Sacked by the "downturn", an unemployed architect touring the country in a bus...




I used to live in New York City. I designed homes for the tycoons of Wall Street; Park Avenue, Scarsdale, Greenwich. It was great fun. And, after years of saving up for a down payment, I was just about to buy my own little place in Fleetwood, half an hour north of the city, when the economy fell apart. Architects are like canaries in a coal mine when the economy slows, and true to form, there were massive layoffs in firms all over the country. Devastation of the profession. So, I decided to try to find something else to do for a while. I bought a 23' school bus and I'm on the road to see if I can figure out what that might be.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

UFO bait...

Heading north from Taos to Crestone on 285, I happened across Roy and Ruth's UFO Center.  You couldn't miss it; it's in the middle of a long bleak stretch of dusty nothingness.  They have erected a metal viewing platform... I guess being 15 feet higher up really helps when you're spotting UFO's.  There is also a lot of crap, scrap metal, and UFO paraphernalia laying around on the ground... I suppose it's UFO bait; I spoke with Roy a while, but didn't ask him.  We talked about the economy!  As a trucker, he had made enough to support his family and set this place up, with dwellings for some of his kids and himself and Ruth.  Now in semi retirement, they built and have run this place for about 10 years.  They are both fairly tongue in cheek about it, but when I teetered too close to skepticism, they reeled back, so I guess they are believers.  I prefer that to thinking they were shameless hoaxers.  Roy said business has been off the last two years as tourism in general is way down, and they are hurting a bit.  A little bit of reality at the UFO Center.  Click here for more pics on Flickr.
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