Journaling: El Paso to Carlsbad**

When last you heard we were nearing El Paso on I-10.  Even though we arrived in the metropolis during the afternoon rush hour, driving through the city and onto US 62 - 180 heading east was not a difficult feat.  We passed the last campground in El Paso as the sun was setting but felt confident that better things lay ahead.  Indeed.  About thirty miles out as dusk was settling, we were stopped by the Border Patrol.  The pleasant young officer advised us not to stay in the campground at the next intersection as "that is the place at which anyone trying to evade the checkpoint will emerge."  So we drove on past that possibility and soon found ourselves ascending the Guadalupe Mountains in the dark.  As it turns out, even though we missed the scenery, perhaps "in the dark" was a good way to get through that area.

We arrived in White's City, NM, which is at the foot of the drive up to Carlsbad Caverns and named for Jim White, the kid who did the first explorations of the caverns over a hundred years ago.  We walked the dog and enjoyed a pleasant evening and a good night's rest in preparation for the morrow's adventure.

A bite of breakfast, a bit of a walk, then the drive up the mountain to the main attraction.  We let the attendants talk us into renting ($3 apiece) recorded tour guide keyed to numbered areas throughout the great room.  Save your change.  It is a) way too much information to absorb while trying to appreciate the wonders of this Creation, and b) a running conservation diatribe and a constant reminder to keep your fingers off the marvels.  Learn about it before you get there, or even  afterward, but enjoy the place.

Craning the neck while trying to experience the place as completely as possible proved to be a daunting task, along with the over-long walk.  At one point after much walking, we encountered a
Park Service Ranger and asked, "How much farther?"  "You can put your landing gear down now," she replied.  Don't trust them.

Finally we exited into the light of day, drove back down the mountain and turned northward toward Carlsbad.  We decided to go for the gourmet luncheon and stopped at Wendy's.  I believe it would be accurate to say it was here that I ate my first jr. bacon cheeseburger that was barely fit for human consumption.  Did put the old appetite to rest, though.   It was while we agonized over this tortured meal that we also agonized over the decision: to go north and east and hence homeward, or to the south and east and visit San Antonio and New Orleans.  We chose Southeast.  TBC

Photo is from a postcard.  Which I bought.

Journaling: Aztec Visit**

During our first evening with Joan and Wes, we drove into Farmington, half-dozen miles away and had dinner at a restaurant called "Zebediah's"  This is a good place to put on the feedbag if you are ever in the Four Corners area.  Much of the time in Aztec was spent in visiting and walking, rehearsing old times, and reciting our plans for the times yet to come.

We went again into Farmington and did antique mall, quite a good one as it turns out.  Jo bought stuff.  We had tacos for supper.  Of course we did, we were in New Mexico, after all.  The next day being Sunday we went to church with Wes and Joan at the Aztec Church of the Nazarene, their home church.  We had dinner at our hosts' home and lazed away the afternoon.

Monday morning, we visited Aztec Ruins National Monument which is only three or four miles from our base.  Were there really Aztecs in Northern New Mexico? you are supposed to ask.  No, of course not.  The Indians who occupied the area were the Anasazi, or "The People" as they designated themselves.  Very interesting site.  Don't miss it when you are in the area.

Lunch was at an authentic Mexican restaurant.  Food was great and available in whatever degree of "hot" one might desire.  Following lunch, we shopped around downtown Aztec.  Specialty and curio shoppes in some number, but Aztec as a center of commerce has seen its day if it ever had one.  Not so different in that regard from hundreds of other towns across the land since the advent of the suburban mall, the K-Mart, and the Walmart.  A bicycle ride cost us two new tubes.  I rode through a patch of goathead.  When I replaced the tubes I removed eight thorns from one tire, twelve from the other.

On Wednesday, October 22 we said our farewells to Joan and Wes who never fail to remind us that if we never meet again on this orb we have an appointment to gather together at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  We drove through Farmington and Shiprock turning once again inadvertently to the south. We discovered the error and returned to Shiprock and continued on in our intended direction.  We did get some good shots of the Shiprock while on the detour.

We drove on a while, then took an intentional detour to the north in order to visit the Four Corners Monument.  As in every scenic overlook or point of interest which lies within the Indian Nation, the entire  area around the marker is surrounded by vendors' booths, which though constructed  of bare 2 x 4s and plywood and quite tacky in appearance, were occupied by skilled artisans, many plying their trade and all offering their wares for sale.  Beadwork, jewelry, pottery, blankets, and paintings were among the available items.  JoAnn bought stuff.  We ate fry bread and burgers, moved on down the road. -TBC


Standing in Four States.