2009 April 21st: When I left the campground this morning it was fairly chilly. I was dressed for some hot weather. I had put on my Heat Gear, because where I was heading to was going to be in the high 90’s. I realized later that most of my day would be spent at a fairly high altitude. I was above the 7000ft mark most of the day. Having Heat Gear on under my jacket in cool environment makes things rather cold. I zipped up my jacket and put on the liners for my gloves and toughed it out. For the most part I was fine, but there were a few times when I was getting a little cold.
I left Silver City, NM and headed back west on 180 going North. I turned on the 12 and turned toward the VLA (Very Large Array) Radio Telescope on the 160. It is many giant dishes set in this high valley in a delta pattern; a peace sign without the circle. I wish that I would have had more time to spend there but I didn’t so I kept going.
My goal was to get to Carlsbad, NM and camp out so that I could spend the day at the caverns tomorrow. The last time I was there, my pictures didn’t turn out so I wanted to take some fresh ones and I know that these will turn out better. I stopped at the KOA just north of Carlsbad, NM but I thought that $35 was a little steep to pay for a tent site. I found another place just south of town that was a lot more reasonable at $18. Plus it is at least twenty minutes closer to the park.
Tomorrow is a rest day even though I will have to ride close to a hundred miles or so. My plan is to see the cavern and then ride south to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and find a camp site there.
I did have a really good day today. The roads were fantastic and empty. The little Ninja was feeling happy, and we had a great time with all of the twisted mountain roads.
I met some nice people at the RV Park; Duane and Marilyn that helped me with an extension cord so I had some power to do my blog and upload the pictures to my computer back home. Thank you.