Day 10 - Van Horn to Las Cruces

Van Horn is on the western edge of the Central time zone, so sunrise was the latest we experienced.  So, when we left at a usual time, the magic morning light was with us.  The first 50 miles was between mountain ranges, and offered shots like this:

The most imposing mountains are in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, home of the highest point in Texas, as well as the landmark El Capitan, used by settlers, travelers and even the Butterfield Stage.  And by us:

We pressed on to Carlsbad to visit the local museum.  It has an excellent art collection, a nice batch of artifacts, and a Carlsbad diorama (complete with railroad, guano & potash mines, and even an swinging outhouse door).  Then it was lunch at Kaleidoscoops (great green chile cheeseburger, plus ice cream).  A long climb into Cloudcroft (temp 82) and back down to Alamogordo and White Sands (temp 99. 

White Sands in the wind - kind of difficult to take pictures and protect the camera, but we tried - watch out for the UFOs (see the sky).

Going down into Las Cruces on US-70, we almost had a disaster.  Cars swerved in front of us to reveal a ladder in the middle lane, no space to swerve.  We braked enough to lessen the impact on our tires, didn't feel anything weird in handling, so went on the last 4-5 miles to our hotel.  Looked under the car and can't find any damage; tires still fully inflated several hours later.  Met Sandra's Uncle Murray and his friend Peggy or supper at Nopalito, back to out HIE & bed.  Only 340 miles on the day.  Tomorrow: Around Las Cruces.