Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy National Science Fiction Day, Happy National Spaghetti Day, Happy National Cuddle Up Day, and anything else I may have missed since hanging up my writing shoes for the holidays. [and for the last two months of the trip]
January 5-9
We are back on the road with a few notable changes.
First, and no doubt the most important, I have a new travel buddy! Isaac was feeling a little burnt out and wanted more than two weeks at home. Since I very much want to finish this adventure with him, we devised a solution. We’re playing a trading game. My mom set out from home with me on January 5th to catch a flight back to Dallas. She and I will travel and hike and sight-see for about two weeks until my dad comes to tag mom out. Dad and I will adventure for a bit until somewhere around the last week of January when Ike will rejoin me in southern California to finish out the final month of this wild and crazy journey! It’s gonna be a whole new adventure and I’m so excited!
Second notable change: We made it to New Mexico! We spent a looooot of time in Texas in December, which was fantastic and fun and fascinating, so I’m ready and thrilled to find adventures in a new state.
Third notable change: It is January. It is very cold. This is a whole new game. Why did I think it would stay warm just because I’m in the south? Silly me.
Fourth notable change: This is the second and final leg of this trip. Just one week in, I’m finding that this one may be a whole different mental challenge. Especially with the cold (and still fighting a sickness that I caught over the holidays), I’m feeling the magnetism of my own cozy bed in my own cozy apartment with my own cozy cat. It may be more difficult than I anticipated to finish out the trip on the timeline I’ve established. I’m determined, but I’m also not going to torture myself if it really is time to call it. There are no current plans to head home early.
And now, week eight! (This won’t take long since our adventure week started on Wednesday.)
Wednesday: Fly day. After a busy morning of packing and slow goodbyes, dad drove mom and me to the airport in the late afternoon for our 6:45 flight. Getting through the process and to our gate went super smoothly, the flight was uneventful, and the 65-degree night that welcomed us to Dallas was a delightful treat after saying goodbye to sub-zero Minnesota. After a short shuttle ride to our hotel, we planned tomorrow’s route and schedule and went to bed.
Thursday: A this-and-that day. After a mediocre hotel breakfast (they didn’t even have fresh fruit. That’s just obnoxious), we ordered an Uber and got ourselves back in the same place as my car and camper. You know that feeling you get when you walk into your grandma’s house and it's just happy and cozy and comfy? That’s kind of what it felt like to get back to our vehicles. It feels a bit like home. I suppose that’s a good thing! After chatting for a few moments with the generous friend who allowed us to park in her yard, we hit the road headed west. And we drove, and we drove, and we drove. Texas is just. So. Big. After what felt like a month of driving (it was really only 5 hours) we made it to our pass-through campground in LaMesa, Texas. It was so very chilly and extra windy and this was mom’s first time setting up the camper and my first time setting up without Isaac and it wasn’t any too smooth. Slow, stiff, and disorderly would be better descriptors. Despite all the slow and stiff disorder, we got the camper up, the furnace on, dinner in our bellies, and blankets piled on. Goodnight!
Friday: Another this-and-that day. It was obnoxiously cold on Friday morning. Like, Minnesota cold. My phone's super helpful talking alarm told me it was 13 degrees. Excuse me? And we had run out of propane sometime in the early morning, meaning the camper wasn’t much warmer than 13 degrees. Double excuse me? I thought I’d done all this flying and driving to get away from those nasty temperatures, but instead, I just brought it with me? I blame mom. After another slow, stiff, and disorderly camper experience, we were back on the road, continuing west. We had several stops to make, so progress was slow at first. Once we had all things checked off the to-do list, the miles flew and we crossed the New Mexico state border just before arriving at our first adventure of this second leg of this trip: Carlsbad Caverns! Have you ever gone cave hiking? I haven’t. It was cool. You should try it!
Carlsbad Caverns is a humongous series of mineral caves found in the outer hills of the Guadalupe Mountains. The massive rooms with their thousands of mineral formations are dazzling. From the entrance of the caves, down into the main room, called The Big Room, around the perimeter of The Big Room, and out to the elevators (excuse me for not wanting to climb back out of the caves to the height of the Empire State Building) was approximately three miles. Three miles! Inside a cave! Too cool!
From the caves, it was just a short drive to our campground for the night. We got set up at Sunset Reef campground just in time to meet a few of our campground neighbors and enjoy the spectacle for which the place is named. Watching the sunset over the Guadalupe mountains certainly did not disappoint. The rest of the evening was spent quietly making dinner, playing a card game, taking a walk, chatting with new friends, and tucking in for bed. Goodnight, Sunset Reef Campground.
Saturday: Hike day! What was originally intended as a get-up-and-moving day turned into a take-it-easy-and-relax day, and that was just perfect. I was still fighting a bad cold, so the warm sunshine and morning of reading felt wonderful. After lunch, mom and I headed toward Guadalupe National Park to hit the trail and find the cabin nestled into McKittrick’s Canyon. After an easy two-and-a-half-mile hike, we found ourselves walking up the gravel trail to the clearing of Pratt Lodge. This cabin, built in the 1930s and constructed entirely of locally sourced stone and timber, was erected for a man named Wallace Pratt. He used the cabin as his summer residence for several years before donating the structure and the surrounding 5,000 acres to the National Parks Service in 1963. Now a part of the Guadalupe National Park, the cabin and canyon can be enjoyed by anyone. It’s a real treasure.
We finished out the hike at just over 5 miles and headed back to camp to enjoy what was left of the sunshine and warm air. Tacos were on the menu and a rowdy game of war on the schedule.
Sunday: A slow day. We’d intended today to be a long travel day with an exploration of White Sands National Park to finish out the week. However, when we woke to strong winds rattling the camper, we had to change the plan. Because of the intricate construction of our a-frame camper, it can be very risky to erect and fold the little box house when it's windy. Since we didn't have a terribly tight schedule, we decided that it was better to play it safe, spend the morning resting, eating, and cleaning, and see what the afternoon weather brought with it. Around 2 in the afternoon, we decided to just go for it. We got everything put away and ready to travel then moved fast to close the camper.
All went well, there were no problems, and we were on the road within the hour. Destination: Aguirre Spring Recreation Area in The Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument. This place is beautiful! Like, wow. We drove around the base of the Organ Mountains at sunset and got the dazzle of the week. The fiery colors had our heads on a swivel as we drove the final miles to our campground. Wowzers. After a quick and chilly setup, we filled our bellies with dinner, played a card game, and called it a day. There were mountains to be climbed so we had to rest up!
So there ya go! Week one of the second leg of this wild trip was a good bit slower than previous weeks, but certainly not lacking in adventure! There’s lots more to come.
Until next time!