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Keith's Big Ride - Clinton, Oklahoma to Eloy, Arizona
Leg 8 - Oklahoma - Texas - New Mexico - Arizona
Approx. 920 miles Day 1- Clinton, Oklahoma to Roswell, NM 390 miles Today is going to be my first smart day in a while. I'm going to outsmart the heat and the unforgiving sun this time.  I leave the Ramada Inn in Clinton, Oklahoma just after 7 am. Unlike the touring Irishmen I ran into last night, of whom there is no sign except for their bikes sitting patiently in the parking lot, I am going to skip the Route 66 Museum in Clinton. It doesn't open for at least a couple more hours, and I have places to go and miles to cover before that. The guys told me last night that it will take them another 7 days to get from Clinton, Oklahoma to Los Angeles. I'm going to cover a similar route in 3 days. They seem to be sticking faithfully to their mission of following the now extinct and almost mythical Route 66. Even if it takes them through thousands of traffic lights, and dozens of dead end roads. As one of them said: "We signed up for the Route 66 tour and that's what we're gonna do." Have at it guys. Route 66 doesn't necessarily hold any magical appeal for me. And a good deal of it is far from scenic, so I figure, what's the point? I'd rather be pragmatic about my travels, picking the most scenic routes I can (as long as they kind of go in the right direction) and picking a quick straight line when I need to make time. But spending two solid weeks of riding, staying on one route simply because of its number (Historic Route 66), and in many cases missing a bunch of much better biking roads along the way - thanks, but I'll pass. I don't care what the route # sign says, I'll take the bike-friendly routes. But have fun anyway guys - just hope you learned your lesson about not getting duped into believing you can't buy beer - hate to see a Irishman suffering from beer deprivation. Anyway, back to today. I hop on the I-40 heading West out of Clinton. At this time of day, it's relatively quiet and still cool enough to be enjoyable. A far cry from my trials and tribulations on the I-40 the past couple of days. I hold the throttle steady at about 75 MPH and start gobbling up the miles.  I'm getting close to home (Encinitas, CA), at least relatively speaking, and after having been away for almost 4 weeks at this point, I'm itching to be back to " home sweet home."  I pass dozens of reminders that this is Route 66 country, including at least 3 Route 66 Museums.
I was vaguely familiar with the idea of Route 66 as a nostalgic road trip, but I didn't realize that a whole industry had grown up around it. Go figure!
The 60 is not bad, pretty good as a matter fact, and I have my grin back as I watch the countryside change from green pastures to grain fields, and finally to high-desert scrub brush.
Stop in Clovis at the Visitor Info Center, where two friendly staff seem to have been waiting for hours for someone to show up. I take advantage of the air conditioning and pull out my map to figure out my next move. I want to ride for maybe a couple more hours, then hide out during the hottest hours of the mid-afternoon, then rack up some more miles this evening. And I'd like to do this away from the Interstate. I have a couple of options, both of them pretty attractive, given the geographic diversity of New Mexico. I can continue west on Highway 60, which will take me deep into Arizona, crossing several mountain ranges and National Forest areas - not a bad option! Or I can drop down southwest on Highway 70 and cut across southern New Mexico instead. I've never done the southern route before, so my curiosity is leading me in that direction. Then the staff at the Info center chime in with their opinion - "Did you know that Roswell is having its UFO Festival this weekend?" I am asked. Huh? This is true serendipity - an UFO festival in Roswell. It's a no-brainer. I make a comment (I presumed it was humorous) that it should be pretty strange in Roswell with all those UFO/abductee nutjobs in town. I don't get a laugh in resonse, not even a chuckle - just a cold glare from both of them. I guess these two are part of the UFO crowd, and I just insulted their "religion." Oops! Learn to take a joke , guys! I head Southwest on the 70. A really nice road, a divided 2-laner with desert landscape, and absolutely no traffic. Yeah - the grin is back, along with the usual off-key singing.
I try to imagine what I'm going to see in Roswell. Just what happens at a festival of UFO true-believers? Do they try to levitate? Do they stare up at the sky a lot? Do they stand around sharing their abduction stories?  Who knows - but I'm about to find out for myself. The first impression of Roswell is not too encouraging. It's really hot (about 100 F), and i have to endure about 3 miles of stoplights in heavy traffic going past car dealers, motels, and malls on the way into town. It's well past high noon, and my schedule calls for a hiding spot with air conditioning and an internet connection - the sooner the better! I hit the downtown strip, which is crowded with tourists in cars and on foot. Every second or third retail establishment seems to be in on the UFO thing - from the Coverup Cafe, to the Roswell Landing store, to the UFO Research Center.
I see a sign for expresso and an internet connection at a place called "Not of This World Cafe" and figure that's the place for me. The Not of This World Cafe is hopping with tourists, and I opt for the quieter back room with my laptop and a sandwich. Although it's quieter back here, there's a DVD playing of some guy giving an academic sounding lecture on the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. He manages to tie in Einstein, Euclidean principles, the Bible, the Talmud, Atlantis, Egypt, Machu Pichu, and dozens of arcane theories I had never heard of. Wow!!!!  There's a group of folks at a table close by and they strike up a conversation with me. "Are you going to the concert tonight? You should check it out man, we're the band, and we're the only band in the world with an Alien drummer - for real, man!" It's awesome! I figure the guy doing the talking is the lead singer - he's pretty enthusiastic about tonight's show, and I file the thought away for the meantime. After all, I have never seen an alien, let alone an alien that plays drums in a rock band. I may not get this chance again. I drift back to my stuff, and over the next hour overhear the most amazing conversations I can remember. People are comparing notes on the conspiracy theories on the most arcane ideas imaginable. They all have one thing in common though - "....it's a conspiracy, man." Here's a few of the conspiracies I remember hearing about: - "they" (I guess the government) has an old document that was left by aliens, instructing that the population of the earth should be capped at 500,000 people. The guy who tells this one adds, kind of matter-of-factly, that 'they" have a plan to kill most of us off in the next 3 years - so they can meet the numbers, of course. - one guy quotes a bunch of bible verses that he says are absolute proof that Jesus was an alien - another guy explains that aliens are here with us right now, all the time. They have taken on life-forms that we recognize as vegetables, and they are just keeping an eye on us until they are ready (I don't get the finale on this one, but am curious). The funny (scary?) part of this experience is that these guys all seem serious - they actually believe this stuff. Amazing!!! Hope they don't have guns! I decide this is just too precious, and change my plans. Instead of moving on when the sun is lower, and getting a few more miles in for the day, I decide to spend the night in Roswell. This is just too good to miss. I am directed to a camping spot at the Bottomless Lakes State Park, about 15 miles Southeast of town on the 380.
Beautiful little spot beside a series of small deep lakes in the middle of an otherwise dry desert. Set up the tent and head back to town to see how freaky it will get after dark. As it turns out, the festival is pretty much a non-event. There is a very, very small parade early in the evening, involving a few local folks on bicycles, walking, or driving, most of them dressed in some kind of UFO or alien theme. But it is pretty underwhelming, lasting only a few minutes.
I talk to a few other people over dinner and drinks. They seem normal, as do the all the people along the street gathered for the parade. I guess I may have met all the "true believers" earlier this afternoon, because everyone else appears to be local folks out with their kids, or tourists in town for the weekend. Hmmm - no aliens, no UFOs, no beams of light from the sky - what gives. PS - if you don't know the Roswell story - here it is in a nutshell. In July 1947 (?) a couple called the authorities to say they had just seen some disk-like object land near their ranch. Roswell is surrounded by military bases and facilities, so a vehicle was sent out to pick this thing up. The next day, the local newspaper printed an article quoting a military officer as confirming that it was an alien spaceship, and that it was being moved to another location for study. This caused an uproar, as you can imagine. The following day, the folks from the nearby weather research station claimed it was actually one of their weather balloons. They were experimenting with radar technology and had hung disk-chaped metallic shapes on the balloons to act as a reflector for the radar, and this one had come down. The government refused to say any more on the matter - and the conspiracy theory of the great Roswell UFO coverup was born, complete with an accompanying conspiracy theory about the government's secret alien research facility at "Area 51." The stories continue to this day, over 60 years later, fueled by true believers such as the folks I met in the "Not of This World Cafe." Oh well, they seem harmless. As for the alien drummer for the rock band that night - check out the photos. All I can say is that I saw what I saw folks - an alien playing drums!
Day 2 - Roswell, NM to Eloy, AZ 530 miles Packed up at the Bottomless Lake campground and was out of there by 6:30 AM, just as the sun was poking over the cliffs from the East.
Looks like it's going to be an awesome day. I'm going to follow Highway 70 West to Las Cruces, New Mexico (about 180 miles). There's about 80 miles of mountain roads in the middle of the route, and plenty of elevation for most of the rest of the route. I'll figure out where to go after Las Cruces once I get there. I find I'm shivering as I head west out of Roswell and start climbing. However, I resist any temptation to put on more clothes, and decide instead to just revel in the cooler temperatures. This is a welcome change. Remember, I still have some very big hot deserts to cross in the next couple of days.
But I have to stop in to see and old friend in Arizona, so I scale back my enthusiasm, and settle in the saddle for a 500+ mile day instead. That should be plenty. But nevertheless, I'm thrilled with the idea that I'm almost home, after all these miles on my Big Ride (closing in on 6,000 miles so far).
By the time I get to Las Cruces, the temp is nearing 100, and I still have a long way to go (another 300 miles today). Shit!! I decide to bite the bullet and give up on the idea of a leisurely cruise in southern New Mexico and Arizona on back roads, and jump back on an interstate - this time I-10 heading West. The road is not too crowded, and the scenery is classic Southwest desert, but did I mention it is HOT! I grit my teeth for about 120 miles to my next stop in Lordsburg, New Mexico, where it is so hot I just can't go any further. I bunk down at a McDonalds restaurant for about 3 hours to hide from the unrelenting sun.
Finally work up the courage to move on - still have just over 200 miles of this torturous heat till I reach Eloy sometime about 7 pm tonight. I shed clothes, dump water on my head, and do every trick I can think of - but it just keeps getting hotter. Things reach a boiling point, so to speak, right after Tucson. I am sure the temp is over 110 Farenheit.  And on the asphalt, on top of a motorcycle engine - well, let me tell you!
Finally got to Eloy, and immediately pulled in to the Tumbleweed Inn Cocktail lounge, and ordered water, beer and a margarita. Downed them quickly and moved on to the next round. One of the locals said it was 115 degrees out there this afternoon, and although the sun is down, it's not much below 100 now. Holy shit!
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