Missiles at the White Sands Missile Test Range
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My original plan was to camp in a real campsite for a change but the weather and the gravel roads thwarted me. The road kept getting more slim and pot hole filled and the storm kept getting closer. It was the middle of the night and I had no idea where the camp site actually was. I decided to go back to town and find the KOA I knew was there.
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I had to set up camp in a high wind and pouring rain. This sux! My tent kept trying to fly away in the wind!
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This must be the place where they simply strew the seeds of destruction on the ground and just look at what grows!
Missiles at the White Sands Missile Test Range
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More missiles at the White Sands Missile Test Range
Even more missiles at the White Sands Missile Test Range
Still more missiles at the White Sands Missile Test Range
Flying Saucer like one recovered at Roswell. I think this is a hoax by the museum curator. White Sands Missile Test Range
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Sign at entry to White Sands. Oooh Scary.
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I stopped in Alamogordo for dinner at a chinese restaurant and spent about an hour yakking with the manager. Quite a nice guy.
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Spent the night at this state park. Nice. Has showers. A bit windy though.
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The town of Bingham is the closest approach to the Trinity Test Site on the White Sands Test Range. I stopped here and bought two pieces of Trinitite from the Blanchard Rock Shop just off the highway. Apparently I got here, quite by accident, on the day of the 54th anniversary of the test. I had not planned this at all.
Rock Shop in Bingham. The day I was there, July 14, 1999, was the 54th anniversary of the Trinity test. Photo of Allison & me outside her store.
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Another of same. You can buy Trinitite here.
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I went to the White Sands gate and asked if I could arrange to visit the Trinity site but they said no. Big surprise.
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I arrived at Water Creek Camp about an hour before dark and set up camp in anticipation of a thunder storm. I thought that since today was the anniversary of the Bomb and since I had calmed down somewhat since beginning this journey that I should start making journal entries on my Newton. Here is the first of them:
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99.07.16 Road Trip '99 Log Water Creek camp, NM: Today I got as close to visiting the Trinity Site as I could. It turns out that today is the 54th anniversary of the Trinity test. No, I did not plan the timing. I visited a rock shop 12 miles north of ground zero, bought two pieces of Trinitite, and met the best looking woman I have seen on my trip so far. Her name is Allison. Too bad she's married. I asked about camp sites in the area and she told me about Water Creek. |
I camped at Water Creek and met a retired fellow who's name escapes me. We spent a couple of hours sitting 'round the fire talking about life 'n' shit. He mostly talked about tough-guy exploits of his life: bar fights, construction work, and sweat lodges. This last subject was particularly interesting to me because I simply didn't expect an old bar-fight'n construction worker to be interested in matters of the spirit realm. He talked about being in the Viet Nam war and how him and his buddies had been spit on when they returned home. I thought that ugliyness was more of a myth than reality -- more to the point I hadn't given much thought about how it must have been like to be sent to war, especially such a misguided/mismanaged one, and then return home and be so unwanted. He also talked a bit about his divorce and how his ex-wife got custody of the kids, the house, etc. and so on. He got stuck with the bills while she made out handily and remarried. Made me sad.
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99.07.17 Road Trip '99 Log Socorro, NM: On the way from Water Creek camp site to the VLA I was stopped for speeding. I have a few issues with the claim that was that I was going 85 (in A 65 zone) namely that I was running the engine at a steady 5500 RPM and according to my GPS receiver that translates to a speed just under 80. I am very sure of the 5500 RPM figure because I could hear the continuous engine tone (and was without ear plugs at the time). Yes, I was speeding but I had reasonable cause for doing so. There was a thunder storm in front of me heading to cut me off and there was one behind me that had already cut me off. My reasoning is that it is safer to drive over the speed limit while dry than to drive, at almost any speed, in a severe downpour. This is especially true on an absolutely straight road like the one I was driving. The part that I really object to, however, is that when receiving the ticket I either had to agree to appear in person in court two months from now or admit guilt on the spot. This is an interesting way of denying the right to a fair and prompt trial to out of state persons. I signed not guilty and hope that the judge will have the sense to allow me to conduct this affair via correspondence. Until this law gets changed I will subject New Mexicans found in my home state to as much abuse as I can in the effort to make their stay as short and unpleasant as possible. |
It turned out that the judge who administered my case did allow a decision via correspondence and in fact let me off with a suspended sentence. It's good to find some common sense occasionally showing up in the law. I am still rather pissed off and amazed at the "sign that you are guilty" option on the ticket. It's so obvious that it is merely a device to extract a tax from persons who do not live in the immediate locale. Law enforcement should never have the job of tax collection, especially of "nuisance taxes," because it causes people to disrespect the law.
After returning to Berkeley I spoke with a couple of (scientific) folks who had spent some time working in New Mexico at the VLA and they both, independently, confirmed my suspicions and assumptions about the nature of how the law gets administered out in the New Mexico countryside: Out-of-state plates get traffic laws enforced without a break; In-state plates get let off with warnings.
I had planned to travel up through New Mexico into Colorado and back down through New Mexico and into Texas. But my further experiences with the people of this state soon convinced me that I should cut short my time here and get out as soon as possible.
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I did not make it to the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope because of my disgust over the traffic ticket affair.
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| 99.07.18 Road Trip '99 Log San Ysidro, NM: Could not find a campsite with vacancy and had to spend the night sleeping at a (closed) gas station. The next morning neither of the Albuquerque KOA sites would let me use their showers unless I paid in full ($20) to be a guest even though I am a member. Liability risk. This wouldn't be the case in Arizona. I am finding that New Mexicans are not very accommodating people. |
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Today I stopped at the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, NM. If you like atomic kitsch this is the place. They'll even let you ride a bomb.
National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque
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Fat Man casing.
Little Boy casing.
A big, fat, early model, implosion type, fission bomb
A-bomb backpack
Davy Crocket: King of the wild frontier
One of the H-bombs that fell out of the B-52 over Spain. Bonk!
Bet ya didn't know that Walleye bombs could have a nuke warhead.
All the parts to a sub launched MIRV ICBM.
Titan II ICBM
Rear view of Titan II motors.
Side view of Titan II motors.
B-52 bomb bay "Target in sight! where the hell is Major Kong!".
One of the tractors for the 280 mm Atomic Cannon.
The cannon section.
The other tractor.
The 280 mm Atomic Cannon in oblique view.
Close up of Atomic Cannon breach
Row of non-ballistic nuclear missiles
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Whee!
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99.07.19 Road Trip '99 Log Tucumcari, NM: Spent the night in an old Route 66 motel in Tucumcari. This is the last stop for me in NM --ever-- except to change my oil out in the desert. In one last gesture of contempt I had planned to simply dump the old oil into the ground, preferably near a stream or lake. As it happened I wound up changing it at a service station. The mechanic was surely (how unusual!). The police here behave as if everyone is a criminal -- very suspicious of me (and everyone else too, I think) and not very useful for aid and information on where to find things. They sure as hell don't make good hosts. Compared to the Arizona police these guys are worse than useless, they are obstacles, and I'm tired of looking over my shoulder in anticipation of getting caught at some trivial, accidental, infraction. All in all my New Mexico experience has been rather unpleasant, especially compared to Arizona. The only thing this state is good for is missile and bomb testing and storage of nuclear, biological, and chemical waste. My advice to fellow travellers is to avoid this whole state. I shall never return. |
After my adventures in New Mexico and the rest of the USA I can conclusively say that the residents of NM are in fact the least accommodating people I had the displeasure to meet on my trip. They are simply lame.
One small favor that I'll do for the people of NM I find. I won't vandalize their car/camper simply because of the NM plates on it. My decision to relent is because of the judge in Socorro doing me the "favor" of suspending the ticket I got while sensibly avoiding the rain. You should thank him.
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Page last modified Thursday, May 24, 2001 11:54 AM