I arrived today in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

I left Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday and went south through Tucson, Benson, Wilcox and into New Mexico where I spent the night at the Hitchin' Post RV Park in Deming, NM. My original plan was to stay the night in Benson, but when I got there it was only early afternoon so I made a command decision to push on. I knew that the next leg of the journey into Carlsbad would involve a lot of mountainous roads so the miles would be hard earned and slower.

After departing Bening I went through Los Cruces, White Sands and on into Albuquerque. I gassed up my rig and ate breakfast at the Diamond Shamrock Truck Stop in Albuquerque. Where I met a local resident named Bill Curry who was having coffee. We started chatting and I learned that he was retired Air Force and after he had retired from the Air Force had started his own business there in Albuquerque. He has a shop in the nearby shopping center named Bill's Collectibles. We were having a pleasant chat but I needed to get traveling because the mountains between Albuquerque and Carlsbad are pretty high and would be slow traveling.

From Albuquerque I took NM 82 to Asteria where I picked up NM 285 South to Carlsbad. Considering this is desert country I found some really nice snow covered forests crossing over the mountains between Albuquerque and Asteria. I saw people sledding and skiing also. Yet when I arrived in Carlsbad it was in the mid 70's but windy.

While here in Carlsbad I have two definite tourist destinations. Carlsbad Caverns is my number one priority and then a quick trip a few miles North to Roswell, New Mexico. I grew up during the 50's when there was all that UFO hype, some called UFO panic. So I have always had a desire to visit Roswell and look up an Alien. Well heres my chance. More later after I visit Roswell.