Where we've been.

Alright, we have internet access again! So let's catch up with what we've done. On Monday we arrived in Mesa, AZ to stay with our friend Connie. Connie is awesome. She used to live up in Seattle but decided to move down to AZ to work in a mine as a geologist. We'll get to that later. The drivers in the Phoenix area are terrible. I'm told it's a mix of college student, snow birds from Minnesota, and a few crazy native Arizonians (Connie said this). But don't worry, we braved the crazy drivers and made it to Connie's apartment complex. Which brings us to another problem. I should have known when Staci read me the apartment number: there was four digits. This place was huge! There must have been thousands upon thousands of apartment units in this place. After cruising around the complex for awhile, we pass a lady that might be Connie walking. After a little depart we decided it was Connie. And it was. We grabbed a bite to eat and saw the movie "I love you, man" with Connie. Hilarious movie. Staci would also want me to mention Connie has a really shy cat, I never saw it, but Staci did once.

The next day we followed Connie to her work, the Resolution Copper Mining Company. She gave us a tour of the facility. The old mine was flooded and the new one hasn't been dug yet, so we didn't go under ground. But we did get to see the core samples. There are rooms full of core samples. Think of empty toilet paper rolls made of solid rock and that are about fifty feet long. Now stack row after row of them on a wall, photograph everything and label the different types of rocks. The workers spray the rock with a water bottle to show the different formations better. From these core samples, they can extrapolate how a mine needs to be dug. It's pretty amazing. The new mine hasn't been dug yet because the elevator structure is still being constructed. It was a giant several hundred feet in the air. Once that's finished, it will take several years to dig the 7000 feet mine shaft. Connie estimated the mine would start producing copper in 2020. Wow.

After we leave Connie at her work, we head to Las Cruces, New Mexico. This is the first real stretch of nothing we encounter. Miles and miles of barren, flat land. Right before we cross into New Mexico, we begin seeing billboards advertising "The Thing". It doesn't say what The Thing is but suggests stopping to find out. After the twentith (literally) billboard for The Thing, we decide to stop. And there's a Dairy Queen at that exit. After getting some ice cream, we decide to investigate. At first it looks like a giant gift shop. It is a giant gift shop. But in the back is a door labeled THE THING...Adults $1. We pay and go in. I'm not going to tell you what The Thing is, you just have to see it. I'll just say it's worth a buck and it let's you stretch your legs for a bit, so check it out if you're in the area.

We make it to the Las Cruces KOA just as the sun is setting. The KOA is nice, has shower facilities. We set up our tent and settle down for the night. A few hours later a van of college guys arrives and pitches a tent not too far from ours. I fall asleep to them singing and playing a guitar.

Wednesday we head out early. We pass through the White Sands Missle Range. Signs repeatedly tell us not to stop. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see a big explosion. The White Sands National Park was impressive. The white sand goes for miles and miles. We make into Roswell, NM in time for lunch. Staci really wanted to stop there because she is a big fan of the TV show Roswell. We didn't see anyone from the TV show nor any aliens, but we did visit the UFO museum. I wanted was a hmaburger called an Alien Burger. But didn't see any themed restaurants, just tons of Tshirt stores. After Roswell, we head down to Carlsbad. This is a really long post so I'll end it here.