Are those cactus?

Texas is massive.  Ok, so we all knew it was massive from maps, and "don't mess with Texas ads," but holy crap I didn't think we would ever make it out of there.  The last 4.5 hours were nothing but one straight road west (then north) with small mountains, cactus, and shrubbery.  

Crossing into New Mexico, nothing changed (except the time...we're now on Mountain Time).  

Carlsbad National Park: a must see.  Kind of a big deal, it's set back about a half hour down this windy road through cliffs.  Tonight we saw 400,000 Mexican bats (they migrate here every spring) fly out of the natural entrance of the cave in a counter-clockwise funnel.  They then flew over our heads and broke off into the horizon to feed before they return at dawn.  It was a miraculous site.  Can't wait to get into the cave tomorrow morning!