There's coffee in the thermos, so I pour myself a cup and haul out the TV to watch the news. Lots of coverage of the Ryan VP pick...interesting. I'm not sure how much, if any, this helps Romney, but it does raise the possibility of a campaign if issues and ideas, as opposed to the "talking points" and "slash and burn" campaign that we've had so far.
By 10:00AM or so, I'm packed up and on the road. Coming out of Las Cruces, I go over some low mountains, then down into a long flat desert plain.
Seventy miles or so from Las Cruces, I stop at "White Sands National Monument"...some really huge dunes and some really white sand...impressive.
Coming out of the city of Alamogordo, I start seeing warning signs...there's going to be a five thousand foot gain in elevation over the next sixteen miles. It's not a particularly "scary" drive (I give it a 5.8 on the "BTPWS"). Soon I am on top of the Sacramento Mountains, and the change is profound. The temperature has dropped from 102 degrees to the low 70's...there are trees...and ranches...and cattle. I'm going through the Lincoln National Forest high 8000-9000 feet) above the desert. The descent is slow and gradual...I watch the outside temperature rise through the 70's, the 80's, the 90's...back up to 104 degrees or so.
To call my campground the "Carlsbad KOA" is somewhat misleading. I heard from one of my fellow campers that this KOA used to be in the town of Carlsbad, but there was some dispute, and the campground was moved way out of town. It is located about eighteen miles from the nearest town, Artesia, twenty-five miles from the town of Carlsbad, and a whopping forty-five miles from the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
I've only had snacks today, and I am starving...I just want to sit down in an air-conditioned restaurant and enjoy a nice meal. This being Sunday, however, my dining options are very limited. There's a nice looking steakhouse back in Artesia, but it's closed on Sunday. All of the places that I'm looking at in Carlsbad are also closed. The KOA folks are pushing their "special" barbecue smoked on premises, but I'm real picky about my barbecue...and I'm not opting for theirs. I finally opt for a Mexican restaurant, La Fonda, in Artesia...and drive the eighteen miles back up the road. Artesia is apparently a "dry" town (in more ways than one)...at least on Sundays. Having spent the day driving through a lot of desert, I'm not having dinner without a beer (or two). So...I get chips, salsa and an order of chile rellenos to go. Back at camp, I pour myself a margarita on the rocks and enjoy my chips and salsa. The chile rellenos are much better than I expected...much better than the ones I had in Tucson.
After dinner, I relax with a few beers and haul out the netbook to look over emails and post to the blog. I'm on guard tonight because the talk around camp is that a "Chupcabra" has been sighted in the area. Now I'm thinking that the goat's milk fudge that I bought in Alamogordo was not such a good idea.
The Wi-Fi connection here is excruciatingly slow...it's one of those systems that detects bandwidth usage and slows down the speed to prevent "spamming". It's taking up to forty-five minutes to upload a single photo, so there won't be many blog posts tonight.
I was hoping for a clear night sky to view the meteor shower, but it really starts to cloud over after the sun goes down.
The storm takes me completely be surprise. A few flashes of lightening...a few claps of thunder...and then the wind. Within five minutes or so the wind goes from nothing to "gale force". Papers, maps, plates go flying off my picnic table. My lantern and netbook are almost blown away. Now the sand and dirt pick up...
I'm in a sandstorm! I quickly retreat to the Explorer which is now rocking back and forth in the strong winds. Visibility drops to a few feet as the sand and dirt swirl around my campsite. There's a brief "lull" during which I move from the Explorer to the camper. The camper is really rocking...and...there's a lot of sand inside. This will be a gritty night's sleep.
So...I lay in the camper listening to the wind howl. and then...just like that...I'm sound asleep. Hopefully, the camper will still be in the campground when I wake up...if I wake up.
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