Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.
John Ruskin
On June 28 we left the sweltering heat of Texas and made our slow trek to Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
The trip took longer than it would have, had we not been pulling an over 7000 lb. camper. And it would have been cooler as well, for we rode the entire way without air conditioning. Very pioneer us, don’t you think? ; )
As the flat, dry lands of West Texas passed by at no more than 55 mph we eventually entered the Land of Enchantment (New Mexico). I must admit that I was not very enchanted. Flat, scorched land, sizzling heat and oil well after oil well greeted our beauty-starved eyes.
Like pilgrims searching for Shangri-la we pushed our 12 passenger van ever onwards toward the promise of green mountains, tall trees and cool air. At the base of the Sacramento Mountains we rested in the cooler clime of Wal Mart as the thermometer outdoors read 104 degrees.
After summoning up our courage and saying a prayer we headed up the mountain to Cloudcroft at 8650 feet. At 30 mph our modern horse-drawn wagon lurched and pulled its cargo ever closer to our destination, and if you were impressed with our fortitude while traveling without the comfort of air conditioning (and I’m sure you were), you should be doubly impressed with the fact that we spent that two hour trip up the mountain side with the heater on doing our best to keep our only mode of transportation from overheating.
But as we climbed to heights that we had never been to before, the temperature began to drop and before we had even reached our journey’s end we were enjoying a cool 74 degrees.
So we did it! We made it to the Sugar Pines RV Park in Cloudcroft where we thanked God for His mercy and I quickly succombed to altitude sickness, vomited and went straight to bed. : )
Home sweet home for the next two months.
A Merry Band of Travelers 