on saturday, may 24, 2008, we visited the sacred alien landing grounds at roswell, new mexico. we also played in the white sands of, well, White Sands.
“now, how can you be from boston when you don’t have no dang accent?”
we’ve now crossed 2 time zones and are in a state without daylight savings time (”because it’s stupid,” said one arizonian avec twang). i’m a bit washed in the head, and there’s a lot to cover. so here we go!
we escaped from hobbs with hardly a scratch. however, as i jogged along north marland, a big angry dog in a pickup truck started yelling at me, causing me to jump about 6 feet in the air and fear for my life (he was really pissed off). finished my jog and got the hell outta dodge.
then, a 3-hour drive to roswell, new mexico, where a ufo ostensibly crashed about 60 years ago and was subsequently covered up by the government. in short, awesome. we laid down our 5 bucks and visited the international ufo museum and research center (www.roswellufomuseum.com) — and yes, we also thought it should really be the “intergalactic” ufo museum and reasearch center. it’s everything you want it to be and more! roswell’s main drag is a smorgasbord of ufo-jokey-gift shops and local businesses that milk the alien thing as much as possible. it’s a nerd paradise! i bought a magnet.
then, a long-ass drive through new mexico until we reached white sands national park, an 8-mile area featuring huge white sand dunes, caused by natural forces that we learned about in a video, but promptly forgot. thanks for the suggestion, everyone — we loved it. it’s a beautiful area, and we had a ton of fun playing around in the sand — which felt like a weird cross between a snowstorm and a beach. some fantastic photos will be part of the huge glut of pictures to be uploaded next week.
it was a long, dry, warm drive to get into arizona, but we finally made it across the border. we got to our best western in willcox at about 8pm — only to find that it was actually 7pm in arizona. once situated at the “hopi lounge” to watch the celtics/pistons game (celts win their first postseason road game! woooot!), our awesome bartendress, sue, explained the thing about arizona not participating in daylight savings time (”because it’s stupid.”) sue was great. after 2 dos equis, she said to me: “i know you’re a transplant to boston, because you don’t got no boston accent,” at which point i laughed and explained that i had lived in boston my whole life.
ahh, the south and southwest. nearly empty bars. cowboy hats. spurs. twangs. racial epithets dropped in casual convesation. and fucking excellent hot sauce. this time tomorrow, we live in los angeles. anyone want to give me a job?
CDs logged: the age of plastic (the buggles); the crane wife (the decemberists); darkness on the edge of town (bruce springsteen); full moon fever, into the great wide open, wildflowers (tom petty); made in the dark (hot chip); magic (bruce springsteen); nuggest, volume 1.
7 Responses:
Troeltsch Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 3:20 am
what did you think of nuggets?
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Lorelei Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 3:35 am
Judging by my own TX-to-CA road trip, during which I spent the night in a frat house in Tucson, you should be in LA before or around sundown tomorrow. It would help if you, unlike me, fail to lose your wallets in Tucson and then freak out about it in the Phoenix suburbs.
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Troeltsch Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 3:40 am
i thought you were going to santa fe. Why the change?
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DoorFrame Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 10:20 am
That route would have involved a 10.5 hour driving day, which would have been a lot longer than the 8/8.5 hour driving days we’ve been doing. Plus, this route brings us through Yuma (right along the border) and then San Diego. It’s a trade-off.
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Troeltsch Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
You’re taking the 8? Big mistake, but too late to do anything about it, I guess. Plenty of time to see SD later.
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nach Says:
May 27th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
one day i’ll make it to the ufo museum. it better be quick, because i think my parents are moving out of hobbs in a year and a half your writing about hobbs is cracking me up.
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DoorFrame Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Hobbs had a lot going for it. And by a lot, I mean oil derricks.
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i'm in a ufo state of mind.

the great white desert. almost had to leave brian behind.















