Alamogordo NM to Brantley Lake NM via Cloudcroft

We left Oliver Lee park about 9:30, after some minor work on one of the Aliner wheels. The wheel bearing was running hot, so I backed off the brake slightly and greased the bearing, removing excess grease (which might have been the real problem). 17C at 9am. 

As we went back up to Alamogordo and across #82, it dropped down to 13C as we climbed up to Cloudcroft. From Alamogordo to Cloudcroft is only about 16 miles and the road climbs about 4,300 ft in that stretch, reaching about 8,200 ft at Cloudcroft. We stopped there at the Chamber of Commerce and used their wireless Internet connection.

We had decided to stay at Brantley Lake state park near Carlsbad, and were set up there by 3pm. 29.5C as we went downhill, another warm sunny day. There’s a nice breeze where we camped near the lake (a reservoir lake, fed by the Pecos River), and the sites had some shade. Another nice NM State Park.

The fellow that checked us in was from Collingwood, so he even knew where Flesherton is. He and his wife live fulltime in an older 29 ft Airstream they got from Can Am in London Ont, winters here and summers in BC. They volunteer in return for free campsites. Here, 24 hours per week (in total, between the two of them) gets them a free site with hookups. We were able to get Internet access via his own satellite connection.