El Paso to Roswell- Road Trip day 3
We left Las Cruces early this morning and headed straight for El Paso Texas. It was only about an hour and fifteen minutes away. Our destination was Concordia Cemetery. With internment's as early as 1856, I really wanted to see it. It is really quite large, with a separate walled Chinese section and Jewish section. But there was also segregation for other skin colors and a Catholic section as well. There is not a blade of grass in the whole place. Lots of monument damage and some are but chunks of rock or concrete. You have to watch your step cuz there were these huge red ants everywhere and it was hot enough that snakes could have been out sunning. Concordia sits right next to the 10 freeway and is in a largely hispanic neighborhood with a view of Mexico across the freeway and train tracks. El Paso reminded us all of Sun Valley, CA. It was rather unremarkable.
Our next stop was to be Roswell New Mexico. But on the way we stopped in Alamogordo NM to eat lunch and then drove through Apache Lands (Reservation) on our way toward Roswell. Up until then NM had been basically flat and unremarkable. But up in the mountain areas that we drove through on U.S 70 it was breathtaking! Beautiful forests of evergreens dotted with other trees sporting their most splendid fall gold! We even saw some remnants of snow up there. Once you come down from the mountains, the landscape changes dramatically. There is literally NOTHING for miles and miles- as far as the eye can see in any direction. No landmarks to go by at all. I kept waiting to see something off in the distance resembling a city, but nothing except the road for miles. Then, finally, a few shantys were spotted which gave way to a few better ones that finally became Roswell.
Why did we come al the way out here you ask? Well mostly, to say that we have 'been there'. We were fairly close already , but really nothing is close to Roswell, trust me, nothing. We wanted to see how this city has embraced its whole Alien thing too. For the most part it has. Once we post our road trip photos on the November Obscura blog, You will see, there are shops devoted to Alien stuff, a UFO Museum, several businesses that include the little green Alien face or form on their signs and even the street lamps which glow a soft greeenish white light have Alien eyes painted on. Even Wal- Mart is Green with lots of Alien fun. Still there are many that don't embrace it at all. Listen Roswell people, if it was not for the 'incident' your town would be a third of its size and that isn't saying much. You should all be lovin the Alien thing cuz it is what put you on the map!
We did tour the UFO museum, which didn't have anything that you haven't seen on T.V. or read in a book, but it is just all organized and you can walk through the timeline of the Roswell incident. Was it an alien craft that crashed or was it a weather balloon? Who can say at this point. My own opinion is that the folks, the regular non military ranchers and families told the truth about what they saw and what was said to them. And it was all twisted up in to a silly sounding story to ensure that no one would 'believe' that it was anything other than the official explanation 'a weather balloon'- regardless of what it really was. Roswell has a spot in history because of the incident- so Roswell- get your Alien on!
