October 15, 1998.  Thursday.  No time.

    Day 16.  77,175 miles.  Leaving the Arizona rest stop off Interstate
40 a few miles from the Arizona/New Mexico border.  Before leaving, we
got to use the clean rest rooms and my dad got a small cup of coffee
from the vending machines.  I went into the office and a young native
Indian woman (possibly Hispanic) was behind the counter with a kid
nearby (sister or daughter).  I asked for bumper stickers and suprisingly
she had some.  She didn't charge anything or accepted donations, just
asked to sign the guess book.  I thanked her.
    Outside, while my dad was waiting for us to leave and a man asked him how come
the Rodeo was so full of dirt.   It hasn't been washed in the past 6
months and it has dirt from over 10 states and some provinces in Canada.
    At this junction, it should take us 3 days to make it into Texas, but
we decided to make it home in two.  We had planned on staying a night
somewhere in west Texas.  I've tried to spend at least one night in
every state I pass through, and Roswell, New Mexico, seemed a good
candidate since it wasn't too far from the Texas border.
    Made a stop at a rest stop.  This was the only rest stop which had
no rest rooms.  Some cows were chilling in the sun and my dad was having
a smoke.
    National Radio Astronomy Obersavatory was in San Augustine, New 
Mexico, but this wasn't really a city.  There was nothing here except
the observatory.  This is where
they use radio communication to research space.  There is a row of
radio telescopes (huge radars.)  This has got to be the windest day in a long time.
    We stopped at a picnic table to eat.  There was a cyclist sitting at
one of the tables.  I'm envious of him.  Today was so windy to cycle into
the wind.
    Haven't not eaten much, we drove into Roswell at the night came.  I
was so hungry I knew I wanted a buffet and there was Furr's and 2 Chinese
buffets.  Roswell is a fairly large town.  Probably makes much of it's
money from tourism since there were a bookaloo of motels.
    Roswell is well known for stories of government coverups concerning
aliens.  The town itself doesn't seem too abnormal.
    We ate at the Furr's off Main Street.
    As we drove to the store to buy some stuff, I told my dad I was too
tired to continue since last night we didn't get much sleep.  We could
stay here tonight, and make a long haul home tomorrow.
    Off Main Street, we found the Hacienda Motel which featured a room
for 2 people for $22, but this was for a single bed.  We got 2 beds for
$25.  At places like these, they take payment in advance, and I don't
like to leave my credit card number since these places aren't generally
new and I don't want them to bill my credit card for any "damages" to
the rooms.
    There were quite a number of people staying here tonight.  There was
another place at the west end of town which had fairly similiar rates.
They advertised they would beat any price in town.  Wow, never seen a
motel advertise aggressively like that.
    The sign at the motel said "luxury rooms," but this place was far
from that.  The water was running in the shower (no tub), bathroom was
puny, the ac had broken knobs and a filty filter.  This room had had an
adjacent room which had a bed and a bathroom.  The door to the adjacent
room was available.  Management said they use both room together to rent
to families.  Next door, a family rented like this.  So I guess, if a
party has 3 people, they could rent a 2 bed room and get the other bed
"free."
    Even though the night before I didn't have much sleep, I had a
difficult time trying to sleep.  And when I did sleep, it wasn't a very
deep sleep.  So I woke up in the middle of the night and filled out
some last postcards.  These would probably be the last postcards except
for one more I plan to send tomorrow.