_           We got a fairy early start from the Cibola National Forest, somewhere between McGaffney and Fort Wingate.  A few miles down I-40, we ventured into Grants to explore a bit more of the Historic Route 66.  After I-40 by-passed the small town, Grants was not kept up quite like Williams, so we made our way down Main Street until it crossed the interstate again and took us to the interagency Visitors’ Center.  The helpful Park Service and Forest Service rangers directed us to the local coffee shop as well as to take a more scenic route to Roswell than the one we had originally charted.  Before setting off for the land of the alien encounters, we enjoyed coffee and muffins at Cocoa Beans Café and left our mark on the map there as the first customers from both Talkeetna and Tallahassee.

_      Getting into southern New Mexico, highway 380 brought us to the edge of the White Sands Missile Range, the location of the Trinity Site, the site of the first atomic detonation by the United States.  We hoped that we could check out some of our nation’s nuclear history, but the security guard at the gate politely notified us that it was a secured military installation and we certainly were not welcome beyond the gate.  Passing White Sands, we stopped for a quick lunch at a “roadside table” before hitting the road again.  Unfortunately, this time the road hit back, and we suffered a flat tire.  Not just any flat tire, but approximately a half inch gash that left air gushing out the tread.  Before we lost too much, we jumped back in and milked the Pilot into the parking lot of the Capitan Municipal High School to switch it out.  Our goal was to be back on the road before school got out for the day, but we weren’t that quick, and we became our own sort of tourist attraction for the juniors and seniors who were driving home.

_      We rolled into Roswell significantly later than planned, arriving at the International UFO Museum and Research Center with only twenty minutes left until closing.  While we didn’t have time to read all of the newspaper clippings, letters, and other information in the exhibit, we still learned a lot about the “Roswell Incident” and close encounters of the first, second, and third kinds.  Perhaps the best part of our visit there was when a fog machine came on, filling the center room with a cloud while the flying saucer started spinning and the aliens started communicating(?).

_      After the museum closed, there was not a lot to do in Roswell, according to both the museum attendant who suggested going to the local cinema and to the gift shop clerk/novelist/alien enthusiast who suggested checking out the town library.  So, we got out of there faster than the little green guys back in 1947 (or faster than the military cover-up, if you choose to believe that chain of events).  Back on Highway 380 East, we crossed the border into Texas and started scoping out a place to throw up our tent for the night.  Our search led us to the Glenn Howell Park in Brownfield, where we were able to make a delicious pasta dinner, watch the stars, and sleep by the peaceful lake.

_ .  And, as is the state custom in Nevada, there was a scuzzy little gambling hall called the Say When Casino located just feet over the border.  The Say When is open 24 hours, and it has 25 cent slots, so to celebrate getting to Nevada we stopped.  Even at 6:30 in the morning there was a crowd inside.  We walked to the closest slot machines to the door and dropped in our quarters; with Chase’s quarter he won back 50 cents, and is probably the only person in the state of Nevada who is currently 100% ahead in gambling winnings.

_      From Winnemucca we jumped on the I-80 for a short hop to Battle Mountain and then took Highway 305 south to Austin.  Highway 305 felt like an extremely lonely road, and it didn’t seem that there was any reason for someone to drive it unless they lived or worked out there; and despite a couple ranches and mines, we can only assume very few people lived or worked out there.  Ironically, Highway 305 dead-ended into Highway 50, which is billed as the Loneliest Highway in America (despite having more tourist traffic).  Highway 50, though, is an amazing road.  We immediately entered the town of Austin, which is a quaint little mountain town.  Steeped in gold rush (and oddly enough, Pony Express) history, the town was situated at 6,600 feet elevation and when we pulled in the air temperature was exactly 100 degrees.  We did the only obvious thing, and stopped at the Toiyabe Café for ice cream.

_      On our way out of Austin the road started climbing, and climbing, and climbing, until we finally reached Austin Summit at 7,484 feet, which has been our highest elevation of the trip.  From there it was all downhill.  (Las Vegas is all the way down at 2,181 feet elevation.)  Highway 50 to Highway 376 to Tonopoh to Highway 95 to Las Vegas!  On the way we passed some sketchy-looking military outposts in the desert, including the alleged Area 51; we also passed Angel’s Ladies, a legal brothel in the desert, though we didn’t want to investigate the quality of the ladies who would choose to work in the rural desert when Las Vegas was less than hour away.  Managing to avoid military security, aliens, and prostitutes, we soon found ourselves driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, more popularly known as The Strip.

_      Pulling into the Stratosphere, we commented that neither one of us could remember the last time we had been in a parking structure so large.  The hotel has more than 2,800 rooms, making it approximately ten times the size of the Hotel Alyeska, where Chase works in the winter.  Exiting from the parking garage, guests must drag all of their luggage with them from one end of the casino to the other to check-in for the room before dragging all their belongings back across the casino to get to the elevator.  There are three elevator banks, depending on which part of the hotel your room is in.  We finally found our elevator bank, and sped up to the sixteenth floor for our mountain-view room.  We barely left the room, instead relaxing and reveling in the fact that for the first time since July we had walls, electricity, air conditioning, a shower, and a bed.