3/1/04 Roswell New Mexico
03/03/2004
Strange sites in the sky, home of the aliens and a NASCAR haulers on the way home. Saba and I headed off the plateau of Los Alamos after I grabbed breakfast with Brother. With the casino winnings in my pocket, I decided to make the trip to Roswell, it was on the way home sort of, it was a few hundred miles out of the way, I could re-route the trip home no problem I thought…..
Down the mountain and connect with loop 599 around Santa Fe and connect to I-25 to connect with 285. Sounds fine doesn’t it? Nice easy connections and then highway 285 into Roswell. I should have looked a little closer at the map. So I take I-25 South, we are heading south east to get to Roswell and Texas Right? WRONG!! By the time I realized I should have connected to I-25 North for 25 miles then onto highway 285 we were in the middle of the mountain range, there is no East-West road on my map. Ok, change in plans, head through Albuquerque and get on I-10 East that will eventually connect us to highway 285. So we wasted more than an hour, I got to drive through Albuquerque, I hadn’t seen it before, a bit frustrated I was angry with myself for not paying better attention. I made the connection with I-40 and guess what we see?
NASCAR haulers heading out to Las Vegas for this weekends race! Yup, I got to spend some time looking the other direction for the trucks hauling the cars I so love. I saw the TracScan truck first. I kept looking at the on coming haulers and saw Ron Hornaday Jr. the # 2 AC Delco from the Busch series, then the No Fear Hauler and the # 5 hauler on the road. I am not sure if it was the # 5 of Kyle Busch or the #5 of Terri Labonte, I could read the #5 as the truck approached me, but when I came equal to the hauler a truck going my direction passed me. I couldn’t see the side of the trailer. I would assume it was the Busch series car since they test and practice first. It was neat to see them on the road, I thought with the weekend off some of the teams would be ready to ship the cars early, but Monday? That is a bit early, we will find out this weekend if they were indeed ready to ship.
We veered off the I-40 and connected with route 285 to Roswell. We saw some fighter jets cruising and circling in the sky, we were near some air force bases. We glided into Roswell with out much trouble. The town is small, there is a main street with street lights decorated as aliens and lots of little stores with dust collectors to sell. We did a lap through town and stopped at the visitor’s center. The nice lady there told us about a park 12 miles out of town, Bottomless Lake. Saba and I needed a break from the car so we headed out there to stretch and get a break. We grabbed up a picnic table next to the lake, Saba romped in the water, I did some Yoga and stretched my back out. We had a bite to eat, and I was just lounging on top of the table when I see a Stealth aircraft overhead. Hum, I said to self, I didn’t hear it until it passed. As I lay on the table I glanced to our west, from the direction of Roswell. I noticed a huge plum of smoke rising above the horizon; it is getting larger as I watch it. The Stealth craft circles a few times and I wonder what it is up to. I wonder if there was an accident, were there 2 of these aircraft and now only one? There is lots of smoke billowing above the lake, I wonder if we can get back to Route 285 to head into Texas.
As we come out of the lake, I turn west to the town of Roswell, heading directly into the direction of the smoke. I turned on the radio hoping I can get a local station so I know what the heck is going on. I stopped along the side of the road, take a photo of the fire and notice there are not a lot of emergency vehicles. Strange I thought, this is a big fire. The road is still open and I dash out of the area. I am heading South through Roswell when the voice on the radio lets me know the controlled burn of the wildlife area is going on today, no need to panic, it was a planned burn. Roswell New Mexico, Area 54 and I let my mind run away with the thoughts of Stealth bombers crashing, huge fires erupting and being caught up in the action.
South of Roswell, after Carlsbad we get back to the State of Texas. I have to admit, this was the lamest boarder crossing I have seen. Nothing but a sign welcoming you to Texas, a few signs with rules and such on them then nothing, not even a place to stop. The sun is starting to set; we are still in the middle of the West Texas desert. We are heading south to Fort Stockton to make our connection with I-10. Saba and I stopped a few times along the way, gassing up the car, stretching out our legs and bodies. It has been a long trip home and there are miles left to go. Oh I forgot to mention I danced with a man at a roadside store in Artisa New Mexico, we were doing the counter shuffle and I told him if he wanted to dance, he had to do it properly. We both put our stuff on the counter and proceeded to 2-step for a short while. The ladies at the counter were laughing quite loudly.
Past Fort Stockton, we stopped at a roadside parking area. I needed to close my eyes for a bit, they were getting road weary. Saba and I headed out to the grassy area to do our business, gosh, would it be too hard to put a porta potty out there? When we are both standing in the clearing, I notice a shooting star, then another. I made a wish on each one as they passed overhead, a bright swish in the sky. We hopped back into the car and continued on our way. It was late, I was tired and we were looking for the next route, 290 east, to get us to our home. On that part of the trip we saw a bunch of deer along the road, we managed to avoid them and Saba kept a watchful eye out for them along the road. He would growl a low moan as we passed those strange critters along the road on our way home. We landed at the house at 2:30 in the morning, 17 hours after we started our journey.
A few wrong turns, a bit of excitement and lots of driving. I got a chance to do some thinking on the trip. I came to some conclusions as I passed through towns that were decimated, poor and isolated. I have a nice life, things are going fine and I need to stop worrying about work and finances. Everything is working out, I have a great house, a good roommate and the bills are paid. Not much more could I ask for. Things are good in my little world, I enjoyed seeing Brother, I enjoyed getting out of town for the weekend. Travel puts me in a different mindset, I realize how great my life is.
