Day 33 – Balmorhea, TX

Miles traveled: 200
Hours on Road: 4
States covered: 2 – New Mexico, Texas

We got up early so we could tour some of Carlsbad Caverns before we went on to Texas. On the way to the park, Parker brought up how hot it was all night, which (somehow) brought him to the subject of black belt camp. The thing about black belt camp for Parker and Cal is that I did not realize it was a real camp; or, I knew it was, but the fact that they’d need sleeping bags and pillows never registered in my head. It was a very rough time for me when they went because Jeff was gone for seven weeks for work and it was baseball season, so I was busy driving three boys to four teams’ practices and games (Parker was on two teams), and I was a little stressed. By the time black belt camp came around, I was only interested in getting rid of them, I didn’t think about what their needs would be. So I packed all their stuff into one bag and brought them to the person who was going to drive them the four hours to camp in Pennsylvania. As one of the other boys loaded his sleeping bag in the car, I realized my screw-up, but I didn’t have time to run home and get stuff for them, so this was going to have to be one of those character-building weekends for my boys. On our way to Carlsbad, Parker told us that the first night of the camp he was rolling around a lot on his top bunk and the kid below him yelled at him, telling him to cut it out. He told us that he wanted to say to the kid, “Look, I’m dealing here with two towels. Cut me some slack.” The image cracked me up; then Cal was quick to point out that one of those towels was his and he didn’t even have that to keep him warm.

We had already decided we’d go on the two self-guided tours at Carlsbad. The boys aren’t fond of people giving them too many facts, which is what you get on the guided tours. As we entered the cave where the bats had flown out the night before, known as the Natural Entrance, the bat odor that I’d found pleasant the evening before became disgusting and unbearable. I had to cover my mouth to avoid gagging. As we got farther into the cave, the smell either went away or I adjusted to its grossness, because I soon was able to breathe normally. The Natural Entrance is one mile long and goes down 800 feet below the ground. At the end of the trail, it goes back up to 750 feet deep, and there you find a retail area selling shirts, a restaurant, a bathroom, and an elevator that goes back up to the surface. I thought it was a unique concept to have these things so deep underground until I thought of the metro system in London, which probably goes that deep (or at least it feels that way when you’re hiking up the steps from Jubilee). It’s at this spot that you have the option of going up in the elevator or continuing the self-guided tour through the Big Room, which is also one mile. We toured the big room. (I have since Googled the London Underground, and Hampstead Station is the deepest at only 192 feet, so I guess a store at 750 feet is pretty cool!)

The night before, when we were there for the bat exodus, I could not appreciate how deep the cave mouth was; we were able to see only the top portion of its mouth. When we walked down into it, I realized that those bats flew up in that tornado-like circle for more than 100 feet. No wonder they needed to build up momentum. I tried to imagine what it looked like to see them from the inside of the cave; it must be magnificent. The ranger the night before said it’s such a flurry of wings and bodies, that when a bird gets caught up in the fray (and there are lots of birds that fly around the mouth of the cave), there is often a dead body (either bird or bat) found in the walkway the next morning. The bats are able to work around each other, but the birds can really interfere with their mojo.

We had a great two-hour tour and took lots of pictures. It’s hard to photograph the immensity of the caves – the depth just doesn’t translate well. The stalactites, stalagmites, and columns, however, are impressive in the photos. The most impressive formations are lit up so they were easy to photograph. The cave is a constant 54 degrees Fahrenheit, so we didn’t want to leave; it was close to 100 degrees up top.

The ride to Balmorhea was through flat terrain. Nothing but flat. Again, I made sure I got a full tank of gas before heading out into nowhereland. The more traveling I do out west, the more impressed I am with those who were willing to head out that way without knowing what to expect. We might get nervous now and then that we’ll run out of gas, but we simply have to call AAA. The explorers had nothing to fall back on.

Near Balmorhea, the tank was getting a little low, and we’d gone through three towns that didn’t have a gas station, so Parker had Lee look one up for us. As luck would have it, we were about 500 feet from a gas station. It was on the other side of the overpass ahead of us, so that’s why we didn’t see it at first. After getting gas, Lee had us go on the small road that runs parallel to the highway. About one mile down that road, I decided Lee was on drugs again, so I turned around and got back on the highway. One and half miles down that, we exited and got on the little side road we’d been on. When will I learn to listen to Lee?!!

Balmorhea State Park was our destination. The park’s centerpiece is the San Solomon Springs, a spring-fed freshwater pool out in the middle of desert flatlands. It has been providing water for Native Americans and early explorers for thousands of years. It’s now a big cement pond, as it’s been outlined in cement to maintain its integrity. The cement is covered in green, mossy stuff, so where its bottom is reachable, it’s very slippery. The center circle is about six feet deep (Parker could just touch the bottom with his toes). Two sections stick out like legs off one side of the circle; one leg is shallow, the other is deep enough that people can safely dive off the 10-foot diving board located at its tip. The boys loved slipping along the cement floor of the shallow end. What they didn’t like was the poop-looking stuff floating throughout the deep end of the pool. It came from the trees that overhang that side, but you’d think someone would put a little effort into siphoning it off the water, since it really did look like “a turdy in the pool.”

For dinner, we drove through Wild Rose Pass in the Davis Mountains to Fort Davis where we ate at the Chuckwagon. We had delicious barbeque sandwiches followed by ice cream from the Caboose next door to the Chuckwagon. It was here that we felt really guilty about eating such great food while Faja was home cooking a turkey burger for himself. Thanks Faja!

The drive through the Davis Mountains was beautiful. The hillside was a dark green, and there were red cliffs at the top of each hill. We were treated to a red and yellow sunset between peaks as we headed back to our tent and listened to “Down with the Sickness” for the 7,000th time. Disturbed is officially Parker’s favorite band. On ride home I asked Parker to check the roof to make sure everything up there was securely attached. I do that several times throughout every drive we take. He looked up using the side mirror, looked back at me with panic on his face and asked, “We took cooler down, right?” We had. We left it back at our campsite, but he was so used to seeing it up there, he got a little nervous when it wasn’t.

Back at camp, we took out and looked through all the souvenirs the boys had bought to that point: Parker’s cube collection, Cal’s shot glasses, and Trey’s coins. It was fun until the giant jumpy creatures that make Texas their home decided to join us at the table. We have grasshoppers in Connecticut, but we don’t have the locusts that Texas has. The boys all went into the tent to “sleep” while Mom packed away the souvenirs out in bug central.

It was so hot while we tried to go to sleep, the boys fought over the little fan we brought along for its white noise. Parker had it most of the time, but Trey whined enough that I made Parker let him use it for a while. He fell asleep with the fan sitting on his chest, blowing on his face. Once he was asleep, Parker took it back. Cal was busy reading so he didn’t care. There was a large group camping near us and they were making lots of noise. I’ve generally been able to sleep through the talking at other sites, but when the girls giggled and shouted on their walk back from the bathroom, I yelled out my tent window, “Hey guys, there are people trying to sleep here.” They didn’t make another peep.

For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1959304027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/