Welcome to Carrizozo, NM, where we are spending the night.  As noted earlier, we were unable to get any hotel near to the NPS site, so we just drove on down the road to a town en route to tomorrow's destination:  White Sands National Park.  The town is Carrizozo--love the name. 

We just checked in to the hotel and went to dinner across the street at a little cafe called Mabel B'z.  (No, that is not a typo.)  Headed out in the morning for Alamogordo.