The Lighthouse

I just had to go back to Palo Duro. It's the second largest canyon in the US, the Grand Canyon is the largest. If time permits I'll see that too. I wanted to photograph the Lighthouse. It was a 3 mile hike and they recommended you bring a gallon of water. Since I only had a six pack and wanted to be in Carlsbad to see the bats fly at sunset, I punted. This snap is from 3 miles away.

That'll be the Day

   I was flyin' back from lubbock
   I saw Jesus on the plane ...or maybe it was Elvis
   You know, they kinda look the same

     Don Henley - If Dirt Were Dollars

Lubbock Texas turned out to be one of the most fun places so far. Not only was it the home of Buddy Holly but I had a tasty burrito at FreeBirds who boasted they have the best freaken burritos around, the hype was deserved. 

Dammit Janet

When I got into Freebirds, "Time Warp" from the Rocky Horror picture show was playing. I saw that flick with Joe N (my LA friend) back in '82 in West Wood. Tiffany new all the words. We stated dancing the "Time Warp"

   It's just a jump to the left
   And then a step to the right
   With your hands on your hips
   You bring your knees in tight
   But it's the pelvic thrust
   That really drives you insane
   Let's do the Time Warp again

We also sang "Hot Patootie" and agreed that Tim Curry played and excellent "Transvestite from Transylvania".  I had a great time. Thanks Tiff!

check out Tim Curry
 

Wear Your Seat Belt Dan

Southwest of Lubbock I saw this roll over. Dan, I told you about all the physics of a rollover, about how Patrice lost her mother and brother and how here sister was made into a quadriplegic, about how they saved my life when me and your Mom got into a head on crash. Wearing seat belts is just easy insurance. OK end of nag, just wear 'em and let me sleep easy :-)

DQ, StarBucks and Subway

Todd O suggested stopping at every Bass Pro Shop along the way. There weren't any along my route. So I decided to get soft serve ice cream every time I filled up the truck with gas and search out every Starbucks I came across. Where I live you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Bucks. There are 2 within walking distance from my house. I was surprised how few Starbucks there were outside of big cities. It seemed that every town, and I mean every town with a gas station has a Dairy Queen and a Subway. 

This DQ was in Hobbs New Mexico, it was 104 degrees outside.

Bat Out Of Hell

I arrived at Carlsbad around 6pm. The caverns were closed for the day. But the bats were yet to fly. This is a snap of the "natural" entrance to the caverns. The man-made one is an elevator :-(

The Bats spiral up from the depths below in a counter clockwise direction and then head south over the rim of the cavern. The park service emphasized that in order not to disturb the bats no pictures could be taken when they come out of the cave. Let me tell you it was very cool to see millions of bats swirling out into the evening sky.

 They Sky is filled with bats at sunset.

This snap shows their translucent wings ... you can see the legs in one of the bats. Click on the image to get a larger picture. Look at the bat on the left in the middle of the pic.

And as usual I'll leave you all with a (reverse) sunset. It was beautiful.

Today's Progress

I made just over 400 miles today. I'm now in Carlsbad New Mexico. tomorrow I'll check out the caverns and then stop to see the "White Sands". Both Alexander and John recommended that. Where I'll stop for the evening I have no idea at this time.