Brief Update

I'll have to save an in-depth recommendation of Carlsbad Caverns for another time, but I spent yesterday morning there and for the rest of the day hauled myself up most of the north-south distance in New Mexico and then westward to a gently wintry suburb of Flagstaff, Arizona. Tonight, if all goes as planned, I will have reached the Monterey Bay area, thus completing the "across" part of my progress on the map and commencing the "up".

Also, to clarify a point raised in comments below, there will be no eating of McGriddles. Even if I were on a disastrous overland expedition that got snowed in with nothing but those in store, I'd expect the party to leave in the spring with three or four fewer men and a bunch of untouched, stale pancake sandwiches.