S2KDays 2018 - Day 5

Today started out great, after spending the night in a $36 Quality Inn, that I'm sure had lots of unidentifiable stains on the carpets. But, I slept well! First stop was Roswell, NM, home of the alien sighting back in 1947. Visited their Visitor Center and the UFO Museum. Pics follow:

The Roswell Visitor Center, which is in an old Conoco Service Station from the 1920's.

The sign outside the Visitor Center

Several pics from the UFO Museum:

A non-UFO painting on a wall near the Visitor Center. Roswell downtown is pretty cool!

And, to top today off, I stopped at the White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, NM. This is outside the visitor center:

Unfortunately, this is as far as I got. When I exited the car, I heard a loud screeching noise coming from under the hood. I investigated it, and determined that the serpentine belt tensioner had a bearing that was on its last legs, and was in imminent danger of failing. Since I had noticed a Honda dealer about 13 miles behind, I decided the smart thing to do was return to Alamogordo and hope that it would last that long. The Honda service manager was extremely accommodating, and got me in right away. He said I was very lucky to have made it that far. Unfortunately, they didn't have the parts, but are having them overnighted in for tomorrow, so, I am cooling my heals in the hotel for the night. This little episode puts me slightly behind my planned schedule, but I still should be in Westlake Village, CA, by late Saturday night. Probably no pics in the meantime.

I am really disappointed that I didn't get to take the scenic drive at White Sands, though. As I was approaching from the northeast, I could see the white sands in the distance for at least 20 miles. Impressive!