From the city of Las Cruces - the second largest in the state - we headed for the mysterious town of Roswell.
Las Cruces wasn't particularly interesting, it was hot and muggy with a very noisy train running through town. But the drive to Roswell was good fun.
As we got closer to the Mexican boarder security vehicles and officers become an increasingly common sight and at one check point we even had to show our passports.
Around half way through the trip we stopped at the White Sands National Monument a National Park of giant, white, rolling sand dunes.
The sand is white because of gypsum (whatever that is) and is home to many small animals and plants.
Entry is only $5 per person and thankfully it's not crawling with tourists like other National parks.
Now on to alien central.
Roswell is a weird, and surprisingly large, small town. The whole 1947 alien incident is largely ignored in town until you get to the block surrounding the International UFO and Research Centre. Here the street lights are shaped like glowing alien heads and stores sell tacky, stoner, little green men merchandise.
The museum costs $5 and is definitely worth the visit for it's mix of insanity and conspiracy.
The section dealing with the Roswell crash and cover up is detailed and includes fascinating eye-witness accounts.
However things enter crazy crazy land with displays on abuctions and close encounters. School-project-like displays describe so called transmitters and implants and describe alien operations.
Aliens are only a small part of the town and people seem to go about their business without much thought of otherworldly visitors.
