Friday - January 2, 1998: Roswell, NM to Alamagordo, NM
Celebrating the Cold War Day!
Today would have been pretty dull if not for the Cold War! It somehow shaped, nay, made possible just about everything we did on this very busy day.

We started in Roswell, at the International UFO Museum and Research Center ("Together, we can arrive at the thruth!"), where Cold War paranoia still permeates. How else to explain the cover-ups of Alien spaceship crashes near there in 1947. Brad and Desi both agree that something crashed out there back then. Desi's not completely convinced it was extraterrestrial, Brad can't think of what else it could be. The Cold War's over, right? So why is there something from 50 years ago that we still cannot know about? Our visit to Roswell created even more questions than it answered. Here's loads of good info on the Roswell Incident. You decide!

A scenic trip West from Roswell, on a clear sunny day along the Rio Hondo River, through the Guadalupe Mountains, blew us through the friendly ski village of Ruidoso for a quick cup of coffee. And then onto Alamogordo in the White Sands Basin. We arrived in Alamagordo, home of the White Sands Missile Range, (where the first atomic tests were fired), at sunset. Then we made it to the edge of the White Sands National Monument for some colorful pictures just before it got dark. We hope to spend more time there tomorrow on the glistening pure-white gypsum dunes before peeling outta town.

We checked in at the Satellite Inn (with the 3-dimensional neon Atom sign!!) in time to then speed over to the Clyde W. Tombaugh OMNIMAX Theatre and Planetarium at the Space Center here in Alamogordo in time to catch the huge Mission to Mir documentary with stunning photography taken by Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle and the Mir Space Station! Yet another Cold War legacy.

Finally we had dinner on the way back to The Satellite at Margo's Mexican Food ("The Best in the Basin!") to have, what Brad Friedman calls "The Best Mexican Food I Ever Had!"*

So Margo didn't have anything to do with the Cold War, though she'd likely not be in this town, in the middle of nowhere, without one we suppose. So you see why today gives us reason to give three cheers for the Cold War!

(*B & D's Holiday Roadtrip Odyssey, 1/2/98)