21 January: Alamogordo to Truth or Consequence and then on to Tucson, AZ

 

 

View from the RV park

What I did not realize, was that Alamogordo (and White Sands) was the center of the space and rocket development industry in America.  They have a Rocket and Space museum that I went to visit - fascinating stuff.

Starting off with the British contribution to the space race... the fact that they had instructions on the vehicle was somewhat concerning - see the 2nd photo down.

Zoom in on the instructions...

Entrance to the elevator -at the museum

Little Ham - first Chimp in space

His capsule in the rocket.  He was actually trained to control it.

Moon rock sample

The fun fact is crazy. See above.

In front of those mountains is where the Shuttle would come and land (if it did not land in California)

Woke up early on Saturday to get to the White Sands National monument/park.  Spectacular.  Largest inland dune system in the world.  Not quite sure what created it.  9am and 35F (1C).  You can actually go back-country camping in the dunes - need to do that one day, but not in the winter.

Really rugged mountains ring the sand

Looking at the pics, I have to remind myself that it was 33F

On to Truth or Consequence.  This was one of the must -visit spots on the trip - and only due to its name.  Got the t-shirts. What a pleasant surprise.  Arty weird town that has open house every Thursday when the art galleries stay open until 10, and everyone has a good time.  After lunch back to I10 via some minor roads which were very scenic - lots of pecan nut groves , and  I passed through the chili capital of the US - actually saw chili fields as I was coming up to the town -

 Made me think of a time - about 30 years ago where Gene and I stopped once (just before you get into Rustenburg, in the North -West of South Africa), ran into the field with a plastic bag and picked a bundle of chili's which we immediately chopped up on getting home.We  put the chili's into olive oil and left it to soak.  Was the greatest hottest sauce ever - even melted the rubber seals on the bottles we stored it in.

Big Original Americans present.

Different types of cactus in front of the Geronimo museum

Weird little sculpture garden thing - was part of the Geronimo Apache museum.

Downside of the minor road was lots of loose gravel, and 2 chips in my movie screen (windscreen) which is going to cost $$$ to replace (turns out I could get it fixed in Quartzsite for only $60. ).

One of the chips - top left quadrant.  Looks like a bird.

Pecan grove

Slept over in Lordsburg, New Mexico after driving through spectacular countryside.  Ice cold again that evening - went down to 20F.

Ice patterns on the Whale

Next day I did a slight detour to avoid I10 and on a random choice decided to go down to Douglas, NM on the Mexican border,  and then back up to stop in Tombstone.

Miles long trains - was good to see rather than 1000's of trucks

Beautiful scenic drive to Douglas

Stopped for lunch at the Gadsden Hotel, Douglas, AZ

Stunning hotel foyer

Stunning x2 - totally out of character with the rest of the town

 

After lunch - on to Tombstone - capital of the SDS people, but well preserved and very touristy/busy.

Lots of cosplay in Tombstone.  There is a shoot-out at the OK corral every day.

Undertaker next to the Power dressers

On to Tucson for the week stay.  Funniest bit in the pic below - the coyote and wolf derivatives are not allowed in the RV park - so Stanley would have been out of luck.  Read in the fold below.

Tight fit RV park

Read in the fold

So it was Tuscon for 5 nights and then on to the end point of the trip - Quartzsite.  I was a bit excited.