This first sign of real civilization since Abilene, Texas we needed a break and took a long walk through this really nice small town. We had planned to continue due east through Alamogordo the site of the Michael McGarrity novels Lori has liked.
Here are the parts that really define the town and its background. Oil drilling, a small operating refinery, and the cowboy.
The Heritage Walkway is a wonderful civic project using a vacant abandoned lot in the downtown area. They also have these sculptures, many more than we could see in our short stay. Someday a nice place to revisit.
At some point I noticed a small sign warning the pass was 8700 feet and Lori finds elevations above 8000 feet painful. A slight backtrack and we took the southern route through El Paso, Texas to get into Las Cruces rather than continuing over the mountains to Alamogordo as originally planned..