Weather You LIke It or Not

I've been in this ragged little motel in Carlsbad for a few hours now. I'm only now getting around to blogging.

Motels are expensive here. This one was $78, tax included, and it was the lowest price in town. Quite a third-rate motel, too. I don't know why motels command such prices here, but I think it's related to all the oil and gas activity in the Permian Basin, the edge of which extends into New Mexico.

OK, weather. There aren't any photos from today, because I was afraid to get the camera wet. I covered about 250 miles, about 90% of that in the rain. I learned that my rain gear works well for an hour or so but, in a stretch of many hours, I get wetted through. At 70 MPH with temps in the 60s, that means I get pretty cold.

I left Columbus in the rain and flew through more endless plains with scattered, abrupt, miniature mountain ranges. In the worst part of the day, I navigated highways 85 and 62 through the heart of urban El Paso before 62 headed out into the Big Wide Open. In a couple of rain-soaked urban turns today I felt the front end slide out ever so slightly, a sensation guaranteed to get one's attention.

Anyway, once 62 got out into the countryside, the views were epic. West Texas is big, just like eastern Arizona and most of New Mexico. Along the way to Guadalupe Mountains National Park (90 miles) there was the infrequent failed cafe, motel, or RV park. But mostly it was uninterrupted rangeland as far as the eye could see. The soul sort of streches out in views like those.

Finally the highway approached the Guadalupe Mountains and began climbing. The storm that accompanied me all day spilled around the peaks; only the lower flanks were visible. But those were pretty awesome. I stopped at the Visitor Center anyway, and admired the 5700-foot biome, yet the summits remained cloaked by wind-whipped clouds and the rain still fell.

Away I went toward Carlsbad. It was too late in the day to stop at the Caverns, and I didn't want to park the bike with all the luggage on it anyway. I went on to the town of Carlsbad, where I learned about the motel economy.

Tomorrow my plan is to be at Carlsbad Caverns when they open at 8:30, leaving the luggage here at the motel, then zip back, pick up the luggage, and make an epic ride southward through Texas to get closer to Big Bend National Park. The forecast is for heavy rain tonight and 70% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. Should be interesting.