Fall Break W Texas/E NM Road Trip Planning

[CoreySamson]

Hey y'all! For the first time in my life, I'm planning a big, weeklong road trip for sometime in October with some of my friends. The general area we are planning on visiting is eastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas. So far, the trip is mostly focused around seeing national parks (so far Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad, White Sands, and maybe Lincoln National Forest are on the docket). Since the trip is based around seeing those, roads will be a secondary priority.

I was just wondering if there are some interesting road-related things to see and do out in that part of the country. On the way back, we are planning on going along the Route 66 corridor to see some of that route, but there's nothing else we have planned road-wise. Any suggestions?

[oscar]

You might consider the Sunspot Highway (NM 6563) in the mountains east of Alamogordo, on the other side of White Sands. The route number is based on the wavelength of a key hydrogen spectral line, studied by solar astronomers such as those working at the observatories at the end of the highway. The highway has signs creating a model of our solar system, showing the relative distance of most of the planets from the sun.