Roswell update day 1

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What a fun day. It was a leisurely 188 mile drive from Post, TX to Roswell, NM. I “gained” another hour as I entered Mountain Standard Time at the NM border. Arrived about noon, got set up, unhooked the Jeep and went out exploring. I went to the Visitor’s Center and stumbled onto the arts and crafts / pottery show. I discovered the show online Saturday and was in search of the visitor’s center to find where then convention center was. Turns out the visitor’s center is in the convention center!

Several nice local folks (who were part of the craft show) gave me a lunch recommendation and several things to do and see. They were more helpful than the visitor’s center - but I did get some maps and brochures there.

I went for lunch - Mexican - and headed back to the show. I expected to only be a short time at the show, but ended up staying until it closed at 5 pm. I have so much fun talking to folks at craft fairs. I met a guy from the Ruidoso area (about 90 minutes west of here in the mountains) who pulled out a brochure he had about the art loop weekend they had in the summer. It had some great info and he was able to enlighten me on roads in the area and what routes were best if I wanted to take a slight detour and drive through on my way to Socorro Tuesday.

He also informed me they MIGHT get some snow on Monday night. Of course my ears perked up given I will be driving through some of the mountains even if I don’t take a side trip to the Ruidoso area. Not too worried about it. I figure 1) they have the equipment to plow roads, 2) probably won’t be much snow if any and 3) I can always stay an extra day or find an alternate route.

I ended up talking with another artist from Ruidoso, one from Big Spring, TX and one from Carlsbad, NM. The guy from Carlsbad is a potter who makes Ocarina’s - clay whistles. He was a hoot to talk with. They RV to shows so we talked about RVing a little.

I’m taking an online photo class (the class is about how to use a specialty lens called the Lensbaby which has a sweet spot of focus and blurs out the rest of the image) and part of the assignment for this week (due Sunday 11/11) was to take some portraits. I asked John - the whistle maker - if I could take his photo. He said yes so I went out to the Jeep and got my camera and Lensbaby. As I was taking some portraits his wife said he should get me to take some shots of his booth as they needed some photos of it (they had a new setup). I told him I’d do that and went out to the Jeep to get my “normal” lens for that.

The drive over was very enjoyable. I didn’t realize the “southern plains” area of TX grew so much cotton. I heard on the local Lubbock news Saturday night (Post is about 40 miles south east of Lubbock) the cotton crop will be the 2nd best ever for them (I think 2005 was the best). I drove by miles and miles and miles of cotton fields. Some had been picked and stacked in the tractor trailer sized “bales” you see out in the fields. I was amazed at how thoroughly the machines now pick the cotton. In the areas they had picked it was hard to know that it had been a crop of cotton (except for the huge “bales” sitting in the field and an occasional ball of cotton). Based on what I remembered seeing years ago in SC and NC, they have made significant improvements in harvesting cotton. I kept hoping the fog would lift and I would get some blue skies to take a few shots of some of the fields awaiting harvest.

Well that’s about it for tonight. I am formulating some new theories about the alien sightings Roswell is famous for. I didn’t make it to the UFO museum, but it is one of several on my list for tomorrow. I’ll sleep on my thoughts and see if I can come up with some insights to share with you tomorrow.

Until then, I’m keeping an eye to the skies looking for unusual and unexplained objects!!!

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