24 October 2015, Saturday
Shortly after I finished journaling last night the generators powered off and
the campground once again became quiet. We slept well.
This morning we eat our breakfast, break camp and say farewell to
Chiricahua by 8:15. We retrace our drive back to I-10 E and soon
cross into New Mexico. There is not much to see except for dry desert
scrub and distant mountains. We cross into Texas near El Paso. Soon
after passing through that city we are stopped at a border control
check-point. O offers to show our passports, but the agent says as
long as we confirm we are American citizens we can go without further
ado. I guess they let Pennsylvanians into Texas!
The Texas countryside is more desert scrub, uninteresting until we
approach the Guadalupe Mountains. Here limestone layers were
deposited as a giant reef in an ancient inland sea, and sandstone
layers were deposited as the sea retreated. All of this took place
when the land masses of earth were all one giant continent called
Pangaea. We decide to stop in at the Guadalupe National Park Visitor
Center. They share a weekly newsletter with their sister park,
Carlsbad Caverns which is about 40 miles away. We learn there are
also caves under the Guadalupe Mountains. This is the same formation
in which the caverns at Carlsbad formed.
We stop for dinner in Carlsbad, NM, approximately 35 miles from our
campground at Brantley Lake State Park and 400 miles from this
morning’s campsite. Dinner is quite good at a little restaurant
called Yellowbrix. (They have a wicked witch standing outside –
very seasonal.) Our waiter suggests we check out Sitting Bull Falls.
I’m not sure we’ll have time, but I’ll make a note of it.
We arrive at Brantley Lake after sundown and set up our tent in the
moonlight. At this stage of the trip we could probably set up
blindfolded. The campground has lots of RV’s and a few tents. It is
very quiet and there is a pleasant breeze. We can hear an owl in the
distance and coyotes as we get ready for bed. There is a ramada to
shade the picnic table during the day, but no shade for the tent.
Luckily, the days are getting cooler and shorter.