So, we were about to leave the city of Artesia New Mexico. The rain did not help, the whole city smells like the refinery that sits right off the main drag. It was a nice enough town, lots of space and places to go, etc, but that refinery odor would have set my asthma off if I had to stay too long. Still, I like the aesthetic of the oil field and industrial sprawl (To an extent, give me mountains and meadows any day).

We all awakened early and got cleaned and dressed for the day, a quick bite at the complimentary breakfast bar, waffle, banana, scrambled yeggs, some granola, and we were ready to head out in the drizzle. Hans had had an awful night in his solitary room, puke inducing headaches had awakened him all too early, but he was revived enough to join us all to bail at 0800 rather than an hour later.

The drive from Artesia to Carlsbad Caverns was a bit convoluted, but I am sure we saved some time. Passing dozens of billboards for White's City, a once burgeoning tourist trap complex of the past. Now it was reduced to a few small shops and dilapidated motel rooms that nature is beating back into the foothills. We did get stuck behind a few large trucks twice but still made great time to the National Park, situated high on a bluff of the El Capitan Reef, the fossilized edge of an ancient long dissipated sea. Beyond a windey road from the valley floor. The rain was not hard, but it was constant, so we parked a short way from the Visitors Center and stomped up to the new (to me) entrance to the cave complex. The last time I was here, it was around 1977 and I was not yet 10 years old. I knew as a child that I would one day want to return as an adult. So, here I was 40+ years on. I'd have had some sentimental feelings if we had come to the original visitors center, but they had built a new one in the 90s, I think, so it was all new to me.

The Carlsbad Caverns complex features a freaking huge souvenir shop, a small separate bookstore and a small restaurant. I LOVE souvenir shops. I have always loved them, roadside attractions, even the seedy AF ones, Truck Stops, you name it. If they sell bumper stickers and such I wanna check them out. So we spent about 20 minutes wandering about and staring at stuff we did not need but probably wanted. Eventually we all gathered to pay our entrance fees. For adults it's usually 15 skins each to take in the cave, but one of our group was 64, and one was 100% disabled due to military service, so the park docent gave us a combined fee of 15 bucks! I happily paid this. We lined up for the elevators.

The caverns themselves are SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY EFFING FEET DOWN INTO THE EARTH. The elevator ride takes just over one minute, and Karno, ever the font of class that he is waited for all of us (5 adults and Karno) to board the elevator before grinning and farting. Whatta guy. Damned reprobate.

So anyway, suddenly we were turned loose into the cool darkness of this underground primordial. Somehow the place feels holy to me. The dark cool and damp place hidden from view as all of our ancestors evolved and fought and prospered and expired, undergoing it's own evolution. Slowly, throughout the ages, a tableau of grandeur painted by the brush of eons.
I had returned. I had a few moments of reflection. when I was last here my dad was alive and my life lay ahead, uncertain and unknown. Now, most of my life now lay behind me. Dad died when I was at summer camp in 1980. Things had changed, and not just for me.

But I was back. with lifelong friends that I had made because of the fandom. As much as I talk crap sometimes, this fandom has been very good to me. It is a fortunate person who discovers their tribe, as it were, early enough to grow long in the tooth and make memories to keep you warm as your vision clouds and your bones weaken. Enough revery. this place is effing cool.

The ceiling soars above you. High enough to dispel any sense of being deep in the bowels of an unfamiliar earth. The formations, from tiny lumpy bits to soaring dragon's teeth to comical formations that looked as if a lewd-minded drunk had been playing with a lit candle. There is no adequate way for me to express the wonder of this place to you, my reader. The place is magic. The air is thick with the mineral breath of the planet. Every little nook has strange speleothems to discover. Some are dry and look like dusty marble, others looked almost juicy. There is literally too much to take in. The place is nuts. The inky depths seem to swallow your flashlight beam. Massive columns look as though they could hold up a building. If ever you've the chance to visit; I beseech that you do so. I will happliy return again so long as I am able. The child I was is long gone. The man I am is a bit broken and sore. But my life is much enriched by visiting this place with my friends. I reached a goal I had set for myself so long ago. I am better for it.

The rest of trip home was marked by coughing fits. I had caught a cold on the drive. I coughed so much my teeth hurt. The hills out of the Carlsbad area SUCK when it is windy and raining and your van is the size of a Taco Bell. Several stops to release various waste products and procure some road food and fireworks (The good kind we can't get legally in Arizona) were made. The weather cleared as we passed back into Arizona. We arrived at my house tired and a bit sore. My guests left over the next 12 hours and I had laundry to do.

If you've the chance to road trip with your buds, I advise you to do it.