Cross Country - Days 9 - 11

The last three days I have been at several places in New Mexico and Arizona. The main stops were:

- the Very Large Array (VLA),
- Roswell,
- the White Sands National Monument,
- and Phoenix.

The Very Large Array was a very nice treat between all the dull driving. Roswell in my opinion was a wasted day. In one of the Motels I stayed I had breakfast and chatted a little with this older lady that took care of the buffet. When I asked her about Roswell she made these big eyes and just whispered "it's different!". At that point I decided to check it out, but as it turned out, there isn't really much to see - unless I missed something. Okay, there is the UFO museum, But it looks like it hasn't been updated in any way since the 1980s. Maybe that's what she meant. The whole town seemed to got stuck 15 years ago. But that's not even much compared to many other parts of New Mexico. The most entertaining thing in Roswell was watching the History Channel with a documentary about ancient aliens. But you really don't need to drive all the way to Roswell to watch the History Channel. It was just a coincidence that this show was on.

White Sands on the other hand is a really interesting and photogenic place. I managed to get up very early and be in the park before anybody could pollute the landscape with their footsteps. Results will follow soon.

A couple of hours ago I arrived in Phoenix. Before that I explored some scenic back roads here in Arizona, and ran into a border patrol checkpoint. It's funny: a scene you usually only know from the airport took place there somewhere in the bushes. I had to show my passport and got my whole car X-Rayed. A guy from Germany with a car from New Jersey packed with boxes and suitcases somewhere in the landscape of Arizona? I would scan him too if I would be border patrol. I would scan him twice.

But how do you X-Ray a car? They have this X-Ray truck that they move back and forth next to it. It must be some sort of backscatter technique as they had no device for ray-detection on the other side of the car.. I asked for the image, but they couldn't give it to me.

When approaching Phoenix I saw the very first sign that said San Diego. I could basically go "home" any time now.