New Mexico to Texas

We left Albuquerque and drove to Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, NM on October 9.  After our overnight stay, we headed south to White's City and a short tour (Hour and 1/2 tour of the Great Room) of Carlsbad Caverns.  
I did take lots of photographs, but this one is representative.

We did come back in the evening for the bat flight.  The bats were not on the same time schedule as the park had indicated and we almost missed them.  As we were walking to the mouth of the cavern, the bats were leaving.  By the time we got seated, they were nearly done.  Even so, it was still impressive.  Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed as the rangers believe that the electronics negatively impact the bats.

From Carlsbad, we made our way back to TEXAS.  We stopped for lunch in Orla and were astounded by the amount of traffic on such tiny farm roads.  It was all oil field related.  After we left Orla, we headed to Wink, via Mentone.  When we got to Wink,

 we drove down two streets and Jim looked back and said, "our water compartment is open."  When he got out to close it, he discovered that one of our trailer tires had lost its tread.  The side of the trailer was damaged.  We drove to a stopping point and ended up taking off the tire and driving into Kermit for a new tire.  That ended my nostalgic visit to Wink!

In Kermit, we put on two new tires, replacing the two that were of the same vintage.  We headed on to Monahans Sandhills State Park and more nostalgia.

Hobbes enjoyed getting to run on his favorite terrain, sand.

We enjoyed a lovely evening.  Next morning, Jim came in and announced that we had a flat on the trailer.  Upon closer examination, we discovered that we had two flats!  Once more, we took the tires off and drove slowly back to Monahans.  We were assured that the nails in the tires were small and they could be patched.  Soon we were on the road again and headed toward Robert Lee and the home of Sherry and Davy Davidson.  Sherry was a student in my fifth grade class in l970-71.  She has kept in touch and has called me every year since on my birthday.  Quite a record!  We drove to their ranch and enjoyed a great venison chili meal.  Next morning, Jim came in after walking Hobbes and announced that we had a flat.  Difficult to believe, but true!  Flat again!.  This time Davy aired the tire and we drove into San Angelo.  There we replaced both the tires that had nails.  This makes a grand total of 7 new tires since we left the valley in May!
We got back to the ranch in time to watch the family work calves.  We had a great dinner and visit.  There is never a dull moment around this group!

Jordon, a natural musician, tried his hands at the harp....

he was pretty good!

The whole clan posed for pictures....

Jordon, Davy,  B, Brandon, Lacey, Sherry with Grace, and Janelle (Davy's Mom)

Of course, the center of attention was always Grace.

She is a sweetheart!
We had a wonderful time at Camp Davidson!  The food was awesome!
Thanks Sherry and Davy for being such great people and wonderful hosts!