July 7, 2003 - Roswell, NM

Forecast:  95 degrees

Road Condition: Smooth road on Interstate 10 East Freeway, sporatic construction on Highway 70.

Fuel: Super Unleaded $1.79

Miles Traveled: 408 (Total: 2,172)

Bike Update: No Problems, but heat coming off engines was intense.

Road Trip Log Update: The temperature began to drop as the day went on. We have become avid cloud watchers with the threat of thundershowers. We cruised through the Texas Canyon and were greeted by rocks that looked like they were stacked by giants. Juicy fruit gum, Camelbacks, the Weather Channel, & Bullfrog are the new tools of the road. We crossed the Continental Divide today at an elevation 4585’. We experienced 200 miles of blooming Yuca’s on our ride thru the desert. Traveling down the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway, looking up in the telephone poles there were ravens nest galore. We stopped to refuel and caught a beautiful sunset over Butterfield, NM. At 5 PM we crossed the NM border headed for Roswell. In White Sands we saw signs that said “Watch for Oryx”, with a picture of an animal that looked prehistoric. At a fuel stop a local told us that an Oryx was a huge animal from Africa that looks like an Ox. We never saw one, but we kept our eye’s open. Even though there was a lot of construction, we wouldn’t have traded the ride because the night sky was so incredible. There were thunderbolts about 20 miles away that lit up the night accompanied by shooting stars. The show lasted for hours. The canopy of stars was so unbelievable that we stopped to video tape. While we were stopped the largest elk we had ever seen came to the roadside, of course it was so dark that the video didn’t turn out. Good thing we didn’t see any aliens or flying saucers……

Ironman staying hydrated with a Camelback	Sunset over Butterfield, NM
Ironman's view of the open road
Some roadside flora to beware of
Roswell Visitor Center No that is not an Alien that is Ironman
Ironman in the rearview mirror on highway 10 East heading through Texas
Click to see July 6, 2003	Click to see July 8, 2003