I fell into the role of navigator after hearing Brian exclaim, “Uh-Oh” “WHAT?? No Uh-Oh!” Just about then I heard the truck sputter and Brian went in to full speed shutting down the air conditioning and radio. “What in the world is going on?” As he looks at me with a sheepish grin he tells me, “We’re running out of gas.” Great! We’re 2 miles from Casa Grande, it’s 108 degrees out and we’re running out of gas. As we literally coast into the gas station, I proceeded to let him know that if we run out of gas, I’m not the one who will be walking in that God forsaken heat to the nearest gas station.
And so my role of navigator began. Since we’re only averaging 6 to 7 miles per gallon, I’ve become fairly proficient at telling him what, when and even where to go… take that anyway you want. ;o)
After spending a couple of days visiting Brian’s mom, we headed toward Bisbee. After living in AZ for the last 25 years, neither one of us have ever been to Bisbee and let me tell you, it’s no big whoop. I think we could have lived another 25 years without seeing Bisbee and never lived to regret it. After walking around the town for a couple of hours in the scorching heat, we did learn there are quite a few characters who call Bisbee their home. A picture is worth a thousand words…
We bid farewell to Bisbee and moved on towards New Mexico landing at Carlsbad Caverns. I remember visiting the caverns when I was but 5 or 6 but Brian had never had the pleasure. Even though it was cloudy and raining, we headed to the caverns the night of the 1st for the bat flight. Every evening thousands upon thousands of Mexican free tail bats exit the cave in search of food only to return the next morning. We learned the bats exit the cavern, circle 7 times, then fly off for the night. Why do they circle 7 times before leaving the cave entrance??? No one really knows but one can only guess maybe it’s a correlation between the way the water in the toilet circles 7 times before it’s flushed down the pipes.
We realize some of you may or may not have been through the caverns but we were truly amazed by all the formations, the vastness of the cavern itself and how nice the park is kept. Park rangers were polite in answering every question, the road to the cavern recently paved and the path inside the cavern is well maintained and easy to hike. But word to the wise, make sure you wear comfortable tennis or hiking shoes. The caverns is not a path you want to wear flip-flops.
I need to back up a bit here… On our way to Carlsbad we stopped at our first “largest ball of twine.” As we were coming up on the White Sands National Park we decided to take a peek. Pulling in we forked over the moola for an “America the Beautiful” park pass and drove on. It was really weird driving through the large mounds of white sand, your mind playing tricks on you making you think it was going to be cold outside only to step out of the car onto the hot ground. What was really mind boggling was the kids with their sleds sledding down the mountains of the hot, white sand. To each his own. I’ll take the slopes of Telluride any day!
