| Brantley Lake, New Mexico |
 |
 |
 |
| Sunday, 28 March 2004 00:00 | |
 We are staying at the Brantley Lake State Park in New Mexico for the next three nights. It is located in the southeast part of the state near Carlsbad; a town with a population of approximately 26,000 near the Guadalupe Mountains. We are actually camping in the desert, which is in spring bloom right now and very beautiful. Brantley Lake is actually man-made as a result of the construction in 1988 of a four-mile long dam over the Pecos River to control potential flooding. Apparently it has in its depths an old town called Seven Rivers with a colourful history that we hope to learn more about tomorrow.
The drive here from Snyder, Texas was really scenic. We enjoyed moderate temperatures in the low 20's C (mid 70's F) with a clear, sunny sky as we scanned the miles of desert intermixed with pastureland and rich agricultural areas. This whole part of the United States has so many different types of landscape that every bend in the road leaves us wondering what we will see next. One minute the soil is bright red and freshly plowed and then a few miles along we'll come across miles of desert wasteland followed by green pastures with large herds of cattle.
Our site has full hook-ups, a covered picnic table with a barbecue and is one of only 51 serviced sites here. We were quite surprised to find a state park with full hook-ups because typically they only offer water and electric. We met another couple from Ontario, staying here as Camp Hosts who were able to give us all kinds of useful information about the area, which we will explore in the morning. We are now in the Mountain Time Zone, so we have gained another hour...we'll probably be up early!
|