Westward Ho!

Leaving Abilene in the rear view mirrors, we pointed the truck toward New Mexico and headed out. A few hours and two or three dust devils found us pulling into the Carlsbad KOA. This campground was more than 10 miles north of the city into the flat high desert with a distant view of the mountains. Dry and with sparse natural vegetation, it had its own beauty. We were surprised and amused by the number of rabbits and roadrunners darting around. The location turned out to be an ideal base camp to venture out and enjoy the areas around us. The campground offered a good flat open area to break in our new bikes and practice taking them off and putting them on the new 4 bike carrier with covers. (this is a fair amount more difficult then it sounds)



Our first trip out was Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We decided that there were a good number of National Parks in our future on this trip and it would be worth looking at the annual pass. The $ 80.00 pass pays all entry (for the family)and vehicle fees to any National Park for one year. We could see making up the cost very quickly.



The cave is awesome for all ages and was a great thing to share together as a family. We walked down the winding trail from one wonder to the next. There is a lot to see and a lot to learn. The park does a good job of providing information along the way and this makes the time and miles go faster. This also ties this experience to our home education effort and solidifies the memory for us as we review the things we learned later on in our journey. Before you know it, you are 700 feet below the surface and at the end of the area of the cave open to the general public. We were happy, tired and thankful that they had an elevator back to the surface!

Next day we headed out early on a 150 mile drive to White Sands National Monument. This takes you on a beautiful journey as desert turns to high country pines and through the 7000 ft elevation mountain village of Cloudcroft. Then you wind down to desert again through Alamogordo and south to White Sands. The scenery there is like another world with huge snow white dunes reflecting the bright strong sun. The boys used plastic disk sleds to slide down the steep dunes as the dogs tromped around in the deep sand and tried to figure out what this stuff was. We all had a good time and came back with a little sunburn and lots of white sand in our clothes and in the truck.

After a good morning with the school books, we sought out a closer location to view. In nearby Lincoln National Forest, we found a remote place in this arid region named Sitting Bull Falls. Truly an oasis springing up from the rugged country, it was strikingly beautiful and great fun to explore. We played around in water at the bottom and then hiked up the steep trail a couple hundred feet up to the top of the falls and then following the flowing water back up into the rocks looking for the springs.

It was a little hot and very rocky, but the look on the boys faces made the sore muscles a lot easier to take. This stop gave us surprising gifts of beauty in God's creation in the midst an area that, at first glance, seemed to have little to offer. This is a great beginning to our journey west. We are called to look closer and seek deeper into this world in which we travel.