{div}A view of White Sand National Park.{/div}

As winter temperatures crept closer to us, Rosie the RV attempted to head north for Santa Fe, New Mexico. Just an hour outside of the town, we found ourselves caught in an intense snowstorm. Ultimately, the storm south of Santa Fe proved too much for us, and we decided to head south through the Land of Enchantment to Roswell.

The town of Roswell is most famously known for a great UFO conspiracy from 1947. The city, a rusty farming town, supports a large military base in the heart of the small downtown. The rumor is a farmer reported an unusual aerial crash to the local police. After an investigation by the local authorities, the area was cordoned off and mysteriously cleaned up via the military.

Rumors of the crash site persist to this day, and many residents swear their town was visited by extraterrestrials many years ago. We conducted our own research with a quick visit to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. The museum theorizes that the government has covered up the alien visit in an attempt to prevent mass hysteria, but is largely void of any serious evidence to support this.

Leaving Roswell, we headed south toward White Sands National Monument. We made it to the monument in time to catch a colorful sunset reflecting off the pure white sand, creating an eerie red glow throughout the desert region. The sand, a large gypsum deposit, is the main ingredient in most drywall. Scientists have theories as to how this deposit formed, but no definitive answers as to its origin.

Leaving white sands for the evening we journeyed up a steep mountain pass route to our camp for the evening. Arriving, we discovered that the state parks had been winterized and closed for the season. This left us with few options, and we decided to drive further south toward our next destination.

Within a few minutes of leaving our closed campsite, we began to see large animal bodies along the road’s shoulder. The road, Elk Canyon Road, lived up to it’s name and then some. For the next few hours we drove white-knuckled at a snail’s pace among hundreds of elk. All told, our 30-mile route took over two hours to complete.

We arrived at our next stop exhausted from driving, but grateful. We were greeted by a swooping white owl, narrowly missing our windshield.

Courtney and I couldn’t help but laugh at the stress of this day and the owl’s omen, welcoming us home for the night. While we try to avoid driving more than a few hours each day, this adventure took close to six hours.

Truth be told, most of New Mexico was a struggle for us. The state is vast with towns separated many hours from each other via endless drives and vacant prairies. Each city has a maximum-security prison, and there are signs everywhere that New Mexico’s best days might still lie ahead. Many of the communities are supported by oil jobs, most notably the large refineries in the southeastern corner of the state. New Mexico living may not be for the faint of heart, but the strength of these small-town communities is alive and well.

Our final day in New Mexico was spent touring the marvelous Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The caves are a phenomenal natural wonder and well worth the many days of wandering through New Mexico. The Big Room cavern sits some 700 feet below the surface and is large enough to host 14 football fields. The cavern is adorned with millennia-old limestone stalagmites that reminded me of ancient Buddhist temples.

For those willing to adventure through rural New Mexico, there is an enchantment to be found underneath the surface. I’m grateful that we spent the amount of time we did in the state even though we struggled to feel at home here. The intent of our trip was not to float along the surface, but to truly live, dive deep and see the communities of our brothers and sisters across America.

There’s a lot of hardship in New Mexico, and though I wanted to write a song about that, it’s simply not my song to sing. “Cosmos Claim” is a song that harkens back to the mysteries of growing up in this remote U.S. state, told through the eyes of a child who discovers something enchanting.

“Cosmos Claim”

Night slows, so life goes

Breath squeezes time

A journey yearning,

For a climb far below.

Asa, child of the plains,

Daughter of a broken back,

And a ravens wing.

A sky well, what is it you tell?

Painting all the whites and grays,

Into pouring rain, and a song.

The mind winds nine times,

The embers of the flame.

A secret dreamer, a wall,

A conquered king.

Asa, where is it you go?

Mother needs you’re sympathy,

And a hand to hold.

A sunrise, early,

Arise the earthly beings.

A world cracked open,

Just dust, a finite frame.

Asa, what is it you’ve wrought?

For we are not the only ones

That the cosmos claim.