6-3-09 Wednesday (I’d Like to Buy an E)

Greeting from Roswell, NM. The first order of business after getting the site set up was to prepare for the aliens. We donned our foil hats and went outside as if to taunt the aliens. “Screw you guys, you’re not getting into our heads! There’s not enough room in there.” Here we are at the Red Barn RV park. It’s so cute here and right behind us is farmland.

Above: We came back into the coach after taking photos and couldn’t believe Dasher was ready for the aliens too!

We chit-chatted with the property owner Lee for a while. She told us the things to do around here. As we were chatting a stray cat caught a lizard and proudly walked by with it hanging from it’s mouth. See, it’s already getting strange.

On our way to the UFO Museum, a strange thing happened. We saw bright lights and heard noise. Oh, it was a police car. But wait, then we saw a crash.

We helped an alien from the wreckage.

With no Speak and Spell available, we brought it to a pay phone to call home. Yeah, we had cell phones but can you imagine the cost?

Mr. Alien took us out for a few drinks as a “thank you” while he waited for his comrades.

Mr. Alien’s friends came to pick him up and offered us a ride in their cool space ship. Jim had a hard time adjusting to the gravity conditions.

I hung out in the lounge and chatted with an alien. He said he’d read our blog. The top of his head looks like buttocks.

On the ship’s balcony, I grilled up some burgers for our new friends.

Sorry Jim, I didn’t know you were in there.

These guys can’t drive very well. It was a rough landing!

Jim begged the aliens to take me with them. Turned out they didn’t want me either. They said their food supply was scarce and that the ships had weight limits.

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We stopped in several alien themed stores. Most were filled with trinkets and other useless stuff but I honestly thought they were pretty lame. I was surprised they didn’t have that much in the stores. We came across one store that seemed to step out of the typical green and gray alien motif and integrated Star Trek and Star Wars stuff and even then they didn’t have much. Cautious about what they stock? or a sign that tourism is down?

When we came into town, the “welcome to Roswell” sign was – well a disappointment. We were excited with anticipation about what we WANTED Roswell to be about. Look at the slogan on the welcome sign. Lame. Yeah, I think Roswell and immediately think about Bessie the cow. Hello!

The sad thing is that we’ve probably seen all the alien themed stores today. We’ve also probably seen all the businesses that try to carry on the Roswell tradition. An Arby’s sign had an “Alien’s Welcome” integrated into it’s commercial sign. A McDonald’s was very cool to look at, enough for us to go inside and snap some photos.

How cool is that? Thanks McDonalds. We went food shopping later in the evening. Here’s Walmart:

Here’s some photos from Main Street. I love all the lamp posts. Main Street is where the UFO Museum and the gift shops reside.

Here’s some cool stuff from within the museum:

While driving around town, here’s 2 oddities we spotted:

Above: A friend, John Anderson, always commented on strange business combinations which stemmed from a scam in Immokalee, FL upteen years ago. It was about migrant workers being scammed out of money from a place that said it was a bank and something else. Ever since that story, I’ve always thought of my own unlikely combinations. Perhaps combinations that might should tell you something's wrong. “Fred’s Bakery and Pest Control” or “Greg’s Mortuary and Sausage Factory”. They’re just not right. Really. Anyway, Jim spotted this strange combo today. Tires and appliances. What the ?

Above/Below: I take credit for spotting this one. Is it Walley or Wally? What’s the story? The sign guy screwed up and gave them the sign for free? Wally never even noticed the spelling error since he’s so busy with his other business of manure sales? What the ?

We ate at a CiCi’s pizza buffet tonight. Don’t pick on me. I know, I know. The point is I have to tell you how annoyingly nice the staff was. They screamed welcomes to us as we came in the door. All 4 of the employees in the front half of the store. Not in unison either, which probably made it worse. About 6 times they asked if I was “finding everything OK”. Why, were they hiding shit on me? I overheard an employee conversation which ended with “thanks, I appreciate you.” A manager type person left and we heard 5 screamed farewells Rick. When Jim and I left, we shouted thanks to the front counter employee before she could say anything. She grinned. It was like eating at a restaurant staffed by Stepford people. It was kind of annoying and borderline eerie. The only thing creepier would have been if they had broken out in song.