Sept 17th to 20th - to Roswell NM

Sept 17th - Thurs - Bernalillo
It rained most of last night and was still raining this morning so we watched TV in bed for a while before getting up. Then we went to the nearby Santa Ana Casino to take advantage of a inexpensive breakfast - $2.99 for eggs, bacon, potatoes & toast. They also have very good coffee which I found out was Douwe Egberts. The waitress said she found it at one Smith’s grocery store. I did some digging on the internet and it can be ordered but is more expensive than I thought a restaurant would use as “everyday” coffee.
We got $5 free play on our cards and I got an additional $5 for rolling dice in a promotion so that started us off. Terry won somewhat at first while I was headed down fast. But, as usual, things can turn around quickly and I ended up giving Terry more money and we still broke even for the day.
It was still gloomy & sprinkling when we finished in the casino so we returned to the rig to hibernate & have dinner.

Sept 18th - Fri - Bernalillo
Some work on the computer this morning before we took advantage of the cheap breakfast again at the casino - at 11:30. Rolled the dice again for another $5 which didn’t make me rich! So we went to the Sandia Casino just down the road (please don’t send any Gambler’s Anonymous info!). I was not so lucky today so we finally spent our allowance several hours later.
We drove through downtown “historic” Bernalillo on the way back but didn’t see anything that we wanted to check out. It was nice enough to sit outside for a while and chat with neighbors before coming inside for dinner.

Sept 19th - Sat - to Roswell NM
We were heading to Santa Rosa today but didn’t like the look of the big empty RV park there so continued on to Roswell. Not exactly the shortest way to get here but ………..
We drove into an RV park here and went into the office to get a site. There were instructions about choosing a site, filling out a form and putting money in a drop box (this is about 2:00 pm). The sign concluded with the admonition that “if you can’t do this, then don’t stay here”. So we didn’t!
We continued on the road heading for a state park but saw a camping sign, pulled in and got a spot at the Red Barn RV park. There was no one in the office here but the sign was a little more friendly and said they would come see you when they returned. It is a small, very clean park with mostly long term campers. Our “back yard” is a huge hay field.
The weather was lovely so we just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the day at the park.

Sept 20th - Sun - Roswell
Just about the time that we decided to get up, motorcycles started roaring past the RV park. There was a big motorcycle rally in Ruidoso, everyone was headed home and many of them were going east past here.
After I made breakfast, we saw someone in the office so went to register. We spent quite some time getting the scoop on the area and sharing places that we have been with the owner.
Then we went to town - only a couple of miles- to do some sightseeing. There are 5 museums here so we checked out 2 today including the “official” Roswell UFO museum. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the UFO incident that finally put Roswell on the map - in 1947 there was a report of a UFO that crashed in a field. According to most residents (then & later), the incident was covered up by the government who claimed it was a weather balloon that crashed. The silence continued for 30 years until someone started digging and wrote a book.
The other museum had a lot of art and a huge collection of native and cowboy memorabilia donated by one couple to the museum. I was amazed at what passes for art. One canvas was painted a solid light green and titled “Celadon”. Give me a break!
Roswell is much larger that I thought it would be and has a big military academy. We decided to stay here for a week as it seems like there is a lot to do & see.