Wald's World On Wheels: White Sands National Park, New Mexico

White Sands National Park was another surprise on our trip. We didn't know much about this destination, but everything we read about it inspired us to make the trip to Alamogordo, NM.

The drive from Carlsbad to Alamogordo took us down a sparsely traveled two lane highway. As a matter of fact, it was so lightly traveled, we almost became convinced that it was a dead end road at the other end. Along the 150 mile stretch of highway there were signs every so often warning us that tractor trailers were restricted from traveling along this road and they needed to take an alternate route. At a minimum we understood why there were no semi trucks on the road. This however didn't lesson our concern. If I'm as tall and long as a semi truck, then maybe I shouldn't be on it either!

Nonetheless, we pushed forward with a little anxiety and blind faith in our Rand McNally GPS.

As we bumbled along the highway from Carlsbad to Alamogordo we climbed to an elevation of 8,600 feet above sea level. This, by far was the highest we have been since starting our adventure. This also explained the reason for semi truck restriction because as we all know: What goes up, must come down!

At the peak of the Sacramento Mountain range there is a wonderful little mountain town by the name of Cloudcroft that sits at the top, some 8,600 ft above sea level. Once at the top it is a 15 mile descent down the mountain into Alamogordo. I have driven mountain passes many times before, but with a fifteen thousand pound camper, this would be a first.

We traveled the 15 mile switchback at about 35 mph, even slower at times, finally arriving at our destination in Alamogordo. (Walmart, of course). Katherine was a nervous wreck during the entire stretch, but me on the other hand, I was confident that the runaway truck ramps would be sufficient if we ran into any problems along the way. We stayed one night longer just to get caught up on some work and other chores around the camper and ended up boondocking in Walmart for two nights while visiting the White Sands National Park.

White Sands was a treat for everyone. We rented two sleds from the ranger stations (at a premium of course) and found a quiet little pull-off in the middle of the White Sands to setup camp for the afternoon. It was only in the mid 60's during the day, but in the midst of all the white sand and no cloud coverage it could have passed for about 90 degrees that afternoon.