Trip West - New Mexico - Roswell

We get to Roswell and find a spot at the Spring River RV Park

It is basically a parking lot.  We were put in a spot by the entry.  The lot was full of dog poop but the guy next door with 2 dogs came right over and cleaned it up.  We got all unhooked, leveled and unpacked inside with we were told we were put on the wrong site and had to move - at that point I decided we would stay just 1 night instead of 2.

One of the reasons for the stop is to go to the UFO Museum

The whole town has gotten into the UFO theme

In the summer of 1947 remains of a crash were found 30 miles north of Roswell, NM.  Residents were told it was a weather balloon.   The  military cover-up of the true nature of the balloon and burgeoning conspiracy theories from UFO enthusiasts led to a celebrated "UFO" incident.  Years later it was confirmed as a Project Mogul balloon,  Unlike a weather balloon, the Project Mogul paraphernalia was massive and contained unusual types of materials, it was like having an elephant in your backyard and hoping that no one would notice it. To the untrained eye, the reflectors looked extremely odd, a geometrical hash of lightweight sticks and sharp angles made of metal foil.

An Alien Landing while we are there!

Gary just escapes
being abducted!

An interesting museum dedicated to the Roswell Incident of 1947

 

 Gary observes the Alien autopsy

 Time to get back on the road

Next stop - Deming, NM

Trip West - Oklahoma to New Mexico

We leave Oklahoma and enter Texas

 They have really nice Welcome Centers

 We pass through Amarillo

 and get onto Route 66

Where the famous Cadillac Ranch is.  Can't see it well from the road
so we park and walk in.

They are pretty impressive.  The paint is layered on pretty thick from being spray painted over so many years

 You can bring your own can of spray paint and have at it.

 We didn't have any and it was a pretty windy day
so we would have ended up spray painting ourselves anyway.

One of Tucson's fan club stops to give him a belly rub - a fellow New Yorker.

We continue on and Gary tries to make better time than BNSF.

 We pass miles and miles of Cattle.

 and finally make it into New Mexico

 We decide to layover for one night in Portales, NM at the Oasis State Park

 Plenty of room and nice sites - Water and Electric for only $14/nt

The plan was one night but the temperatures plummeted the next day
so we added on one more night

 and woke up to a white desert

Definitely time to head even further south

Next stop Roswell, NM

Trip West - Missouri to Oklahoma

We come to an accident on I-70 and are reduced to a crawl for 25 miles.

It's starting to get dark as we leave Ohio

 and enter Indiana

We pull into an Indiana Rest Area - plenty of room - 150 truck spaces

 Across from Corn Fields

 After a lovely breakfast at Denny's we get back on the road.

 and run into construction slow downs.

We play leap frog with Aaron Lewis tour bus and tractor trailer.  He has a concert in Indianapolis

 Indianapolis!

 We  try a Harvest Host layover instead of a rest area or Truck Stop.  It is the Labaddie Brewery outside St. Louis MO.

We split of flight of brews and a bag of popcorn!

 On the road again 

 Missouri is a bit of a roller coaster ride.

and pass through St. Louis 

and the famous Arch

and interesting sculpture in Cuba, MO - The Osage Trail Legacy

We make it to Oklahoma.

 No Harvest Host or Boondockers Welcome sites in the area but I find an Army Corp of Engineers campground that is non-reservable just outside Broken Arrow, OK.  It is Sunday so I am hoping we will find a spot.   We luck out as the Park was full but today is the last day of Fall Break and everyone left!  $9.00 a night for a site with water and 50 amp service!  Guess we will stay a couple of nights.

 It is on the Arkansas River.  Our 2nd night a few severe thunderstorms passed through and there was a tornado watch.  Sounded really bad but we fared well.

Time to move on - I want Gary to see the Oklahoma City Memorial.  Had hoped to stay at a Boondocker Welcome site right in OKC but my request was declined - the nerve!  Back up plan is to park at Cabela's unhook and drive the truck to the Memorial.

We make it to the Memorial in spite of all the roadwork going on - they are redoing all of the expressway ramps and have taken down all the exit signs so you have no idea where to get off.

This fence was put up during the clean up of the site.  People walking by would put up mementos so it remains.

 
The Memorial consists of two walls and a shallow reflection pool in between

 at one end the wall has the time 9:01 a time of innocence - the minute before the bomb went off

The second Wall reads 9:03 - the minute after the Bomb went off - the time healing begins

There is one chair for every person killed in the explosion.  They are illuminated at night and the names on the base show up

The smaller chairs represent children to died.   The chairs are arranged in 9 rows - each row representing a floor in the building.  Those killed on the 9th floor are in the 9th row of chairs.

The Survivor Tree, an American Elm  almost 100 years old, withstood the full force of the attack. It continues to stand as a living symbol of resilience.

I had hoped to do the Museum but it is getting late and they don't have a wheelchair for Gary - it takes 1.5 -2 hours to do the museum - too long for crutches!  Just glad we got to do the outside Memorial

Back to Cabela's to pick up the 5th Wheel and on to a Boondockers Welcome site 50 miles west of town on Route 66

 

 It is a new campground in the making - the wife's family has owned the land since the 50's.  It is free to Boondock or $15 with services.  We opt for the $15 to have electric as it gets cool and night and it is a long night without TV.

 Just catch the morning sunrise - time to move on - next stop New Mexico!