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The Greatest Road Trip USA? - Our Round USA Road Tour. The State of New Mexico, USAPart of a year long trip from Sept ’94 - Sept ’95 through 36 USA States and 2 Canadian Provinces by Jean and Graham Beven in ‘Serendipity’ their 30 foot Winnebago Chieftain. New Mexico - Round Trip USA We travelled 10 days through the state of New Mexico, USA as there was lots on our must see list of places to visit. There are also five National Wildlife Refuges, twenty Bureau of Land Management areas, twelve National Parks and ---- State Parks in the state of New Mexico. The State Tourist Office for the state of New Mexico, USA is: ~~~~~~~~~~ 8th Jan '95 First stop in NM after leaving Texas -
stopping at Guadalupe NP to take on water. We arrived at the Bureau of Land Management (MP5) about 4pm . Settled in for the evening – Miki had one of her rare evenings roaming free. Only saw one other vehicle all afternoon! 9th Left the BLM site very early and headed off towards Carlsbad NM. via
the Caverns. Phoned Lloyds Bank in the UK after we had a statement showing some unauthorised withdrawals on Jean's credit card. Turns out when we were burgled in Florida, Jean's credit cards were taken and used for weeks! We camped at Wal-Mart, Carlsbad. NM. 10th From Carlsbad to Ruidoso, New Mexico for lunch, which consisted of all you, can eat KFC. Graham wanted to try his hand at gold prospecting. We made enquiries and ended up at a wooden shack that houses a company called ‘Lincoln County Gold Mining Company’ in Ruidoso, New Mexico – We met some ‘interesting’ people there, bought a full gold panning kit, and paid $10 each for a day prospecting at their mine, The Helen Rae Mine, in Nogul County . Unfortunately due to ice the road was impassable – we could not get there that day! Camped at ‘ Lincoln County ’. 11th Managed to get to the mine today – Dippy nearly ended up in the river! Saw wild turkeys and mule deer on the way up. Had a great time panning for gold. We found some too! Eureka! We still have the little gold 'fish' we panned out of the tailings at the mine. Camped back at 'Lincoln County' Spent the evening with some ‘Gold fevered’ men who were nuts about prospecting. They are convinced that only 10% of the gold in the area has been found!
There are no rivers to wash the soluble gypsum away, so it has been trapped here for millions of years. The white gypsum sand has now enveloped more than 275 square miles of the desert. Surprisingly there was quite a bit of vegetation about and there are white forms of fox and lizards that inhabit the dunes. We saw plenty of tracks but no critters! Camped at the Visitor Centre, El Paso NM . 13th Travelled from El Paso to Rock hound NP via Deming NM . Arriving at RH NP at sundown.
14th We climbed the hill and dug for rocks – at this time we only had a vague idea what we were looking for! Graham had a couple of ‘eggs’ cut, which turned out to be quite nice, with crystals inside. 15th Jean wasn't well so Graham went up the hill (mountain) on his own. His mining could be heard all over the park. His efforts paid off – with some common opal, a couple of nice crystals and a few ‘eggs’. Jean just sunbathed! 16th Left Rockhound NP and called in at Deming to have the Onan Generator serviced as it was misfiring. Drove on to Silver City arriving early evening. Camped at Wal-Mart, Silver City , NM. 17th Travelled to Tombstone Arizona
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spectacular visit to the Carlsbad Caverns – the caverns
should be one of the natural wonders of the world! – Makes Wookey Hole
pale into insignificance. We took the 'short' trip 'Red Tour' of a
mile and a quarter. Hired a radio commentary, which was great value
at $1. The tour took about an hour and a half. Had lunch in the Carlsbad
Cavern underground lunchroom, 250metres (755 feet) below the surface! 
12th
Left Ruidoso about 9.30am having had coffee and a chat to Gene Turner
the owner of the mining company. Arrived at White Sands NM at lunch
time. We were only allowed to stay there one and a half hours as the
park was closing due to a military exercise. (The White Sands US missile
range is close by!) The white sand is powdered gypsum – a natural phenomenon.
The National Monument lies at the northern end of the Chihuahua Desert
in a mountain ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. 
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