Tuesday May 4, 2010

Woke up to a 50-degree motor home, which is no surprise since the outside temp was 40. We didn’t have electricity last night in the gas station parking lot and we didn’t want to run our generator all night. Armed with our trusty Travasak sleeping bags, we were toasty.

On the road at 7:05, we are headed south to Roswell. As I mentioned yesterday, Roswell is an

out of the way town in New Mexico that became prominent after a 1947 “incident”. Local folk claimed that a flying saucer with extraterrestrial beings landed in a field and several folks claimed to have met them. The Government flatly denies that such a thing happened; despite the fact that they sent the U.S. Army Air Corps (now

the Air Force) to retrieve what they claimed was a weather balloon. If nothing else, this place has made a small fortune from this debate. Local establishments include “Not of this World Café” and “Down to Earth Nutrition Center”. We are going to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Another tourist trap of sorts, but hey, we are tourists. The ranger at the Petroglyph National Monument told us yesterday that thousands of people from all over the country and world visit Roswell annually. Add two more…

As we drive towards Roswell, we take US 285. This road is a relatively desolate four-lane highway. We are wondering if this was some pork barrel spending project from a local Congress member. There are a couple of towns along the way that are struggling to survive. Most haven’t. We hit the 2,000-mile mark this morning.

Roswell was a fun stop. We first stepped into the Visitors’ Center to get local information. Outside the center was a regulation US Postal Box, but it was decorated with outer space designs. It had a website on it, http://www.jedimaster.com/. The local Walmart had a flying saucer painted on the outside wall. Other shops also have the “alien theme”. The ladies in the welcome center were a stitch. They are both “believers”. They even took our picture in front of a screen that depicts outer space with two aliens flanking us. Too funny. They gave us lots of local brochures, etc. and placed it in what they called an “evidence” bag. Gotta love it.


We visited the UFO Museum. It was filled with affidavits from people who know people who know people who saw the flying saucer or some of the debri. There are some pretty compelling accounts, including the Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico. Little Joe Montoya was visiting Roswell over the Fourth of July weekend and was staying for some political event. He was at a hangar where supposedly the Air Corps brought dead “bodies”. He called a friend, screaming, “Get me out of here…they’re bringing in bodies and they’re not humans”. Dennis does not believe and I am a believer. Who knows?

After Roswell, we head 75 miles south to Carlsbad, home of the famous Carlsbad Caverns. Carlsbad is also home to the Living Desert State Park. We hit the desert park first. It houses animals and plants indigenous to the Chihuahuan Desert Region. What a find! This beautiful place has a 1.3-mile trail and each turn brings a new surprise. We saw flowering cacti, birds, prairie dogs and more. Many of the animals were hiding in the shade (smarter than us, obviously) but we still saw so much. It was 91 degrees but with low humidity it didn’t seem that hot. We experienced a 51-degree change from this morning this afternoon. Weird.

Tomorrow morning we will visit the renowned caverns. They are truly a natural wonder. Tonight we are camping at the Carlsbad RV Park (clever name) and we have electricity!