The day started off as any other. I awoke to the sound of snoring as I tenderly rolled out of bed. Nearly a week of sitting and driving had finally taken a toll on my back and legs, so I was reluctant to get the day started. The cool a/c and soft bed were so welcoming that sleeping in would have been a feasible option. However, we needed to go if we wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and be in Phoenix by nightfall.
Once everyone was up, we had the complimentary breakfast, which consisted of real food rather than the continental type served at our previous hotels. As we prepared our belongings, Jay-R ran a few errands to check out how the bimmer was doing. When he returned, we packed the car and drove through the town of Pecos. Apparently, he had replaced one of the rear tires because a bubble had formed on the inner wall. Luckily we were able to catch it in an area with a population rather on the drive.
Whenever I had thought of Pecos before, I would think of those old westerns with the cowboys and outlaws having showdowns at high noon. When we got to the main street, I imagined how it was there 200 years ago. The town was so small, that you could get across in about 5 minutes. Amazingly enough, there was a Sonics drive-in and even a Wal-Mart in this desolate town! Needless to say, Pecos was a very forgettable town and we could never imagine living there.
So, we were off to Carlsbad, NM to check out the massive underground caverns deep within the earth. I was pretty excited to see the network of caves because natural wonders have always amazed me. Halfway through the drive, the cluster gauge started blinking rapidly and the car began to sway left and right. The other rear tire was flat! Immediately, I maneuvered the car to the shoulder of the road to assess the damage. Basically, the tremendous weight on the tires combined with nearly 2000 miles of driving had caused the other rear tire to blow out. Wow. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no services for at least 40 miles in either direction in a fully loaded car. Not a good sign. Quickly, we emptied the trunk of the luggage and got the spare out. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a full size, but a donut. At the moment, the caverns had to wait.
The plan was to have Jojo and Jay-R take the car and luggage to the nearest stop while Tiff and I walked. Hopefully, by the time all the servicing was through, we’d be there to meet them. We couldn’t afford to have all the initial weight on the donut we had just mounted, so we sucked it up and ventured off into the Texas heat.
(movie coming soon...)
A couple minutes later, Jay-R gave me a call and said he was going to pick us up and leave us with Jojo at the stop 5 miles down the road while he went back to Pecos. Great. At first, Tiff and I thought it wouldn’t be so bad waiting at the truck stop. Boy, were we wrong. The stop consisted of an abandoned gas station, a couple oil derricks and a few shacks. Eerily, it reminded me of a scene from the movie, The Book of Eli. I could picture the crazy possibilities that could happen at an abandoned place like this, from movies like The Hills have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Breakdown, and Joy Ride… but there could be no room for daydreaming right then, so I promptly pushed the imaginations out of my head.
While Tiff made some phone calls to update our family of the situation, Jojo and I played catch with a softball I had brought on the trip. We only had one glove, but at least we were able to kill about an hour of waiting. The abandoned truck stop was completely overrun by time and the crazy Jeepers Creepers scenarios began crawling back. Ultimately, we were just thankful that this situation happened during the day because it would have scared the bejeezus out of all of us if the tire had blown out overnight. Anyhow, we were all together, so the waiting wasn’t too horrible. Finally, Jay-R returned with a new tire and after about a three-hour delay, we were on our way to our elusive destination.
As we drove, we felt the fatigue of the day begin to settle in. We had already gone through so much, yet achieved so little. Hopefully, the visit to the caverns would be worth the time, money, and effort. On the approach to the caverns, we saw signs that stated that the last tour would be allowed in at 330pm. Being that it was already 400pm, it seemed that we were out of luck. Nevertheless, I was adamant at going to the visitor center at least. We had gone through too much to not even push through to the actual site. At the bare minimum, we could claim that we made it to our planned destination intact.
When we entered the visitor center at 415pm, which was closing at 5pm, we felt extremely disheartened. We had missed the last tour by about 45 minutes. It seemed as if Texas had bested us and won the quick draw. However, as we turned to leave, a Park Ranger asked us if we still wanted to go down. Would we? Of course! Immediately, our frowns turned upside down as the ranger issued us tickets. Apparently, on our drive, we had left Central Standard Time and entered Mountain Time! It was only 315pm! Whooooo! Today, TC and the Guinto 3 were the fastest gunslingers west of the Pecos.
Since the natural entrance to the caverns had closed for the day, the ranger said that we could take the elevator shaft down. As we decended 750 feet below the Earth’s surface, we were anxious for what awaited us. Despite all our earlier problems and mishaps, what greeted us beyond those elevator doors was one of the most amazing sights any of us had ever experienced.
Although it had been over 80º on the surface, in the caverns it was a very cool 65º. As we began to walk through the massive rooms, the formations and shadows created by well-placed flood lamps created a surreal world around us. At times, I almost confused it as a movie set or an amusement park exhibit. But, everything we saw down there was as real and wondrous as anything I had ever seen. If you ever have the chance to visit the Carlsbad Caverns, go. It will be an experience you will never forget. The pictures do not do the cave justice, but here are some of the best ones we were able to capture in the low light conditions.
With the day almost over, we resurfaced to take one last shot of the vast expanse of desert we had just crossed before heading to Phoenix for the evening. We were tired, but still felt fulfilled because we had accomplished our agenda for the day even if it was 3 hours late.
We were in good spirits as reached El Paso, TX when the chime of death began sounding in the car. The tire pressure in the rear wheels was again varying, which was causing all the sensors to go haywire. We stopped to check the gauges and all were at the same pressure. However, we did not take into account that the newest tire we had replaced was slightly offset with the other three. With too many variables popping up, we were reluctant to continue on the journey because we didn’t want to experience our worst fear, to be stranded in the middle of the night.
Luckily, Tiff’s boyfriend, Pedro, was familiar with bimmers and suggested that we offset the tires with different pressures to counter the size discrepancy. This may sound extremely technical, but with our trip at stake, we had to figure out a solution immediately. We put to motion a group vote and decided to continue on the drive, but at an extremely cautious pace. If at any time we felt uneasy, we would have to stop and sleep at any roadside lodging for the night.
Two states and 7 hours later, we finally pulled into our hotel in Phoenix. The drive went off without a hitch and it was finally time to rest. So far, this had been the most taxing day of our trip. The Wild, Wild West was indeed a dangerous place, but we had made it out together as a family. One more stop on the tour and we would be on our way to the Bay. Our faithful steed had carried us this far and although she had been nearly crippled, we were confident that she would take us all the way home.
