THURSDAY, JUNE 19, ALBUQUERQUE TO ROSWELL TO SANTA FE

Charlie and I got up and tried to find a place to have breakfast outside of the hotel.  No such luck.  A cafe in a government building had a depressing "cafe"  with fried egg sandwiches and dismal smelling coffee.  We then wandered to a Starbucks in the lobby of another hotel.  The line of people trying to get something there was literally 25 people long.  Back to the hotel.  Sigh.  Albuquerque is trying to improve, it's just that it hasn't quite filled out yet - kind of a teen-age city.

We got on the road to Roswell.  Our Google lady leading us out of town.  My new problem is that the Google lady sucks down the battery power on the phone.  Driving to Roswell we took the 40 - an interstate that goes on to Texas and is filled with all sorts of odd-ball places - Cline corners with everything you could possibly want - souvenirs of New Mexico, Indian jewelry, fireworks.  We then turned onto highway 285.  This highway was not "filled" with anything.  Rolling hills with mesas and mountains in the distance, ranches with no sight of steer or humans.  We did spot a number of antelope walking along fences.  They were nifty looking - yellow brown with black horns.  We drive through the "towns" of Encino and Vaughn.  Encino really isn't a town anymore.  You couldn't get gas, or stay in a motel, or want to stop actually.  Vaughn earns its livelihood from the railroads.  We did see the longest freight trains I have ever seen along the route.

A warning at a rest stop along the 285

The motel in Encino.

We eventually got to Roswell (3 hours after we left Albuquerque), clearly a place where more than 1000 people live.  We even found a Radio Shack and got a phone charger for the car so our Google lady could live!

We drove down Main Street to the UFO museum - what else?  Lots of fun lots of silly.  Charlie's comment  - a classic list of faulty logic.  Smart people believe this, therefore, so should you.  The government won't say it's true, therefore, they're covering up the truth.  Fun anyway.

Charlie is competing with the aliens for Most Alien.

On the way out of town after our museum tour we stopped at a local place for lunch, Farlays.  Kind of huge lunch - need to slow up on my three squares a day routine around here.  It was really decorated well.

On to Santa Fe - up the 285 - even our Google lady hadn't much to say once she announced "stay on the 285 north for the next 180 miles".  Charlie began to fade behind the wheel, so I took over.  He decided the road was like a computer game - grass to the left and right - one or two cars in the far distance - and on and on.....

We got to Santa Fe just before 5.  Checked into the Santa Fe Motel and Inn - then took a short walk to town.  We got a coffee at a Starbucks.  Walked around a bit.  I found my bunch of chiles for my kitchen.  We had a wonderful dinner at the Shed.  I got posole instead of beans.  Delicious.  Walked back to the motel/inn.  Great day.

Around the main plaza in Santa Fe

Santa Fe at dusk.