And out comes a man from Mars And you try to run but he's got a gun And he shoots you dead and he eats your head You eat Cadillacs Mercurys & Subaru

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Wikipedia:

Betty and Barney Hill were an American married couple who rose to fame after they claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on September 19–20, 1961.

The couple's story, commonly called the Hill Abduction, and occasionally the Zeta Reticuli Incident, was that they were victims of a UFO abduction. Theirs was the first widely-publicized claim of alien abduction, adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and a television movie.

The Hills lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Barney (1923–1969) was employed by the U.S. Postal Service, while Betty (1919–2004) was a social worker. Active in a Unitarian congregation, the Hills were also members of the NAACP and community leaders, and Barney sat on a local board of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

They were a mixed race couple at a time in America when that was unusual: Barney was of Ethiopian ancestry, and Betty was Caucasian.

The evening of 19 September 1961, the Hills were driving back to Portsmouth from a vacation in upstate New York, Ontario, and Quebec. Since it was late at night, and because the summer tourist season was over, there were few other cars on the road as they traveled south. South of Groveton, New Hampshire, they are said to have observed a bright point of light in the sky. Initially, they thought that they were observing a shooting star, only it fell upward and stopped near the gibbous moon. While Barney navigated U.S. Route 3, Betty reasoned that she was observing a communication satellite and urged Barney to stop the car for a closer look and to walk their dog, Delsey. Worried about the presence of bears, Barney removed a pistol that he had hidden away in the trunk of the car.

* * *

Okay, I'm a week late, but this section of U.S. Route 3 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is where I'm heading.

I'll be gone for a few days. I'm having a major nervous system collapse as our move from the old house to the new house nears, and rather than end up in a psychiatric hospital, S.W.M.B.O. and I have decided that the very best thing for me to do is Run Away From Home. So later today I am running away from home.

Notice the postage stamp and coin. The Old Man of the Mountain was the state symbol of New Hampshire -- until the mammoth man's face profile collapsed and fell off and landed as rubble in the visitor's parking lot at the foot of Cannon Mountain. So even though the Old Man of the Mountain carried a Guarantee that it would always be there forever -- it's Not There Anymore!

(But the 25-cent coins the US minted for New Hampshire -- just in time -- will keep the image around for millenia.)

WHICH IS VERY VERY STRANGE, DON'T YOU THINK? BECAUSE CANNON MOUNTAIN WAS WHERE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL FIRST SAW THE UFO FLYING SAUCER LAND!!!

Anyway I've always wanted to drive Route 3 at night around the anniversary of B&B's Close Encounter. Every year on the September 19-20 anniversary there's a gathering of ... well ... dozens of human beings. And cars. Maybe a few dogs, too.

I'll let you know what I see or whom I encounter. I'm bringing the camera.

Mainly I want to ride the steam cog railroad to the top of Mount Washington before the season closes. And it closes soon. The top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, is the Guiness Record Book champ of Worst Winter Weather on Earth, and that includes Antarctica.

I'll bring the laptop so there's a chance I'll be able to post to Vleeptron if I end up in a motel what got the free Wi-Fi. (Or charges me extra for the Wi-Fi, the lousy bastards.) No promises. Que sera sera.

I also want to see if I can make it to St. Albans, Vermont, just south of the Canadian Border. Imagine how surprised the St. Albans residents were during the US Civil War when the town was raided and attacked by a company of Confederate soldiers. With any lucky they'll have a little museum in town, and maybe a souvenir t-shirt, too.

My other fave thing is the 7-minute auto ferry that crosses Lake Champlain east-west (or vice-versa), and is waiting for me and my car 24/7/365. If I get there at 4 a.m., another ferry will take me across the lake in a few minutes.

When I finally come home, it'll be to my New Home, and I'll feel a lot better.

Unless I encounter Aliens from Zeta Reticuli, or Hoon, or Mollyringwald, or Capella.

* * *

SOUND: ON
RIGHT-CLICK: OPEN LINK IN NEW TAB
(or watch the video)

Rapture

recorded by Blondie (1980)
written by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein

Toe to toe
Dancing very close
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotized
And they're stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture

Back to back
Sacroiliac
Spineless movement
And a wild attack

Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture

Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot

And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun

And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus

And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe

Don't move too slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all

Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, to punk rock

Well now you see what you wanna be
Just have your party on TV
'Cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on

And now he's gone back up to space
Where he won't have a hassle with the human race
And you hip-hop, and you don't stop
Just blast off, sure shot
'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars, get up!