{"id":3969,"date":"2015-06-13T13:38:26","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T13:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=3969"},"modified":"2015-06-13T15:03:48","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T15:03:48","slug":"the-final-cross-state-romp-days-1-2-and-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=3969","title":{"rendered":"The “Final” Cross-State Romp (Days 1, 2, and 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The entrance to the national park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those who follow these blog postings know that we have had a goal to visit all fifty states as a family before Tom goes off to college. \u00a0These next few blog posts will document this summer’s vacation and our last seven (or so) states toward that goal. \u00a0We will complete this quest three days before taking Tom up to West Point to begin “Beast Barracks,” a.k.a. Cadet Basic Training.<\/p>\n

\"Lunch<\/a>
Lunch in the Carlsbad Caverns snack bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Day one was just a travel day. \u00a0After working four hours Wednesday morning, I packed, and we headed to the airport. \u00a0After three flights and a Whataburger in the Dallas airport, we arrived at Ft. Bliss, TX, for the night. \u00a0The next morning we drove from Ft. Bliss to Carlsbad Caverns, arriving around lunchtime. \u00a0 We had a pretty good lunch in the snack bar and then headed into the caves.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are two self-guided tours of the caverns. \u00a0The first begins at the natural entrance, shown above. \u00a0We descended about 750 feet through a series of switch backs and trails through interesting rock formations. \u00a0We’ve been to other cave systems, and some of the Venturers have even done crawl-through-the-mud spelunking, but the shear size of these caverns is hard to imagine until you see it yourself.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>
Tom and Sam hang upside down like bats<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The caves are inhabited by hundreds of thousands of small bats that come out at night to hunt (more on that later). \u00a0Their daytime perches are well hidden up in the “rafters,” because we never saw any during our four hours underground.<\/p>\n

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At the “bottom” of the natural entrance self-guided tour, is the “big room.” \u00a0This includes a snack bar and souvenir shop as well as latrines. \u00a0The latrines were interesting. \u00a0You walk down what looks like an unimproved cave “hallway” that ends in modern, porcelain facilities. \u00a0This area also has elevators to take you back to the surface — emptying you in the gift shop.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The snack bar and souvenir ship, 750 feet below the surface<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second self-guided tour begins here and is of the “big room.” \u00a0This is where you really get a chance to see how big Carlsbad Caverns are.<\/p>\n

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\nThe park ranger we met while descending into the caverns said that Carlsbad Caverns are the largest “rooms” of any caves known in North America. \u00a0The longest cave system (measured in number of caves? linear feet? hammerdoos?) is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. \u00a0Serendipitously, we are going to see Mammoth Cave later in the trip and will provide our comparisons of the two.<\/p>\n

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It is difficult to see the scale of these caves, but they are at least 100 feet tall here.<\/p>\n

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\"Almost<\/a>
Almost touching...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After our four hours in the caves we checked into our hotel just outside the national park in White’s City. \u00a0The hotel was next to a small “water park,” which was included in our room rate. \u00a0We spent a little time on the giant water slide and in the pool before heading to dinner. \u00a0There is one restaurant in White’s City and Yelp destroyed it, so we went to Happy’s half way to the city of Carlsbad.<\/p>\n

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Happy’s was the kind of local hole in the wall we like to take in while on vacation. \u00a0There was a lot of kitschy stuff on the walls and scattered around. \u00a0While you sat in booths, you ordered at the counter. \u00a0The woman behind the counter cracked me up. \u00a0Sam wanted a small steak. \u00a0When I ordered it, she just looked at me and shook her head. \u00a0“You’re out of them?” \u00a0“No,” she replied in a conspiratorial voice, “They’re small, thin, purchased at Walmart, and the chef doesn’t know how to cook them.” \u00a0So, Sam had the chicken fried steak instead. \u00a0The “normal” hamburger that I had was 3\/4 pound and excellent. \u00a0This place wasn’t much on ambiance, but the food was great!<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I love this sign!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After dinner we went back to Carlsbad Caverns for the night bat show. \u00a0Every evening about dusk, those hundreds of thousands of bats swarm out of the cave entrance for their nocturnal hunting.<\/p>\n

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See a nice video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Day three was mostly a travel day to get from New Mexico to Oklahoma City. \u00a0Along the way we made a couple of stops to break up the long drive. \u00a0Despite rain of Biblical proportions in the evening we arrived safely in Oklahoma City — to find out there was a mix-up at the hotel and our rooms hadn’t been cleaned. \u00a0We had to wait almost a half hour in the lobby while they called the chief maid back to prepare our room.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0One of my favorite fast food places is Wienerschnitzel, which specializes in hotdogs. \u00a0Their chili dogs are excellent. \u00a0These are all over Texas, and we used to frequent one when we lived in College Station. \u00a0I just HAD to stop and have some Wienerschnitzel chili dogs and their “Polish sandwich” as we passed through Lubbock.<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac<\/a>
Cadillac Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Outside Amarillo, we had to stop at Cadillac Ranch. \u00a0For some unknown reason these cars have been buried nose down in the mud just off of I-40 West of Amarillo. \u00a0People go out and spray paint the cars. \u00a0What was kind of interesting as “pop art,” looks a little junky with all the used and partially used cans of spray paint strewn around.<\/p>\n

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Our last stop on our way through Amarillo before racing arks carrying pairs of animals to Oklahoma City was a real gem. \u00a0Just outside Amarillo is Jack Sizemore’s Traveland RV Museum. \u00a0These folks claim to be the oldest RV retailer in Texas. \u00a0Jack Sizemore has been collecting and refurbishing RVs for years. \u00a0He decided to devote some of his lot to erecting a metal building and turning it into a museum to give his customers something to do while waiting for their RVs to be repaired or serviced.<\/p>\n

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I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was a real pleasure to visit.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>
Tom closely examining the signatures on a picture in one of the trailers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing that was nice is that you can enter almost every trailer. \u00a0They all have period-appropriate props and decorations. \u00a0Except for one or two things marked with “do not sit” or “do not touch” signs, visitors are free to go where they want. \u00a0There are no docents or guards.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/a>
Sam and Candy in one of the trailers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A car and trailer "outside" an A&W restaurant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sam<\/a>
Sam enjoys fake food at the A&W<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is an example of how visitors are allowed to interact with the various displays. \u00a0I found it amazing that there weren’t a bunch of rope lines to keep you away from the displays.<\/p>\n

\"Considering<\/a>
Considering my next move to CRUSH my opponent...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors<\/a>
Visitors can enter every trailer and look around<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An<\/a>
An example of how the trailers are arranged<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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All the displays have signs in front of them to explain a little of the history of each trailer.<\/p>\n

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As I mentioned earlier, this little museum was originally built to give waiting customers something to do. \u00a0Look at this map showing the homes of people who have visited the museum. \u00a0Like Old Pioneer Village in Nebraska, this was an unexpected treat.<\/p>\n