What to do when you boss says "Yes. You can take your 3 weeks of vacation at once"

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Road Trip, Rt 66 and UFO's. Good deal!

PS: When you are in west Texas and on into New Mexico, stop every time you see a gas station. You never know where the next will be. Same goes for the Dakotas. Packing stuff for lunch is also a good idea. You might find a Dairy Queen but that's about it.

Food wasn't an issue as we had a cooler with lunch meats and other stuff. Gas on the other hand came real close. The estimated miles left on the car was at I think 11 miles left when we found a gas station that was still open.

Looks like a fun trip, those mobile chapels are at a lot of truck stops some never move, a guy I worked with years ago would preach at the one near my house but I never went down to hear him. Looking forward to more of your adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome aboard! We laugh everytime the picture of that mobile chapel comes up on teh computer screen.

This is awesome!!!!!!! Can't wait to read more!!!! Don't feel bashful about posting pictures. If you got 3000 post em!!!!

We will see how many I post. I have close to 900 already online. Most of the ones I didn't load are doubles of stuff or so similar that its hard to tel them apart.

This is going to be a fun read!!! We just got home on Thursday from an almost three week traveling vacation.....put on aroung 2,800 miles. It was our third western adventure. We are from the east coast too....NH. However, we fly out west, rent a van and stay in different hotels every night as we travel around. You guys are awesome to do all that traveling and set up a tent every night!!!! My hat goes off to you!!!!!

We LOVE Hershey too!!! We used to sneak in a trip every year. Its only 8 hours from our house to Hershey. We havent been for three years now....darn kids growing up and getting too busy!!!

I hear you about getting gas when you can.....sometimes little towns are few and far between.

Can't wait for your next update!!

We bought a new tent for this trip that was only a 2 pole setup so it would take up less room in the car and be easier to set up. That being said about half of the trip was spent in hotel rooms. Or at a couple of friends houses. Camping was a big money saver for us allowing us to do other things during the day.

Jason, I am so glad you are doing this! Love it so far and looking forward to more!

Glad you could join us Rita.

I love long road trips even when it's someone else doing the driving....you really cover a lot of ground ..fast

Yeah we like to move. The first 3 days we really were cruising but that was because we really wanted to make Roswell for the UFO festival. After this the pace becomes a little more normal. Well for us that is. I am drive all day as part of my job and my wife works and hour away from home so we are both used to being in the car for long periods of time.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Okay continuing on. We last left off with driving towards Roswell. Thankfully we made it to a gas station and continued on to Roswell.

Do you think we are there yet?

Inside the "Museum"

Oooooh Photo Op!

Even the streetlights and the surrounding area gets in on the UFO business.

Here's the outside of the museum.

This was my second trip to Roswell and the museum. It is a fun stop. They have a lot of redacted documents and scraps of "unknown materials" that are purported to come from the 47 Roswell Crash or other UFO phenomena from around the world. Don't expect to see a room with real little green men in it but it is fun.

After the museum we had dinner at Golden Corral and headed out to Bottomless Lakes State Park where we were camping for the night. We will pick up there in the next post.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Heading east from Roswell just a few miles out of town is the Bottomless Lake State Park. I camped here on my last visit and knew it was one of the places I had to take Silvia too.

The state park is a collection of "bottomless" lakes formed by sinkholes that tapped an underground spring. The biggest lake was supposed found to be bottomless when a bunch of cowboys tied their saddles together and could not reach the bottom.

One of the lakes there is setup as a daytime park and swimming area and on the other side a campground. If you are staying at the campground you have full access to swimming int he lake any time you want. But as the camp host told us if you start drowning don't expect me to make it out there to save you. My cane only moves so fast. hahaha.

Ok here are some pictures heading out to the park.

I promise there is water out here.

There is the first sign that we are getting close.

And another

The first of the lakes.

There are a total of 7. I don't think we made it to all 7.

The one by the visitors center.

must be close to photo limit. to be continued.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Continuing on to the lake we will be camping next too.

The water is so clear you can see the bottom in this one f you look closely.

The water is a constant 68 degrees if I remember the temp correctly. It fell so nice and since it is continuosly fed from underground it stays nice and clean. We didnt get to go in that night as we needed to make dinner and get setup, but the next morning we got up around 5 and went swimming before packing up to head out. I think this place is a bigger reason for going to Roswell for me than the museum. Silvia loved it as well.

The view from out campsite.

Last time I stayed here with my buddy we were swimming in the morning before leaving and I was just looking at the lake saying something like I wonder if I can swim across this. Being a couple of guys in our 20's my buddy dared me to do it. I proceeded to swim and he grabbed the camera to document it. Keep in mind there is still a sinkhole in this lake. The first 10-15 feet it slopes down very gradually, then the ground disappears and if I remember correctly it drops 89 feet. I made it across fine but on my way back in the middle of the lake I got a leg cramp. Luckily I am a world class floater so I just flipped on my back and paddled my way across till my leg felt better but if I had panicked who knows what could have happened.

The moral of the story is if you visit here please keep an eye on your kids.

Continuing on.

Some more picture from the next day up on the cliffs overlooking the lake.

In honor of TCD I call this Sunrise over Roswell.

The campground from the cliffs.

great views of the surrounding area from up here.

It was a very ominous sky that morning.

We proceeded to head back into Roswell to gas up and continue our trip west.

Did you know that Roswell is the Dairy capital of the west?

You do now.

After leaving Roswell we headed down the road again. This time on US 390.

Look tumbleweeds

These mountains are about 2 hours away.

time to stretch

I will pick up from here in the next section.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

They sure are capitalizing on the alien stuff out there. I guess when you are as remote as Roswell is, you build your economy around anything you can. That alien crash is the best thing that ever happened to that town.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

We traveled down US 390 to US 70 which took us down towards White Sands. We ran into the Billy The Kid National Scenic Byway Visitors Center.

There is a great tile mural that wraps around the building. We took a couple of select pictures.

After leaving there and switching to US70 we came around a corner to see a strange site in the distance. As we got closer we realized it was a giant pistachio.

This was McGinn's Pistachio farm. Silvia said they were great pistachios. We may be ordering some more from them soon.

Right after McGinn's we saw this on the side of the road.

If anyone sees a giant metal coyote let me know.

Then we made it to White Sands. We did not go into white sands as it is more of an off road excursion and we were definitely not in an off road vehicle. we did get some pics from the border though.

Some of the missile test range mountains.

Even out here you run into something from NASA.

We continued on to Interstate 10 and on into Arizona.

Shortly after getting into Arizona we left the highway to head north. Not sure where I am in picture so that will be in next post.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

They sure are capitalizing on the alien stuff out there. I guess when you are as remote as Roswell is, you build your economy around anything you can. That alien crash is the best thing that ever happened to that town.

I think it was Dave. They do have some other things going on but in terms of tourism the UFO stuff is what everyone wants.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Sorry folks. In checking a map we got off of Interstate 10 while still in New Mexico. We headed up US 70 because we were headed to the Painted Dessert. Our original plan was to get to that this day but the best laid plans often go astray. Due to the wildfires in Arizona we had to detour. We ended up back in New Mexico on some back roads with no cell reception what so ever. Having been out in the west before I expected no cell reception so I had an atlas with us. As the detour was not marked in anyway this was a good thing. After routing around the fire and back into Arizona we realized we had just finished a 4 hour detour and we were not making it to our planned stop for the night.

We stopped at a state park called Lyman Lake State Park. As it was the 4th of July I wasn't sure how we were going to do with getting a site but since the 4th was a monday everybody had to work the next day. We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Heading north into Arizona

The detour took us through some amazing scenery.

Tell me that doesn't look like a foot.

We never would have seen those sights if not for the detour.

Pictures of the campground.

Sunset over Lyman Lake

The ground around the lake was all red clay/dirt. I think we still have some on the tent.

It was a beautiful evening.

The next morning we continued heading north. We had a date with our first National Park of the trip.

I will pick it up from here tomorrow.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

This is soooo awesome Jason!!! Those big sky pictures speak to me!!!!

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

Great updates. Sometimes unplanned detours really are the best.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

The Roswell Museum looks interesting but the Bottomless Lake area is just breathtaking! Great update, Jason!

[4Brians.....Todd 103]

Great report, Jason! I've travelled out west several times, and I think its just beautiful! I need to get my daughters out there soon.

On a side note, my in-laws live outside Harrisburg. Mere minutes from Hershey. If anyone ever needs a chocolate shake from Hershey, send me a few bucks.. I'll gladly stop and get one for you, and tell you all about it...

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I am so enjoying this report! This is something I would never be able to do. I have a difficult time driving an hour and find it hard to be the rider for 2 hours. Can barely make it to the fort and back without going stir crazy. I can read along and pretend I'm there with you!

[stefa70 205]

Great scenic shots! You're Roswell photos are out of this world! Sorry, couldn't resist!

I love pistachios, and have never seen a pistachio farm.

No, that does not look like a foot! (you told me to say that!) ;D

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Is that a palm tree??

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Is that a palm tree??

I just looked at the original on my computer and enlarged that area. Not a palm tree. Looks like some other kind of tree but with he wind we had blowing pretty steady it was lifting all of the foliage to look like one. Could catch though I hadn't even noticed the tree before.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have some wonderful pictures on a side note to self do not plan a trip with you as I do not think I could keep up, you would have to leave a trail for me to follow. Can't wait for more!! :bravo:

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have some wonderful pictures on a side note to self do not plan a trip with you as I do not think I could keep up, you would have to leave a trail for me to follow. Can't wait for more!! :bravo:

Thanks dblr. I will say that when planning this trip it was with the knowledge that it was just Silvia and myself. When we travel with others we do adjust accordingly. Most of the time.

[Disneyzombie-Brenda 10]

Loving your report. We have made that West Texas trip to Roswell and can relate to the lack of gas stations, or anything else for that matter. My DD used to live in Artisa NM, about half way between Roswell and Calsbab Caverns.It was an interesting place to live.

[Seals 111]

Wow!! -- a TR of what is a dream trip for me. The rest of my family has talked about going to Roswell sometime (I'm not so big on aliens). My older DS would love the giant pistachio, esp. if he could eat it. He's adicted but pistachios are expensive.

In Hershey did you go on the free ride in the visitor center? Very Disney like with the singing cows. Plus you get a free chocolate bar at the end. We have been known to detour 40 miles or so from our route to go through Hershey and ride it twice.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Jason-

Awesome job!

I especially enjoyed the sunrise over Roswell photo!

Good job on the writing, too. I liked the roadrunner/coyote reference!

I love how you crossed the country with just your car and a tent. What a great trip it has been so far.

How many hours a day did you drive?

How did you plan for your stops? I saw that you missed one of your planned stops because of that detour. Did you try to make reservations each morning, or did you just wing it?

TCD

[fortpartyof4 108]

What an amazing adventure! Thank you for taking us along. Your pictures are awesome.

Like your wife, I've only ever flown to the West coast. Haven't really been anywhere in between! I hope to do something about that someday.

FP4

[caveat lector 181]

Yes.....definitely a giant foot. Oddly, it looks like the foot from the statue of liberty in ome of the ghostbuster sequels.

[SCTigerCock 171]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. :jumpforjoy

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Jason, what a great TR so far ! I did not know that Roswell had that many people... I always pictured it as a small town with one street and maybe two alleys.. The photos at Bottomless Lake are incredible... So when you were on Route 66, did ya think of the movie "Cars".... come on..... you were looking for the exit to Radiator Springs..... Can't wait for the next update !