.... It was a slow start leaving Santa Fe. Kate was alot better after a good night sleep, but we stopped in the supermarket for our journys' fruit ( for the diet, remember) and there was a crash on the interstate, so we crawled along at 2mph for the first half hour. Leaving Santa Fe, the weather picked up and we were cruising in a pleasant 73 degrees for 275 miles. We made a stop along the way at Truth and Consequences, slightly of our route but we thought it was funny and had to visit. Apparantly, the town originally had a very dull name and changed it to the name of a radio quiz show as a challenge for 15mins of fame, ( I bet the mayor at that time was not very popular). We only wanted to say we had been there so drove in, stopped at a garage, bought a postcard and drove straight back out again.

Because of our little detour to Truth and Consequences, we clocked up 275 miles getting to Las Cruces, which was our stopover destination. However, on arrival we were asked if we had reservations as there was a homecoming dance that evening and all the motels were booked. My immediate thought was of course we've made reservations, but then realisation kicked in, cause we hadn't - oops! This meant 70 more miles to drive to the next town of Almagordo, so we filled the tank, swopped over driving and made our way. Being the sensible people we really are, this time we phoned in advance for our room, and by 8:45pm we had checked in, found a local Pizza Hut, found a pubic hair in my pizza and were back in the room getting ready for bed.

Early to bed meant early to rise (well it does now, didn't quite understand that concept when I was at home, which most of you are aware. - I miss my lie ins). We wanted to get to White Sands before the afternoon sun as sun rebounding off white sand doesn't allow for seeing much, (we are not that clever to come up with this theory by ourselves, we read it in a leaflet). We got to White Sands, stopped at the paying desk and were told we could go in for free cause we were very beautiful, ( don't mind the freebies, even if they come from pervy old men). Most of the road was closed due to the bad weather they had been experiencing,  we were able to walk around the dunes and take some pics, but only stayed 10 mins as not much to do other than see white sand (which is not even sand its apparantly gypsum), Look at that I'm getting a free education as well.

Next stop Roswell, (yes, we were on the hunt for UFOs). We stopped off and washed the car on route, which looking back is exactly what backpackers do - I don't think. Then rocked up into the cooky town of Roswell 150 miles later, meaning we hit our 4,000 mile mark. Of course we went straight to the UFO museum, (after checking in to our beloved Motel 6), to do the tourist thing. It was complete b******s but we still managed to kill over an hour reading all the newspaper cuttings and paraphenalia. It felt like we were in a time warp and the town could only survive by reliving the 'UFO incident' over and over again. Even the lamposts had alien heads on them and you couldn't turn a corner without seeing a blow up alien. However, there were a few locals who didn't involve themselves in the UFO hype and on two seperate occasions we were asked why on earth we were bothering staying in Roswell as it was so dull. So what else could we do in such a dull city, but to have dinner and go to the cinema. We watched 'man of the year', which I recommend as a must see but get it when it comes out on dvd........