Datil to Carlsbad

Day 7 - 335 miles

It was icy cold this morning as I packed my tent and gear and took off. I was warmly dressed I thought, but started shivering the instant I got off to take a breakfast break in Soccoro New Mexico. Nice place, The El Camino. Right on US-60. The 60 miles into Soccoro and the next 60 miles are deadly straight and flat. Then you start encountering some interesting hills and terrain... but they throttle down you speed in the twisties... and after getting stopped yesterday, I didn't push it.

Went through Roswell. Somehow it was very appropriate that I ran across the Very Large Array Radio Telescope earlier.



Most of the locals are tired of the Alien Research Center. LOL. They even have the street lamps painted with alien eyes.



Most of the city... you couldn't tell, but downtown on main street? Yeah, it's still bug-city.





I stopped in Carlsbad as I was just too late to catch the last cavern tour... I'll do that tomorrow and head towards San Antonio... to check out the Alamo for one thing.

And I found out that the local dairies separate their manueur... "This manueur was made from corn." "This manueur was made from sorghum." Okay... later I saw that this was how they stored the feed, just like the California dairymen store and 'cook' their potting soils. It was funnier the first way.

The Carlsbad RV Park & Campground has all the amenities, an occassional potluck (TGI-Cinco de Mayo, I scooted back to the Walmart for guacamole. a pool, showers, game room,... and yes, WiFi. Cheaper than a motel, a bit higher than the BLM campgrounds. But in Carlsbad, that's about your only choice without back-tracking quite a ways... and it's a lake, so sites might be hard to come by.

Total miles: 1758

BTW: I found out a little more about radar guns v. my bike. It turns out that the New Mexico radar (if not all) can find you but if you're being overtaken by a faster vehicle, you get lost in the clutter and 'reported' at the faster vehicles speed.

Yes, It happened again, but this time it was one of those "You're going "this" speed" stationary advisors. I passed one and it accurately displayed my speed. About a mile further down the road, (they were very adamant,) another one reported me 7 mph faster than the speed limit as an SUV passed me.

So bewary, especially in New Mexico.