When Megan is at her advocacy conference at the Holiday Inn in Columbia, MO, one of the things I like to do there is have the in-house shoe shine person, Sharon (who calls her business "Shines by Sharon") shine at least one pair of my boots or shoes. She does a fantastic job, is a great conversationalist and an interesting person. She is an African-American woman who grew up on a farm in Booneville, has a thicker twang than most of the other locals do out there, and has been shining shoes for some crazy amt of years, I had to wait because a man with ostrich cowboy boots snuck in while I was getting cash to pay her. She remembered me and Megan who waited with me, like she always does. This time, I had her work on a pair of boots that are still dusty from Burning Man, and she was telling me about the Midland Truck stop at exit 121 on Highway 70. She said that the man with the cowboy boots has been coming to her since 1987 when she first started shining shoes at the truck stop station. She said that, back then, it was quite a place. It had a bar and grill with live music, her shining shoes and an antique mall out back. She said it was recently featured on a travel program even though it is not as snazzy as it used to be. I decided to go a little out of our way to get gas there.
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There were two stations that could have qualified as what she described. The second was a three pump deal with a tiny station and hole in the wall truck stop restaurant called the Perche Creek Café aka Perche Creek Yacht Club. The parking lot was filled with probably 30 pick up trucks, that we determined were all patronizing the restaurant. I talked Megan into eating there, and she only grumbled a little about the adventures I take her on. It was everything someone like me likes about a truck stop restaurant: lots of fried stuff, tasty fresh pies, people coming in straight from doing things like laying pipe and hunting deer, and great service. I had handmade and breaded chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, the best green beans I've had in years, and lemon merengue pie. Megan had a three cheese grilled cheese with cottage cheese. They had a heated case of cinnamon rolls behind the register and Megan got one for her desert on the way out. She said it was great. Will definitely go back. Now my favorite restaurant in Columbia...

My dad was huge Sci-fi fan, so I grew up watching lots of Star Trek,  X-Files, and Alien shows and movies...generally ok with lots of weird. Naturally, visiting Roswell and Area 51 would have to make out travel lists, right?

I think we actually ended up stumbling on them more by accident than any well researched plans, but that is how some of the best adventures begin.

We ended up in Roswell a few years ago and really got a kick out of the alien-themed town more than anything. It was a small, dusty, run down little city in New Mexico, that if it weren't for the Aliens, it would not have much to show for itself.  Just about every establishment there capitalized on the alien abduction/area 51 theme in some way from museums, to a McDonalds play place covered in alien stickers.  We went to the big alien museum and ate at the alien café and walked around looking for an suspicious creatures...we were pretty much it.  The alien museum had displays full of newspaper clippings, conspiracy theories, various UFO objects, and an alien research library.  As near as we could tell, the party line is that the supposed ufo sighting there was actually some sort of weather device with a foil component that crashed in the desert.  The best part was the photo ops. 

We also noticed this place called the Pizza Barn as we passed thru Roswell again recently that had lots of aliens on the signs and an alien green chili themed pizza. So delicious!

While we are on the subject of brothels, turns out this stretch of highway is a menagerie of weird and sex trafficking profiteering.  We also happened upon an abandoned brothel with an abandoned crashed plane covered in fabulous anti-establishment bumper stickers. Best random roadside find ever.   Chris took a large piece of barbed wire from in front of the fence to use as a marker at our Burning Man campsite.

While we are on the subject of weird and things related to bedroom activities...let's talk about the Clown Motel. Yes, the place where dreams and nightmares come true. A clown-themed motel just a wee ways down the road from the alien brothel. On each door there was a different clown. Despite all the fanfare, for some reason it did not appear to be in high demand at the moment. We were disappointed we did not have time to stay to tell you what lies beyond the doors. Maybe next time. What do you think, Would you book a stay?

PSA: If you know someone who is being sex trafficked or you think you are, contact the National Sex trafficking hotline at  1888-373-7888. If you need help for sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1800-656-4673. WWW.RAINN.org also has a lot of resources to help survivors.

If you would like to make a donation to support survivors of sex trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault, here is a link for donating to your local YWCA. 

Somehow we did not know White Sands National Monument even existed until I stumbled upon an Instagram pic a year ago and knew we just had to go.  It has to be one of the best kept travel secrets in the U.S. If you can manage to go there when they are not testing missiles (no exaggeration...make sure to read the brochure and website ahead of time), you will love the experience. Taking this route through Nevada was on of the best surprise travel experiences we ever had. So many fascinating roadside things to see and explore from clown motels to plane wrecks and alien brothels (more on that in upcoming posts).

We were fortunate enough to have an amazing catch to randomly spot two horses roaming over a sea of white sand covered in cotton-candy clouds surrounded by lightening storms in the distance. The lightening was behind us, but an all-around magnificent panorama to sit and watch as the sun set. Occasional dust devils would kick up and you could see little mini tornadoes of sand kicked up in the distance, or beams of light would pour through the clouds onto the sea of white dunes, making the person standing there look they were being blessed by the heavens.  Some people took sleds down the dunes. Some people picnicked. Most just wandered and took pictures. It was not very crowded on the dunes, but come sunset, the line of cars to get into the park was backed up a long distance.  If you decide to visit, you will definitely want to go a couple hours before sunset, with light casts the most amazing shadows from the sand at dusk.

We took a drive though the next town headed west and stopped at an antique store. The proprietor was about the nicest man you could ever meet. He welcomed us and gave us a history of the town and some nearby travel tips.  Definitely worth checking out if you are nearby.