Day 4, June 5th - Hobbs to Las Cruces

Left Hobbs about 7:20 AM for a leisurely trip to Carlsbad (the city, not the cavern), since the attraction we planned to see didn't open until 10.  In Carlsbad, we visited the local CVB, a thrift store called the Cat's Meow (benefits the animal shelter), and the library, before hitting the museum.  It's a nice, smaller museum with a good collection of prehistoric pottery, some nice regional art, a model layout of the city in the early 20th century.  Ran into someone there from Stover, MO, where our friend Sharon has a donut shop.  The museum also has a NM Painted Pony called Horse N Buggy.

Then it was on the road to Artesia, where we had a buffet at a fancy restaurant & admired the bronzes along the street.  After Artesia, we headed up US-82 toward Cloudcroft & eventually Alamogordo.  Cloudcroft is almost 9000 ft altitude, so it's a popular summer getaway for folks from lower, hotter areas.  It's also a tourist trap.  We didn't stop. 

Our next destination was White Sands, after a stop at the Holloman AFB Exchange for some SPF 50 sunscreen.  With clouds building back over the mountains we had just come thru, we tried to get some good shots.  Bill operates on the premise that "pixels are cheap" while Sandra is a bit more selective. These are among her shots.

From White Sands, we hurries to Las Cruces, where we checked in to our HIE, then went to meet Sandra's Uncle Murray to go to dinner at a small local place, Nopalito.  Good!  Got to bed around 10 PM.

About 300 miles on the day, and the Subaru turned 10,000 miles just outside of Las Cruces.