I started off with a little bit of breakfast timed to finish as my US colleague who had agreed to come with me would be ready and in reception. As 10:00 approached, our agreed time I waited with anticipation, but there was no show from my colleague. By half past ten I was worried and began to think my offer of spending ten hours in the car with me may not have been so appealing and as the time went on I started to think, he may be thinking he has the option of 10 hours in a car with me or taking his own life and as he had not shown I was worried. However it turned out he had headache and a few minutes later with my usual sympathy shown I was in the car and on my way. The first part of the route was to Lovington which is where I went the day before so that was a known route. I was soon out of Lovington and on the highway heading toward Tatum, which is a town about the same size of Lovington and Hobbs but as I went just through the main street without stopping at the Burger King, McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken which every town has on their high street I was through in just a few moments. The road to Roswell was very sparse but some of the inclines did give some really nice views and I took a video which I thought showed the scenic part of the journey well. The road from Tatum to Roswell is pretty much one very straight road for 72 miles, it can be quite hypnotic as there are very few cars on the road but I am not complaining as I love this type of scenery and especially the quietness. I did stop one time along the road to just stretch my legs and it was then that I first felt the heat which was far more intense than when I set off in Hobbs.
I arrived in Roswell about two hours later and will start by saying it was not what I expected. I had been told it was basically a town based on the Roswell story and the whole town is like Alien mad. That is not the case by a long way. Yes there is the museum and I will come to that shortly but apart from that there are several shops around the museum who are exclusively selling Alien things and that really adds to the area. I am not one normally for overkill or tat but I would not have minded if there had been more theme to the City.
So once I had parked up, for free I will add and that is something England could learn from, when you visit an attraction why then charge you and arm and a foot in parking fees. Here, you go to an attraction and the parking is more than likely free. So I parked up and went into the museum which cost me five dollars. I was a little taken aback when the elderly lady said to me, "oh you from England, can you please sign our book". i was happy to but there was an option to tick to put your age group and it was, under 16, 16 to 64 and over 64. She asked me which one I was. I know it has been a tough week but do I look over 64. still the friendliness of the staff calmed me somewhat.
Inside it is really good and well worth a visit. Whether you believe or not if you read the stories including the bit about hoaxes it could make you believe. Also whilst there is a a lot of reading it is very interesting and you soon get compelled to read more. Today was not too busy, not sure if it is like that all the time but the other visitors were very friendly and happily talked to each other including me. There are a number of videos running so you could spend quite some time there. There are some exhibits and I took some videos and photos which I will include at the bottom.
When leaving I went through the gift shop which is a little expensive but you do expect that as they have to make some money for the upkeep. i then took a walk around the local Alien shops and the people there are so friendly and want to talk. This Mexican lady of an advancing age kept talking and it was a good ten minutes before I could get out. The final shop had only just opened and the couple who ran it seemed amazed I had come all the way from England to visit their shop, I didnt have the heart to tell them I was firstly working here and secondly I had come for the museum. but they were so nice and I got a mug from there and they wrapped it so well for my journey home.
I left the museum area and after fueling up headed back the way I had come into the city as I had noticed a sign saying Bitten Lake Wildlife Refuge and so I thought that would be good. It was a very long way off the main road but when you have the time you do get to see the real America. The first call at the refuge was to the visitor centre where I met another elderly couple who were looking after the place and they happily invested a lot of time in me telling me about the place and spent quite sometime telling me what I was not going to see. I got out and started on the mile wildlife trip, you can walk this but as the lady said i was dressed wrong, I had training shoes on and normal trousers, she recommended knew length wellingtons as rattlesnakes are common in the area. So I decided to drive the way around. As I traveled around I did see plenty of lizards, from just a few inches right up to about 6 inches however they were always too quick and couldn't get any on camera. I didnt see any snakes but I suppose that is because, wisely, they stay away from the cars. I stopped off at a couple of the stopping points and spent some time looking for any animal. The brochure does say that there are hundreds of species of birds in the winter but in the summer they all bog off up north for a bit of mating, which is why I saw a total of 6 birds of which I am sure they were the same species, well at least the same colour.
I was in the refuge for almost two hours as it was nice to enjoy the warm breeze that had started up. I was resting in the seat and could easily have fallen asleep.
My journey back was accompanied by the country and western radio station I had found on the way. Which does bring me to one point, Country and Western is nice music and they do have good lyrics to the songs but one particularly didn't sound right, the guy sang, you came over and asked me to dance, after once dance I took you home and you stayed the night, I woke up loving you, the subsequent verses were all about how he tried to find someone else but kept waking up loving her. Firstly the guy has got hung up on a rather loose lady and secondly he does have some commitment issues and perhaps shouldn't be singing about them, no I know you will say this is a song and all made up, but he introduced his own song on the radio and said that he related to the song. There are some strange dudes over here.
My journey finished off at Walmart back in Hobbs to get some dinner of a rather large beef and cheese sandwich, so big that I have had half and the other half will be for tomorrow night and when you consider it was just 3 dollars 95 cents the food around here is damn cheap.
So I am back at the hotel about to publish this and look through my videos for anything interesting before turning in and planning to get up early as tomorrow I want to visit the Carlsbad Caverns amongst other places that I think may be interesting. Not quite as far as today I think they are only about a hundered miles away.
So for now
Night All
A picture of the alien autopsy
A joke from the Museum
A view of the road toward Roswell
http://youtu.be/YPHypceBFD8
The main exhibit at the Roswell Museum
http://youtu.be/7Zax8gyTi-8
Another Exhibit at the Museum
http://youtu.be/2jHeUnJW88A
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