After a train-filled night, we got up, and headed south to Roswell.

Roswell is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to visit, for no other reason than the legendary images and stories it invokes — probably much like Graceland does for Elvis fans. What we discovered is that the town has really played up its extraterrestrial link — even the streetlights have visitor heads!

We started at the visitor center, and got suggestions for breakfast, and for things to do and see.

The restaurant we were pointed to for breakfast was the Crashsite Cafe. As expected, everything inside had an ET connection, along with the menu items. Good food for breakfast!

We toured the museum, bought souvenirs, and wandered around the downtown area. It was all amusing, and fun in a campy sort of way. All it needed was a guy in a Godzilla outfit, and thousands Japanese extras running through the streets.

We continued on to White Sands NM, and enjoyed the quick drive. A nice sunny day (for a change) accompanied our drive. White Sands is an amazing place. The dunes are as white as could be. We wandered through, taking shots of this and that. We even got to watch an F-117A flying around from the next door base — fun!

For lunch, we decided on a picnic near a dune, and made a nice leisurely, long lunch out of it. We even kicked off our shoes, climbed a dune, and sat and enjoyed the beauty of the fine gypsum sand. It was surprising cool on our feet, and comfortable. There were folks with radios, sliding discs, frisbees and their pets — a very nice place to relax.

We left White Sands, and tried to visit the missile museum, but they seemed like they were not open for business. I got very nervous — after all, White Sands Missile Range is a slightly restricted place! — so we turned around and hit the road again.

While driving up I-25, we were forced to pull over through an immigration inspection station. I guess there’s a lot of illegal immigrant traffic through that corridor. Obviously, we looked like tourists, so we passed right through, but still, it was an interesting experience.

We watched the sunset over the mountains as we drove north. This was the first day we’d had reasonably clear skies, and the sunset was gorgeous.

We arrived at Truth or Consequences, discovered that there are few choices for hotels, and that they are all way too expensive for what they are. However, it being late and us being tired, we signed on the bottom line, and put ourselves to rest for the night.