Motel 6 Roswell

... saucer. The next day they changed their minds. Another release went out stating it was a weather balloon. And that's where the alleged-UFO government coverup began--giving rising to countless cheesy books, documentaries and eventually, David Duchovny's ticket to fame on "The X Files."

For the city of Roswell -- "The Roswell Incident," as it was known--would become a license to sell UFO/Alien branded everything, from t-shirts and pendants to bobble-headed little green ...

... at Harvard--I've also crammed my mask, regulator, backplate, dry suit, tank, lights, fins, weights and other assorted odds and ends I'll need for my "Dive Across America." Tour.

First stop, a little spot 12 miles south of Roswell, New Mexico called Lea Lake--part of New Mexico's Bottomless Lakes State Park.

LEA LAKE
But before heading out of the UFO capital of the world, I stop at the Scuba Shop in Roswell to get an air fill. I meet Terry Davis ...

Wednesday May 6th

Check out was 10am, but before we left we took pictures of the UFO that was parked on a trailer outside our room. The mildly irritating attendant got some tips from Andrea about a new paint job for the UFO and then it was off to find somewhere for breakfast.

We headed into town, which was essentially just one street and were drawn to a place called Not of This World. We chatted to the owner Sam for a while.

I like setting challenges for ...

I am not the biggest fan of desert areas. The drive to Roswell and north from there was desert. It was interesting going to the Roswell alien museum. There are also some of the most beautiful sunsets in the desert, not much in the way of the view.

... was doing the memorial service to help out. We met with Abe and the pastor and quickly worked out a plan. Abe wanted to ride on the back of my bike while holding Sandra's riding gear and her remains. As it turned out Abe couldn't hold everything due to space limitations, so he wrapped Sandra's remains up inside her chaps, vest and riding jacket which I secured to my tour pack. Abe then held Sandra's boots and riding hat ...

... Roswell en a fait un fond de commerce... nombreux magasins de souvenirs, musées, etc. Les petits hommes verts se retrouvent à chaque coin de rue: réverbères, peintures murales, pub! Mais bon, faut dire que ça donne un charme "spatial" à la ville! je retrouve ma chambre... demain il y a de la route à faire pour découvrir une des beautés, certainement la plus fameuse, du Nouveau Mexique: White Sands!!! si je ne me fais pas kidnapper pendant la nuit!

...nice drive till Roswell but the museum stay a nice place, ok it relates some moreless true facts but anyway it has a great collection of items which are serious newspaper articles or funny comics, the visit is very funny...

after this i couldn't locate any military base (for the photo souvenir)...even with a GPS or looking at planes in the sky, they were not...if there is an airbase in roswell, it might be kind of far from the city...

... It scraps the road when I turn certain directions... I'll have to work on getting some burley, good looking guy to help fix that at some point. Ha-ha! Reached Roswell, New Mexico around noon. Took a few photos of the town that undoubtedly and shamelessly exploited the UFO phenomenon. It was quite cute, but the actual museum was a disappointment. The extra 6+ hours that we drove to get there might have been ...

... I expected there to be sand desert like on the TV show Roswell. However, it is more like ranch land. Then after a few hours we were into small mountains that were covered with pine trees. Then we were back to the cactus and sage hills but you could always see mountains on the horizon. It is actually quite pretty. We got into El Paso at 10pm and I decided I didn't want to sleep on the bus again yet. I was also ...