Eddy County

Yes, today there are pictures ; our shutters-fingers no-longer shuddering from the after-effects of the 'Albequerque Incident' and each of us in a far more photogenic state, Day 5 has been thoroughly captured in static-snap form.

Brief aside; there has been disquiet that there has been insufficient 'Mark' mentions in these blog posts. For those worried, he has been with us every step of the way, driving much of it and keeping us entertained with random but relevant pop culture quotes. Attached to this post are some bonus 'Mark' shots for your consideration and approval.

Luke skipped breakfast today in favour of some additional shut-eye. We were all shocked I tell you...shocked. Myself, Woody and MARK went down to the 'breakfast room', formerly the 'Chinese takeaway room', and had a breakfast that hadn't been cooked in grease, sprayed with grease then served on a bed of grease. After sensible cereal, Woody and I decided it would be rude not to have a go with the waffle-maker, so we shared the experience and the product. MARK didn't have one, but watched us eat ours.

It was Woody's day to be driver, and drive us he did. It is becoming a tradition that whenever Woody takes the wheel, the drive turns out to be a horrible one ; or else whenever there is a horrible drive to be done it is Woody's turn to drive (chicken/egg etc,). Today's drive through the tiny towns of West Texas was abysmal; there was a storm warning in effect but we respectfully ignored this and drove right through it. There was pouring rain, localised flooding and heavy side-winds, making this the most treacherous trip we've yet taken. Woody expertly kept the car under control whilst Luke kept a keen eye out for lake-sized puddles and I navigated us through the styx to Roswell. MARK was in the car too.

At isolated moments when it wasn't raining we stopped for pictures with the big texan (there's probably a history to it, but I haven't looked it up) and at a town called 'Happy', that looked like one of the most miserable places on earth.

We reached Roswell, New Mexico in mid-afternoon and went for some authentic Mexican food made and served by some authentic Mexicans. I had a burrito, Woody tacos, Luke chilli and MARK enchiladas. It was fine, though the experience was mildly tempered in my opinion as we somehow selected the one establishment on the Roswell Main Street that had in no way embraced what the town is so famous for; it's aesthetic simply Mexican. They still had Cinquo de Mayo decorations up almost a month after the day itself, suggesting that it's either traditional to keep them up for a while following May 5th or that the owners were simply too (REDACTED) to take them down.

To explain, you know you are entering Roswell when you begin to see little green men EVERYWHERE. Virtually every business establishment has themed their enterprise around the idea of aliens having visited/died-horribly-in-a-crash there in 1947. Be they peddlers of sushi, opticians or tax attorneys, all signage either contains terms such as 'galactic', has pictures of spaceships on them, is accompanied by a human-sized fibreglass alien or, most commonly, all three. (see picture of MARK attached).

After lunch we visited the International UFO Museum and Research Centre, where we were able to peruse a notably balanced account of what might have happened in July 1947, alongside pictures and recreations of the various 'evidence' for and against the 'alien' thesis. The weirdest aspect of this was the revelation that the 'crash' actually happened nowhere really near Roswell, and the incident is seemingly so named as Roswell is where the debris/alien-bodies were taken afterwards. In fact, the crash-site is almost as close to Albequerque as it is to Roswell, a place now famous for its own incident where the facts are disputed and the truth will never be known.

After the museum we went to the 'Spacewalk' experience round the corner. It was basically someone's back-room painted black with a few bads of luminous paint and a black-light, but what can you expect for two bucks? (answer: way, way more).

After wandering around the various gift shops selling alien crap and not buying anything (it being crap), we got back in the car and drove south to Carlsbad, where we plan to visit some caverns the next day (today, in around ten minutes as I'm writing this, MARK having just knocked on my door to request we get a move on). We went for an amazing meal at a Bar-B-Q place (see picture); probably the best food we've had since being here (stacks of meat with sides), then for a few drinks at a nearby Best Western hotel; the pricier neighbour to the budget 'Carlsbad Inn' we'd booked for the night.Read more