Day 9 - Taos, NM to Carlsbad, NM

We got underway fairly early given we had a fairly long day of travel (340 miles - ~ 7hrs).  The road down to Espanola was only slightly better than the ride up to Taos.  Once we got out of Santa Fe, there wasn't much to see for most of the trip.  Very flat and the road was bascially a straight line.  Warm day too.  It was just over 100 degress for most of the trip.

We did stop in Roswell, NM.  Pretty funny to see how they have embraced the UFO thing.  We stopped by the UFO museum.  Don't bother, the people were pretty rude.  We did stop in a store next door and got the boys a couple of UFO t-shirts.  From there we continued our way to Carlsbad.

The campground was on the south side of town, which is a good thing given the NP is also in that direction.  The campground manager/owner was from Bend, OR.  Turns out he was there to help out for a few weeks while the regular folks traveled back to OR for a wedding.

One thing I didn't know is that SE New Mexico is in an oil boom.  I guess they are in the same general area as the West Texas oil stuff.  Turns out there were lots of oil workers staying in the campground.  Given they all drive big trucks, there we lots of nice fifth wheel trailers with them.  Interesting to see the oil derricks and low yield pumps in action.

Did I say it was HOT there?  :-)  Tomorrow we head to the Carlsbad Caverns NP, which should be fun.

Here is a picture of the Rio Grande river just outside of Taos and another of Roswell.