Arizona-Arkansas

 

Wow!  It's been 5 days without Wi-Fi so we have lots of updates...after leaving Arizona we headed to New Mexico.  Our goal was to go to Silver City where I would drop Peter off so that he may ride an 80 mile strip that he missed during his 2002 bike ride across America.  Unfortunately the road was closed due to a massive fire.  We proceeded on to Caballo Lake (he rode from there and we decided it was close enough).  This was pretty drab.  The lake was brown, it was hot and windy, and the air quality was horrible due to the fire...

 We were relieved to move on to Carlsbad Caverns...

 

 

Carlsbad Caverns are magnificent!  We trekked 750 feet below the earth into trails of caves full of stalacites (which hang from the ceiling) and stalagmites (piles formed on the ground from limestone drips).  We kept calling it the "bat cave" to honor Brady's affection for Batman. 

 

;)

 

 

 

We took a break from the blazing sun at a nearby "water park"...

 

 in order to kill time before the "bat flight" which took place at sunset.  (Photography wasn't allowed unfortunately) we sat at the base of a huge cave mouth and watched silently as thousands of Mexican tailed bats spiraled out chasing bugs.  Super cool!!  And the boys earned their 3rd National Park badge.

 

Then we left New Mexico, bound for Texas!

We stayed at Abilene State Park south of Dallas Fort Worth among big green trees and abundant wildlife.  The second we pulled in a 9-year-old boy named Jayden asked if he could hang out with us (he was obviously desperate for companionship, poor kid.)  Our boys were happy to make a friend!

 

We were all crushed to discover that the beautiful pool was closed on Mondays!  We took matter in our own hands and squirted our water bottles down the park slide to cool off (it was in the 90s).  We went on bike rides and walked nature trails, and sat in a "bird blind" (a little camouflaged fort with windows designed to spy on birds) where we watched blue jays (much more colorful than our Californian stellar jays) and cardinals (who knew Texas had cardinals?)  We got up bright and earl (5am) and headed out to Dinosaur Valley

 

 where we explored dinosaur tracks that have been preserved in limestone along a murky river. 

 

(It's hard to see, but Ty's hand is in a track!)

 

Brady is standing in a track!

 

We also saw 4 funny-looking but adorable armadillos!

After leaving Abilene, we drove north to Fort Worth where we were saved by a Trader Joe's!  I felt a sense of "home" in there and picked up some of our favorite things, not to mention organic produce which was no where to be found in Arizona or New Mexico!  We camped that night east of Dallas at Lake Tawakoni, the nicest campground yet.  We swam in a pool, played mini-golf, and fished in the lake while watching huge blue herons and white cranes. 

 

 Up until this point we had been waking up before the kids to make some mileage while they were sleeping.  But Tawakoni was so nice that we decided to sleep in, make pancakes and coffee, catch up on laundry, and enjoy the amenities.  After much contemplation, we decided to buy ourselves an extra day in Tennessee, so we drove all the way through Arkansas in one shot!  I am helping Pete with the driving now and though was nervous at first, feel much more comfortable handling this rig!  As I write this we are in Graceland, near Memphis, in an RV park literally across the street from Elvis' house!  Now that we are closer to the East Coast we hope that Wi-Fi will be more available in order to stay on top of our posts.  Keep the comments coming, we love them!!