Artesia NM

I really didn't want to leave for New Mexico because i was surrounded by my favorite women.

Time to pack.

My trip took 12 hours. Lots of delays. When i was making calls for the shuttle the guy next to me said "do you need a ride to your hotel". I said yes because all the shuttle was unavailable. The guy was looking very rough. Grey beard, tough face and a flannel shirt. He also didn't talk much and had a country accent. I really didn't expect such an offer from this guy. When we landed in Roswell NM the baggage was unloaded in martian style.

My ride was the brother of my new friend who looked even more rough. More flannel, more beard but very talkative and funny. So we loaded his truck with our bags and got on the road. The conversation started with lighting a cigarette in the car. I love cigarette smell. The talkative guy Tom is a Vietnam veteran . He was against the war but they drafted him. After he came back he asked if he could go back there. It was bizarre. He doesn't like killing. If he did he had nightmares but he wanted to go back anyway because of the ... adrenaline rush. That was his ultimate drug. There was nothing higher for him than war. He didn't use any other drugs until he came back. The man needed to stay high. He craved for the war and went back. Later he went to military. I became extremely interested in his stories and his perspectives. And invited them both for a beer in a very seedy bar (the only one open). I was fascinated by these two men. They were inseparable brothers and cared about most interesting stuff. The other brother is an engineer and has his own way of separating protein from the sugar in dairy products. He is going to China for 2 years to produce his product. The surprises kept coming. Their children have PhD's in middle eastern languages or music degrees from great universities. Wow! Two brothers with flannel shirts and untrimmed (one more than other) beards had two the most fascinating worlds. Maybe they were martians??? It was Roswell NM. Thanks to the failure of the shuttle. Long live failures!!!!!

Next day i rented a coolest car on this tour (pics later) and left to Artesia. Very small town but i had a great feel about it. Billy The Kid had a lady in this town and visited her often. He had to do it secretly of course because he was on the run all the time. Maybe he was hiding in my hotel?

... and maybe my room?

Everything in this town had character ... billboards too ; )

Lunch with the artist. I had him all by myself.

The Center of Performing Arts was new and very modern.

The best small venue on this tour.

I felt really good vibes there. Maybe because of Billy The Kid?