Well, the jackpot ended up at $195,000,000 and, naturally, I didn't win squat. Life still goes on. I'll just be broke again, instead of absolutely filthy stinkin' rich.

The drive into Roswell took a bit longer than I had thought, due to some major construction. It was a pretty drive, however. The sun was shining, the clouds were just perfect, hefty midwestern clouds... a gorgeous day.

To be perfectly honest, Roswell is a little bit of a letdown. I was half expecting to drive through the UFO capital of the world. Yes, there are a handful of stores that sell nothing but UFO and alien related merchandise. Yes, there's a wonderful museum (no admission fee, but donations are always accepted) filled with information on the infamous Roswell UFO crash on July 8th, 1947 and other UFO incidents. But that seems to be about it. It's the town's only well-known claim to fame, and that's all there is as far as I can tell. At least they play good music around here.

The UFO museum (actually, it's The International UFO Museum and Research Center) has a daily tour that lasts about two and a half hours which takes you to the crash site, roughly 50 miles out of town (which makes me wonder why Roswell is famous for it, but I digress). The museum is a warehouse-sized room filled with drawings, reports, photographs, paintings, interviews and more, all trying desperately to prove that aliens have been here. I believe that extraterrestrial life exists. I even believe aliens might have visited our planet. But somehow, this place seemed to make the whole idea some sort of mockery. I don't know.. I just think it goes overboard a bit. But when it's your whole town's only worldwide claim to fame, I guess you have no choice but to go all the way with it. Anyhow, the tour to visit the crash site costs $30 a person, which seemed rather pricey to me, so I declined and went to see "Godzilla" instead.

The motel I'm staying at is right on Rt. 70 West, five minutes from town. I'm planning on waking up early tomorrow, and heading out to the crash site myself. From what I was told at the museum, the crash site is on private property, but I'm going to see if I can still get there. So if you're planning on driving through Roswell, check tomorrow's journal update to see whether or not you'd have to take the tour to visit the site. Ah, the sacrifices I make for my country. What a guy.

My father's flying into Albuquerque tomorrow afternoon to spend a little bit of my trip with me. We'll be visiting Sante Fe, Colorado's Mesa Verde, the Four Corners monument, and probably the Grand Canyon, before I drop him off for his return flight to DC from Phoenix. From there, I'll be venturing out into the Arizona wilderness on my own, with no particular itinerary. I just need to be in Las Vegas by the 1st of June. So... tomorrow, the Roswell crash site (I hope), and Albuquerque!

See you on the road...

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