Dave Ford Does Earth

Posted by Dave Ford

Pictured: in the Hills of New Mexico

From Austin we took off west towards Carlsbad Caverns in southeast New Mexico. It took us about 9ish hours if I do remember correctly.

Carlsbad Caverns are very old, very deep, and very cave like. Yes, that is right I said cave like while describing caverns. In truth, I guess I am not all that into caves. Stalagmites and stalactites just do not do it for me. We arrived too late in the season to see the nightly bat migration (2 million bats fly out of the caverns every evening). Unfortunately, the bats leave for Mexico at the end of October. While I am at it, bats suck as well. Especially, when they leave a few weeks too soon for me to see them fly out of a big boring cave.

I apologize to anyone that has a passionate love affair with deep caverns. But, they are dark, they smell funny, and normally you have to fit through tight passages at some time or another (which I am very much not capable of doing).

Never mind the caverns. New Mexico, as a whole provided some of the most spectacular scenery for the entire trip. It was in New Mexico when the actual driving became a part of the highlight real. Yes, I have always known that the USA had huge vast, deserts and mesas in the south west. But no! I did not imagine them in my head to look as visually stunning as they actually did.

Pictured: Benny cooking up some goodness. He looks surprisingly non gay in this photograph.

It was in New Mexico where we first began to camp. Benny, Jess, and I shared a big tent. Dave Binck had the luxury of his own mini tent. As a group, we cooked vast feasts on open flames and were awaken in the middle of the night by howling coyotes.

Pictured: Benny and Dave sledding down the dunes. Jess in front of “the Beagle” at White Sands.

We also visited White Sands National Park in Southern New Mexico. It reminded me, just like most things remind me, of Bolivia (in this case Salar de Uyuni “the salt flats). At one point the 275 square mile area was at the bottom of prehistoric sea.

Also, it was in White Sands where the US Government first tested the Atomic Bomb in the 1940s. To date, it is still the area where the US Military tests all of its new toys. But most importantly, do you remember that scene in “Independence Day” when a young Will Smith punched out that crazy alien? Yes, you know it, that scene also took place in the White Sands.

There should be a video coming out soon of the four of us playing in the dunes of the White Sands like a bunch of 7 year olds.

Pictured: the fab four with an actual alien in the UFO Museum and one the many”UFO shops” on the main drag.

Oh, and we hit Roswell (where it is rumored that aliens landed in 1947) as well. I released our Roswell movie a few weeks ago. I think I was subliminally forced to do so by alien beings. Roswell is very, very weird but worth a stop if you are ever in south east New Mexico. People there BELIEVE! That is all I am going to say.

Sidenote: It was also in New Mexico where the Australian vs. American bar room game (pool and darts) Olympics really heated up. In a very tight victory the American team (Dave and Dave) crushed their Australian adversaries (Ben and Jess) in a dive bar outside of Alamogordo. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Yes, there was a girl on the Aussie team. But do not be fooled, Jess can play a mean game of pool. Her skills are reminiscent of the “striking viking” herself, Ewa Mataya.

NEXT STOP: Pagosa Springs Colorado

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