New Mexico (NM) – 2. Artesia and Roswell

As part of our visit to the Carlsbad area, we headed north a half hour and came to a small town called Artesia (pop 10,000). On the way, we noted the oil rigs in the field just like in TX. What was different were the rigs on the side of the road where you could buy water from wells - guess it's hard to get in those parts.

We arrived in Artesia and the main street is essentially the cross-road of the two county roads. The downtown area was surprisingly busy and well appointed. There were a number of bronze statues on the main street – here’s one of them:


We settled ourselves in the local resto/bar for lunch and learned a lot in that couple of hours by asking questions of the bartender and the patrons. I was very interested in the fact the town is a national federal enforcement training site for US Border Patrol and for US Air Marshalls. Based on the expected length of their training, I guessed the facility provided residential services as well.

And in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, it was also very interesting that Artesia had built an underground elementary school back in the early 1960’s. Keeping in mind that the 1st experimental atomic bomb was released just west of there at White Sands, we concluded the town council felt more confident once there was a fallout shelter in case of nuclear warfare!

We had no plan other than to have lunch that day but we learned a whole lot more than we ever dreamed. We returned to our campsite for our last night in Carlsbad and shook our heads at what we discovered about Artesia.

We left the next morning fairly early because we wanted to arrive in Albuquerque in the early afternoon. The road to Albuquerque took us north through Roswell, NM. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this place but a drive-thru was all we needed. This is the place where, in June 1947, people from the area reported seeing a ‘flying disc’ and, the next day, a ranch hand discovered unknown metal debris in his field. Within a few days, everyone in Roswell was completely confident there had been an extra-terrestrial visit and 'someone' actually saw the aliens. At the time, the nearby US Air Force Base claimed the debris and determined it to be a ‘weather balloon’. A series of investigations, old and new, keep the town alive with memories of what might have been.

As we drove down Roswell's main street, the local movie theatre of days gone by had been turned into an alien museum. There were alien figures everywhere urging travelers to stop at local motels. Even Ronald McDonald had a buddy at the curb side – a balding large-eyed green creature with four fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot! Sorry – no photos – I was in awe and forgot to take some!

Alas, we continued our travels north and didn’t stop. Neither did we detour to the supposed grave of Billy the Kid near Fort Sumner – after all, Billy is now old, alive and well and living in Alberta, right?

Next stop is Albuquerque – 250 miles north and a bit west… join me in a few days… m.