Carlsbad, NM

WED., JUNE 8, 2022 thru TUES., JUNE 14, 2022

Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Deb & Bob. They were headed back home after camping with us at Hickory Creek. The Hannafords and Gary & I headed off for one last stop in TX before moving on to New Mexico. We traveled 195 miles west on I-20 to land at Whistle Stop RV Resort in Abilene, TX. It was an interesting ride. We passed tractor trailers carrying huge wind turbine blades. The size cannot be overstated. They were gynormous! The closer we got to Abilene and the further from the big metropolitan areas of Dallas and Fort Worth, the more open spaces, ranches, and wind farms… although many of the wind farms weren’t operational. It was still hot when we arrived in Abilene… around 103. So no sitting outside. 

Houston we have a problem… maybe more than one!

The next morning just as I was waking up with a sore throat, Cheryl texted to ask if we had a Covid test they could use. Joe had woken up with a low grade fever. Rut-roh. Joe had been having some allergy symptoms while in Hickory Creek, and had tested then to be sure it wasn’t Covid and the test had come back negative. But, alas, this time he tested positive. Ok then… I’m thinking my sore throat is probably Covid. As luck would have it, the four of us were facing a 300+ mile drive to Carlsbad, NM that day. Lovely. Thankfully our drivers… Gary & Cheryl were feeling fine. The navigators not so much. But, that’s ok. It’s more important that the drivers were feeling well. I wore a mask in the truck for the day hoping maybe I could protect Gary from my germs. Joe did the same for Cheryl. 

Initially we were having a delightful drive. We passed by large wind farms with hundreds of wind turbines “planted” in rows. These were operational and cool to see in action. Interestingly enough in some cases there were wind farms and oil rigs in the same area. We also passed lots of farmland which then morphed into some very wealthy ranches. Particularly mind boggling was seeing double decker freight cars a mile long traveling along side the highway. You simply don’t see this in the Northeast! The length of the train was amazing. Also the landscape was flat as can be so you could see for miles. We passed by a large plant with a nondescript sign that said WIPP Energy, which stands for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. We checked their website: “The nation’s only deep geologic repository for nuclear waste. We’ve safely disposed of more than 185,000 waste containers.”  Gulp. It was huge and located outside Carlsbad. 

To make the day more interesting… because the threat of Covid wasn’t enough… in route to Carlsbad our Tire Pressure Monitoring System reported that one of the RV tires was losing pressure. Wonderful. We’re in the middle of nowhere in West Texas on a one lane road looking to pull off safely. Luckily Cheryl & Joe were about 20 minutes ahead of us and reported that there was an abandoned gas station at the only stop light for miles. We made it there and pulled in. C&J offered to come back and help, but we told them to go on. We have Roadside Assistance after all. We called Good Sam Roadside Assistance, which was a bit of an ordeal since the operator couldn’t “find us.” Finally through the miracle of cell phones, she figured out where we were. We waited 75 minutes to get a text message to find out who would be coming to assist us and when they would show up. The text message indicated they would be there in another 60 to 90 minutes. Not what we wanted to hear. But by then, Gary had grown tired of all this waiting and had already put the spare tire on. That was fun with temps hovering around 100. Initially we weren’t sure if the spare tire would have sufficient air in it, but fortunately it did. That was one of the reasons for the call for help in the first place. Also, we wanted to try Good Sam Roadside Assistance since we’re paying for it and hadn’t ever used it before. In fact, the repair service showed up 10 minutes after the text message came in but Gary had everything done by then. We finally arrived at Carlsbad KOA at 5:30 PM. 

By the next morning all of us had Covid. The four of us were supposed to be visiting Carlsbad Caverns that day. We had a timed entry for early in the morning. That obviously didn’t happen. Suffice to say we had a very quiet stay in Carlsbad, NM. Joe and I had more cold-like symptoms. Cheryl had a persistent low grade fever which was her most troubling symptom along with runny nose and being tired. Gary had a low-grade fever, congestion, and coughing. We were a bit of a hot mess but it could have been SO much worse! We were in touch with our doctor who recommended rest, Tylenol, and lots of fluids. We tried to oblige as much as possible. We were supposed to be there for 4 nights. We extended 2 more nights to give us all additional recovery time, although we had to change sites. 

High temps for the daytime routinely reached 107 in Carlsbad. It was like a furnace outside. I think I know what hell feels like now. We have silver reflective stuff, which we had put on all the windows to help the air conditioners run more efficiently. It worked to keep us comfortable, but the downside is that it’s like being in a cave. I can live like this for a few weeks but much more than that, I’ll be getting a tad cranky. Maybe more than a tad! 

I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see Carlsbad Caverns National Park while here, but Gary and I are due to return to this general area in February and we’ve already adjusted our schedule to come back through Carlsbad KOA for a few nights. Cheryl & Joe managed to squeeze in a visit to the caverns on the last day we were in Carlsbad. 

Tomorrow, Wed., June 15th, we’re headed to Roswell, NM and we’re ready. We’re all feeling fairly decent. We still are testing positive for Covid but at least we feel better, and we are past the 5-day quarantine period. Now we can go out but have to be masked up. So strange that two years after Covid came into being, Gary and I finally got hit by it. We feel thankful to have escaped it for as long as we did.