It was finally time to head on out of Texas, and cross into the self titled “Land of Enchantment”, New Mexico. We were heading towards the renowned UFO capital of America, Roswell, to see what all the fuss was about. The route we took brought us through the town of Lovington. Now, there is nothing remarkable about this town, it has no notable buildings or real points of interest to write home about (apart from the hideous oil refinery on the edge of town). However, once upon a time I lived in a tiny Somerset village called Lovington, so I figured this would be as good a place as any to stop for a quick photo op and a bite to eat at the Pioneer Steak House.
Eventually, we made it to the infamous town of Roswell, site of the alleged UFO crash of 1947. First impressions were that it pretty much looked like every other one-street town in middle America. Apart from the overwhelming alien theme running through every single aspect of the town that is. I mean, if ever there was a town that has capitalised on its one claim to fame, then this is it. From ufo gift shops, to alien themed tattoo shops, otherworldly sweet shops and even alien auto repair shops.
We left our alien themed RV park and made our way to the International UFO Museum in the centre of town. This non-profit organisation houses hundreds of exhibits and first hand resident accounts relating to the Roswell incident, and alien encounters in general. Whether you’re a sceptic or a true believer, it’s a pretty fun way to learn about what may or may not have happened here three quarters of a century ago. To be honest, the sheer volume of first hand testimonials on display here, coupled with the bizarre events of that day actually make a fairly compelling argument. I’m not saying I’m firmly in the tinfoil hat brigade, but I’m definitely not about to dismiss it out of hand. I hadn’t realised that the Trinity test site, where they tested the first nuclear weapon as part of the Manhattan Project in 1945, was only a few hours down the road. To be clear, this was the very first time in the history of the planet that the world had witnessed a release of energy on this scale, in the form of a 25 kiloton nuclear explosion. The theory put forward by the afore-mentioned tinfoil hat chaps in Roswell is that this massive energy signature could have attracted interplanetary attention, effectively drawing these visitors to check us out. That would explain why they may have appeared in random nowheresville, New Mexico. Pretty compelling, right! I thought so.
Now that we were all convinced we are not alone, we grabbed some lunch while we pondered our place in the universe. It’s not just the small business owners who have embraced the theme of this town, the big boys are at it here as well. McDonalds have got so far behind the theme that they have built a huge aluminium clad flying saucer restaurant. Right next to Dunkin’ Donuts’ 20 foot tall little green man.
We checked out a few other shops in town, including the Mexican Alien shop (the irony), the Invasion Station, Alien Invasion and UFO Fizz. Even the streetlights here are shaped like alien heads, they really have gone all in.
But our favourite by far was the amazing Ancients Of Days. I’m a big fan of a good fossil and rock shop, and this one was a stonker. It was packed to the rafters with locally collected fossilised specimens and, yep you guessed it, rocks! Don, the owner, was an absolute gent and spent loads of time showing the kids (and me) all the weird and interesting things. He had a small black light room hidden behind a curtain with a display of fluorescent rocks glowing like a 1970s disco. Hunter was so amazed that he bought himself a professional UV flashlight to go rock hunting himself. The kids both cracked open their own geodes, procured from the local(ish) Chihuahua mine in nearby Mexico, while I couldn’t resist a 1000 year old Apache spearhead as a memento of our time in the New Mexico. I managed to resist the temptation to treat myself to one of the seriously impressive Megalodon teeth. This time anyway!
Having exhausted the alien rich landscape of Roswell high street, we drove a few miles out of town to check out the rather ominously named Bottomless Lakes. Despite the name, these nine lakes are neither lakes, nor are they bottomless. They are actually water filled sinkholes, or Cenotes to give them their correct name. The name comes from a group of cowboys who, upon discovering the lakes in the days of the old west, tried and failed to determine the depth of the lakes using ropes, and thus declared them to be bottomless. There are local legends of strong underwater currents pulling swimmers to their doom, as well as a giant turtle monster preying on unsuspecting divers. But essentially they are just a string of pretty emerald green lakes, with the deepest of them permitting swimming and diving, if you dare!
The next day we continued our journey east and into the infamous Lincoln County. This area of New Mexico was the site of perhaps the bloodiest and wildest period of the old west. Here you can trace the history of the Lincoln County War, which involved the likes of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, as well as other notorious characters from the Wild West. We walked in Billy’s footsteps in Garrett’s Lincoln courthouse, where he escaped his shackles and killed two deputies before making good his escape towards Fort Sumner where he was eventually killed and buried by Sheriff Pat Garrett. We also visited several other perfectly preserved period buildings and the town museum. It’s a chilling experience to walk the streets of this old west ghost town, as did all those characters from my childhood western films all those years ago.
Lincoln sits at almost 7000 feet above sea level, and the weather at this altitude in New Mexico is prone to sudden storms. We left the courthouse in bright 25 degree sunshine, and within 5 minutes darkness had descended and rain was imminent. We sought shelter in Annie’s Little Sure Shot coffee house just as the most intense hail storm dumped itself from the sky. We chatted with the locals and watched the swarms of hummingbirds, while drinking Mexican chilli infused coffee until the storm passed. It was actually difficult to hear ourselves over the sound of the 1cm wide hailstones peppering the tin roof above us. Apparently they have regular hailstorms of such ferocity that they smash all the skylights and dent all the cars in the town. I thought the desert was supposed to be hot and dusty?!
Our next stop for a few nights was the town of Alamogordo. There’s nothing particularly special about Alamogordo, it’s a pleasant town much like many others. But it is near a place called White Sands, and that is pretty special. I mentioned earlier that the Trinity test site was in New Mexico. Well this is where it was. White Sands Missile Range is 275 square miles of perfectly white, gypsum sand dunes. That’s around four billion tons of gypsum, piled in dunes up to 60 feet high, in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The military still operate missile testing on the majority of the site, and it is closed to the public. Parts are even still radioactive from the historic nuclear testing. But at the southern end is a beautiful National Park, which protects 115 square miles of the dune field for the public to enjoy. It is one of the most bizarre places I have ever seen. This is the largest gypsum dune field on earth, and is quite a sight to behold as you pull into the park entrance. It was a bright, sunny day when we visited, and we were warned to apply sunscreen to our chins due to the reflective properties of the white gypsum. 70% of the sunlight is reflected from the surface, meaning that the super soft sand feels cool under foot, but is absolutely blinding to walk across. The first dunes we came across were covered with vegetation, and were consequently home to many species of animals, including the weird Bleached Lizards scuttling around between the ferns.
As we moved deeper into the park, the greenery disappeared, and the white dunes grew higher and higher. The main attraction here is the possibility of sledding down the dunes. We came pre-armed with four disc shaped sleds, borrowed from the campsite, and a stick of wax to grease the bottoms for added speed. You are free to cruise the 8 miles of gypsum roads, pick any dune you like, park up and try your hand at a bit of dune boarding. As it turns out, it’s an advantage to be small and light to get some speed up, so my newly expanded, cheeseburger-enhanced frame was not the ideal candidate for gypsum surfing. Bam, however, achieved blistering speeds down the powdery slopes. The added bonus of gypsum sand, as opposed to the usual silica based type we are all used to, is that it’s water soluble. Got sand in your eyes? No worries, just blink a few times and it dissolves! This stuff is brilliant. I vote we replace all the beaches with this stuff.
After several hours of seeking the ideal dunes in the blistering heat, we called it a day, and returned home for a wee bit of school. There was a Sunset Stroll on offer in the park, where the park rangers would take you on a guided tour of the dunes as the day ended, culminating in a dune based sunset. So we headed back in the evening, excited to see the sands in a different light. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side, and several surrounding cells of lightning unfortunately put paid to our plans as the ranger cancelled the event. Never mind, we called into Caliche’s Frozen Custard for an end of day sweet treat instead, just before the storm caught up with us.
The next day we were off again, heading out of New Mexico and on to the next state on our hit list, Arizona.