Carlsbad Caverns are toasty warm!

Well the caves are a balmy 52 degrees year round as compared to the 20 degree freezing weather outside.  We drove through Texas all day Thursday and finally stopped near the border of New Mexico in a very small town called Pecos (whose claim to fame is that it was the site of the very first rodeo).  I have no idea when that was, I just know that we are in the Southwest where people like to go in the winter to stay warm, and it is below freezing!!

We woke up at 8AM this morning to the kids excitedly yelling that it was snowing outside.  But unlike our freak storm in Colorado, there was actually quite a bit of snow - enough to make snow angels (and a small but very cute snowman).  Apparently this is only the 3rd time in 9 years that it has snowed in Pecos - how lucky can we get!!! 

But the water lines had not frozen and we had Mason to do a little snow removal and thus were soon on our way to Carlsbad Caverns, right across the border in New Mexico.  The natural entrance to the cave was closed due to the snow, so we took the elevator down 750 feet through a shaft blasted out of solid rock. We took a self-guided tour of “The Big Room” which is the largest single cavern room in any cave on this continent, being roughly the size of 14 football fields. It was pretty amazing.  

The trail around it is a little over a mile and was filled with awesome speleothems (the rangers fave word for secondary mineral formations).  I think that we only saw about 6 other visitors (and 15 rangers) in the caves the entire time we were there – so it was very quiet and peaceful.  This is to be contrasted with our next stop in Las Cruces, NM at O’Reilley’s Auto Parts store where Greg & Mason, convinced that they had figured out why the RV keeps cutting out while going up inclines, replaced the filthy air filter in the parking lot while we tried to eat dinner (yes the diesel mid-engine access is in the kitchen).

After several hours, the repairs complete, we headed west... and made it about 1 mile before realizing that something else must actually be the reason why the RV keeps cutting out while going up inclines.  I am sensing more sightseeing opportunities in Las Cruces tomorrow.