Hamburgers and Fellowship

Following the Reception at the Officer's Club, we skipped the dinner and instead Alek and a few of his pilot trainee friends had a cookout in one of the park areas on the base, just across the street from where we had "The Bus" parked.

It was a nice get together and gave all of us an opportunity to enjoy some "Hamburgers and Fellowship" and get to know some of the new pilots and their families.

Retreat

After a guided tour of Laughlin AFB, the pilot trainees assembled, in their flight suites, for a Retreat Ceremony, when the United States Flag is lowered for the evening.

Alex's class started with 35 trainees, but only 27 finished to graduate. Of the others, one quit and 7 washed out for various reasons.

Following the Retreat Ceremony, we all gathered at the Officer's Club for a Reception and Cocktail Party to "kick-off" Graduation Week, during which the United States Air Force will accept 27 new pilots.

Congratulations and good luck to all of the graduates.

Laughlin AFB - OUCH!

We left Bottomless Lakes and the Roswell, New Mexico, area to attend the Graduation Ceremonies of Carole's grandson, Lt. Alek Krallman. Alek is in the U.S Air Force, has just completed Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB near Del Rio, Texas, and will receive his wings in Graduation Ceremonies this week.

After two days of driving, we arrived at Laughlin AFB and were met by immovable barrier posts at the West entrance to the base. The barrier posts were arranged such that an auto has to zig-zag through an obstacle course at slow speed to enter the base. The purpose, obviously, is a matter of security to prevent someone from entering the base at high speed . . . but these were designed for an automobile, not a 40' Motor Home with tow car behind.

Well, when I stopped "The Bus" for identification and inspection half way through the "obstacle course", the guard told me to pull on through the gate area and park on the right side of the road for further inspection. As I turned to the right to miss the last of the barriers, I heard a loud "crunch"! I was not yet clear of the middle barrier and scraped it on the side of "The Bus".

OUCH!

We made it to Laughlin AFB, but entry to the base sure hurt . . . another repair job when we get back home. The sad part is that those barrier posts are retractable. That is, the guard can just activate a switch in the Guard House and the barrier posts lower into the driveway flush with the surface . . . which the guard did for me AFTER I scraped the barrier. Thanks a lot, but too late!

From that nerve wracking experience, we drove to the Base Famcamp, an RV Park on the base where we have a nice location to park "The Bus" with full hookups, on a concrete pad, with a concrete patio and picnic table.

We plan to stay here for a week to attend all of the activities and ceremonies associated with the training and  graduation of an Air Force Pilot. Also, a dozen of Alek's relatives are here from the Pacific Northwest to share the experience. So it will also be sort of a mini-family reunion for a part of Carole's family.

This should be an exciting week in spite of the "OUCH".

Hail in May

Who would expect, or even believe, that we would have "Hail in May" . . .  in the desert, of all places.

But as we were returning to Roswell from visiting a neighboring town in the mountains, Ruidoso, New Mexico, we ran into a serious hailstorm in the desert. The highway was nearly covered with hailstones about one-half inch in diameter. We pulled off the road for a closer look and discovered the "Hail in May" was at least a couple inches deep here in the desert..

UFO Museum and Research Center

In 1947, a UFO reportedly crashed in the desert Northwest of Roswell, New Mexico. The Roswell Army Air Force Base was charged with investigating and cleaning up the crash site. Needless to say, the Army hushed it up, even declaring that the "Roswell Incident" was just a weather balloon.

People involved at the time were threatened with their lives if they revealed what they had seen, or even discussed the event with anyone. Some 30 years later, however, people began to talk and a group of people in Roswell seriously investigated the event . . . obtaining the stories from those involved.

They assembled all of this information, along with exhibits, and established a UFO Museum and Research Center in downtown Roswell.

My son, Greg, and I toured the museum and found it very enlightening . . . and educational. Much of the material exhibited was in the form of copies of newspaper articles, newspaper photos, statements (supported by affidavits) of individuals involved in the incident, from the rancher who discovered the crash site and gathered debris to members of the Army who walked the site gathering debris and people who saw and/or examined the bodies of the four aliens who were reportedly aboard.

One of the exhibits had recreations of some of the debris as described by people who had picked them up originally in 1947. All of the debris was described as being of unknown materials which they could neither bend nor burn.

Reportedly, four aliens were found in the craft or nearby, one of which was still alive. The bodies were taken to Albuquerque and the debris was all taken to Houston and then transferred to Wright-Patterson Field in Ohio. The museum had a model of one of the aliens in a glass case and also one on an operating table with a doctor and a secret service agent nearby.

In addition, there was an exhibit of a hovering flying saucer with four aliens walking around on the ground below.

A model of a flying saucer crashed into a hillside is supposedly a re-creation of the crash site.

Even after all these years, the Government still maintains the "Roswell Incident" was just a weather balloon. However, this UFO Museum and Research Center, with all of it's displays and documents presents a very convincing case that the "Roswell Incident" really involved a UFO, a flying saucer from outer space and that a crew of four aliens was aboard.

We may never know the real truth until our Government, in all it's wisdom, releases the debris and documentation from the 1947 "Roswell Incident".

On the lighter side, Greg did try on a pair of alien sunglasses in the Museum Gift Shop. He looks like he could be from Outer Space!

On a more serious note, if anyone ever gets to Roswell, New Mexico, I recommend the "UFO Museum and Research Center" where you can review the exhibits and make up your own mind about the "Roswell Incident". You will find it very enlightening . . . and educational.

Bottomless Lakes

The Bottomless Lakes  area about 18 miles Southeast of Roswell, New Mexico, was an underwater seabed thousands of year ago. When the inland ocean receded, underground salts and calcium were dissolved leaving large open caves. In some places, the roof was not strong enough to support the weight of the rock above. So, the roof caved in leaving sinkholes which subsequently filled with water.

In the late 1800's, cowboys driving cattle through the area tied their lariats together to see how deep the lakes were . . . but were unable to reach the bottom. So they called them "Bottomless Lakes". Today, however, we know that these lakes are 90 feet deep, pretty deep for such small lakes (or sinkholes).

This is the area where we decided to park "The Bus" for a few weeks . . . Bottomless Lakes State Park . . . an area encompassing about ten of the Bottomless Lakes . . . an area of unique geology and a quiet beauty. Each of the lakes is surrounded by red rock bluffs, the sides of the collapsed sinkhole.

The largest of the lakes within the park boundary is Lea Lake, with a large sandy beach, pavilion, picnic tables, and a bathhouse with showers, a refreshment stand (open only in the Summer), and a place to buy ice . . .

There is also a small marina where the Park Rangers dock paddle boats and pedal boats for rent in the Summer months . . .

And a very nice campground with full hookups for RVs, each space with a concrete patio and picnic table with canopy, and a level river rock filled parking space . . .

This is where we are spending three weeks, just quietly admiring the scenery and watching for UFOs here in the "UFO Capital of the World".