Day Thirty-Seven

Just when I was getting used to Cara’s place and the desert heat it was time to leave. Cara had a dentist appointment and had to leave around 9:20 am so I got up so that I could have breakfast with her and thank her again for her hospitality. She appreciated all the work I’d done on her new home and we had both enjoyed each others company as well.
We had discussed my travel plans the night before and agreed that I should definitely stop and go through the Carlsbad Caverns on my way east to Fort Worth, Texas.
Several miles east of Tucson I pulled over for a bit of a rest and photographed some of the interesting rock formations at this popular rest stop.




I had considered taking a route over to Alamogordo or Cloudcroft, New Mexico but because I had gotten off to a late start I decided instead to head down through El Paso and on from there to Carlsbad.
I had lost an hour due to the time change and it was getting quite late as I watched El Paso disappear in my rear view mirror. I had no idea what facilities existed out in this remote part of the state so I filled up before leaving and was very glad I did. I drove on into the night with no reservations and no idea what kind of accommodation lay ahead. It started to rain and the few cars that approached me all flashed their brights at me to let me know that my headlights were too bright. Towing a heavy trailer causes the back end to sag a bit and this raises the front of the truck which also raises the aim of the headlights. Up until now the only night driving I’d had was when I arrived in Sebastopol to visit Daniel Osmer.
 I knew there was a state park somewhere west of Carlsbad so I figured it would most likely have spaces for me being after Labor Day and on a weekday. Around 10:00 pm I finally saw a sign for the park and pulled in. It was too late for a ranger to be on duty so I pulled into an RV parking spot and figured that I would deal with the registration in the morning. The park had zero hookups so I could use my lights and that was about it.
I was pretty beat at this point so I had a snack, hopped in bed, read my book and crashed.


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