Roswell, NM

It must’ve been an alien abduction in Alabama that brought me here to Roswell and it took longer than expected with everything that happened today. Ok, for those who tuned in to find out what my decision was last night, well since there were too many eyes watching me on the road to Childress and it was late, setting up camp at the local city park was my choice. Ran into more kids hanging out down there, but they said the cops wouldn’t bother me so it was sleeping back on top of table night. Was a good night sleep except for the early morning walkers and squiters. My earliest day on the road though, and in these here parts the only time to be riding is the early morning or late night, hell, it’s like riding thru hell in the middle of the afternoon.

Now how did I only get as far as Roswell, well, the day started out with me having lost a screw…ok, not funny, but the one for my camera mount on the bike. It must’ve come loose sometime last night and vibrated its way off the bike…yep, that’s why women like riding Harleys - the vibration. Ok, back to the story, so I’ll just stop at Lubbock and checkout Radio shack and get what I need, right? Well, an early morning ride in these parts required a long sleeve shirt, sounds funny, but it’s surprising as hell, yea the afternoon heat, how cool it gets at night. Anyway, on my early morning ride had the wildlife crossing my path, first a cougar ran in front of me, well it was a big cat so I’ll assume in these parts that’s what it was, had a deer which just missed, I really wish they’d make up their mind and stay on the side they went to instead of backtracking at the last minute right in front of you, had some wild turkeys cross my path and hit a bird…some of those birds dart out and with my fairing get hit before they realize it – actually it was the front tire that got him. Well, once in Lubbock checked out Radio Shack once I finally found it and no luck, headed to Ritz camera and again, no luck with the screw, but we spent half an hour trying to tear a tripod apart for the piece I could’ve used. Ok, next stop, Armadillo camera because they had the ball mounts for tripods that might work, but again, no luck. Hey how about Home Depot and seeing what kind of screw I can find there, well, wouldn’t you know it, with the help of Christy and Brent, got what I needed, probably should’ve been my first stop, but someone wanted me seeing more of Lubbock and I was interested in…thanks Brent for your help.

It sucks trying to get out of Lubbock and took awhile, but eventually on the road to Carlsbad and gained an hour crossing the state border…that’s cool. For as hot as it was and since in the mood for a blizzard, stopped at the first Dairy Queen could find and picked the right one cuz got to talk to Lisa and her daughter Shelby…too bad you couldn’t have gotten your bike and rode Lisa cuz it probably would’ve taught me a few things…now, I learned a valuable lesson in these here parts myself…when you see a sign saying how far the next town is, check your gas and make sure you can make it. The sign outta Hobbs said Carlsbad 87 miles and figured there’d be another small town along the way to get gas, but, no luck…yep, ran out about 3 miles out of Carlsbad and thanks to Wayne who stopped, I might still be sitting there. We drove to his place to get his lawnmower gas, hey, that was the same gas along the river road and eventually got me back to the bike and going, thanks much for the gas Wayne and hope you had enough left to be able to mow your lawn. Back on the road and on my way out of Carlsbad took pictures of what I thought was grass fires, well, once in the middle of it, found out it wasn’t smoke but a dust storm…not to fun getting caught in the middle of that, but had to pull over since couldn’t see and hope no one runs into you. Well, it finally passed enough for me to move on to the caverns. Ok, so I was late for the last elevator down, but I did catch the video so I saw enough. Talked to some other bikers from Kansas and thanks for taking my picture Sandy…yep, I remembered.

Now tonight and Roswell, had troubles finding a room since there’s graduation and some kind of football tournament, but finally found something, took a quick shower, washed the bike and headed here to Farley’s to have a drink and eat. Well, sat next to Eric and Mark, to locals, well for the time being working on a cheese factory down here. Yep, was as surprised as you, cheese in New Mexico, well, Eric is originally from Osceola, then the cities, but moving to Denver and Mark who comes from Green Bay is now in Kansas…hey, that’s where those bikers at the caverns were from…what a small world. Oh, and on the way there ran into Jennifer and Paula leaving school and talked them into coming down to Farley’s…right, if you believe that than anything’s possible, anyway have a good summer ladies.

Hey check this out, my website is now Google-able. Google where-is-webby and it’s the second one on the list…now that’s pretty cool and what’dya know, a Memorial Day Red River Bike Run in New Mexico and it’s on my way…let’s see how red the river runs.

For those traveling this holiday weekend be safe and watch out for guys like me.
Cavern pics.