Just a couple other things about our Carlsbad trip that I don't want to forget.

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We were more than half way through the looping tour of the main, big room of the cavern when the eldest son suddenly got upset. He forgot his water bottle.

Not that he needed the water. He had planned on emptying the bottle, and then sealing it with air from the deepest point of the cave that we could get to.

Clever. Wish I thought the way he does sometimes. He has other bottles sealed with air from special places. Remember the movie where the bum moves in with Harvard students, and keeps a pebble from each memory in a pouch? I also have rocks, but the eldest son has bottles of air. I could tell he was seriously considering returning to the parking lot to get his bottle and hiking back down again. (We had skipped the cafeteria in the cavern in our hurry to see the cave, and to get the walking done before our feet gave out on us. If we hadn't, we would have learned there were bottles of water available down here in the cave, just a half-mile of trail away.)

Fortunately for him, his Dad, although less clever, is smart enough to take water along on a three-mile hike. The four of us quickly drained the bottle and handed it to the collector.

He, however, was smart enough to bring along his nearly ever-present tube of superglue. He also is nearly always packing duct tape, and can literally fix almost anything with it. It just might take two whole rolls.

So he carefully seals the nipple of the cap shut, we return to the low point of the cave to collect air, and then he glues the cap on. Got a few looks from fellow tourists. But hey, lady, the rules say no food or candy in the cave (a good rule, by the way), but water bottles are specifically allowed and they say nothing about superglue.

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The ~250,000 bats that occupy the cavern do not reside in the areas open to the public. They tell us the guano, or bat shit, in their part of the cavern is 40' deep on the floor. I keep thinking about the fact that the only two documented cases of an aerial transmission of the rabies virus was two biologists infected by inhaling aerosol droplets of contaminated bat urine in a Texas cave. A cave with brazilian free-tailed bats like these.

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One of the most impressive sights in the cave is two long strands of parachute cord hanging from the main ceiling at the Cross. It seems some spelunkers got the idea (and permission) to explore the passages in some of the cavern ceilings by floating parachute cord up with helium balloons, and looping it over the ceiling stalactites. They then used the cord to pull up standard climbing ropes. But nobody had any idea how securely these ropes were attached, or how sturdy the cave formations they were hanging on were. And then they climbed up, well over 200' in one place. If you guessed wrong, you're dead. That simple. I used to think the folks who crawled into dens with hibernating bears had balls (even the female I knew who did this... hi Carole!).

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The Park Service rangers who give tours and presentations in this cave really ought to carry lasers. No more of this "see the white outcrop there, now follow it up to the dark spot and yellow crack..." Mine was in our suitcase, otherwise I would have loaned it to her.

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Purchases from the Carlsbad trip:

- 7 packs of Magic: The Gathering cards:

2 packs of Planeshift, rares = Urza's Guilt and Samite Elder

2 packs of Invasion, rares = Skizzik and Ghitu Fire

2 packs of Nemesis, rares = Laccolith Titan and Mana Cache (By rk post! By far the best artist used by Wizards of the Coast)

also Voice of Truth, another angel by rk post

1 pack of Prophecy, rare = Mageta the Lion

- Magic The Gathering Official Encyclopedia #5

- 2 cds: Rogha: the best of clannad

and Faire Celts, A Woman's Voice

- Carlsbad ballcap and hat pins

- Carlsbad t-shirt

- Carlsbad cave pen (with internal nib light: I, at least, have occassion to need a pen that writes in the dark!)

- Charizal National Memorial hat pin

- Star Trek book, The Lost Years

- Stokes' Birds of North America (I forgot any of my bird books. And binocs for that matter.)

- Carlsbad fishing hat for my Dad

- two hummingbird magnets for my Mom

- two mood pencils, which change color according to temperature. Now folks, this technology has been around a looong time. When am I going to get to see a real car or truck painted with this stuff?

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The newer shopping malls are indistinguishable, whether they be in Fort Collins CO, Colorado Springs CO, Roswell NM, Albuquerque NM or El Paso, TX. The mall in Santa Fe tried to look different, with simulated adobe architecture, but it wasn't.

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Traveling into the south with heelers is good in April because the herps, mainly snakes, are not active, and the vehicle doesn't get too hot during the day.

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The ham and cheese box lunches sold at the cafeteria deep within Carlsbad aren't bad, if plain. They come in a plain white box marked with a b&w photo of the cafeteria in a cave and the logo "Lunch Served 750 Feet Underground." Two plain sandwiches of processed ham and processed American cheese (one for self & wife). Unfortunately on white bread, while second son's was wheat. If he had told us, we would have traded. A baggie filled with packages of condiments. (Keep the baggie... perfect for neatly carrying the bits of meat saved from each and every restaurant meal for the heelers waiting in the vehicle. They will check your breath as soon as you enter the vehicle, and they will know if you didn't save them part of any meat course.) A package of plain potato chips (yay for me! Hate any other flavor of chips), which disappoints wife and increases my share. Have never heard of "Tom's" brand of potato chips. Each lunch has a good granola bar, but second son stole ours. Don't know what first son got in his box. He was too cool to eat with us. Kept the boxes.

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I have an old slide I took of a cross-section of a beautiful folded faultline in a road cut on the east side of the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. There is a better cross-section of a perfect slip faultline on the east side of I-25 near Tecolote, NM. We did not stop to get a photo.

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When I have the time, and have not already rambled for a few thousand words, I will record my wonderful memories of Casitas at Mountain View, the suite motel where we stayed in Belen, NM, and the little cafeteria next door.