The road from Alamogordo to Cloudcroft is a little narrow in places, a little steep in places, but generally a decent road as you climb quite a bit in elevation.
From
this NM road web site:US 82 between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo descends 5,000 feet in 16 miles! STEEP GRADES, NUMEROUS TIGHT TURNS AND ONE TUNNEL. Trucks without retarder brakes and/or longer than 65 feet in length are PROHIBITED on this section of US 82. Consider using an alternate route - US 62/180 or US 70. This is a permanent alert.From there we turned north back toward Ruidoso where we were staying, so can't comment the rest of the way to Artesia.
