Captain’s Blog
10/17/07
Carlsbad, NM
Odometer Reading: 12681.4
Well, Ron finally got his wish. We drove into Carlsbad, NM http://www.nps.gov/cave/ and spent last night in a Walmart Supercenter parking lot. Yeah!!! There were four other RV’s and several trucks. Security was riding around the lot most of the night so it felt safe.
We walked to a Chile’s and had a light dinner. Back in the RV we were able to get good TV reception and free WiFi. Once again – a happy Ron.
The weather has been perfect. We’ve had warm and sunny days with cool evenings for sleeping
The trip down into the main corridor of the Cavern was one mile on steep walkways. The area was dimly lit for effect and inspired awe at the massive expanse of the cavern. At every turn there was something different to see.
Words cannot express what these caverns are like. One has to see them to understand the magnitude of the caverns. Most people think that we are standing on Terra Firma but guess again. After walking through the caverns it makes you realize that what you see on the surface does not represent what you are really standing on. 
Ron took many pictures but none really captured the essence of the caverns. Just when we thought we had seen it all we entered into the Big Room. We thought we had already seen a big room – but no – we were really in a BIG room, cave, cavern whatever you want to call it 754 feet below ground. This was another self-guided one mile round trip
tour of the largest room in the cave covering 8.2 acres. Again, I stress that neither words or pictures can do the Carlsbad Cavern justice. Throughout the two and one-half hour walk we continually expressed our amazement at the enormous size of the cavern and the many different formations within the cavern. 
There is lunchroom, restrooms and store
adjacent to the Big Room. If one chooses they can have a light lunch or do some shopping in the cave. The average temperature in the cave is 56 degrees year round so it is comfortable with a light jacket. 
The Ranger told us about a bat flight out of the main corridor of the cavern that takes place nightly between 5 and 6 PM. There are 1.2 million Mexican free tailed that migrate from Mexico each year to Carlsbad Cavern to give birth and raise their young. The young are born in June under the cover of darkness and they are born hairless. A female usual only has one baby (pup). Mothers and babies hang in clusters on the ceiling. There are as many as 300 bats per square foot. When the bats are ready to leave the cave for feeding they spiral out of the natural entrance of the Carlsbad Caverns in waves of hundreds to thousands. It can take up to two and one-half hours for the bats to exit the cave.
There is an amphitheater built outside of the entrance specifically for viewing the bat exodus. Unfortunately we could not take pictures because the Ranger stated that electronic equipment would interfere with bat sonar and disturb their flight. We did get a few pictures from the windshield of the RV as we were leaving but they are not very clear.
The exodus from the cave opening was awesome, eerie and magical all at the same time. As the bats flew over our heads you could see their faces and here the flapping of their wings as they flew in a Southwest direction like a swarm of locusts. We left after the 8th wave of bats.
Ron, it seems, wants to head out and drive to Marfa, Texas to witness the Marfa lights. The Marfa lights are similar to the Paulding Light in Paulding, MI. Since we were in the area he was determined to witness those lights as well.
I tried to convince him it was too late and we should spend the night in White City outside of the Cavern main entrance. But, on no he didn’t care that it was 6:30 PM and we had been on the run since 7 AM. We hadn’t had dinner yet but he wasn’t giving in and off we went down the road to Marfa.
Needless to say it was very tense in the RV. It got very dark very quickly and we were on a very long, barren, pitch - black road over the Guadalupe Mountains. Ron mentioned that Marfa was 117 miles and a two - hour drive but after 110 miles the road sign showed another 120 miles to Marfa. It seems when he was setting up Delorme he was looking at the distance from Marfa to Big Bend not Carlsbad to Marfa. By this point it was 9:30 because we crossed another time zone and lost an hour. He was tense, I was tense but there was no stopping now. With no place to stop for the night we had to keep on rolling because between the small towns are miles and miles of nothing.
After a fuel stop and a failed attempt at getting a burger at Wendy’s (8 people working – no people waiting on anyone) we were back on the road to Marfa at 10 PM.
At 11:30 PM we managed to find the Marfa light site in the dark in unfamiliar territory. Ron’s keen eye caught site of the new viewing building built for spectators to see the light.
Once again we experienced a phenomenon that has been occurring in Marfa, TX since 1898.
10/17/07
Carlsbad, NM
Odometer Reading: 12681.4
Well, Ron finally got his wish. We drove into Carlsbad, NM http://www.nps.gov/cave/ and spent last night in a Walmart Supercenter parking lot. Yeah!!! There were four other RV’s and several trucks. Security was riding around the lot most of the night so it felt safe.
We walked to a Chile’s and had a light dinner. Back in the RV we were able to get good TV reception and free WiFi. Once again – a happy Ron.
The weather has been perfect. We’ve had warm and sunny days with cool evenings for sleeping
The trip down into the main corridor of the Cavern was one mile on steep walkways. The area was dimly lit for effect and inspired awe at the massive expanse of the cavern. At every turn there was something different to see.
Words cannot express what these caverns are like. One has to see them to understand the magnitude of the caverns. Most people think that we are standing on Terra Firma but guess again. After walking through the caverns it makes you realize that what you see on the surface does not represent what you are really standing on. 
Ron took many pictures but none really captured the essence of the caverns. Just when we thought we had seen it all we entered into the Big Room. We thought we had already seen a big room – but no – we were really in a BIG room, cave, cavern whatever you want to call it 754 feet below ground. This was another self-guided one mile round trip
tour of the largest room in the cave covering 8.2 acres. Again, I stress that neither words or pictures can do the Carlsbad Cavern justice. Throughout the two and one-half hour walk we continually expressed our amazement at the enormous size of the cavern and the many different formations within the cavern. 
There is lunchroom, restrooms and store
adjacent to the Big Room. If one chooses they can have a light lunch or do some shopping in the cave. The average temperature in the cave is 56 degrees year round so it is comfortable with a light jacket. 
The Ranger told us about a bat flight out of the main corridor of the cavern that takes place nightly between 5 and 6 PM. There are 1.2 million Mexican free tailed that migrate from Mexico each year to Carlsbad Cavern to give birth and raise their young. The young are born in June under the cover of darkness and they are born hairless. A female usual only has one baby (pup). Mothers and babies hang in clusters on the ceiling. There are as many as 300 bats per square foot. When the bats are ready to leave the cave for feeding they spiral out of the natural entrance of the Carlsbad Caverns in waves of hundreds to thousands. It can take up to two and one-half hours for the bats to exit the cave.There is an amphitheater built outside of the entrance specifically for viewing the bat exodus. Unfortunately we could not take pictures because the Ranger stated that electronic equipment would interfere with bat sonar and disturb their flight. We did get a few pictures from the windshield of the RV as we were leaving but they are not very clear.
The exodus from the cave opening was awesome, eerie and magical all at the same time. As the bats flew over our heads you could see their faces and here the flapping of their wings as they flew in a Southwest direction like a swarm of locusts. We left after the 8th wave of bats.
Ron, it seems, wants to head out and drive to Marfa, Texas to witness the Marfa lights. The Marfa lights are similar to the Paulding Light in Paulding, MI. Since we were in the area he was determined to witness those lights as well.
I tried to convince him it was too late and we should spend the night in White City outside of the Cavern main entrance. But, on no he didn’t care that it was 6:30 PM and we had been on the run since 7 AM. We hadn’t had dinner yet but he wasn’t giving in and off we went down the road to Marfa.
Needless to say it was very tense in the RV. It got very dark very quickly and we were on a very long, barren, pitch - black road over the Guadalupe Mountains. Ron mentioned that Marfa was 117 miles and a two - hour drive but after 110 miles the road sign showed another 120 miles to Marfa. It seems when he was setting up Delorme he was looking at the distance from Marfa to Big Bend not Carlsbad to Marfa. By this point it was 9:30 because we crossed another time zone and lost an hour. He was tense, I was tense but there was no stopping now. With no place to stop for the night we had to keep on rolling because between the small towns are miles and miles of nothing.
After a fuel stop and a failed attempt at getting a burger at Wendy’s (8 people working – no people waiting on anyone) we were back on the road to Marfa at 10 PM.
At 11:30 PM we managed to find the Marfa light site in the dark in unfamiliar territory. Ron’s keen eye caught site of the new viewing building built for spectators to see the light.
Once again we experienced a phenomenon that has been occurring in Marfa, TX since 1898.
The light was there in an open field glowing and flickering and dancing just like the Paulding Light. Ron and I were the only two at the site at Midnight on a clear, beautiful night. Not only was the Marfa Light spectacular the stars were also spectacular. There was no ambient light to blur the sparkle of the stars and they were as bright as we had ever seen. We feel fortunate to have witnessed both the Paulding and Marfa Lights. The third light is in England. Maybe someday we’ll see that one as well.
All tension and stress melted away and we spent the night in the rest area adjacent to the viewing station for the Marfa Light. It’s on to Big Bend National Park in the morning.
All tension and stress melted away and we spent the night in the rest area adjacent to the viewing station for the Marfa Light. It’s on to Big Bend National Park in the morning.
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