VLA and Unwelcome Excitement

While researching New Mexico attractions, I came across some information regarding the VLA located about 60 miles from Socorro.  I also discovered that they have a special open house twice a year on the first Saturday in April and October.  Since we were staying near Socorro and it was the first Saturday in April, I decided we had to go.

Now you’re thinking to yourself, what in the world is a VLA.  Even after reading about it, I wasn’t sure what it was, but it sounded interesting.  It stands for Very Large Array (I know, that still doesn’t tell you anything).  It’s basically a huge telescope created by placing 27 large satellite antenna in the shape of a Y out in the desert. 

Each of these antenna are 100 feet tall, 85 feet in diameter and weighs 230 tons.  Radio waves from space are captured by the antenna and sent to a 20 million dollar super computer using fiber optic cables.  The computer analyzes the data and somehow through all of this process, outer space images are produced.  You can get an idea of the size of one of the antenna by looking at the people and van at the base of it.

An engineer named Steve led our tour.  He tried hard to explain in terms a non-scientist could understand, but a lot of it went right over my head.  What I do know is that there are some very smart people working at this place, and all of it is truly amazing.

One of the people on the tour asked Steve how anything done here could benefit us in our daily lives.  Steve said there are two main areas.  First the scientists and astronomers are studying the expanding universe which can help in understanding our environment, planet, etc.  The other is they are developing math systems.  He said they expect these math systems they are developing to help lead to the knowledge of how exactly a human cell is created and help to develop new cells to cure disease. Cool !! Who knew math was that important :)

The antenna are moved every 4 months.  There are railroad tracks that run along each arm of the array.  This orange machine is used to move them along the tracks.  The antenna are placed in 4 patterns throughout the year ranging from a distance of 13 miles apart up to 1 mile apart.  The patterns act kind of like a zoom lens.  They move them in and out and that way get a broader or narrower view of the universe.  It takes one to two weeks to make the move each time.

The facility was built in the 1970s and upgraded about 10 years ago.  It’s been featured in several movies and even a Bon Jovi music video.  I would definitely recommend a visit. Even if you don’t go on a tour, there is a walking tour and a nice visitor’s center with an informative movie. Kevin’s brother has a PhD in Math and a Master’s in Computer Science.  I think this place would be right up his alley!

As we headed home we made a little detour to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  Their website said they are one of the most spectacular wildlife refuges in the country.

I’ve dragged Kevin to three refuges since we left Wisconsin.  The first one was in Colorado in October and we were too early to see the migrating birds.  The next one was in Nevada where we saw the endangered pupfish, and now this one in New Mexico.  We’re too late to see the tens of thousands of sand hill cranes and snow geese that come through here. Apparently, they’re only here from late November to mid-February.  This is high desert and it’s cold at that time of year.  I guess we’ll have to see the migrating birds elsewhere.

We drove along the wildlife drive and took a walk on the boardwalk.  We saw many turtles sunning themselves.

There were lots of American Coots and ducks in all of the ponds.

I believe this guy is a Cormorant.  That’s all we saw.  Nothing too exciting.   No massive flocks of migrating birds.  Maybe next winter.  On the way home, we saw some smoke in the distance.  New Mexico is extremely dry and there are high fire hazard warnings everywhere.  As we got closer to home, the smoke plume got bigger.  Hmm, that’s not looking very good.  I can’t imagine anyone would have set such a large fire on purpose.

As we got to our freeway exit, we could see the fire was about 4 or 5 miles across the interstate from our campground. Yikes!!!

Lots of the people at the campground were out looking at the fire.  Below is what it looked like from the end of our campground row. The sun was beginning to go down, and it did create some very pretty colors in the smoke.  But still, this is way too close for comfort.  The campground owner assured us that she had witnessed many wildfires in that same area, and she had never been evacuated.  The wind always blows it in the opposite direction.  Since we were leaving the next day anyway, we just got everything ready for a quick escape.

As the evening progressed, the firefighters worked miracles and the smoke plume got much smaller.  Still, this is what we saw after dark.

We left at 9:30 this morning to beat the high winds that were predicted for today.  We could still see lots of smoldering as we pulled onto the highway.  The news said over 1,000 acres had burned.

We made it to The Enchanted Trails RV Park in Albuquerque about an hour later.  The winds are fierce this afternoon, sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph.  The sand sounds like hail hitting the camper.  There may not be any paint left on it by tomorrow.

This campground seems pretty nice.  We really haven’t had a chance to look around much.  I’m not going out there!!!  Tomorrow we’re going to Taos to visit a former co-worker of mine.  I’m excited to see her.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

The ruins of three missions are located within a 35 mile area in the Salinas Valley of Central New Mexico.  All three of them were built in the early 1600s under the supervision of Spanish Franciscan monks.  The missions were built at locations where there were already thriving pueblos.  It is estimated there were over 10,000 people in this valley at that time. The work was done by the local Indians.

Here are the remains at Abo. It’s located at a higher elevation than most of the valley at 6100 feet.  It was very windy and chilly up there so we didn’t hang around very long. 

Next, we drove further east to the town of Maintainair where there is a National Parks Visitor Center that covers all three of the missions.  We watched the movie and then headed to the mission at Quaria.  This one is the most in tact of the churches.

These early people sure were amazing.  What an industrious civilization.

I was surprised how entirely different these missions looked from the ones we saw in San Antonio, Texas a few years ago.  The architecture and building materials were not at all alike.

We walked around and read the signs and got a feel for the history of these places.  The missions were only in operation for about 50 years.  As we have heard time and time again on this trip, the white man didn’t do the Indians any favors by coming into their lives. 

The Spanish government taxed the people, imposed a new religion on them and basically caused them all kinds of problems.  When drought and famines came, the Indian people either died or moved on. 

What I find interesting, is that the area never recovered.  There are very few cities in this valley.  The ones that are here, look like they’re hanging on by a thread. There appears to be very little going on other than some cattle ranches here and there.

Today the high was 81 degrees which was a record.  It’s quite warm, and also very dry.  The dew point was below zero again. 

One thing we noticed at the last two campgrounds we’ve been at is the amount of birds.  Kevin figured out that the reason there are so many at the campgrounds, is that’s the only place there are trees.  Some red-winged blackbirds have a nest in the tree behind us.  They sure sing pretty.  As much as I hear the birds singing, I never see them.  They hide in the pine trees and you can just hear them.

Spring has definitely arrived.  The birds are building their nests and the trees in the campground are budding.  Hopefully, spring will have arrived in Wisconsin when we get there in a few weeks :)

I’d like to welcome a few new followers that have joined our journey over the past few weeks.  The more, the merrier!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

White Sands National Monument

About 60 miles east of Las Cruses, New Mexico is the White Sands National Monument. It’s a 275 square mile area of white sand dunes. What an amazing site! White sand as far as you can see. Those spots in the left center of the picture are actually cars.

The sand comes from gypsum rocks in the surrounding mountains. Since there is no river to carry the run-off out of this valley, the rocks eventually crystalize and break down to create this amazing place, the largest gypsum dune field in the world!

There is an 8 mile road that takes you through some of the dunes. These pictures reminded me of Wisconsin with the sand blowing across the road and the plows creating piles along the side of the road. Except it’s 80 degrees. I like this kind of snow!

Lots of people were sledding down the dunes. There was a group of school buses at the picnic area. These kids were having a ball sliding and playing on the dunes.

Each picnic table has a metal shade structure built over it. The sand is incredibly bright. Sunglasses are a must!

There is an amazing amount of plant life growing among the dunes. I’m always so astounded how plants and wildlife can exist in the most brutal environments. There is no water other than occasional rainfall.

The Yucca plants grow fast enough to stay ahead of the sand. The higher the dune gets, the higher the plant grows. Once the dune moves on, the plant is so top-heavy it collapses. Even though these yuccas at the top of the dune look like they are only a few feet tall, their roots are actually 30 feet down at the bottom under the dune. Amazing!

Bushes grow this complex system of roots. When the dune moves on, the plants hold onto some of the sand and create little islands to stay alive.

The Visitor Center is this gorgeous adobe building. It looked practically brand new. I was surprised to learn that it was actually built in 1936 during the depression by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an organization similar to the CCC.

We stayed at an awful campground for two nights near Las Cruses called Western Sky's RV Park. It is a Passport America park. Last week they quoted me $16 a night on the phone, but then charged $19 claiming they had a rate increase. Most sites were occupied with old run-down trailers and appeared to be permanent residents. It was noisy from interstate traffic, dogs barking and an overabundance of doves that never shut up. We would definitely not recommend that place! I can’t imagine anyone actually paying the full price to stay there.

Today we traveled about 180 miles north to Bernardo, New Mexico. We’re staying at Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel for $13 a night, the Passport America rate. There are a lot of dogs roaming around, but so far they have not been a problem. I think the camp host owns five of them. There are a lot of birds at this park, too. I think the New Mexico state bird should be the dove instead of the road runner. We have yet to see a road runner, but we sure have seen and heard plenty of doves :)

The key to success is having dreams. The mark of success is living them. ~ Unknown

Rock Hound State Park

We spent the afternoon yesterday at Rock Hound State Park.  The state parks in the southwest are certainly different than we are accustomed to.  No rivers, lakes, grass or trees with leaves on them.  However, beautiful in a different sense.  Desert scenery with mountains for a backdrop.

The park has a very nice campground with large sites and water and electric hook-ups at some of them.  The cost is $14 a night and they waive the $5 daily entrance fee.  If we had known that, we would have probably stayed at this park rather than where we are now.  No two mile dusty gravel road to travel down.

Here’s a picture from the entrance to the park.  You can see the campground on the left.  The mountains are called the Florida Mountains.

A very unique feature to this park is that visitors are allowed to take up to 15 pounds of rocks with them.  We hiked two of the trails totaling about 2 miles.  I couldn’t believe how quickly I got out of breath.  We climbed about 4,000 feet in elevation on our drive from Phoenix to Deming, and I definitely was feeling it as soon as I started climbing uphill.  Supposedly, you can find the thunderegg rocks in this park, but since we didn’t know what we were looking for, I have no idea if we saw any :)

Next, we drove a few miles to Spring Canyon State Park.  This is a day-use park with some picnic shelters.  We hiked about another mile on a trail in the canyon.  Here we are at the start to the trail.  No animal sightings.  But there sure were a lot of flies on all of the trails!  What’s up with that?

As you drive around this area, you see quite a few orchards.  I couldn’t imagine what type of fruit trees they were growing out here in the desert.  It turns out, they are pecan trees.  Did you know that the pecan tree is the only nut tree native to North America?

This area has lots of agriculture including cotton, pecans and red and green chili peppers.  It’s all about the irrigation.  I am so amazed that there are all these crops growing in the desert.  I sure have learned a lot these past few months.

It’s quite windy again today.  When we arrived, we asked the camphost if it is always this windy.  She said only in March and April.  We’ll be in New Mexico for two more weeks.  I guess we’ll find out if she was right.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Windy New Mexico

Yesterday afternoon as we neared the end of our drive it got quite windy.  The campground we are staying at is off of a county road, an unpaved road.  After driving the two miles on a gravel road in windy conditions, our truck and camper are super dusty!!!  Luckily, the wind died down in the evening so no problems sleeping.  The winds have picked up again this afternoon.  Hopefully, not all night!

We’re staying at El Rancho Lobo RV Park.  It’s a nice little campground, just a dusty two miles to get here.  We’re paying $11 per night plus 12 cents per KW hour for electricity.  That’s the Passport America price.  This is the first time we haven’t had to pay for our camping at check-in.  They said they’ll collect when we leave so they can just add the electricity.  Don’t you just love small town trust.

We’re parked in the short-term area which is a row of FHU pull-through sites with 50 amp service.  The sites are gravel, but very nice and level and there is free Wi-Fi.  Here’s our spot with our dusty truck and camper.

Today we ventured into the town of Deming which is about 10 miles from the campground.  We visited the Luna Mimbres Museum.  This is one of the nicest small town museums we have been to.  They had two floors of interesting, well laid out and well marked exhibits. 

Of particular interest to us was the display of thundereggs.  The museum has one of the world’s largest collection of these rocks.  They are egg shaped rocks which come from lava flows and have agate, quartz, opal or jasper inside of them.  They were beautiful.  I would definitely recommend a visit to this museum if you are ever in the area.

For lunch we stopped at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard treat.  It’s been over a month since I’ve had my DQ fix, so it was time.  Korey, dad says thanks for the gift card.  I second that. Awesome gift!

On the way back we stopped at the St. Clair Winery Tasting Room. 

It is New Mexico’s largest winery producing over 85,000 cases a year.  The grapes are actually grown about 50 miles from here at an elevation of 4500 feet.  The hot, sunny days, cool nights and rich sandy soil make for perfect growing conditions.  Who would have thought grapes grow in the desert.

After tasting five varieties of sweet wine, I decided I liked the PlumLoco the best.  It is a grape-based wine with plum and cherry juices added.  Delicious.  So, of course, I had to buy a bottle :)

So, we enjoyed our first day in New Mexico.  Tomorrow we will explore a nearby state park.  Stay tuned for more adventures!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

We’re on the Move

We left Buckeye this morning and are on our way to Deming, New Mexico.  We enjoyed our stay at Leaf Verde RV Park.  The rates were very reasonable, and it was a nice place to spend a month.  Our electric charge for the month was only $31.  Quite a bit different from the $115 in Yuma.  Granted it was colder at night in Yuma, but they still charged far too much for electric; almost double what we paid at Leaf Verde.  Just my two cents worth :)

I must admit that I am baseballed out.  We attended 9 or 10 games in a four week period.  I enjoy baseball, but Kevin is the true fan in the family.  I’m sure he enjoyed every minute of it!!

I also must say that I’m disappointed in the “desert bloom”.  Everyone kept telling me how beautiful the desert is in spring.  Maybe this is just not a good year for it or we’re in the wrong part of the desert.  I haven’t seen any blooming.  The only blooming I’ve seen is the oleander bushes at the resort.  Most resorts in the desert use oleanders as privacy hedges.  There is a large row of them along the edge of the park.  They are just starting to blossom.  They are very pretty, but not the desert bloom I was anticipating.  So far, New Mexico isn’t blooming either.

We didn’t do much this week.  On Monday we had tickets for a Brewers game.  Believe it or not, it actually started raining Monday morning, and it was only in the 50s.  Brrr!

I called the ballpark, and they said the game was still on.  Since we had tickets already and it was a bobblehead giveaway day, we drove over.  We got our bobbleheads and waited a little while.  When it started raining harder and they rolled out the  tarp, we decided to call it a day.  The game ended up being cancelled.  Our tickets can be exchanged for any Spring Training game in the 2012 or 2013 season.  Good deal.  Thanks, Brewers.

We just stopped at the New Mexico Welcome Center.  I am now loaded up with brochures.  I’m sure I’ll find plenty to keep us busy for the next three weeks before we make the final trek to Wisconsin.

I’m sure glad it’s not real windy today.  There are warning signs along this portion of Highway 10 regarding zero visibility due to dust storms.  They have signs that say “don’t stop in travel lanes”.  I’m thinking that’s very good advice :)

Our drive today is about six hours.  That’s longer than we normally like to do, but there really wasn’t anywhere between Buckeye and Deming that we wanted to stay.  We’ve found Passport America campgrounds to stay in for most of our trip back to Wisconsin. So, Kevin has a longer than normal driving day today :(  I know, you’re crying for us.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Luke Air Force Base Air Show

Today we attended the Luke Air Force Base Open House which included an amazing air show.  The base hosts this event every other year, and we were lucky enough to get to see it.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  It was overcast which kept the temperatures in the 70s and made it easier to look up into the sky.  It wasn’t too cloudy to see the planes perform.

They estimated that about 200,000 people would attend.  The event was free, but parking was very limited so there was little choice but to pay $10 for parking.  After quite a long walk, we got to the runways where the show was held.  There were many planes on display to look at and tour.

The airshow started at 11:00 am and lasted until 4:00 pm.  We brought our little stools to sit on and found a place close to the main viewing area to sit.

Sixty year old Chuck Aaron is the only pilot licensed by the FAA to perform aerobatics in a helicopter.  I would have never believed a helicopter could fly upside down and do rolls.

This is an F-22 fighter jet.  Wow, was it loud!

They called this the Heritage Flight.  It represented planes from different eras in the history of the Air Force.

The Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team put on quite an amazing demonstration.  It’s unbelievable that they can land on a small x on the ground.  They jump out of the plane at 12,500 feet where it is zero degrees and winds were 50 mph.  They fall at about 120 mph until they open their chute.  What a rush that must be.  No thanks!!

 

 

 

But, the highlight of the show was definitely the Air Force Thunderbirds.  The precision of these pilots is incredible.

Here are a few shots of them in action.  I didn’t get the best shots.  They’re so fast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we attended a baseball game between the Brewers and the LA Dodgers at Camelback Ranch Park in Glendale, AZ.  It’s a huge facility where the Dodgers and White Sox train during spring training.  It was built 3 years ago.  It was the biggest crowd we’ve seen so far with over 12,000 in attendance.  The game ended in a tie after 10 innings.  After that, they quit playing.

They had some very interesting landscaping around the park.  There were many stone walls all around made out of chain link fence boxes with rocks inside.  I’ve never seen that before.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Saturday’s Super Moon.  It was party cloudy so it wasn’t the best full moon I’ve ever seen.  However, since the media hyped it so much, I have to put in a picture.  After all, the moon won’t be this close to earth again for another 18 years.

This quote was in the RV Workers on Wheels Newsletter today.  It made me think of all the people who told us they could never do what we’re doing because of all the what ifs.  What if you get sick, what if it doesn’t work out, etc. etc.  As I told them, it’s a calculated risk we’re willing to take.  We refuse to live in fear.

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death. ~ James F. Byrnes