Touristing at the UFO Museum in Roswell

Recognize the humans?

Our mission in Roswell (besides bathing and recuperating) is to locate extra-terrestrial beings. So, it is natural that our first stop was the UFO Museum and Research Center. I have to tell you that, if you were to go through the place, what skepticism you have about the incident in 1947 would probably be reduced.

Testimony of Sat. night bar patron.

Besides the original newspaper articles on display, there are walls full of  signed affidavits from a half dozen or so witnesses and also children and spouses of witnesses. If you click on the photo at left, it will blow up large enough to read the text.

Nurse's story.

The story that is documented is that the rancher who first saw the crash site, while checking up on his animals, took the stuff to the law enforcement office in town. Military personnel came in and threatened him and others to stick to the weather balloon story on threat of death and/or revocation of their business licenses. There are similar stories about the couple who were in Roswell to dance on a Saturday night, the local undertaker, the nurse (left) and physician who were called in to observe the bodies, the owner of the local radio station, etc.

Metallic foil from crash site.

ET Cowboy.

One kind of material that was described by witnesses was a metallic foil that could be crushed into a ball in your hand, like aluminum foil, but sprung back to its original flat shape when released. There is no photograph of the beings, but there is a signed affidavit describing them from an alleged observer. That's an artist's rendering at right, of an ET that has assimilated into the local culture.

Definitely worth a visit if you come this way, and only $5 per adult.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

Through Lincoln to Roswell: Long and Hot!

Lincoln Schoolhouse, courtesy of activerain.com

Lincoln Torreon fort.

We did have a good start on this day, with a long downhill, and even the wind was with us, for only the second time on the journey. We cruised through the beautiful historic city of Lincoln, fantasizing about having a retreat center in this quaint, secluded, gem of a town. Aggie fell in love with the Lincoln Schoolhouse, but couldn't snap or locate a photo to do it justice. It had been remodeled as a wealthy person's retreat, but the character was still there.

Lincoln church.

Eventually, we reached Hondo and the terrain shifted uphill and the wind into our faces.  We encountered the last real monster hill, several miles at a 6-7% grade in the full heat of the sun. Feeling our bodies heating up, we just kept at it until we encountered an open gate. It was for power line maintenance at the Chavez county line. Not too pretty, but it worked just fine.

Room with a view ;)

The next day, we had an easy 18 mi ride into Roswell, mostly all a gentle downhill. We were smelling the barn as the horses do, giving it the last little bit and knowing we could soon shower and collapse on a mattress. 396 miles on the bikes!

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

Through Capitan to Roadside Rest Stop for Repairs

Great burger place in Capitan.

According to Cougina, it would be an easy day. Once again, uh, not. Once again, uphill and into the wind. Once again, all the land but the one site we found was privately owned. Still, it was another day in paradise. Stopped in Capitan and (after several days of trail food) had a wonderful burger and hand cut fries. Can’t remember the name of the restaurant, and can’t find it on Google, but here’s a photo.

We got into the first real mountainous country of the trip. Not fields surrounded by mountains, but the kind of country where all you can see is ridgeline after ridgeline. This started about the time we entered historic Lincoln (not yet the town of Lincoln).

17 mi down the road, we did find a beautiful roadside rest stop in the Bonita river canyon, and stopped to camp and make bicycle repairs, which Cougina describes as follows:

Clothespin repair.

Clothespin trimmed.

“Unfortunately, since leaving Tucson, I have had a rather constant and very aggravating problem with my rear derailleur. Now, in no way am I claiming that I had Diore XT’s or anything like that. However, I did have the unit overhauled before leaving Tucson, and have been aggravated ever since. The photo shows me actually going so far as to drive a clothespin in to fill the gap, in order to try to achieve the lower two gears on any front ring. Unfortunately, it didn‘t work for long. It’s impossible to carry the proper spacers on the road, so we do the best we can. I’ve been messing with this for long enough to do Ethiopian engineering when necessary, but even that has failed... However, perseverance and determination will always tell in the long term. We are actually considering a hard core ride to our destination in Houston, but it will require some assistance from an unknown friend.”

Man logic vs. woman logic:
     Aggie: But I rode your bike in Tucson, and it wasn’t running worth a darn then.
     Cougina: But I had paid to fix it!
     Aggie: But it wasn’t fixed… Oh well, all the more fun…

As you can see, the camp was beautiful, except for the dead animal whose scent we picked up after dark when the wind shifted. We isolated it to a trash barrel in the morning. More fun!

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

Headed to the Top at Indian Divide - Missing Campsites!

Campsite gate.

After three days at Valley of Fire, showered clean and rested, we were planning on a gentle uphill ride: 6 mi on into Carrizozo, followed by another 6 mi or so to the beginning of the next big hill.

Sunset: Bedtime!

We encountered the situation that so often beleaguered us on this trip -- the map shows public lands available for camping all along the way, but the roadside land has been sold and is posted “No Trespassing.”

View of road from campsite.

Cougina was having mechanical difficulties with his bicycle. On top of this were the prevailing strong winds in the face. We started climbing the big hill, got several miles into it, and were still on private land. Late in the afternoon, we came across a private gate, set well back from the road, and waited for dark to set up camp in front of the gate. It was another pretty spot.

C takes a load off.

Next morning, we waited long enough to let the sun dry our gear from the night’s rainfall, and started walking up that big hill. 2.75 mi later, we found the top, and an unlocked gate.

Zinced up and ready.

It was tucked between two subdivisions, but it was secluded public land and made a decent campsite. We had made it to the top of the last of the long hills, and were into the Pecos watershed! The rest of the day was for R&R.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

Sneaking a Ride to Valley of Fire

Our camp.

Cougina had always planned to hitch a ride across the north side of the White Sands missile range. It's a 90 mi ride with 40 mi of steep,  shadeless uphill, and only one water resupply. We just couldn't practically carry enough water to do it.

View from our tent where tarantula walked.

Upon arrival at the Valley of Fire BLM campground, near Carrizozo, NM, Nathan and Marsha dropped us off at the best tent site, down in a cave-like protected rock shelter, and then grabbed the best RV site, at the top of the hill with a view in all directions. Not that there was any competition. It was pretty much just us.

Rivers of dried black lava running through high desert didn’t sound particularly appealing to me, but it turned out to be starkly beautiful. It helped that there had been rain, and that there was cloud cover to continuously play with the lighting.

Feral cat family.

In addition to the earth contours,  we watched the mama cat with two kittens, obviously freshly weaned, living at our site, sleeping in the rocks, coming out to hunt and to eat the food we offered. Mama is a skinny but sleek and attractive calico. Babies are a grey tabby and and orange one.

We also watched a tarantula walk down the road past our campsite, but the photo has somehow disappeared.

View of storm from Nate and Marsha's.

Nathan and Marsha absolutely refused to accept any monetary gift in exchange for the ride. So, Cougina bought them a 30-pack. Of course, he couldn’t buy them a 30-pack without buying a 30-pack for himself. We spent the first full day exchanging stories and drinking beer up at their hill top campsite. These two quit their corporate jobs 16  years ago, just left abruptly and went to hike the Appalachian Trail. They’ve been traveling ever since, sometimes on foot, and sometimes in their little RV. They had some great stories to tell, and Nathan even managed to take the stage from Cougina much of the time.

While we were visiting, a storm came up. We went inside their RV, and kept drinking and telling stories. When the storm abated, we had to head down to our camp, empty water from our tent, check that the electronics were undamaged, eat something, etc.

Cougina had a pretty tough time with the door latch, but handled the stairs ok. On the downhill ride to our camp, he watched the speedometer get to 23.86, and then came the turn in the road that his bicycle didn’t make. C headed straight into the fence. Fortunately, there were only 100 yd or so to walk to the campsite. All that he really had was a torn up ear, and a headache for the next 24 hours. This is sort of the moment when I realized that this would not be the last of such interesting episodes. Cougina kept repeating that he would write to the makers of the faulty bicycle tire.

Nathan saw the crash from above, and was down on his bicycle in no time, riding C’s bike back to camp, emptying the water from our tent, and being told to get lost. A half hour later, Marsha was there to return the camera I’d left behind and to check on C.

The wind sock.

These two really don’t want their photo on the net, so I’ll just symbolize them by Nathan's unfailingly accurate wind sock creation.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

Hanging Out in Socorro

The Sands, Socorro, NM

Ray Patel

We got a room at the Sands at 205 California Street, $40 per night with tax. It wasn’t bad. Took awhile to air out the perfume smell, but then it was fine. It was clean, especially the bathroom was spotless, and it had a tub. (Aggie loves washing clothes in the tub, and then soaking herself.) Ray was a good host, kind enough to share his cutting pliers with us. That’s him.

As for repairs, the bike shop we had been counting on had shut down the year before, and WalMart was closing out its bike department, so tubes, water bottles, and a 2.5 gallon MSR Dromedary to be overnighted from REI. C lubed the ratchet on his cassette, adjusted the derailleurs (while cursing Ordinary Bikes), cleaned the chains, sanded the disk brakes, and lubed the cables.

REI came through in a hurry, as they always have for us, and our friend Craig sent along a pair of padded bike shorts for Aggie. Whee, that will help!

Dublin, solo cyclist

Dublin's rig.

While this was going on, we met a solo cyclist, Dublin Driskill, pictured. Check out his rig. It’s a lot lighter and more compact than ours. A net bag in front to carry three 2-litre bottles, backpacks for panniers, etc.

Our camel across the desert.

On our last night, just before we headed to San Antonio, NM to sit and find a ride across the White Sands desert, we got a phone call from Nathan and Marsha, who we had met in Datil. They were going to the same place, and offered us a ride in their RV!

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA

45 miles to Socorro, NM

45 mi by far beats our previous beat of 26 mi. There was some downhill, but not that much, and we had sun without shade, wind in our faces, and heavy auto/truck traffic most all day. Box Canyon, about 5 miles off on a side route, is pictured. It looked beautiful, but we didn’t have time to stop there, and, anyway, a big storm started brewing from that direction. It caused gusts, Cougina says at least 50 mph, and I agree. I’d rather have been golfing in it than bicycling, and any golfer knows that’s saying something.

Along the way, Cougina ran over a rattlesnake, which tried to bite him. From then on, he tended to ride inside the white line, while Aggie, riding in heavy traffic for the first time, moved from her favorite spot on the white line (less stuff to cause flat tires) onto the shoulder.

When we got to the big downhill, the wind was still gusting, the shoulder was narrow, and cars were whizzing by. Cougina had a problem with the ratchet in his cassette, meaning that he had a lot of drag to pedal against. (That was the reason to make Socorro, to be able to make repairs.) He came through stunningly. Eventually the downhill leveled out, finally, the wind gusts dissipated, and we rolled into town on a gentle decline.

If you’re into endurance sports, you know what it’s like to almost double your previous high mileage -- it’s a death march, and you just move one leg at a time until it’s done, knowing that eventually you will finish. You hope, in return, to be stronger the next time.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE and COUGINA