El Paso, TX to Silver City, NM

[litigator]

Is there any worthwhile alternative to the super-slab for the first 80 miles?

[eddd]

I'm assuming you are going to head up to Las Cruces, north on I25 and then take 152 into Silver City. 152 is a great road, but to answer your original question, no good alternatives.

[litigator]

What about that Route 9 that goes along the Mexican border and then going stright up 11 and 180 to SC?

[notacop]

I'd call 152 an excellent alt. What a buncha fun in the unstraight part.

[litigator]

I'm going to do 152 again on my way East, so I'm looking for something new on the way back West.

[litigator]

152 was shockingly treacherous. They had just put down gravel and oil to re-surface the road. Every turn was a challenge, and I don't mean that in a good way. I will not go back that way tomorrow. The "Loose Gravel" signs were no joke. At times it was like trying to do maneuvers in a deep gravel parking lot. I'll take a dirt road over gravel on top of pavement any day.