Day 87 - Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA

Day 87 – 3nd September 2005 -7:00 GMT

Decided to do our washing first thing so we have the rest of the day to go out. So we drove to the centre of town and found a Laundromat and did our washing. Reece and I played on out PSP’s and Jill read a book whilst waiting. After we had put away our washing back at the lodgings we went back into town and visited a Vegeterian Restaurant for lunch called White Coyote Café. I had the Carrot and Ginger soup with a freshly baked mini loaf of bread followed by a Humus and salad pita bread with Crisps and a nice cup of green tea. The food was great and very filling.


Riverbend Hot Springs Lodging 

Now we have eaten we decided we would have a drive through the Black Ridge Mountains. So we drove down the I-25 and along highway 152 to a town called Hillsboro where they were having a Apple Festival. We then drove south along Highway 27 and visited a Ghost Town called Lake Valley. The town had a population of over 4000 people between 1850 and 1912 when a epidemic hit the town and most people died. The town grew due to silver mining there. Now it is just a collection of buildings in the middle of nowhere.


Lake Valley Ghost Town 

We carried on along highway 27 until we reached Nutt which consists of one building which is a small restaurant. We now dove back along highway 26 towards the motorway and passed through a town called Hatch which is the Chili capital of the world and due to it being Labour Day weekend they were holding their annual Chili festival. I have never seen so many Chili’s people had the roofs of their houses covered in them.


Hatch Chili Festival 

Anyway we made our way back up the I-25 detouring for a scenic route along Lake Caballo. We got back to River Bend Lodgings at around 6pm and sat out by the hot tubs and after a few minutes had yet again attracted a crowd.


Jill by the Rio Grande 


Jill on the Pier 

We had Joe join us who is Ex Marine and used to do secret missions all over the world. Then Albert who was with us yesterday. Then Ben joined us who used to Live in England very close to Aylesbury and he takes city slickers out across the Utah dessert on 14 day packages where they hike and ride horses along trails each day. Several other people joined us throughout the night as we had 32 bottles of beer and we were freely sharing them. By midnight people had donated more beer, a bottle of Irish Whiskey, a single malt scotch, a bottle of Rum and a top bottle of Tequila. Which was all gone by 2am. After a quick dip in the Hot Springs we all called it a night.


Hot Springs by the Rio Grande 


Hot Springs 

Day 86 - Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA

Day 86 – 2nd September 2005 -7:00 GMT

Reece and I went for a drive, first we passed through Elephant Butte which is a city (a very small one at that, probably less than a thousand people) then we drove along the Elephant Butte Lake which is part of a State Park.


Elephant Butte Lake 

We drove for about and hour and took photo’s of the lake and surrounding mountains. We really are in the middle of nowhere.


In the Middle of Nowhere 


The New Mexico Desert 

Got back at around 12:20pm and then picked up Jill ad went out for some lunch. Had another drive up to Elephant Butte so Jill could have a look.


Welcome to Elephant Butte 


Elephant Butte Church 

Then just sat in the sun by the river reading a book and using the web. Ended up chatting to two guys one who used to be a heroine addict and seems a bit crazy, after he went through rehab he rode his bike (with only one gear) from the Florida Keys to Boston. He is presently here after riding his bike from Tallahassee in Florida. The other guy is called Albert he is also from Florida and is here getting away from the Florida heat, we drank beer and discussed politics our mutual love of George Bush, then about the Queen, conspiracy theories and about Stock Trading, the afternoon flew by. It was gone 7pm so Jill and Reece went to buy Pizza and I got some more beer from the shops. Reece and I then went back in the hot springs for an hour or so and chatted with many other people. The Thunder and Lightning started again so we decided to call it a night.

Day 85 - Roswell - Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA

Day 85 – 1st September 2005 -7:00 GMT Total Miles 14644

Left Roswell at around 11am and drove West along the highway 380, the road just went on for miles with nothing around except Dessert and a few hills. The Elevation is around 6000ft.


Road Through New Mexico 

After about an hour or so we passed through Lincoln which is Billy The Kid was from. That had a museum here but we did not stop. We stopped at a small village called Capitan for coffee and doughnuts. After another hour or so we passed through “The Valley Of Fire” which is an area covered in what looks like volcanic rock and has cactus growing from it.


The Valley of Fire 

We then drove passed White Sands Missile Range which is where they do all the nuclear testing. There was a Road marker for Trinity the site of the first atomic bomb. We then drove south along the I-20 until we reached Truth or Consequences. Jill and I have a room which is half of a caravan trailer, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, also we get a fridge and a microwave and a TV that does not work. The Hotel has 8 hot springs which are free for us to use and are alongside the Rio Grande river. The natural hot springs range in temperature up to 104 F, but due to the Thunder and Lightning storm we have not been able to use them yet. Meet up with Reece around 9:30pm and since the Thunder and Lightning had stopped we tried the hot springs. First tried the coolest one which was still around 95F, it was really nice overlooking the Rio Grande River sitting in a natural hot spring with cold rain falling on your head. We then went in the hot one which is undercover.
Then chilled out in our room for a couple of hours before getting some sleep.

Day 84 - Lubbock - Roswell, New Mexico, USA

Day 84 – 31st August 2005 -7:00 GMT Total Miles 14362

Now Lubbock is where Buddy Holly was from and opposite our hotel was a large bronze statue of Buddy Holly and their walk of fame.


Statue of Buddy Holly 

They had a little plaza area and the statue.


Buddy Holly and Walk of Fame 

The house Buddy Holly was born in was torn down in the 1970’s and the house he grew up in is owned by a private family who do not like visitors. We thought we would visit his grave so drove to Lubbock Cemetery.


To Buddy Holly's Gravesite 

Buddy Holly grave was a very plain simply headstone flat on the ground with a picture of a guitar on it.


Buddy Holly's Grave 

We then left Lubbock and made our way along the highway 380 and drove across the Texas oil fields and into New Mexico, crossing the international timeline again into Mountain Time Zone. We arrived in Roswell (where the Aliens allegedly landed in 1947) and checked into a Motel which was fairly cheap about £6 each a night.



Rowell High Street 

We then went to the high street and got some food and a smoothie from a café and then headed into the UFO Museum and Research centre. The place only cost a $2 donation to get in and was not what I was expecting. After Watching X-Files and the series Roswell I thought this place would be full of colourful displays and models.


The UFO Museum and Reaserch Centre 

The first half was made up of newspaper cutting and hand writing witness statements on a time line stating on 4th July 1947. Witness’s had put the crash at three different sites. The museum went into the cover-up and the pretence it was a hot air balloon. They also had Top Secret government documents on display which was a bit puzzling about what to do when in contact with Extra-Terrestrial life forms. They then had a few models of Aliens and UFO’s.


Little Green Man 

The next section was where the disproved the UFO photo’s they had by it being a fold in the negative before it was developed etc. They also showed unusual light patterns which could look like a UFO and then had sections on Area 51 and present day space travel. I found the whole museum to be fascinating and although unlikely to be about little green men, it seems to point at a Government cover-up about something, most likely the testing and development of technology for countering Russian Missile Strikes. Jill and Reece were done in the museum after 20 minutes but I needed at least and hour and a half to fully look around. They also had a Library there with numerous Books and Video’s and DVD’s that you can sit and read and do any research you want.


UFO Museum and Research Centre 

We left the museum and went back to the hotel for a couple of hours then went across the road to Appleby’s which is a restaurant chain, had Steak and Ribs which was great. Left the restaurant after a couple of beers and went back to the hotel for the night.