I will be driving through Albuquerque and eventually going to Phoenix and am considering going south to Las Cruces, over to Tuscon, then to Phoenix (this will be right around New Years and my thought is that the weather will be warmer if I go the roundabout south route rather than doing some sight seeing in Albuquerque or Sante Fe and going to Phoenix via Flagstaff). I will have about a day to take some detours to see some sights (I'd prefer a couple hours here, a few hours there, at several places that are kind of on route). White Sands looks interesting. I've had bad experiences driving non-interstate mountain roads and want to avoid such driving pretty much at all costs. I drove up to Jerome, AZ and did not like it at all, panic attack pretty much. Is there any mountainous driving from Las Cruces over to White Sands ? And is there anything else noteworthy on my route that can be gotten to without mountainous driving ? I did the drive from Nashville to FL through the TN mountains on the Interstates ok. I didn't like it, but it was tolerable. The single-lane roads with cars behind me and cars coming at me on a mountain road with a high slope/cliff near me is something I won't do. Even if the slope/cliff is not "dangerous" and isn't super close, it still distracts and scares me to the point where I won't do it again. Thanks.