A not so wow drive today....

Leaving Santa Fe and heading south , the land became flat and arid, with little to break the landscape, save for a bush here and there.   We drove through a couple of ghost towns, that weren't quite......a few remaining inhabitants among boarded up gas stations and houses.  Because of the proximity to the tracks, I imagine them to be  railroad towns that dried up when passenger trains ceased to run.  In any case,  relics from the wild west days of mining.  Amazing that there were any inhabitants today at all, given the appearance and location.  There were also a  couple of gigantic ranches, which again made me wonder how anyone could be happy living in so remote and isolated a place.  But hey....to each his own!  Many cannot understand how we can travel in a motorhome, right??  

We came upon the town or Roswell, of alien fame, and Clem was adamant about not stopping!  Convinced it will be all hokey......but since I am the driver, I decided we must at least drive through town, rather than taking the bypass!  Way larger than I would have expected, and way lacking in aliens!!!   A few here and there, but let me just say if I had owned a piece of property or business, there would definitely be an alien statue or something of that nature!  Clem did snap a few photos, which I will post later.  A stop along the roadside  provided a historical marker photo on my phone, and the story of Roswell's beginning......which had nothing to do with aliens!  

We found an RV park in Carlsbad, NM, not far from Carlsbad Caverns, and will spend the next day or so exploring what has been a National Park since the 30's, and a World Heritage since 1995.  I read today that there are only 20  World Heritage Sites in the US, and this is will be our second this trip!  There is a very interesting story about this park, and Franklin D Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps and the work they did here.  Can't wait to see it!