Our route south through New Mexico is made on the I-25. The weather remains sunny all day, and the temperature reaches the 90s. At about 1:30pm we reach the Interstate's Fort Craig Rest area (left) where we stop for our usual midday snack of muffins and bananas - miles driven: 136.

Our next objective, the White Sands National Monument, is located in the south of New Mexico, close to the border with Texas and Mexico, and to the east of the San Andreas Mountains. At Las Cruces, we leave the I-25, and using US-70, we cross the San Andreas Mountains at the San Augustine Pass (5,719-feet), passing the Albert J Fountain Murder Site (right) on the way to the White Sands Missile Range, that completely surrounds the National Mounument.

The missile range was first used for testing rockets captured from the Germans after the Second World War; it continues to be used, resulting in the closure of US-70 for one or two hours, a couple of times each week - fortunately, we find the road open and, after having driven 304-miles today, we reach the park's visitor centre.

The White Sands National Monument contains the largest gypsum dunefield in the world - a 16-mile loop road takes us through the amazing scenery created by the sand dunes and provides access to a number of trails that enable us to explore the dunes on foot.

 

Rio Grande Cottonwood 

Back at the Visitor Centre, we watch a 17-minute film that describes how a combination of an ancient sea, the uplift of the Rocky Mountains, and the collapse of the land between the  Andreas and the Sacramento Mountain ranges led to the creation of the dunes in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. 

 

 

 

 

Just before 7pm, we leave the national park to make the 17-mile drive to Alamogordo, the location of the Hampton Inn. Conveniently, the hotel is situated opposite another branch of the Golden Corral restaurant where we have a good-value meal. The restaurant is smaller (and has less choice) than other Golden Corrals we have visited, but it is a definite improvement on last night's establishment in Albaquerque. Jeanette is even able to persuade the cook to bake her favourite Bavarian Chocolate Cake.

We make an early start by getting up at 6:30am, enabling us to put the car through a car wash that is adjacent to the hotel - a quick and efficient machine removes the dust accumulated in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. By 8:30am we are on US-54 driving the 80-miles south to El Paso, just over the New Mexico border into Texas and close to the Rio Grande border with Mexico.

Bypassing El Paso we spot a roadrunner before getting onto the US-62/US-180 to drive eastwards through this part of Texas. As yesterday, we are stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint where a quick surveillance is made of the interior of the car for illegal immigrants. Shortly after crossing a salt basin, we reach Guadelupe Mountains National Park. After watching a slide show, we commence a walk of the Pinery Trail.

The Pinery Trail takes us to the remains of the Pinery Station, a fragile remnant of the nation's first successful attempt to link East and West with a reliable transport system. Stagecoaches regularly stopped at this station on the gruelling 2,700-mile wilderness journey between St Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California.

The 135-square-miles of the park includes Guadalupe Peak (at 8,749-feet, the highest point in Texas) and contains canyons, sand dunes, and conifer forests with a wide variety of plants and wildlife. Several trails make the park popular with hikers and we next walk in McKittrick Canyon with its shady creek.  We leave the canyon just before 2pm to make the 45-minute drive to the Best Western Inn at White's City, just outside Carlsbad Caverns National Park.