Our USA Adventure - Days 7 to 9 - Lincoln, Roswell & White Sands National Monument

An actual covered overland coach on display in Lincoln

So as I was writing the last blog, Brian was driving towards Lincoln, the county town of Lincoln county. A small and beautifully preserved town, which is not much more than a street. Six of the buildings are open, some just as historic things, but some to tell the story of a five day battle, part of the three year Lincoln County War, that brought the name Billy the Kid into history (not just folklore as I suppose I thought). It all started with an Englishman, John Henry Tunstall, opening a general and grocery store (one of the open buildings and with lots of ‘stuff’ just found stored in the basement). Innocent enough, except it upset James Dolan, one of three men, in charge of the county, due in part to his beef contract with Fort Stanton and his grocers in Lincoln. A posse of Dolan faction assembled in February 1878 to seize Tunstall’s cattle, he rode out and was shot. Billy worked for Tunstall, so sought revenge, firstly by signing affidavits, but when official methods failed by shooting the men who killed him, including Sheriff Bill Brady.

Lots of history here in this building. Originally it was the Murphy-Dolan store, built in 1874 that Henry Tunstall set up in competition to just down the road. The building subsequently became the court house and it was in here on the first floor that Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty but took the name William H Bonney and became known as The Kid or Billy the Kid) was tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and was chained to a bed awaiting his fate. He managed to get deputy Olinger's gun from the armoury and, in leg irons chased deputy Bell to the top of the back stairs and shot him as he ran down the stairs. Deputy Bell crawled out the back door and fell dead outside. Deputy Olinger heard the shot from a nearby hotel and raced to the left of this building. Billy hobbled in chains back to the upstairs window, saw Olinger, shouted through the open window and shot him dead with the deputy's gun. He yelled for someone to come and break off his leg irons, then mounted a horse prepared by a sympathiser and rode out of town whistling

Billy, outlawed and on the run for three years was captured by Sheriff Pat Garret but escaped from the court house (another of the open buildings) shooting two deputies in the process. There is a bullet hole at the bottom of the stairwell that passed through Bell and into the wall. He was finally captured again and shot by Sherriff Pat Garrett aged somewhere between 18 and 21 and having killed possibly 8 people. For an outlaw and a ruffian, I have to say he had very pretty handwriting, in the letters he sent to the governor offering information in return for his freedom. The governor didn’t play ball!

The original first floor courtroom and, in the corner by Jackie the bed he was chained to. He shot Deputy Olinger through the window just to Jackie's left

We left Lincoln for Roswell on the hunt for aliens. Unsurprisingly we didn’t see any, though both the alien museum and the town museum, which had a big display on Robert Goddard, who spent his life working on rockets, were very interesting. Conspiracy? Cover up? Or imagination? I can’t believe we are the only ones here, but that still doesn’t mean aliens crashed at Roswell.

The view Billy had as Deputy Bell ran down these stairs. Do you see the bullet hole in the wall? That was created by the bullet after it had passed through Deputy Bell

What we weren’t expecting was the 100th East New Mexico State fair. We didn’t go for the funfair or the prettiest chicken, but we did stand on Main Street for three hours watching the parade. Starting off with the police and fire engines, followed by the students and marching band of the New Mexico Military Academy, it finally finished off with three cement mixer lorries! Everyone was out for the morning, either partaking or lining the street, the kids mostly there for the candy that was being thrown! I quickly learnt to say to all the political representatives seeking election/re-election that we weren’t local, so don’t waste your time!

Deputy Bell made it through that door and died where the plaque is

Today we have driven west again (so far we’ve really only done a big circle) passing along a very scenic road that went to 8600’ at Cloudcroft (Ben Nevis is 4407’) before stopping at White Sands National Monument. Amazing looking desert, where the sand is gypsum, very white, fine and cool to walk on despite it being nearly 30 degrees! The unmade, white road really looked to Brian like it should be icy and slippery, very confusing for our little brains! An interesting area between Holloman airforce base and the White Sands missile base, from where Trinity, the first nuclear bomb was exploded. The visitor centre is currently closed or we’d have had to fit that in as well as the Museum of Space history which we have also passed. Closed on Tuesday!

Deputy Olinger heard the shot from this building, the Wortley Hotel (this is a rebuilt exact copy after the original burnt down some years ago) whilst having a meal with some friends. Its just across the street from the courthouse

Tonight is just a quick overnight on the edge of Las Cruces, where our guide for Spaceport America lives, I said we’ve just been around in a big circle!

This would have been Deputy Olingers last sight. As he ran up to the building Billy shouted to him from the upstairs window there. As he looked up Billy shot him the the Deputy's own gun

This was the Tunstall store just down the street that kicked of the Lincoln County War that left a quarter of the population of this small town dead

Inside Tunstall's store which, we are told, is pretty much as it was in his day

And this is a photograph of Billy the Kid. Was he a villain or a hero? To put  it in context, Lincoln County was a quarter the size of New Mexico, a huge area, and had only one Sherriff. It meant that people could do pretty much as they wanted - and they did. Dolan and Murphy were ex military and enjoyed the beef business from nearby Fort Stanton, where they used to be. They were all powerful and the Sherriff was in the pay of them. When John Henry Tunstall came to town to set up in competition and try to get the Fort Stanton beef business he expected the law to protect him, but he didn't understand how things worked there. Billy sought revenge for his killing and a group of them formed a band called The Regulators to try to find justice. Pat Garrett was appointed sherriff and took it upon himself to hunt him down, which he did in nearby Fort Sumner, where he shot him

Arriving in Roswell. We had to stop for a photo at this iconic sign

The unexpected bonus was the State Fair parade through the town. Why it was occurring on a Monday we don't know

but the road was packed with spectators, 70+ carnival floats, marching bands, fire engines, police and all sorts

Even some antique tractors trundling along

Further down the street we came across this impressive statue of John Chisum, the legendary man who first drove cattle into this part of New Mexico and opened it up as cattle country

So, with that, we walked into the UFO museum and Roswell really does dine out on the 'Roswell Incident' in 1947. So, to recap, in late June 1947 something came in from outerspace and crashed into the Foster ranch about 40 miles north of here. What it was, we don't know, but apparently most people would have carried on regardless, except the US military sealed off the area and carted off debris to 'Area 51' in Nevada (we're going past that later in our trip hopefully). Rumour has it that a flying saucer was struck by lightning and crash landed in the ranch. Witnesses stated that four dead alien bodies were close by along with thin aluminium foil parts that returned to their original shape after crushing in the hand. Anyone who saw it were taken away by the military and, when they returned they followed the official line that it was a weather balloon. The story has been blown up out of all proportion since, but what really happened and what is in Area 51? Only official sources know! 

The museum is a delight and I loved this exhibit that spoke alien voices and puffed out dry ice. There are many stories of witness accounts of alien encounters throughout the ages, including a plausible argument that they came here after the atomic bomb explosion at Trinity and then the two in Japan that sent shockwaves through the universe and alerted other intelligent lifeforms that they were not alone and Earth was the place to find it.

I have to confess, I didn't read all the witness reports but did play a few videos of officials admitting to what they saw against official orders. It is quite believable

This is a reconstruction of what they believe happened in Area 51. A dead alien undergoing an autopsy

As I say, Roswell really makes the most of it. There are alien statues everywhere. Even MacDonalds is in the shape of a crashed spaceship and petrol stations have aliens to welcome you. It's a fun place to be

I thought these sort of cars only appeared in movies, but I snapped this car at some traffic lights. The back went down, then it raised up like this, then the front went up as well - its just mad!

We saw this in another museum, the Roswell museum. It was mainly devoted to Doctor Goddard, considered to be the father of rockets. Apparently, once the German rocket engineers were captured after WWII and asked to hand over their secrets they said they were only copying Dr. Goddards work. But they would say that wouldn't they! However, the exhibit certainly showed some huge strides forward in rocket engineering by him, so perhaps the US were the pioneers and not the Germans. Anyway, this sculpture is called Sputnik Returned by a chap called Brandon Vickerd

Snapped this on the very scenic US82 through Lincoln Forest today. After climbing steadily on the  road to a height of over 8000 feet (no wonder I was developing a headache!) we travelled rapidly downhill (engage low gear!) to this fabulous viewpoint

Sitting on one of the rocks in the valley was this little chap. He thought he was unseen, but my 40:1 zoom picked him out nicely!

On from there we went to White Sands National Monument (the entrance charge would have been $25, but we paid $80 for an annual pass to all National Parks in the US. It means it will give us entry to places like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Sequoia and others, making it a bargain). This is not snow, but gypsum. It's an amazing landscape, quite surreal. Apparently sediment in prehistoric seas laid this stuff down over millenia. It reappeared during tectonic upheaval, water eroded it and washed it to this area where wind and rain did the rest.

The grains are amazingly fine, as you can see

Plants that grow here have to be very adaptive as the sands can shift enormously in a day of high  winds, burying plants. These Yucca plants grow quickly to stop them being buried and, apparently, this could be up to 7 feet high but buried to this level

Here's one that hasn't yet been buried. Quite tall aren't they

Here's a lesson in evolution. These little lizards have evolved to be white to blend in with the white background. Its a relatively small area and they live only here. I've got a number of really nice photos of these 

Got this photo too that I'm particularly pleased with. It's a blue tailed lizard and he really didn't want his photo taken. I followed him for a long time until I got this - and can they run fast!

It really is a surreal landscape. Having spent a lot of time skiing, our senses are telling us this is snow and this road must be sheet ice and to drive very carefully. It was just under 30 degrees C outside which played havoc with the world we know, but inside the car with the aircon on, who would know. The piles at the side are where it's been ploughed, just like in the snow

By all accounts White Sands is amazing at sunset and it would have been nice to stay there until then, but sunset is around 6:30pm and we had some 50 miles to our final destination in Las Cruces and wanted dinner, so we left. This is at the hotel next door to where we are staying. It's apparently the biggest chilli in the world (although they say chile here)

Dinner for us was at the Ice Box in Las Cruces, about 1/2 mile walk from our hotel. 15 hand pulled beers on tap and a fabulous BBQ selection to eat. These are English 20oz pints not the US 16oz pints! Fabulous end to a great day!