Today was another travel day so we put away the satellite dish, disconnected the power and split from Anthony, N.M., and drove south on I-10 into El Paso, Texas. We did not have to go all the way through El Paso before turning onto US-62/180 toward Carlsbad, N.M. El Paso is not one of our favorite cities. It is pretty ugly. Juarez, Mexico, murder capital of the world, is plainly visible across the Rio Grande. Viewers only need to peer over the ugly sheet steel wall dividing homely from dangerous.
At the El Paso end of US-62, there are widely-spaced red traffic lights timed such they are always red if traffic dares to approach. Once out of town, the road starts a long climb from right next to the Rio Grande to about 4500′ elevation. The grade made our engine snort some but we finally arrived on a massive high plain called the El Paso Valley. There are very few scattered structures and a whole lot of nothing except great mountain views along the Texas portion of the highway. Partway through the drive, we crossed from Mountain into the Central Time Zone. In this location, the highway is passing through Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas with an elevation of 8751′. It is a spectacular, gigantic formation squirting up from the flat surrounding land. It was only then that we realized we would be required to ascend partway up the mountain before being able to continue toward Carlsbad. It is a steep, long climb but we finally got over the top before starting a downhill run into New Mexico where we went backward in time into the Mountain Time Zone.
Less than an hour later, we rolled into Carlsbad. We passed through town for about 20 miles and finally turned into Brantley Lake State Park, space 20. The have water and electric hookups here but waste needs to be taken to the park’s dump station so we won’t be here more than the tanks’ capacity or 4 days. The campground is located on a peninsula in a lake and the views and sunsets are magnificent. There are lots of birds here.
There’s a picture of an El Paso wreck and Guadalupe Peak if you click here