 | California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah are huge states, each bigger than many countries. This means that traveling in the Southwest takes time, more time than the typical American 2 weeks annual vacation. The strange and unpredictable events of 2001 gave us a chance for an open-ended road trip, and our tiny trailer provided a lightweight and economical way to shelter, comfort and hot meals. Our interests are widely varied from geology, astronomy, archeology, prehistoric to recent US history. Nowhere else are the skies so clear and wide, the rocks so exposed, the land both untouched and blasted by atomic weapons, the human history both mysterious and obvious. These are some of the images of our trip. We hope you enjoy them. |
 | 31 March 2002, Barstow, CA: The long trip down California's Central Valley began about 11am, Saturday 3/30/02, and by sunset we had reached Barstow in the Mohave Desert. Tired from 400 hard miles, we headed for the cheapest RV park in town. The place was a dump, but the manager was nice enough and liked the Puck. About 15 minutes after we settled in, two police cars pulled up outside and a 20-something officer asked us if "Melody" was in our trailer. Pete's response led the cop to ask for his ID (but not Sarah's), and then the cop suggested that Pete could be arrested for public drunkenness (we had just poured wine). On his hasty way out, the young officer didn't see a curb and nicely nailed his shocks on the concrete. |
| Next morning as we munched on toasted bagels, we looked up to see 4 police cars arrive, followed by two social services vans. Again stopping in front of our trailer, they turned on their lights and sirens and began calling over bullhorns for all the niņos to come forth and get their Easter toys. Yup, "Toys for Tots" delivered oh-so compassionately by a dozen bull-necked cops, while social services took lots of pictures for the department newsletter. A sight too bizarre to predict, we pulled up stakes and headed toward Needles. | |
 | 1 April 2002, Snowbird West, AZ: From Needles we turned south on Route 95 and picked up I-10 at the Arizona border. About 50 miles into AZ, a car slowly passed up with the driver and passenger giving the Puck smiles and waves. As the car drifts into our lane in front of us, the driver never sees an 18-wheeler retread in his way. His car tires send the retread airborne and cartwheeling directly toward us. A sudden swerve keeps the rubber missile from crashing through our windshield, but we get a glancing blow all along our port side, just like Titanic. The driver's side mirror is knocked off, the retread hooks the rear bumper of the Wagoneer then delivers a brutal blow to the Puck. A nasty 2' x 3' dent in the aluminum skin, covered with black rubber. |
| A bit shaken up, we head off a random exit in a few miles and, by chance alone, arrive at Snowbird West RV Park. True to it's name, this neat park has been home since October to seniors from points north. Since it has already reached 90 deg. in this stretch of AZ, many have pulled out and begun heading back north (except for the Canadians). Of those who remain, we were immediately approached by the nicest folks starved for new faces. Here our new friend, Dick, has volunteered to scrub off the retread marks from the accident. | |
 | 1 April 2002, Casa Grande, AZ: This large adobe building is a National Monument. We got in free by arriving 30 minutes before closing. |
 | 2 April 2002, Picacho Peak, AZ: State park we liked after a warm night of telescope gazing. |
 | 2 April, 2002, Sahuarita, AZ: About 20 miles south of Tucson is a Titan II missile silo restored into a cold war museum. Sarah liked her pink hardhat. |
 | 2 April, 2002, Sahuarita, AZ: One minute from notification, this 9 megaton thermonuclear warhead would depart for one of three enemy targets. For some strange reason, they would then close the silo door. |
 | 2 April 2002, Corona de Tucson, AZ: An F-4 Phantom parked next to the Puck. |
 | 2 April 2002, Corona de Tucson, AZ: Sarah stretches at the American Legion. |
 | 2 April 2002, Coronado National Forest, AZ: Pete removing stones from his boot while hiking behind Kartchner Caverns State Park. We thought of going into the caverns, but the line for 100 walk-in tickets formed at midnight and was full by 4:30am each day. Get out. |
 | 3 April 2002, Tombstone, AZ: This is what it says, the famous OK Corral, where the Earp Brothers dealt quick justice to some local thugs. Our friend, Mike, lives on Boot Hill, so we spent the night there drinking Coors and stargazing. |
 | 4 April 2002, Dragoons, AZ: Behind Mike's house are the Dragoon Mountains, also know as Apache Chief Cochice's Strondhold. Mike took us on 4WD adventure to three ghost towns, Gleeson, Courtland and Pearce. |
 | 4 April 2002, Dragoons, AZ: Mike has a smoke while Sarah does carny tricks with her arms. |
 | 4 April 2002, Pearce, AZ: The jail for whites. Mexican jail was rougher. |
 | 4 April 2002, Pearce, AZ: The Pearce General Store. |
 | 4 April 2002, Courtland, AZ: A ghost town foundation. |
 | 4 April 2002, Gleeson, AZ: Pete and Sarah pose in front of the schoolhouse. |
 | 4 April 2002, E. Gleeson Rd, AZ: In the suburbs of a ghost town lives a couple that deal with rattlesnakes. Their yard is a museum of Western stuff. We couldn't stop taking pictures here. |
 | 4 April 2002, E. Gleeson Rd, AZ: We really couldn't stop. |
 | 4 April 2002, I-10 near Wilcox, AZ: Something was beginning to blow in, portent to the next few days. |
 | 5 April 2002, Rock Hound State Park, NM: A nice spot to stop for a night, and the only park where you can flail about with a rock hammer without getting arrested. All the easy jaspers and geodes are long gone. |
 | 5 April 2002, White Sands Missile Range, NM: The rocket garden outside the missile museum. |
 |  |
 | 5 April 2002, White Sands Missile Range, NM: The Fat Man Bomb Casing is missing, but we know exactly where it can be found. |
 | 5 April 2002, White Sands National Monument, NM: The Puck lost in a sea of drywall dust (gypsum). Sort of like when we work on sheetrock at home. |
 | 5 April 2002, White Sands National Monument, NM: The sand has to be plowed to clear the road for driving. |
 | 5 April 2002, White Sands National Monument, NM: Local kids sandsledding. |
 | 6 April 2002, McDonald Ranch, NM: Twice each year the White Sands Missile Range lets the public enter the highly restricted base to visit Trinity Site. This is the windmill at McDonald Ranch, where the plutonium core for the first atomic bomb was assembled and driven 2 miles to Ground Zero (the original one). |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: Ground Zero is a short walk from the parking, but if you are lucky you can be escorted by the military on a golf cart. |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: Sarah does her pro-nuclear dance at the location of the planet's first A-bomb detonation. |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: Yes, we have found the missing Fat Man Bomb Casing. It is warm and round. |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: We are now standing at the very center of this explosion. What a difference a few decades make. |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: A small section of the blasted surface is preserved, showing trinitite, the greenish glass formed on the desert surface. We bought a small piece from a legal dealer, $30/gram. |
 | 6 April 2002, Trinity Site, NM: All Sarah has to do is walk by some soldiers and all hell breaks loose. |
 | 7 April 2002, Datil Wells, NM: After a fun-packed day at the nuclear bomb crater, we headed northeast to Socorro, Magdelana and the VLA. A storm had been building over the previous two days and was threatening as we reached the array, our intended camping destination. We continued past to Datil Wells and spent a night amongst wind, rain and snow. For recent action pics of the VLA, contact geekboy, and ask about the Tripping Hazard. |
 | 7 April 2002, Old Horse Springs, NM: The weather continued to be unsettled as we circled north of Gila Wilderness Area. |
 | 7 April 2002, Glenwood, NM: The Catwalk is a short fun trail up a former water slouce. |
 | 7 April 2002, Glenwood, NM: A tiny suspension bridge on the Catwalk trail. |
 | 7 April 2002, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM: Some 42 rooms built about 700 years ago by the Mogollon tribe. |
 | 7 April 2002, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM: Inside the caves, nice and cool. |
 | 7 April 2002, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM: The view from the caves; we are camped just at the bend in the West Fork of the Gila River. |
 | 7 April 2002, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM: The Puck at night, warm and inviting. |
 | 7 April 2002, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM: The Puck EL lights on at night, confusing, yet pleasing to passersby. |
 | 8 April 2002, Gila National Monument, NM: A vulture circles us when a 4 mile hike unexpectedly turns into a 12 mile hike (US Forest Service trail map). |