The road to Carlsbad (RL7)

We got a late start getting out of Tucson, but then who's ever in a hurry to go home? We stopped by grandma's place, where several relatives were getting things ready for the estate sale, to say our farewells until '08 (probably the next time we're out this way unless we do Thanksgiving here next year).

So the first half of the trip was largely uneventful, save the thunderstorms along I-10 in New Mexico. But then we got to El Paso. To get to Carlsbad, New Mexico (our one "pure vacation" activity of this trip), you've got to take a non-interstate highway, which doesn't look so bad on a map, departing the interstate system in El Paso, Texas.

My first impression of US-180 in El Paso wasn't great, because it was basically a city street the first ten miles or so. Not the street's fault of course, but more signs would help. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of signs already, but in a city environment when US routes change streets, it's best to have too many signs rather than not enough.

Even once out of the city, US-180, while a well maintained road, is not the funnest at night. I highly recommend a day time trek through this stretch of road. We did it at night, and that is much more tense an experience. You're going through mountains, so the roads are twisty, narrow, and VERY dark. Top it off with cloudiness, and you've got the night-driving-hater's worst nightmare. Oh, and let's not forget the NRAs (near-road animals). I saw fifty (yes, 5-0) NRAs on my journey from El Paso to Carlsbad, which only furthered the stress of the dark night drive. I had NO cell signal, and I feared a deer-strike in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. While I didn't see any deer, I saw 48 rabbits, 1 skunk, and 1 unidentified furry creature (UFC). Unfortunately, the 31st rabbit I saw was the victim of my tires. It zipped onto the road much faster than I could react. Much more fortunately for the both of us, the skunk was a near miss. Seriously, it was ON the road, and the lack of quick reaction on my part would have resulted in a stinky conclusion to our trip.

One last thing. There is a clear difference in the maintenance of US-180 between Texas and New Mexico. The road was clearly well maintained in Texas, with brightly painted lines and reflectors galore. But the moment you cross into New Mexico, the lines get much harder to see, there is practically no shoulder, and overall visibility is not as pleasant as the Texas version of the road. Fortunately you're only on the NM side of the road for the last 40 miles or so (out of 157 starting in El Paso).


Update, 28 June
To New Mexico's credit, US-180 North of Carlsbad was much better than what I drove on the night before.