Northern New Mexico...WOW!!!

Hey all-

Here is a quick update on our travels (bullet points for you quick readers wanting to get back to work).

* My (Jim) bronchitis is gone...thank the Lord! Travels are much nicer now.

* Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico...really cool! We hiked a little through the caverns and the formations were awesome! Saw the bat flight one evening. (Thank you Dr. Stansbury for the recommendation) There's seating and everyone sits around as 200, 000 bats come out of the cave to feed. The one thing that comes with bats is guano (bat crap). There's two places that we know of that you can smell this indescribable smell - Carlsbad Caverns and our car.

* When we checked in at the campsite near the Caverns, I (Jim) asked the lady if there were anything we should be concerned about like rattlesnakes, scorpions, etc. She said there were rattlesnakes. I said, "what do I do when I see one, run?" "Kill it" she said. Kill it?...it's not like we're carrying a shovel. She said I was bigger, so I should be fine.

* We drove through western Texas and southern New Mexico...have no idea why anyone would live there. We would see a few homes in the middle of nowhere with 100 degree heat and then not see another home for 25 more miles. Very baffling! A lot of ghost towns as well. Wish I had gotten some photos as this really intrigues me.



* On our way to Elephant Butte(recommendation from some cool people we met at the campground at the Caverns) we stopped to fill up the ION and saw this homeless guy named Bruce hanging out. We hung out with him for about a half hour under the overpass and prayed with him. I think he was intoxicated.

* Stayed at Elephant Butte. Beautiful lake in the desert...man made of course. I (Jim) talked with our next door neighbor at the campsite....well I listened to him anyway. I found that the best time to talk to him was in the morning. The afternoon and especially in the evening were a bit difficult as he really liked his beer.



* Then we headed up to Santa Fe and here we are. This town is so cool...we definitely could live here! Artsy and very Spanish looking. The park we stayed in is about 7 miles up the mountain and WOW, so beautiful! The people here are very laid back and the filming industry is picking up around here. So much beautiful scenery. We met this guy named Winston who is from Oregon and he's hanging out with his mom at the campground this week. He gave us his number for when we get up there we can give him a call. We took showers at a Japanese Spa on our way into town since there weren't any showers at the campground. It was the best $7.00 we have spent as there were no showers at the campground. Kristi had the opportunity to pray with a volunteer at the campground (Nina) that she saw again at the Spa. Her dad has recently had a stroke.

* We're headed to Taos (sp?), New Mexico. A guy we just met here in the restaurant said it's a must see and is better than Santa Fe. So, that's where we're going next.

* Also, just found out that my (Jim) Uncle Pete passed away Saturday. Please pray for my Aunt Carol and the rest of the family during this time.

* Things are good, but also please pray for unity as the ION is very small!

See ya-

Jim & Kristi