Roswell, NM

Today we drove to Roswell, where in 1948 an UFO exploded and crashed 50 miles north. It created a defense department incident for many years, and was the basis for many movies, tv shows, and books.

It was a long 60-some mile trip north to Roswell, in the Permian Basin, in the Chihuahuan desert. The basin extends from New Mexico across Central Texas,  and is the home of most of Texas' oil wells. We stopped at IHOP in Artesia, 20 or so miles north of here.. Most of the towns, like Artesia, Roswell, Odessa and Midland owe their existences to the oil industry.

We spent some time at the International UFO Museum and Research Center learning the history of the UFO crash, but as far as a research center, even a museum, it was a dud. Most of the stores across the street and around the block sell "alien" t-shirts and souvenirs, but otherwise Roswell is a small city owing to their existence and a former Army Aviation Training Field, remade into Walker Air Force Base until 1967.

We then left Roswell and returned to the campground. Tomorrow we will be getting wind gusts of 35-40 mph, and Friday up to 50 mph. Fortunately the winds are expected to be a more normal  15-20 mph on Saturday,  when we leave here.