Aliens & Cowboys - New Mexico to Texas

We woke up today in Roswell, New Mexico and headed straight for the UFO Museum.

Roswell's claim to fame results from a UFO incident, when an airborne object crashed on a ranch on July 7, 1947. Explanations of what actually took place are based on both official and unofficial communications. The most popular theory of what happened is that the object was a spacecraft containing extraterrestrial life.  The government says it was debris from the crash of an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon.  In contrast, many UFO proponents maintain that an alien craft was found, its occupants were captured, and that the military engaged in a massive cover-up. The Roswell incident has turned into a widely known pop culture phenomenon, making the name "Roswell" synonymous with UFOs.  (Wikipedia)

An unidentified flying object crashed on a ranch northwest of Roswell, New Mexico, sometime during the first week of July 1947.  Rancher W.W. “Mack” Brazel said later he found debris from the crash as he and the son of Floyd and Loretta Proctor rode their horses out to check on sheep after a fierce thunderstorm the night before. Brazel said that as they rode along, he began to notice unusual pieces of what seemed to be metal debris scattered over a large area. Upon further inspection, he said, he saw a shallow trench several hundred feet long had been gouged into the ground.


Brazel said he was struck by the unusual properties of the debris and, after dragging large pieces of it to a shed, he took some of it over to show the Proctors.  The Proctors told Brazel he might be holding wreckage from an alien spacecraft — a number of UFO sightings had been reported in the United States that summer — or a government project, and that he should report the incident to Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox.

In their book, A History of UFO Crashes, UFO researchers Don Schmitt and Kevin Randle say their research shows military radar had been tracking an unidentified flying object in the skies over southern New Mexico for four days. On the night of July 4, 1947, radar indicated the object had gone down about 30-40 miles northwest of Roswell.

Scattered in the debris were small bits of metal that Marcel, the investigator held a cigarette lighter to to see if it would burn.  Along with the metal, Marcel described weightless “I”-beam-like structures that were three-eights inch by one-quarter inch, none of them very long, that would neither bend nor break. Some of these “I”-beams had indecipherable characters along the length, in two colors. Marcel also described metal debris the thickness of tinfoil that was indestructible.

“I didn't know what we were picking up,” he said. “I still don't know what it was ... It could not have been part of an aircraft, not part of any kind of weather balloon or experimental balloon ... I’ve seen rockets ... sent up at the White Sands Testing Grounds. It definitely was not part of an aircraft or missile or rocket.”

Meanwhile, Glenn Dennis, a young mortician working at Ballard Funeral Home, received some curious calls one afternoon from the RAAF morgue. The base’s mortuary officer was trying to get hold of some small, hermetically sealed coffins and also wanted to know how to preserve bodies that had been exposed to the elements for a few days and avoid contaminating the tissue.

Dennis later said that evening he drove to the base hospital, where he saw large pieces of wreckage with strange engravings on one of the pieces sticking out of the back of a military ambulance. He entered the hospital and was visiting with a nurse he knew when suddenly he was threatened by military police and forced to leave.

The next day, Dennis met with the nurse, who told him about bodies discovered with the wreckage and drew pictures of them on a prescription pad. Within a few days she was transferred to England; her whereabouts remain unknown.  From Roswell museum site:  http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/incident.html


A Roswell song: Roswell, 1947 song

The whole thing is pretty weird, man.   After checking out the aliens, we headed south for another long driving day.

Random notes:

   Chocolate peanut butter.  

It looks awesome, doesn't it?  It isn't.

In light of all the tornado news, we thought it kind of strange to see dust swirls in the distance as we drove.

We're still seeing Subway's in absolutely every "gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse" along our way.  Quick - what movie is that from?  Answer

Oops.  At about 3:15 we reached Fort Stockton, Texas, where we stopped for gas and a rest.  I told the kids we could get milkshakes to soften the blow of another 4 or 5 hours' driving, (bribery - I'm not proud of it), and I got back on the freeway, intending to get off at the next exit, where I had spotted the distinctive high yellow signs of several fast food establishments.  But the next exit turned out to be 85 miles away!  Collective groan.

  Better late than never.

Brennan and I have noticed that our twins get more twinny on the road.  They occasionally  look knowingly at each other and burst into giggles, which is very disconcerting and makes me wonder if I have spinach in my teeth.  And to think that all these years I have denied the whole "twin secret language" thing.

Two Days Inn's in a row, two faulty keys.  Three strikes you're out!

Texas.  The Lone Star State.  Dallas.  Cowboys.  Dallas Cowboys.  We drove along listening to this: Yellow Rose of Texas  Go on, listen to it.  It's cute, and very Texas-y.  You'll feel like you're right here with us.  

Hunting blinds.  Yep, we're in Texas now. 

  Texas-style speed limits!

It's 10:00pm, which means we lost another hour today.  It's only 8:00 at home, but the good news is I'll be gaining time on the drive home.  How can time zones keep changing if I'm driving south?  I am driving south, right?  We are just west of San Antonio.  The air is warm and humid and would feel like Hawaii if it smelled like white ginger here instead of cigarette smoke.  (Warm is a euphemism; it's hot.  Brennan just spotted heat lightning.)

(PS: I just added some photos to the previous post on Santa Fe.)