February 16, Carlsbad, NM to Alamogordo, NM. 148 miles, 3 hours
February 16-20, White Sands National Park
Escaping from the freezing temperatures in Carlsbad, we headed further west towards the the promise of temperatures in the 40s. We were also trialing out a Tuesday afternoon drive instead of our usual weekend move.
The first two hours went well. I (Jackie) was driving, feeling good with plenty of water, snacks and Magic Tree House stories keeping the crew in the back (and me) entertained. Greg had a couple short calls, one which unfortunately coincided with a portion of the scenic/not-so-cell-friendly Lincoln National Forest. We wove through Cloudcroft, a cute mountain town at 8000 feet elevation. Then, with about 30 minutes to go…snow hit! In what seemed to only be a few minutes, we were following plows with chains going about 7 miles/hour. We passed the slow plows and had started the 4000 ft descent to Alamogordo when…again rather quickly…I was pretty sure that I was going to pass out. Tingly face and arms, weak feeling all over. I managed to pull the truck over and put in park before completely melting down (shakes, tears, nausea. Super awesome. Definitely my first panic attack and I’ll be happy if it’s my last). Greg took over and had us off the mountain (safely, down the road, out of the snow) about 5 min later. Once my temperature, breathing, and heart rate returned to normal, the view was once again lovely. We remarked on surrounding earth giants and a cool tunnel. And I was quite relieved to arrive at the KOA in Alamogordo, outside White Sands National Park, where it was 39F and rainy.
So we were reset and thawed out. Wednesday, I took the kids to scope out White Sands and it was awesome.
Friday, Greg had the day off so we enjoyed a family play day! After moving the RV over to a new site for the night, we headed to White Sands and had a morning at the waterless dunes. The gypsum sand was cool, soft, fine, and of course white. It was oddly moist enough to be perfect for sandcastle building, which was the activity our kids preferred over sledding. After a delightful morning of running, digging, and foot-burying, we headed back up the mountain to Cloudcroft for a pizza and beer – this time in clear conditions.
