The Roswell Experience

From Carlsbad the logical route seemed to be to go north to Artesia and then turn west to towards Alamogordo and the White Sands National Monument; but, after a further check of the map and seeing that Roswell, New Mexico was a short 40 miles away, I couldn't pass up going there.

Roswell is the famed site of the mysterious UFO crash in 1947.  So much has been written of what happen and the (supposed - you be the judge) government cover-up that we will probably never know the truth about just what or didn't happen that June (or July - the incident was reported the federal government on the 8th of July 1947, but may have actually occurred in late June).

One thing, however, is certain - it didn't happen in Roswell.  The actual crash site about 45 miles southeast of Roswell on a ranch near Corona.  Roswell is where the Roswell Army Air Field base was located; and, hence, where the investigation was carried out.

The International UFO Museum and Research Center, is located on Main Street, and contains a number of newspaper accounts, reporting's and photographs related to the incident and, although, it is pretty much mandatory to visit the center - unless you're a true "UFO Nut" searching for every tiny tidbit of information - it is not all that interesting.  

A city of Roswell, 45,293 (2000 census) is much larger than I had supposed.  It also the location for the New Mexico Military Institute (a high school through junior college academy for aspiring cadets) and the home of Mine That Bird, the (50-1 shot) winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby.

I spent more time in Roswell than intended; the result of mechanical difficulties in the front forks on my Harley.  The cause of the problem was another sheared off bolt (remember the saddle-bag incident?).  The photograph was just what we saw when we took off the front cover exposing the forks - had the spring also sheared, it would have meant total disaster!  
To my good fortune, Erin and Debbie McGonagle, the owners of Trailer village RV Park were I was staying, were bikers; and also to my good fortune, Erin was mechanic who collects and rebuilds antic motorcycles.

Not only do Erin and Debbie run a top-notch (with great pricing) RV Park, but they are really great people.  Erin took me (twice) to the local Harley dealer, spent half a day making the necessary repairs (with the aid of his friend Perry) and they refused to accept anything in payment for their efforts - accepting only a handshake as payment in full.

On to Carlsbad Caverns

Traveling in Texas, and perhaps even more so in New Mexico, its miles and miles from one place to the next.  I'm from Michigan and it's just weird!

From Study Butte, just outside of the national park, to Alpine, Texas it's 79 miles with nothing in between.

Normally it would be no problem, but just before leaving Study Butte, I discovered that one the two bolts that held my one of my saddle bags in place had sheared off.  Seeing nothing in Study Butte that resembled a garage, I attached a bungee cord to lend some support to remaining bolt, and headed north for Alpine, hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

Good fortune stayed with me and I made to a garage in Alpine where the bolt was replaced ($49 and about 30 minutes work); but I was just glad to have the bag once again held securely in place.

Back on the road and more wide open spaces; from Alpine to Van Horn, Texas is a distance of 100 miles with two towns (of sorts) in between.  By the time that I got to Van Horn I knew that I was done for the day.  Even if I could make it the entire 118 miles to Carlsbad (again, with almost nothing in between), it would mean riding my motorcyclein the dark and missing all of the scenery while passing through the Guadalupe Mountains - absolutely NOT!

Fortunately, Van Horn had a small campground; not a bad situation since it was time to do laundry anyway.

My morning ride up highway 54 to Carlsbad was pretty unspectacular until Guadalupe's El Capitan came into view.  El Capitan rises high atop the Guadalupe Mountains and offers a great view well deserving of the photo-opportunity that it presented.  I couldn't help thinking how much it reminded me of Casa Grande in Chisos Basin of Big Bend, both Case Grande and El Capitan are the focal points of their respective areas and look remarkably similar.

I was surprised to see other riders pass by and show no interest in taking advantage of such a great photograph (a mistake they would no doubt later regret).

A short distance down the road (still within the confines of the Guadalupe National Park) I took no pleasure at all (Bikers have a kinship!) in seeing the same group of four riders pulled off to the side of the road; having gained the full attention of the Texas Highway Patrol.

After making to Carlsbad, finding a campground, set up my site and have bite for lunch, there was still time enough to drive back to Carlsbad Caverns and plan routine for the next day (but not time enough to explore - that would have to wait fro another day).

What can you say about Carlsbad Caverns except that all of the hype is not overkill - they are all that they are built up to be, and more.

The caverns are, well - CAVERNOUS (see the people and handrails in the photographs to get some perspective on the size).  In terms of hanging stalactites and rising stalagmites it was all that I had anticipated, but I was not prepared to see the cathedral-like size of the various rooms, they are simply huge and seem to never end.

On the first day (of my two days spent at Carlsbad Caverns) I walked the two hour self guided sojourn with the help of the interpretive audio (well worth the $3 investment), and followed up in the afternoon with a second two hour tour (this time guided) of the Kings Palace.

This second tour was stretched out into a two hour tour, courtesy of the guide who seemed to relish expounding upon many details which already been detailed in the interpretive audio or other media presentations.  We were told that Kings Place had been previously a self guided tour, but due abusive tourist activity (such as breaking off pieces of cave "art") they were forced to abandon the self-guided tours.

One final comment regarding the photographs from inside the cave; it is impossible to get photographs using a flash (given the size of cave and the subsequent distance from the objects).  Therefore, I opted to attempt rest the camera in the handrail and use a 1 1/2 - 2 second time lapse photograph).  Consequently, the photographs suffer from some "shake", but hopefully you will agree that they are better than - no "photos" at all.