This was a long day of driving. I left very early in the morning and drove through most of New Mexico.
I found it fascinating going through “oil country.” The smell, the rigs drilling, and everything was strange. The housing seemed depressing. Some people brought their trailers. I’ve seen more pick ups south of Carlsbad and into Texas than I’ve probably seen in my entire life.
It’s like a different world.
I arrived to the hotel, which was nice after a couple days without one. I cleaned up and wanted to go to the Bat Flight program at Carlsbad Caverns.
Watching 400,000 bats leave a cave at night was surreal. It was an amazing experience. I spent half an hour watching the bats leave until I couldn’t really see them because the sun had gone down, but they were still coming out.
Bats are fascinating creatures. They can eat 1/3 or ½ of their body weight in a night. They don’t land during the night, so they are flying all night. The talk I went to by the ranger before the bat flight was very informative.
I grabbed tacos again on my way home, and had one of the best barbacoa tacos I’ve probably ever had.