San Antonio, TX to Carlsbad, NM

Left photo shows nothing-that's what we saw nearly all day.

Center " shows part of a wind mill farm-take my word for it!

Right shows an operating drilling oil well along the highway

Leaving San Antonio at 8:15am on a Sunday was a good decision as we encountered little traffic as we made our way West on I-10. Am at a loss for words to describe the vastness, emptiness, and strange land formations we saw along the 473 miles we traveled today. And no towns for more than 50 miles at times. We were trying to gage when to purchase gasoline-at one point we got off the highway-drove a mile into a town which advertised gas (on the highway) but when we got to the town, it was almost a ghost town-there was no gas. And it was about 30 miles from the next town-which we hoped had gas! Got back on the highway-made it to Sonora-on fumes only-where everyone within 50 miles was waiting to fill up at $2.99 per gallon! As we had seen many what we believed to be oil drilling operations we wondered why we were paying more in Texas for gas than anywhere else? (Also saw many wind farms with hundreds of wind turbines.) Back on the highway with a full tank was a very good feeling and at Ft. Stockton, TX we left the Interstate to take US rte 285 through more desolate countryside and very sad towns-like Pecos-on into New Mexico to Carlsbad where we had to change to Mountain time-now we're 2 hours behind you! ( Have to keep that in mind if I make any phone calls to any of you! ) Found a campground from our Passport Directory and 2 minutes after we got the camper set up with electricity, water, etc. we got hit with a thunderstorm which gave us small hail beating on the roof, but the worst part of that was that it took out the electricity-no A/C-and the temp. had been 101 degrees before the storm and the camper was HOT! Hank talked with the maint. person at the campground and we were told the power would not be restored for 2-3 hours! So when the storm abated a bit we got back in the car and decided to see what the city of Carlsbad had to offer. On first look not much as it looks pretty dreary in the rain-the streets were flooded in some intersections and there doesn't seem to be any mechanism to deal with the water-no culverts or whatever. Thought we might find a place to have some dinner, but the only thing open was Chilli's and the line was long. So we rode around for a while and finally came back to the camper where Hank made us Western Omeletes (sp?) which were great! And to our great delight the power was on and we have A/C! Hank said I should explain that tho we are camping we are not sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows! We have cable TV, a supply of beer and wine and evenings are pleasant-indoors!