Before the dogs and I headed farther west than Kerrville, we did hang out at Karen's place for awhile. I posted a few pictures before that can from my phone. I have since found the handy camera cord to load the camera pictures to the computer. As has often been mentioned, it is amazing how many items can be "safely" stored away in a small RV and not found. I knew I had packed the cord out to the rig but as usual I found it in the last place I looked. Some of these pictures came from my iPhone and some off the camera. Unfortunately the camera didn't make it into Carlsbad Cavern.
While visiting Karen, some of the other women from the WomenRV forum took a trip with us the the Cowboy Capitol of Texas, Bandura..... Besides the usual excuse to have lunch there was the trip over to the Cowboy and Biker Bar.
As I mentioned earlier the decorations in the bar are very similar to those in the bar in Chicken, Alaska.
Karen found a cowboy for our friend Mitch.
We didn't always eat out. Karen and Mitch busy in the kitchen.
Nikki busy investigating stuff on the computer.
Remi was busy looking innocent while Audrey chewed on an actual dog toy....rather than the small note pad she had found in the little basket the day before.
Stuart found the chair to his satisfaction.
TedE found Sharon's arms the best place to be when he wasn't busy playing with Karen's Baxter.
It was cold in Kerrville so Mitch and I decided that as long as it was going to be cold outside, we might as well check out Carlsbad Cavern. Those temperatures were bound to be warmer than what we had been experiencing.
Mitch graciously posed for a picture.
We decided to take the natural entrance to the cave and walk down rather than take the elevator. There was some discussions as we headed down and down and down what our knees were going to complain about the next day. We also discussed the cave features that would have been missed by taking the elevator down. The path was a series of steep switchbacks. I had a great appreciation of the original cave explorers and what a difficult challenge the entrance must have presented. There was a reason there has been no evidence of it being used as a habitat in the early years.
Many of these buildings were build by the CCC back in the 30's and are used for staff housing.
And why is it that every time I see a young female Park Ranger, I think of the Nevada Barr book series. The author writes mysteries set in different National Parks around the USA.
Not all the ice and snow has melted. The warmth of the cave is looking better and better.
This is when our knees started to have discussions with Mitch and I.
Mitch and I listened carefully to the "don't touch anything" in the cave speech. Such a responsibility to monitor Mitch's behavior, sigh..... No bail money was needed though.
We noticed that few individuals were taking the walking entrance though we passed one of the Rangers coming up the trail. (The sign at the bottom warned that it took at lest an hour to hike up the steep and difficult trail.) How many times a day do the different Rangers walk the rounds? Later we met the young female "rule admonishing" Ranger walking the loop in the big room.
Needless to say there were many many pretty formations down in that cave. The stop and the hike were well worth the time and exercise.
Some shots from the road into/out of the National Park.
In case anyone wants to know driving across West Texas is not all that pretty or interesting. It makes the Hill Country look better and better and those hills are not all that big.
I kept thinking of the work campers that work as "Gate Keepers" for the oil companies out in the no man land. I am not applying for any of those jobs. How and why these lands were settled is an amazing story of determination and maybe some desolation.... It explains a little about the personality of Texans.....
Mitch and I stayed over night at a State Park just north of the town of Carlsbad. We were very glad to have the electric but woke up in the morning to a foggy surprise. That is Mitch's pretty new red truck and her trailer hiding behind the frosty trees and bushes.
Now here is a view of the lake down in the valley....
As we pulled out the sun was beginning to fight its way through. By the time we made it down to the main interstate the skies were clear.
Well the breakfast stop at McDonald probably helped give the sun time to work its magic.
More roads and more cities to come and we weren't out of the chilly temperatures, yet. There was a Camping World stop in my future.
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