Carlsbad to Roswell

I reached Carlsbad a little to late in the day to see the cave but 2 hours before the bats were scheduled to exit the cave in a funnel cloud of shrieking glory. So I picked a spot on the concrete steps and waited, and waited, and waited. I listened to the park ranger give a talk all about bats. How they really live off moths, not mosquitoes and how they are all dying off, (due to factors such as pesticides killing all their native food, and possibly the signals emitted by cell phone towers.) Finally the time came, sunset, that magical time when tens of thousands of bats would rush above our heads into the darkening sky. "Here they come!" cried the park ranger.

5 bats fluttered up out of the cave and away to the south. Yes, I waited 2 hours for 5 bats.

The next morning I awoke with the sun, as I always seem to do when camping out, and soon found my way into the depths of carlsbad Caverns. If you haven't been there you should go. I loved the old smell of the cave, the cool darkness, the total silence.

From Carlsbad I drove north towards Roswell. A few miles outside of town my cars doorbell started going off for no reason. Very loud and it would not stop. I spent an hour on the side of the road tearing my car limb from limb trying to get it to stop. I ended up plunging my arm deep into the dash of my car and ripping the offending speaker loose. Problem solved. But then I thought...Roswell...strange electrical problems with my car...yep, you guessed it, ALIENS HAD INVADED MY CAR!!! Had to be right? Upon reaching Roswell I dropped by the Alien Museum. It was by far the best 5 $ I spent the entire trip. Lets just say that an old warehouse filled with manikins dressed as government scientists has never been more fun.

Form Roswell I headed north on highway 285 to Albuquerque, then due west on highway 40. I spent the night in the town of Gallup and the next morning I crossed the border into Arizona.