Java joins our family
Our home had felt a little empty since Mindi's passing and though Khaleesi was enjoying the extra love, she seemed lonely. We checked the nearest animal shelter's website and saw an adorable little pittie mix with a huge smile.
The shelter was only half an hour away, and we were going into town to get groceries anyway, so we stopped by.
They told us she was around 3 years old. The only history they had on her was that she got picked up as a stray and had recently had puppies. She was very skinny with a few patches of fur missing but healthy overall, had all needed shots, and had spay surgery scheduled for the next day. When they brought her into the room to see us she was very timid. She gave us a sideways glance and laid by the door once it was shut, whining. She would get up and look out the window, putting her paws up and hoping someone would come get her. We noticed during this time that she did NOT bark or scratch at the door or growl at us or anything. We sat quietly with her for almost an hour before she finally approached us both and gave gentle kisses on our hands. Once we broke that touch barrier and she realized we were not going to hurt her, she was all kisses and tail wags. We asked to take her on a walk and introduce her to Khaleesi. She was ecstatic to be taken outside, and super energetic.
Kyle walked her while I walked Khaleesi nearby, slowly closing the distance between them. Both were interested in the other but showed no sign of growling or barking. Once they sniffed butts and each decided the other was okay, we realized this might actually be the dog we'd be taking home.
They said she'd be available for adoption around 4pm the next day, after she had time to recover from her surgery. Now that we'd decided this might be the one, it was hard to leave her there! But, it was actually really good to have the time to really think about it and prepare everything for her arrival.
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| Smiles from Khaleesi's last night alone, getting spoiled as usual |
That night we talked about all the difficulties we might face bringing another dog into our family, especially in such a tiny space. We decided we were willing to work through any issues she may have, to trade sleeping in for cold morning walks and "get that out of your mouth", and to do our best to make the transition as easy as possible for the dogs to give them the best chance of getting along. It was such a great feeling when we looked at each other and knew we were really ready to adopt her.
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| Freedom ride!! |
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| Her first ride in the truck, heading to her new home! |
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| I sat in the back with her and after a few minutes she laid down on my leg. |
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| We could tell she was really happy to be out of the shelter |
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| At first, we kept her on a leash when they were together |
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| First sniffs together! It only took a day to decide on her name. We wanted something nerdy and considered a few like Nova or Percy (for Perseverance). We ended up choosing Java (aka Java bean or Javelina). She is VERY high energy, like constant zoomies, with an intense interest in literally everything. While on walks, she eats anything she can get in her mouth and is constantly running as if she doesn't know how to move any slower. She is equally obsessed with Khaleesi, who has been amazingly patient. She curbs Java's interest with nonchalance, while still letting her know where the boundaries are. She hasn't warmed up to playing much yet, but there have been no serious issues either. So far, Java has been perfectly housebroken. She is tough on toys, destroying them easily, but hasn't chewed on her bed or blanket. She likes training and already expects a treat for every 'sit'. Once she was healed from surgery and allowed to jump, she quickly graduated to sleeping on our bed, and now lays as close as she can possibly get to us. |
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| Khaleesi chose to sleep by the kennel at night (instead of in bed with us) while Java recovered from surgery. Separate cuddle time   |
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She is always near Khaleesi, watching her for clues on how to react.  Rattlesnake Springs in Carlsbad Caverns National Park We found an oasis only 20 minutes from camp. Rattlesnake Springs is located on the southwest side of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and provides all the water for the park. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a refuge for over 330 bird species and other local wildlife in the dry Chihuahuan Desert. On the way in, we saw a flock of wild turkeys!   and a couple deer!       The water was crystal clear and cool, full of big bass, and surrounded by lush, green grass. After a week in the surrounding dry and dusty desert, it was almost hard to believe this was real.      Just a few minutes down the road from Rattlesnake Springs is Black River Recreation Area.    Java was afraid of a branch in the water Also nearby is a round pond we saw on the map called Bottomless Lake Spring  Roswell, New Mexico Parks Ranch Campsite is only 2 hours from Roswell. There is a nice dog park there and we wanted to see how Java would do off-leash, so we took a day trip. We saw aliens everywhere! The McDonalds was UFO shaped, and even the street lamps had alien eyes. |
We drove through town and snapped pictures, only stopping at the visitor's center (for this map photo) and the dog park.
The Roswell UFO story began when a 1947 U.S. Air Force press release claimed they’d recovered a “flying disc” that'd landed on a rancher's property. When press went wild with the story of aliens, Army officials denied the idea, saying it was actually debris from a weather balloon.
The truth didn't come out until almost 50 years later, when the U.S Air Force finally admitted in 1994 that the “weather balloon” story had been a cover up for a covert operation. The wreckage actually came from a "spy device" for previously classified Project Mogul: a string of connected high-altitude balloons designed to float over the USSR. It had microphones for detecting distant sound waves to monitor the Soviet government’s testing of their atomic bomb.
The town has attracted tourists and UFO fans from all over with alien themed museums and out-of-this-world art, and even though there wasn't actually a UFO landing there, it's still pretty cool to consider the idea.
Once we knew the dogs would do well together off-leash, we took them down into the caves near camp. It was great for training, since they could only go as far as our lights reached. They had such a great time sniffing and exploring!
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| She's really coming out of her shell! She loves walks & will pick up any sticks or plant she can find. |
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Near the end of the month, we reserved a time slot to see Carlsbad Caverns! The reservation system was to help limit crowds and allow space between visitors for social distancing in the caves. The entrance building had a ton of great information, and two options to get into the cave: Elevator or a steep hike. We weren't excited about the idea of being in tight quarters with people, and we really wanted to get the full experience so, of course, we picked the hike.
Four hours later, even with aching legs after climbing 75 stories back up to the natural entrance, it was still hard to believe we had really been in Carlsbad Caverns. Since no natural light reaches down there, it was super dark, but our Pixels have night-sight which actually shows more in the pictures than we could see in person! We took so many that it definitely deserves it's own post (coming soon!). But, I've gotta share a few of our favorite shots:
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| Descending through the natural entrance |
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| Last of the natural light |
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| Steep descent |
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| A wonderland of weird formations |
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| A towering stalagmite, as in 'might' reach the ceiling |
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| I would say it was out of this world, but... under? |
With Carlsbad Caverns checked off the list, we left dry, dusty, Parks Ranch Campground for a spot high in the mountains of Lincoln National Forest, near Cloudcroft.
On the way there, we stopped at Artesia City Park to dump our tanks and let the girls stretch their legs.
Lincoln National Forest, Russia Canyon rd.
There were many sites along the winding road, and we found one that was protected from wind by two hills, and even had a few piles of snow!
Since we adopted Java in the Chihuahuan desert of southern New Mexico, we assumed she hadn't seen much accumulated snow. Once we finished setting up camp, we let the dogs out to see what her reaction would be. At first, she was too excited about being in a new place to realize there was anything different about the white patches. Once she stepped in it and smelled it a few times, she got super excited. She kept biting it and zooming around, then sliding to a stop on the snow.
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There were logs all around camp and even cut firewood by a big rock ring. High-altitude camping in March meant low overnight temperatures, so we had a nice cozy campfire that night before bed.
We took a few long walks around camp in our two days there.
We found a huge mushroom, and some sort of weird short shelter with two big metal containers near it. They had "rocket motor" and "Class A Explosive" written on the side! They may have been from White Sands Missile Range, and now seems to be repurposed for water storage.
Driving through the Sacramento Mountains nearby was breathtaking, and there are some great historical sites right along the road. Like the Cloudcroft Trestle, the only remaining trestle of the "Cloud Climbing Railroad". From 1898 to 1947, it climbed 4,000 feet from Alomogordo up to Cloudcroft, carrying passengers and timber.
And the Fresnal Shelter, a prehistoric campsite occupied between 6000 and 500 BCE. Perishable artifacts were protected from the elements there for thousands of years, including some of the earliest corn dating around 1500 BCE.
White Sands National Park
On the last day of March we headed west about an hour, down the mountain from Cloudcroft to White Sands National Park!
With our trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park on my mind, I was picturing dull grainy sand and a big crowd, and just hoping for good weather. What we got instead was a perfect sunny day and glittering dunes of soft gypsum sand as far as the eye could see. White Sands National Park is very pet friendly, and the girls had a blast climbing the dunes and digging in the sand. Here are some highlights from our White Sands Adventure, and full blog post can be found HERE.
This March has been a month we will never forget. From exploring Carlsbad Caverns to adopting a new family member, it was literally life-changing. But, we have wanted to explore the Southwest since we started our journey, and we're just getting started. In April we'll explore further west into New Mexico, then off to Arizona for Petrified National Forest!
