Lot of driving today, but easy driving. Weather was good, traffic was ok, only hard part was constantly reapplying sunscreen. I know this is strange, since the main point of this trip depends on a clear, bright, sunny day, but I am not well adapted for sun. I was applying SPF 55 to my hands all day long, and still was a bit singed by the time I got to Carlsbad. I’m avoiding thinking too hard about the rest of the trip for now. After next year’s eclipse trip, I’m visiting only damp and cloudy places until I grow moss.
Current forecast has validated my decision to drive here: Hobbs NM looks clear at the moment, and is much preferred over a nearly three hour drive to Odessa TX. Kind of hoping for Roswell, though, a bit closer and someplace I was planning on visiting anyway. And I like the idea of seeing Devil’s Tower and an eclipse at Roswell in the same trip. Very cosmic.
Tonight’s (and tomorrow’s) lodging is positively decadent, a KOA cabin. My own bathroom, so wonderful.
Tomorrow I’ll be doing a practice run for eclipse photography and visiting Carlsbad Caverns. Standing and staring (safely) into the sun for an hour followed by cool, damp, underground darkness. Guess which one I’m looking forward to more.
Mileage as of tonight: 1507. Yikes. After Saturday, though, the rest of the trip should be slower and more wandering about.
The cabin:
Comment from Angela 10/14/2023 07:28:14 am
That cabin looks like absolute perfection, out in the middle of nowhere. I’d probably be tempted to never leave.
Reply from Christina 10/14/2023 10:21:32 pm
Sadly, it looks nicer than it was. That cabin was at the edge of the campground, there were maybe 40 sites? And just to the south was an oil field, which I did not know about until the stench rolled over the next morning. I don’t know exactly what the oil and gas are doing to foul the air so badly, but it was not pleasant.