Caves, UFOs and Rock n' Roll
Join me on a recent road trip where I had tons of fun and discovered some interesting insights.
Subscribers tell me they like my short newsletters with quick insight. Today, I’m sharing insights and fun from a long weekend trip. You can read it in three ways:
1. Skim to read the bullets and subheads and see the photos or
2. Read the whole enchilada (less than 10 minutes), or
3. Read what’s under the subheads.
Whatever you choose, I’m happy you’re here. I’ve heard more comments lately that you like what I’m writing. That’s a big motivation for me to keep going. This week marks 12 weeks in a row to publish The Light in Us. Your comments are always welcome by email or at the bottom of each post.
Now, onto this week’s topic.
Our 4-day tour through West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico
My friends and family know I am an adventurer and love traveling far. My favorite destinations are Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. At home, I also enjoy visiting Santa Fe or Sedona, and I love visiting California and Montana, where our kids and grandkids live.
My husband prefers shorter trips and places familiar to him, so last weekend, we took a road trip to look after some family business in Lubbock, then on to New Mexico for a few days of recreation.
A quick look at curious things I saw and heard.
The Hog Depot - I suppose a place you can buy hogs?
Full Armor Fellowship - Bring your guns to church?
War Horse Weapons - your guess is as good as mine.
“The Last Picture Show” My husband throws out this one-liner whenever we pass Archer City.
Armadillo Hotels - Looks like massive trailer dormitory-style housing for oil field employees.
Dozens of wind farms where turbines harness the wind in a symphony of graceful blades spinning around giant pillars. I never tire of seeing these.
The house where Buddy Holly and his band composed That’ll Be the Day.
The UFO Museum in Roswell
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind is not science-fiction.” - Stephen Spielberg, commenting in a documentary at the UFO Museum.
Carlsbad Caverns “decorations.”
West Texas and Eastern New Mexico have a distinct vibe. My philosophy is that life is more interesting when you leave your corner of the world.
Here are five tips to enjoy travel and life in general.
Listen to your intuition.
It is not a surprise that weather and restaurants can be unpredictable while traveling. I followed a hunch to check the weather on our usual route home and didn’t like what I saw. Had I dismissed my intuition, we might have had to delay our travel home due to bad driving conditions. Instead, we came back a day early. We still had to drive through pouring rain at 35 degrees but made it home without delays.
On the first day of our trip, we stopped early for lunch because we knew there were only tiny towns for over 100 miles. I saw a sign for Taco Bell, and my ‘spidey senses’ said to follow that, but I’m not a fast-food enthusiast. However, when we got closer, there was a crowded diner next to it, not visible when we turned off. “Go there,” I said. “It’s the most crowded.” I’m glad I followed that nudge.
When we walked into the diner, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling rock n’ roll memorabilia decorated the cafe. It’s a place where people who love hamburgers and fries are at home, and you don’t mention gluten-free.
My husband loves 50s music and memorabilia, so it was a good omen for our trip. As a kid, he competed in the Soap Box Derby several times, so he was excited to see two derby cars hanging from the ceiling.
Bottom line: Listen to your intuition and go to the most crowded restaurant in small towns.
You never know how your questions and interests can inspire someone else.
We went to the Lubbock Cemetery to buy plots for my husband’s family. Buddy Holly and Mac Davis are buried here, so it’s also a popular destination in Lubbock. Greg was the man who helped us and is of Hispanic heritage, so I asked him about Dia de Los Muertos. I shared photos from the McKinney Dia de Los Muertos festival, and he explained some traditions I didn’t know about. He thanked me for our conversation, and before we left, he said, “We haven’t honored our ancestors for several years. I will talk to my dad about doing it this year.” I am happy that my questions and enthusiasm to learn more about his family traditions inspired him.
Bottom line: Talk to people and be interested in who they are. By being curious, you can inspire them to take action on something that matters to them.
You never know who or what will be a catalyst for your inspiration.
We stopped at the Buddy Holly Center on the way out of town the next morning. If you’re unfamiliar with Buddy Holly, he was a rock ’n roll phenom in the late 1950s. His compositions and performances electrified his fans and changed the face of rock ‘n roll. The Beatles credit Buddy Holly as the inspiration for at least forty hits. In video interviews with Paul McCartney and other music legends, they shared how Buddy Holly inspired their music. Don McLean spoke of Buddy’s death and its profound influence on him when he wrote “The Day the Music Died.”
Buddy, a driven, talented, wildly creative young man from Lubbock, Texas, set the world on fire with his music. After 18 months of fame, he died at 22 in a plane crash while on tour.
The Buddy Holly Foundation contributes to music education for kids, so his music continues to be a catalyst for aspiring musicians.
Bottom line: Follow your creative interests. You never know who you will inspire or who will be a catalyst to you on your journey.
Embrace your identity.
Our next stop was Roswell, New Mexico, a town that embraces its identity with UFOs and aliens. The 1947 UFO crash is well documented in the town’s UFO museum, although they leave it up to visitors to decide for themselves. The town’s merchants and residents are welcoming and embrace their association with the Roswell UFO crash. The standard green alien graphic is everywhere, letting you know they embrace being associated with the Roswell crash.
The museum has several outdated, cheesy displays, but the exhibits contain detailed information and interviews about the crash. I watched an interview with Stephen Spielberg about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The most expansive part of the museum is a library, which houses boxes and boxes of documents and shelves lined with books for research. If you aren’t convinced, what’s in those documents might lead you to a conclusion one way or another.
Did I have an extraterrestrial encounter?
No, but I embrace my curiosity and interest in galactic and extraterrestrial things. The town’s enthusiasm was contagious.
Bottom line: Be who you are. It’s endearing. No matter how quirky. There are people like you everywhere.
There’s a whole world you don’t know exists.
Travel unlocks the world you don’t know. We’ve been to Carlsbad Caverns before but see new things each time. It seems other-worldly and is known as the most beautiful cave, but it’s not the largest. Visiting its chambers 750 feet beneath the surface is a magical experience. Being in its energy, in a cool, dark place, is calming and peaceful. From the surface, you’d never know such beauty exists beneath.
Bottom line: Be open to what you don’t know.
I’d love to hear stories or insights you gained from your travel. Share in the comments below, or if you have the Substack app, you can also comment in the Notes section.
