest white I have ever seen. Even though I was wearing sunglasses under a tinted face shield I still had to squint. We saw signs everywhere for acreage. Who the hell would by acreage out in that God forsaken land? But surprisingly enough, every dozen miles or so we would see a trailer on blocks with assorted weather-vanes and other decorations around the front porch. But there were no other signs of life. I had forgotten to fuel up while in Carlsbad so we kept our eyes open for any gas along the way as we were getting dangerously low. Eventually we did come upon a building with two fuel pumps out front. We bout a couple of gallons of the exorbitantly high priced fuel and continued on our way.
Carole was extremely perplexed by the looks of El Paso as we rolled into the City on our way to I-10. She mentioned that the city had been romantically described in quite a few songs but there was nothing romantic looking about it. It looked like a severely economically depressed border town that was overgrown. I had to agree. I'm sure there is more to El Paso than meets the eye, but I've only seen it from I-10 and Hwy 62, and there is not much to see from those routes.
We charged on through and made our way back into New Mexico, stopping for a late lunch in Las Cruces. The heat was almost unbearable but beat the daylights out of being cold. Although we were getting late into the afternoon we decided over our meal that we would make a hard run for California before stopping for the night. So we headed out to the interstate knowing that the saddle was going to feel mighty hard by the time our day was over.
Our charge across the New Mexico and Arizona deserts was uneventful save for a few dust-devils off in the distance. Some of these dust-devils took on enormous size, looking more like tornados than the relatively harmless funnels they were. As we got closer to Tucson thunderheads started appearing overhead. It was odd to be riding through some of the most arid landscape on the planet and have concern about thunderstorms. But as we rolled into Tucson it began to rain a little, even though the temperature was still above 100 degrees. The rain lasted for just a few minutes before we made our way through the heart of Tucson.
Having traveled through much of Europe and the Middle East I have seen some pretty strange driving habits and hazardous drivers. However, I truthfully have to say the worst traffic on the planet I have ever encountered is on I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix. Admittedly, there are a lot of commuters between the two cities and we were in the middle of rush hour. But everyone was either doing 15 miles under the speed limit in the right lane or over 90 mph in the left lane. And regardless of which lane you choose there is always somebody right on your rear fender. I ended up stopping at a McDonald's just to take a break from the mad traffic. But after downing some gulps of water we decided we just had to deal with it if we were going to make it to California before calling it a night.
We wound our way through the treacherous freeway interchange in Phoenix as the sun set in the west. I felt like we were on the last legs of an Iron Butt ride as we made our way due west through the suburbs and deserts west of Phoenix. We were both doing the saddle dance, trying to find a comfortable position for our gluts in the saddle. We finally made it into Blythe, CA around 10 PM and decided to spend our night at a Holiday Inn Express. We grabbed a couple of wine coolers at a liquor store next door to settle our frazzled nerves (and awfully sore butts) and hit the sack, grateful that we had made it back to our home state.