Las Cruces, New Mexico

Today was a relatively short ride across the Sacramento Mountains at a little town called Cloudcroft, down into White Sands and finally ending at Las Cruces.  On the very remote Highway 82 while heading towards Cloudcroft, we had a short visitation with the New Mexico State Police.  Fortunately the end result was about 20 minutes of talking shop and then continuing on our ride. 

Cloudcroft was a sweet distraction from the desert below.  The temperature was at least 30 degrees below where we had been and had a beautiful alpine look to it.  No wonder considering we were at almost 8700 feet above sea level.

Once off the mountain, we took a quick detour through the White Sands National Monument.  As we rode to get to the dunes, we came to a point where the road turned from pavement to sand.  Cars were traveling down the road but after some thought, we decided not to.  It was a wise decision considering that several minutes later as we rode through a small parking area, my bike went down in deep sand.  The bike was stopped as it went over so no harm, no foul. 

A bit later we did make it into Las Cruces and are staying a couple days here at a Days Inn.  It's actually very nice to be in a hotel after four days of camping.  Tomorrow, we're going to ride a scenic loop through Silver City to the west of Cruces.  Should be nice!