Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 14, 2019

Temperature 79

White Sands National Monument

Talk about a drastic change in weather.  A couple of hours after we arrived the skies opened up.  Rain came like it was coming from a thousand fire hoses.  There was thunder, loud, raw and rolling across the park.  Lightening came in all directions, sky to ground, horizontal across the sky, and then a large strike on the perimeter of the park.  It carried on like this for over an hour.  Then all was quiet.

Until this morning.  Then it started all over again.  Only this time with a twist.  Rain, yes, Thunder, yes.  Lightening, yes and then came the twist, we had one strike in the park and that was the end of the electric for a bit.  Thankfully, it came back on a short time later.

Let’s go back a bit.  Rather then come straight here from Roswell, we of course made the one stop at Desert Paradise RV Park.  This was a last minute decision once we decided  we wanted to visit White Sands National Monument.

The largest gypsum dune field in the world is located at White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico. This region of glistening white dunes is in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert within an “internally drained valley” called the Tularosa Basin. The monument ranges in elevation from 3890′ to 4116′ above sea level. There are approximately 275 total square miles of dune fields here, with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Monument. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public.

The area is so large that it is even visible from outer space.

Once in the parking lot we made our way to the Visitor’s Center.

This is the Visitor’s Center building.

Regarding the construction of the building and the Monument itself.

When it was completed.

The unique design features of a Spanish pueblo adobe building.  See how many features you can identify in the picture that follows.

White Sands Monument might not have been.

So how did the white sands in this area come to be?

 

What keeps all this sand from just blowing away?

What I was amazed to learn is that this island of sand is part of a larger park.

There are exhibits in the museum, such as

How plants adapt and survive.  They grow taller, quicker and sometimes they just hold on with a vast network of roots.

Animals, likewise, change and adapt.

There are other exhibits as well but time now to go for a ride.  We’re going on an 8 mile drive through White Sands National Monument.

First stop, payment is required but since we have a National Pass we don’t have to worry.

We’re on our way!  If you have any doubt as to where you are, this sign makes it clear.

Dune fields ahead.

We stopped to walk the boardwalk running through the dunes.

The view from the boardwalk.  Majestic.  Breath taking.

Back in the car we came to the loop where the road turned to sand.

The road here is a washboard and the key to driving on it and not shaking everything loose is to – drive fast, the faster the better!

I so wanted to go sliding down a dune, but I thought better of it and settled for a walk.  Later I discovered that sledding is not all that easy.  Unless you wax the bottom of the sled you obtain from the gift shop you are not going to go anywhere.

The sand was so soft.  At times hard to walk in because you would just sink in.  But it wasn’t hot, not even warm.  That I discovered is because the sun reflects off of it.

In due time we completed the loop and where on our way back out.

Words fail me when trying to describe this place.  Awesome.  Amazing.  Awe inspiring.  This is like no other place on earth.  It is just spectacular.  Not been here yet?  Put it on your bucket list of must places to visit.

Our day on The Road of Retirement is now coming to a close.  We are absolutely thrilled that we were able to visit The White Sands National Monument.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the The White Sands Missile Park and Museum.  We’re settled in at our new home and enjoying the park.  We did some shopping and located the shop where we have to take Graybeard.  We have more storms on the horizon so it looks like it is going to be another interesting evening.  So be it.  We’ll take it as it comes.

Thanks again for coming with us.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 13, 2019

Temperature 90

Travel Day and A New Home

We Made It – Still Don’t Know What the Noise Is But We’ll Find Out

There was no reason to hang out in the park so we were up and at it early this morning.  We were on the road by 8 am and heading even further south.

Yesterday I crawled all around under Graybeard but couldn’t find a thing wrong.  Nothing was loose, nothing was hanging down, driveshaft, etc all looked in order.  Only thing to do I concluded was to roll on.  Once I arrived in Deming I would begin to look for a repair facility that handled RV’s and in particular the Ford F53 chassis and make an appointment.  That’s exactly what I did, Graybeard goes in next Thursday for a checkup.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Route 70 westbound was one of the best roads we’ve been on lately.  It is smooth, hardly any construction, and traffic was light.

How about some pictures of our trip today?  Since Barbara couldn’t get pictures of all of our trip today I’m going to mix her’s with some stock pictures from the web.

Remember yesterday I said how glad I was that we didn’t have to go up and over these mountains?

Oh how wrong I was!   Within an hour I discovered that the bear did indeed have to go over the mountain.

This was the first sign that the mountain did indeed have to be crossed and what was ahead of us.

About half way up on the left you find this. A little investigative work on the web turned up this information about it.  An old Nike Missile stands as if launch-ready at a highway overlook, welcoming drivers to pull off and ponder the desert where America once tested its atomic bombs.  The Nike Hercules Missile is 41 ft. tall, and was part of a Cold War anti-aircraft defense system designed to protect American cities from Soviet bomber attacks. The missile, which would speed to its target at 2,500 miles per hour, had a range of 75 miles and “a maximum altitude of almost 30 miles,” according to an informative sign at the rest stop.  The overlook provides a dramatic view down into the valley to the White Sands Missile Range. The range is still used for tests.

We made it to the top!  It was a 7 mile grade varying between 4 and 6 %.  With every mountain that we climb I become even more impressed with the power of Graybeard.  We may not be the first, nor the fastest to the top but we always make it.

Time now to go down, and go down we did.  It was similar to the upgrade varying between a 4 to 6% grade.  With the transmission in tow haul it’s as good as an engine brake.  Hit the brakes and it automatically downshifts to a lower gear which keeps your speed reasonable.

Down at the bottom of the mountain we entered the town of Las Cruces.  Barbara was able to get these neat pictures on the sides of two different tanks.

A little further on she discovered and took a picture of this sculpture of a road runner on a hill alongside Route 10.

Time now for a Border Patrol inspection.  Everyone has to go through it, no exceptions.  The gentleman asked Just the two of you?  I answered Yes sir.  We were sent on our way with wishes for a safe trip.

A bit further down the road we came across this sign, another first for us.

The mountains in this area are absolutely stunning and majestic.

This is on our list of places to visit.

The one exit that we got off at Barbara snapped a picture of this.  Amazing what some people can do with what to me would be just a slab of concrete.

Soon enough we knew we had found our new home when we saw this sign.

Registration office.  And how about that when we went in we discovered friends, Bob and Mary, who we first met at the Raccoon Valley Escapees Park in Tennessee!

Inside on the one wall I discovered this sign with some real words of wisdom.

Outside we saw our first cactus alongside a beautiful pot.

Another beautifully decorated pot.

Here we are, home sweet home for the next six weeks.  Toto I have a feeling we are not in NJ anymore!  Our site is level with good site separation.

All utilities are convenient to the utility bay, no sun on the refrigerator, and Gertrude has a clear view of the south western sky.

As of now the park is empty.  Give it another month and they will begin to roll in.

Our updated map of states we’ve been too during the last two years.  I believe it’s safe to say we’ve been a few places.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Despite the weird noise in the back we made it with no issues.  Next Thursday we have an appointment to take to a highly recommended RV mechanic in the area.  The shop is only 5 minutes from the park.  We’ll get to the bottom of this before we leave here I’m sure.  We have a beautiful new home, one of the best Escapees park we’ve been in.  And most important we have each other and we continue to travel along singing our song.  Life is very, very good.  Thank you good Lord for the life that is ours.

Thanks again for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you again tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Red Barn RV Park, Alamogordo, New Mexico

September 12, 2019

Temperature 96

Travel Day

A Wounded Duck – Graybeard

Time to move out this morning.  We were only going to a park in Alamogordo so that we could visit White Sands National Monument.  With that in mind we pushed a bit and we were on the road by 9 am heading further south.

Once again we continued to climb.  Then a spotted a sign on the side of the road that stated that the elevation was 6300 feet which I though meant we were done going up.  Not on your life!  Up we went mile after mile.  Yes, we finally did start down as we got closer to Alamogordo which was just as interesting as going up.

Here are some pictures from our journey today.  The first of many mountains that we would see.

Down we go but look off in the distance soon we’ll be going back up.

See the white off in the distance?  That’s White Sands National Monument.

Look at these incredible mountains.  Thankfully, we did not have to go up and over them.

Entering Alamogordo.

 

The World’s Largest Pistachio.

It was built in honor of PistachioLand’s founder, Thomas McGinn. After his passing in 2008, his son, Timothy McGinn erected this 30 foot sculpture in memory of his father. Tim wanted everyone who passed by PistachioLand to take note of what his dad created, a 111 acre pistachio orchard and vineyard, started from bare desert land in 1980. From the first trees planted to today, PistachioLand now is home to over 12,000 pistachio trees and 14 acres of wine grapes.

 

Then we were there, Desert Paradise RV Park.

We have a pull-through site, reasonably level, with FHU.  We chose a park rather than a Harvest Host location so that we had electric to run the AC.  Given it was 96 degrees when we got here today we believe it was a smart decision.  Tomorrow, we’ll be out of here in less than 30 minutes.

We’re also crossing our fingers that we make it with no issues to Deming.  Graybeard has become a wounded duck.  Today a strange noise started coming from under the shower section of Graybeard why we were driving.  It’s hard to put my finger on what it is.  It sounds metallic but I’m not sure.  It comes and goes.  Never consistent.  It’s not a clunk.  I’ve crawled underneath and can not find anything amiss so I’m confident we’ll be alright.  Once in Deming I’ll take it to a truck shop in order to figure out exactly what is going on.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was an easy trip but because of that weird noise I just can’t relax while driving.  Tomorrow before we start I will as always say a prayer for safe travels.  Ah well, it’s always something isn’t it.  We’ll take it as it comes and deal with it as it happens.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Red Barn RV Park, Roswell, New Mexico

September 11, 2019

Temperature 89

Stafford Air and Space Museum

Remember yesterday I shared with you a rather beat up 40 foot rig that entered the park?  Well, this morning it was sort of comical as I watched them unload a Moped from inside the rig.  That’s right, a Moped with a full tank of gas being stored inside.  Wait, it gets worse.  After they left I took a few pictures of the rig.  This is the passenger side lockers.

This is one of the lockers on the driver’s side, note the bend and the crack.  The rest of the lockers are just about the same.

But the worse is yet to come.  I snapped this picture of one of the rear tires, the others are in the same condition.  Not only are these fools jeopardizing their own lives, but that of others as well.  So sad.  I hope when one of their tires blows, as we know they will, they live to tell about it and others do too.

Enough said.

Tonight we’re going to finish up our tour of the Stafford Air and Space Museum.  We’ll finish up with the rocket and space exploration exhibits.

We’ll begin with the Goddard Rocket.  Dr. Goddard developed and launched the first successful liquid rocket in 1926.  His invention would open the door to make space flight possible.

This is one of the only remaining actual V-2 rocket engines left in existence.  Captured by the Americans at the end of the war, the V-2 technology established the foundation for America’s space program and its future journey to landing a man on the moon in 1969.

This is the F-1 Rocket Engine.  This is the largest and most powerful rocket engine ever built.

Five of these engines powered the Saturn V moon rocket.  On liftoff, these engines generated more than 175 million horsepower.  How thirsty were these engines?

Just how big were the fuel tanks for this thirsty monster?  Take a look at the technicians working inside one of the first stage fuel tanks to get an idea of its enormous  size.

This is a J-2 Rocket Engine.  Five of these engines powered the second stage of the Saturn V moon rocket, and one powered the third stage.  The J-2 was the first, large, hydrogen fueled engine, and the first to be able to be restarted multiple times during flight.

This is an actual flight ready Titan II Rocket.  This rocket was originally developed by the Air Force as an intercontinental Ballistic Missile with the capability of carrying nuclear warheads.  NASA used it to launch the Gemini spacecraft.  This specific rocket spent most of its life inside an underground, hardened missile silo in Kansas, tipped with a nuclear warhead.

This is an actual deactivated Mark 6 Nuclear Warhead of the type that tipped the Titan II rocket above.  This warhead contained one of the largest thermonuclear warheads ever built by the US.  It’s yield was equivalent to more than 600 times the explosive power of Little Boy. 

This is a Soviet NK-33 Engine.  It was designed to power the giant Soviet N-1 moon rocket.  This museum is the only place where you can see both this and the F-1 engine on display.  A total of only 3 are on display in museums today.

This is a complete Gemini spacecraft, as it would have appeared in earth orbit.  At the end of their mission in space, and just before reentry back through the atmosphere the two large white colored equipment modules on the back of the craft were blown off to expose the heat shield.

This is a full-scale replica of an Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM).  The CSM served as the mother-ship of all Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions, including all of the lunar landing flights.

The service module (the silver section) supplied oxygen, water, electrical power, communication, and propulsion for the command module.  It is jettisoned just before reentry.

The astronauts rode in the command module during launch and reentry.  Because it had a protective heat shield it was the only launch vehicle that could return to earth.

This is full-scale replica of a lunar module forward cockpit.  This unit will soon be restored to an interactive display.  When completed visitors will be able to pilot the Lunar Module while standing in the cockpit.

This is one of the actual flown checklists used by Apollo 10 Commander Tom Stafford to pilot the first Lunar Module to the vicinity of the moon’s surface.

This is the actual Space Shuttle Fixed-Base Simulator that was located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for more than 30 years.  All 135 Shuttle crews did their primary fixed-based training in this simulator.  The two sections would normally be hooked together to form the Shuttle’s main flight deck cockpit.

 

The Fore Deck where the Mission Commander and Pilot would sit.

From the other side, the front.

This is the Aft Deck where the two Mission Specialists would sit.

Ever wonder what life would be like in space?

What food would they eat in space?

Here’s how experiments, cargo, etc. was transported in the Shuttle to space.  They used a U-shaped platform that had several points for securing heavy equipment.  This is an actual flown artifact.

What kept the Shuttle from burning up during reentry?

Perhaps you remember the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster?  A piece of foam broke off from the main booster during launch damaging several vital tiles on the left wing.  Upon reentry the wing suffered severe heat damage and eventually the shuttle became uncontrollable and came apart resulting in the death of all 7 crew members.  The worse of it is that they were only minutes from a successful landing in Florida.

Next, we have Skylab.

Finally, how did they get those massive rockets to the launch pad?  The Space Shuttle, Saturn V and other rockets were carried to the launch pad aboard a giant crawler.

 

A model of the crawler on display.

This is an actual link out of one of the crawler’s motorized treads.  Each of these crawler shoes weights over 2000 pounds.

We’ve now come to the end of our tour of this absolutely amazing museum.  I’ve been in many museums during our travels and I would rank this one as one of the best.  It has so many interesting exhibits, the exhibits are well documented, and there is a Star Tour Guide which guides you through the museum in a logical manner.  10 thumbs up for the Stafford Air and Space Museum!  If you haven’t been there, put in on your bucket list of must places to visit.

That brings to end our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’ve been shopping.  Had a delicious meal of potato pancakes.  Finished the blog on the Stafford Museum.  Time now to pack and get ready to move out tomorrow morning.  Yes, we’re on the move again.  We hope to stop tomorrow at White Sands Visitor Center before going on to the Escapees Park in Deming.  Till then.

Thanks again for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!