Getting Weird in New Mexico

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!

– Hunter S. Thompson

With newfound optimism and energy we dove south back into New Mexico! I set a modest goal of crossing the New Mexico border – but Cynthia was behind the wheel and was determined put some distance between us and those tense Colorado days…

With no RV park reservations to worry about I called ahead and found a Love’s Travel Stop that allowed overnight RV stays… in Las Vegas, New Mexico! Love’s and other truck stop chains have long welcomed big rig drivers with food, fuel and other amenities (like showers), extending the offer to RV Travelers just makes sense. So we drove on into the night and we reached Love’s a little after 9pm.

When we arrived the place was bustling with semis! The guy on the phone had promised me they had RV parking, we were counting on it. We didn’t see any signs, so we followed the big rigs that were pulling in behind the store, we figured they knew… oh boy did they! These guys were pros! At least twenty were lined up side by side like dominoes, effortlessly backing in these huge machines in side-by-side perfection. (There was one poor guy in a small C-Class RV tucked between the towering big rigs… it did not look fun.) But the place was packed were no spaces for us!

Uh oh. I had called hours ago – perhaps they was a space then, but we blew it by showing up late.

I went into the store to ask if there was some additional parking lot for RVs, maybe something we missed. YEP! As promised they have 2 spaces marked for RVs… right up front by the pumps! “You see those lines painted on the pavement up front…?” (YIKES!)

Tired beggars can’t be choosers – so we parked where he said, between the street and the brightly lit pumps… and it was FINE! We were tired, it was plenty quiet, clean and safe. Once we were inside with the shades down it was a fine place to spend the night. We woke up in the morning and rested and ready for adventure!

Boondocking at Love’s Travel Center – Clean, quiet and a great experience!

We drove out under gorgeous blue open New Mexico skies… wide open views with nothing but big puffy clouds… It seemed we were nowhere and there was nothing going on but driving. Until we were surprised to stumble upon… THIS:

We had no idea this was here and absolutely HAD to pull over. There were no signs, nothing posted at all to tell you what was going on. It was INCREDIBLE. Two huge cowboys standing mid argument on either side of the road. We were amazed!

(Later I googled it… These two 18′ tall cowboys arguing are an art installation by artist John Cerney – placed here in 2016. What a delight!)

If you’re looking for them they’re standing tall between Vaughn and Roswell, New Mexico on Highway 285.

Inspired by the sudden art and the blue skies we decided to take our own pictures…

After our moment of art in the desert we headed south again. Now this is not a busy road. We would see an occasional truck now and then, but generally there wasn’t a lot of action.

Until an half hour later. We heard a siren behind us. ZOOMING down the highway came a fire engine. From seemingly nowhere, heading seemingly nowhere, in a big ol’ hurry! And it was DRAGGING A HOSE!

One fire hose had unspooled maybe 20′ and was dragging behind the truck. They had no idea as they sped off to who knows where. Ten minutes later, traveling at a modest 55mph, we came upon the hose, laying in the middle of the road. We pulled over and Alex ran back to get it off to the side of the road so it wasn’t a hazard.

Then several miles down the road we found them, with other first responders, attending to a brush fire. By the time we arrived everything was under control. So we pulled over and I let a firefighter know where they could find their missing hose.

Our work as good citizens was done! Onward!

How do you top a day like that? With a day in ROSWELL, New Mexico – the UFO capitol of America!

A drive through Roswell will clearly tell you what the town is about. Little green men, flying saucers and just about any alien/science fiction reference you can think adorn the shops, signs and even the lamposts here. It’s silly, kitchy, goofy and fun!

Beautiful, scenic, downtown Roswell, NM!

But inside the International UFO Museum & Research Center the mood changed quickly. First we viewed a film of interviews with the witnesses of the 1947 event. These people were seniors at the time of the interview and all told credible stories that added up to at least a military cover-up, if not actual aliens crashing in Roswell.

The first half of the museum presents a timeline, in great detail, of what happened, who saw what, who said what. told through interviews and photographs. It supported the story that a rancher found a crashed alien ship with bodies, the air force wisked it all away, and made great effort to prevent any mention of aliens or UFOs from getting out – concocting the first use of the “it was just a weather balloon” cover story.

They made believers of us!

This is how the X-Files gets born.

The second half of the museum gets a little more questionable… stories of abductions and ufo sightings from around the world. A piece of a real meteor, a comparison of faked UFO photos and more credible ones, diorama recreation, a life-sized an”alien autopsy” scene, and every so often the big flying saucer in the middle of the room makes noise and blows fog behind a group of little green men.

But to quote William “Mack” Brazel, the key witness to the actual crash site in 1947: