Grumpy Bulldog Does America Day 59: Space Tourism

I was up until almost 3am last night watching "The Crow" movies on the Roku.  I hadn't watched the sequels in a while and since they were on Netflix, I thought what the hell.  The second one is probably worse than I remember it being.  Interestingly it was written by David S Goyer who went on to work on a lot of superhero movies like the Nolan Batman ones, Man of Steel, and I think the Blade ones.  The third Crow movie was better, but like Revenge of the Sith, how could it not be?  I bet Tony Laplume likes the second Crow movie best though.

This morning I watched the fourth one, as much as I could stomach.  Sorry but Edward Furlong is the George Clooney of Crows; there is just no way I can buy him in that role.  Aren't you a little short to be a badass?  Plus Tara Reid, nuff said.

So a little after 10 I left Tucumcari for Roswell.  I had to go from one rural road to another.  There was one point where I went up a hill and from there it was farm and ranch country most of the way.  I went through a couple of little towns, but I didn't need gas or lunch or to piss/shit, so I didn't stop.  There was really only one car that passed me all during that time.

Eventually I got on US-70, which is more like a real highway, with a real speed limit.  I could make some better time then.  One thing I wonder in these pictures is about these power towers they have with the really narrow, pointed ends held down by cables and a lot wider top.  What's the deal with that?  Most of the ones I've seen are bigger on the bottom and narrower on the top.  It's weird.

I got to Roswell a little before 1.  Maybe I should have got lunch first, but I breezed past all the typical restaurants and Wal-Mart and stuff to the International UFO Museum.  It was only $5 to get in, and I suppose I got my money's worth.  Since I'm not a believer (read Where You Belong for my thoughts on UFOs), I appreciated most of it ironically.

It was kind of like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where it's cool but I'm not sure it's worth all the bother getting there.  Maybe if they had real aliens in there it would be.

I got lunch then at a Chinese place and then went to a supermarket to get a case of water, mostly so I could use my debit card for cash.

Alien head street lamps!

I made the mistake then of finding my motel.  We have a new leader in the clubhouse for Worst Motel I've Stayed In on This Trip.  First off they couldn't even find my reservation.  She kept asking if it was from Booking.com and I'm like, "Um, sure."  I made it through Orbitz but some of these sites use third parties like Booking.com for the actual reservation.  Then she says I have to pay $104 right there, which A) I'm pretty sure was more than it was supposed to be and B) I was pretty sure I'd already paid for it. But I just paid for it; I could figure it out afterwards.

I get to the room and O. M. G, what a dump!  Especially when I had to take a dump and found out the toilet isn't anchored down!  So when you sit on the toilet, the whole thing actually moves.  As if that's not crappy enough, after you flush it makes this horrible screeching noise for like two minutes.  I have to remember not to flush if I have to get up and piss in the night.

Besides that there's just all sorts of little bullshit problems.  Apparently this used to be called Frontier Motel and is now America's Best Value.  It seems like they're in the middle of renovating, but obviously they haven't finished.  Really you should rent rooms that aren't finished.  That's just common sense.  Buy cheap get cheaper I guess.

At least the WiFi works, so I could go to Orbitz and my credit card company's site to see that I had already paid and it wasn't supposed to be $104.  Finding a number for Orbitz was the first challenge.  When you go to Customer Support it just takes you to a FAQ so I had to finally ask the FAQ what the phone number was.  When I got through the lady put me on hold to call the motel.  Eventually she came back and the motel clerk said their computer system was down...why didn't you tell me that when I was trying to check in?  Probably she was lying, but at least they voided it so I'm not being charged twice to stay in this dump.

I was still grumpy, so I went down the road to Arby's to write for a little while.  I'm not sure if it's just this one or what that raised prices on their small drinks from $1 to $1.89.  Kind of sucks, but as is typical for Arby's at 4pm there was no one around except flies.  I killed 3 of the little bastards while I was there.  Eventually some people came in with a kid who probably has ADHD because all he did was squeal and shout for like an hour.  Not that his parents were really helping there.  Some people just don't seem to get that a restaurant is public, not your living room.  But I'm just a grumpy single guy, so there.

I left at 7ish and went up the road to Subway.  I wanted a meatball sub but of course they're out of meatballs.  Actually I think the lady had just put them in the microwave to cook.  I could have waited 15 minutes I suppose, but instead I got a ham sub.  And I got three cookies to make up a little for the disappointment of being denied meatballs.

Usually on Sundays I like to lie around and do nothing but watch football and do laundry, but since this place sucks I'll probably go out.  Maybe I'll try going to Carlsbad Caverns.  I think it is open on Sundays.