A special Day

In honour of the Newlyweds we show the flag and have a special celebration. Everywhere we have been people have been asking about the royal couple. Well now they are married perhaps we can get some peace.
Many people have told us that they have got up at 4.30 in the morning to watch the wedding (They really are crazy over here you know).

To Chama and beyond!

On Wednesday we packed up reasonably early, only to decide that now was the time to have new tyres put on to the vehicles. The Van needed 2 tyres and the trailer needed two tyres as well.
After considerable thought we decided to put some Goodyear Wrangler Authority tyres on the Van. Although we do not do cross country (only 2W drive) the aggressive tread of the Wranglers will enable us to get out of tight spots in snow and mud. I thought they may be noisy, but not so. So the back end of the truck now looks very chunky. The other reason being that they were the only tires that Walmart had that fitted. (they still look very chunky).
After that we now had a late start, so we set out south again to Antonito, but turned West there to travel over the Chumbra Pass. This is a beautiful journey which took us high up again into snow (so that we could try the new tires) of the Rio Grande Mountains, then down the other side into the small town of Chama, where we stayed the night.

Next day (Thursday) we set out late again, as we had taken the time to catch up with Helen and Stu (actually Sally wanted to make sure that Helen recorded the Royal Wedding).
From Chama we set out Westward again, about 2 miles up the road we reached the marker which signified that we had reached the Great Divide that we have based our trip on (Across The Great Divide). The Great Divide in question is the Continental Divide, signify hing that all the rain water that falls on to the side to the East of the sign will drain away and eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico. While all the rain that falls to the West of the sign will drain away to the Pacific Ocean. In reality it was an almost flat piece of land, nothing dramatic at all, not like the Hoosier Pass into Breckenridge. Still it marked a significant point in our journey, as now we were running downhill to the Pacific Ocean. As we drove on we started to find the sedimentary geology of the Mesas, and Buttes. High ,flat plains, with deep narrow gorges, or wide flat areas which stepped down from one sandstone layer to the next. Soon the forests of the high mountains gave way to the desert scrub of Morman tea plants. At one point we could see far away in the North West the Mountains behind Durango, Pagosa Springs and to the North East the Wolf Creek Pass, all covered in snow. The land was by now quite level, but with frequent cliffs that stretched into the distance. One thing we noticed was the large number of oil wells in the area, Farmington is a real Oil Town.
By late afternoon we found a little RV Park in Farmington called 'Dad's RV Park'. We are planning to stay here for a couple of days to recuperate and gather ourselves for the next major excursion - Into the deserts of the Colorado Plateau, seeing places like Monument Valley. We think that Farmington is really the last place you can find an RV park at a reasonable price, from here on we think that we will have to be self sufficient for water and electricity - should be fun

The Great Sand Dune National Park

One of the pluses of our visit north is to visit the Great Sand Dune National Park, to the North East of Alamosa. We had figured that we could go and look at the dunes and then go back in a couple of hours, as we could easily see them from out trailer as a beigey patch of ground at the foot of the mountains. The weather had deteriorated and the wind was quite strong. As Sally and I were just getting out of our trailer a sudden gust turned into a vortex, which is a mini tornado, blew up a load of sand all over us. I had to hold on to Sally and on to the trailer as we literally stopped ourselves from being blown away. When the vortex passed we spent some time brushing sand from our clothes and our hair, not a particularly pleasant experience.
It took the best part of an hour just to drive there. Of course the weather didn't help, it was very stormy, with snow storms blowing across the broad plain. As we drove the van was buffeted by the wind and we were enveloped in snow flurries. However on arrival the sun came out for a while and everything looked fine. As we approached, the true scale of the dunes became apparent. At the visitor center we learned that the dunes we could see were up to 650ft high, rising to 750ft further into the dunes. We took some time to explore the edge of the dunes, appreciating their beauty, but not wising to climb 650 feet of sand dune. We had our lunch then explored some more, I took a walk across the flat sand to the base of the dunes (about 400 yards away). We could see that the weather was closing in again , so we took to the car and explored some of the land around the dunes. At this point it started snowing again, covering the dunes with a thin layer of snow. The effect was remarkable as the snow outlined the dunes, like gauche on a painting. Quite surreal in its effect. We just sat amazed and watched as the scenery changed before our eyes. When the snow storm had cleared the snow melted very rapidly, returning the dunes to their original sandy colour.
We left feeling once more that America can produce some of the most amazing and stunning scenery.
The reason for the sand dunes being there and how they were made is a fascinating story, which can be read about better than I can tell it. See Wiki

Back to the warm(!)

On Monday morning we said sad farewells to Sarah, Carl and Brianna and drove back to Alamosa. Our route took us through Fairplay, otherwise known as South Park (yes the cartoon of the same name was based here). We also took the opportunity to take a side trip to The Royal Gorge, just outside Canon (pronounced Canyon) City. Royal Gorge is a deep, deep gorge which has been cut by the Alabama River. Only a few hundred feet wide it is up to 1250 feet deep. At its deepest it is crossed by a small suspension bridge, making a very dramatic scene.
We continue to be bombarded by the beauty and sheer scale of the mountains and valleys of Colorado, knowing that no photo can do justice to the reality of the place. We drove back to the trailer, through the Alabama River valley, stopping for a lunch at Patties Patio Pancake restaurant in Salida, which we could recommend to anyone travelling through.
As we moved south, the Saguache Basin opened out and the snow receded up the mountain tops. We dropped by 3000 feet and arrived safely at Alamosa, where is should have been warmer, not so. The weather this time of year can be very changeable. We were OK Monday night, but Tuesday night was really cold. Overnight the temperature plummeted to 20 degrees F, freezing the water supply to the trailer, so we had to flush the loo with bottled water (now that's posh).
Still we felt reasonably snug in our little trailer home, probably because we had both heaters blasting away.

Fun in the Sun and Snow

We had a lovely reunion with Carl and Sarah and Brianna, as we had not seen them for nearly two years. They made us very welcome and we had a great evening chatting.
On Saturday, w woke to find that it was snowing again (abut 6 inches fell), but we braved the weather and went over the Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge to join in the celebrations marking the end of the ski season. We rode up the mountain to Peak 8 in the Gondola lift. Sally was very brave and made the journey as well (she actually enjoyed the views, but not the height).
The gondola took us right to the bottom of the ski slopes, so people were whizzing around us on their snowboards and skis. Sally and I sat on the big patio and had a hot drink, where we could see the antics of the Mascot Winter Olympics. All the local mascots came together for a bit of fun. There was the ski school mascot - Ripperoo, the Denver Broncos mascot - Miles, Dora the explorer (no ones mascot, but everyones friend), Beaver from Beaver resort, The Bird, from the airforce, The Easter Bunny and Bison, the local university mascot (?).
Well they all had fun running round the snowy slopes, showing off and high fiving and hugging lots of kids. It was a fun occasion, and you could watch lots of skiiers as well.
After this we had a wander round Breckenridge before a meal in Erics, downstairs.
Sunday we just hung out at the house, looked at photos, then Carl cooked a great Lamb roast, and we had Yorkshire Puds (no mean feat at 10700 feet).
We have had a great time.

Driving back into Winter

Our purpose in coming this far north is to visit our niece Sarah and her family, who live just South of Breckenridge. They live high in the mountains, where winter is still in full swing even at the end of April. Because of this we plan to leave the trailer at Alamosa and drive north with just the van to see them, stay for the weekend, then drive back down again, to continue our journey Westwards.
Travelling north from Alamosa we are still travelling through Volcano Country. The huge flat plain we are driving on is the Saguache Basin, part of the Rio Grande Rift Valley, a huge chunk of ground that has been made when the mountains to either side separated and opened up this wide crack in the ground, which is some 500 miles long and up to 50 miles wide. It is surrounded by mountains, much of which is igneous in origin and there are many calderas, volcanoes, igneous extrusions and exposed igneous intrusions. We have already talked about the huge lava flow at Carrizozo (Valley Of Fires), the revealed Basalt Intrusions of Heuco Tanks, the supervolcano of Valle Caldera and the Mount San Antonio volcano. Now we are driving on this great plain which is basically a giant outpouring of lava, ash and tuff (a combination of stuff thrown out of a volcano). Much of it comes from one supervolcano called the La Garita Caldera, which is to the west of
The La Garita Caldera was active about 40 million years ago. It has been named by geologists as the largest single pyrocalstic event (explosion and outpouring) so far identified.
Many may remember the eruption of Mt St Helen in 1980, which poured inches of ash onto the land for many miles. Its estimated volume of ash was 0.8 cubic miles. The La Garita Caldera is estimated to have put out 5000 cubic miles of materials, in one explosion. The only trouble is because of many other volcanic explosions the original caldera is not easily identifiable, the Valle Caldera is if you check it out on Google Earth.
Well against this backdrop of mountains we drove north, getting higher and higher, until we reached the snowline and Sarah's house.

To Alamosa

Alamo seems to appear quite a bit in town names: The Alamo, Alamogorda, Los Alamos to name but three that we have been to.
It is a Spanish word whic means either: Cootowood Tree, Aspen, or just little tree. Take your pick.
Today we packed up and drove notrth to Alamosa, a toen which we have been to before, in 2003 we rendevoused with our niece at the DQ (Dairy Queen) when we went with them to visti their cabin in the San Juan Mountains.
We drove north through some spectacular countryside. As we drove round the West side of Taos we could see back to the Valle Caldera above Los ALamos, the photpograph clearly shows its volcanic cone shape. It is classed as a Super Volcano becasue of its size, of course there is only the stump of it left now. We were also impressed with San Antonia Mountain, which is also a large extinct volcano over 10,000ft high. The slopes were covered in Tuf and Lava, some of it a peculiarly disinctive Red Lava.
We arrived in Alamosa, set up the trailer and had a well earned nap. After tea we went in search of the DQ we had visited 8 years ago, only to find that it has been knocked down and replaced by a bank. Never mind.

Return to Santa Fe

Because we enjoyed our time in Santa Fe we returned there today.
We visited the Capitol, which was interesting, had our lunch in nice public garden behind the visitors center and then had a good wander round the Old Plaza.
Spying a Hagen Daaz ice cream shop we were royally ripped off by being charged $8.40 for two single ice creams. The Plaza is the start of the Santa Fe Trail, so I suggested that there were still robbers on the Santa Fe Trail.
We came home and had a good kip, then ate another good meal at Chili's.
Now we are ready to move on up into Colorado as we make a brief excursion to see our niece and her family near Breckenridge.

Return to Los Alamos

Tuesday would be a rest day, so Sally went to get her hair done, we cleaned and did the laundry! Surprisingly we awoke to the sound of rain - only the second time on this trip and it lasted about half an hour. However it was enough to put snow back onto the mountain tops and by the evening the Rio Grande had swollen to at least twice the size of the previous day.
I had picked up on the Internet that there would be a meeting of the Los Alamos Historical Society tonight. They had the historian from Y12 Building at Oak Ridge TN, D Ray Smith coming to talk about the other Secret City: Oak Ridge. Sally and I had visited Oak Ridge in October of 2009 when we stayed at Raccoon Valley, with George and Kay.
It was a fascinating evening, about 100 people turned up, as Los Alamos is very proud of its short but dramatic history. There were many in the audience who had worked on the Manhattan Project, either at Oak Ridge, Los Alamos or Hanford. We listened as Ray Smith talked about the Oak Ridge site, the buildings, what happened there and what its future is. Oak Ridge was where all of USA's weapons grade uranium and plutonium were refined using massive cyclotrons call Calutrons. They were constructed during, or soon after, the war. However no weapons grade materials have been produced since 1964 and although the site was used to recycle fission material from all over the world its role is now diminishing and much of it will be demolished.
I also found time before the meeting to drive up into the mountain above Los Alamos to see the Valle Caldera, which is the third largest Caldera in the world (so the visitor center says, not sure myself). The view from the edge was quite spectacular, as were the views back across the Rio Grande Valley.

Santa Fe

On Monday we visited Santa Fe. Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, which became the 47th State in 1912, after Oklahoma and before Arizona. It has the disitinction (all capitals have to be distinctive in some way) of being the highest capital and also having the only round Capitol building.
It is a fascinating mix of Administration, Pueblan culture and Art.
To get a good feel for the city we had a cup of coffee/tea in a pavement cafe then took a trolley ride, this took us round the Plaza, with its Indian street sellers, also passing the little office at 109 East Palace Avenue, which was used, literally, as the gateway to Los Alamos. New Los Alamos residents arriving would go in through the front door and out through the back door, where they were whisked away to the secret town of Los Alamos. Then round the unique circular Capitol and Admin buildings, including the Bata'an Memorial, which was very moving. Then up Canyon Drive past the 240 Art Galleries!, many of which displayed some pieces in an outdoor setting, mostly sculptures, as a non-artist I found that really interesting. Then out past the museum section to the famous sculpture of a wagon arriving at the end of the Santa Fe Trail, from Missouri.
Following this we had a lovely lunch in the famous La Hondo Hotel, where we were able to have a Mexican Buffet; this allowed us to explore Mexican food a bit more.
After lunch we strolled round the Plaza, looking at the Indian crafts for sale, some nice jewellery and pottery (no did not succumb to it). We enjoyed visiting the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi and tried to see another couple of churches, but they had limited access, so that was not so good.
All in all we really enjoyed Santa Fe, it has a lovely feel of being a cultural and artistic center, which I suppose neatly balances Los Alamos 20 miles away which is definitely science oriented. We have decided to return here on Thursday, so we shall add more then, maybe.

Los Alamos

Los Alamos! The last part of the jigsaw for the first atomic bomb. The Ranch Schoolhouse in Los Alamos is the last destination in the trail. It was here that the USA set up a 'hothouse' of American, British and European physicists to design and make a usable weapon. The Manhatton Project was directed from, and Uranium and Plutonium were made at, Oak Ridge,TN. The bomb was assembled and tested at Trinity Site, 20o miles to the south. But here in Los Alamos were the theoroticians, mathematians and designers who fashioned the bomb from a theory to reality.
Los Alamos itself was an almost deserted mesa (flat plateau) over 7,000ft up in the mountains near Santa Fe. There was only a dirt road up to it. A mall number of native americans and a private outdoors school were the only inhabitants. This was considered to be the place to build the second secret town (Oak Ridge being the first). Within months the flat mesa becasme home to 10,000 people, scientists, builders, security, machinists, logistics, teachers and families.
Los Alamos was so secret that its existence was not even known about in detail by the locals. In Santa Fe (25 miles away) it was known just as 'The Hill' by anyone who worked for them. Every piece of mail had to go through a single Post Office box with the address P.O. Box 1663, Santa Fe. Birth certificates, marriage, certs and driving licences were issued to that address - driving licences did not have names, merely numbers. (see History of Los Alamos)
On Sunday we drove up to Los Alamos. This is a most spectacular drive amongst lava flows, cliffs, buttes and on up the side of the mesa. There are stopping places which enabled us to get out and be amazed at the breathtaking views (which of course mere photos cannot begin to describe) of the mesas, the valleys, the Rio Grande Rift Valley and the mountains beyond. We could easily see the Ski Valley Mountains behind Taos, more than 70 miles away (I checked on the map). We drove on into the town, which was very quiet. Stopped at the visitor center and laid our plans. There is a simple walking tour which we took, stopping first to have a cuppa at Ruby's Bagels, (alright - I had an apricot croissant as well). The tour took us to the Fuller Lodge, the only part of the original Ranch School still standing, past the Ashley Pond, punningly named after Ashley Pond II, one of the directors of the original Ranch School. We could also see the house where J Robert Oppeheimer lived for the duration. Unfortunately the original laboratories and school had all been demolished in the 60,s. We had our lunch in the garden infront of the Fuller Lodge, very pretty, with lots of blossom (yes our move north and upwards means that we are still in early spring, we even saw daffodils in bloom). From there we went to the local Bradbury Museum. The whole community is dominated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which does a lot of basic research for the government, but those areas are still not open to the public.
By the time we had done all this we were both ready to come back, once again enjoying the views as we came back down the mountain.

Northern New Mexico

New Mexico is dominated by deserts and mountains. In the south it is deserts with mountains at the edges, but in the north it is mountains with deserts in the valleys.
On Thursday we moved to the north of Albuquerque and are staying in a small town called Espanola, we chose this because of its location.
Espanola is in the Rio Grande Valley, with Santa Fe to the South, Los Alamos to the West and Taos to the north.

Espanola
So on Friday we set out to explore Espanola. We found that the town is split by the Rio Grande, with the old town on the West bank and the new town business section and a pueblo called Santa Cruz on the East side. The main features of the Old Town was a plaza which had several nice buildings, a replica, built in the traditional adobe way, of a local church which is used as a community centre, a plaza, and a museum based in the local home of a tradesman called Bond. We enjoyed both of these buildings as it gave a good insight into the local history. We then enjoyed our lunch in the Plaza before coming home, via the Santa Cruz Pueblo, to relax for the afternoon.

Taos


Saturday was to be our adventure to Taos. Taos has been a beacon to us for some time as it incorporates a lot of things that we wish to see.
First is the scenery itself. To get to Taos we had to drive up the Rio Grande River valley, as we approached Taos the scenery became more and more spectacular as the mountains closed in, now high enough to have snow on their tops. The geology of the areas seemed to have a level layer of very hard rock, either volcanic or limestone (need to check), when the road was below that level it provided Mesas (high flat areas) with long ridges. As the road climbed it left the Rio Grande Valley, suddenly we reached the top and drove out onto the mesa, which stretched away into the distance. You could see Taos nestling under the heights of the snow capped Pueblo, Wheelers and Lobo Peaks which make up the Taos Ski Valley area. Across the flat mesa to the West you should see the huge gash in the ground which is the Rio Grande River Gorge disappearing into the distance to the North. we stopped to take photos, but as usual there is no way that you can capture the scope of this scenery on film.
We drove on into Taos and parked near the Old Town Plaza which was really a bit of a tourist trap, still we got our and had a wander. From there we went to the Taos Pueblo for a tour round this fascinating place.


Taos Pueblo.
First another short word about Pueblos, because as we travel we are learning more. From around the 10th Century a peaceful, agricultural peoples 'arrived' in the area of New Mexico/Southern Colorado. for four hundred years they lived peacefully in small communities (about 40 of them) from El Paso in the south right up to Taos in the North. They used adobe bricks to build villages. Adobe bricks are a sun baked mix of mud and straw. This is then covered with a layer of mud (see our visit to Albuquerque Old Town). A flat roof of timber poles with mud to seal it means that they are great as long as it doesn't rain! The mud layer is renewed annually, making the walls thicker and thicker and giving them a sort of rounded, melted look. These people lived quite happily until the arrival of the Spanish, who, as mentioned before, took advantage of them until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when they were kicked out. The revolt was led and organised by the Taos Pueblans (so they say anyway). To this day there are 19 Pueblos remaining. As a native American People they have fought for the return of their land, with some success. However each Pueblo is autonomous
so success has varied, Taos Pueblo has been able to reclaim some 200,000 acres of its original land.
Taos also has one of the most complete Pueblos, its original adobe buildings are still intact and are quite impressive as they are three stories high, the whole village is surrounded by a wall and it still looks like it was 600 years ago. (No electricity, water or TV). most of the Pueblans now live outside the village, but retain their property in the village. We had a fascinating tour given to us by a young lady who is studying conservation at the local North New Mexico University. This has really helped us to understand the importance of these people to this area of the south west USA.

Rio Grande Gorge and Bridge
After our visit to the Pueblo we drove about 10 miles out of Taos to the Rio Grande Gorge. Route 64 crosses the gorge and it is one of the most spectacular sights. There is a single span bridge 650 feet above the river, which just serves to put the gorge into perspective. As I have started to look at this area it has become obvious that there are some very interesting and unique aspects at play. The Rio Grande Gorge is part of the Rio Grande Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is a line down the Earth's crust where two land masses are being pulled apart, leaving a gap between them. The Rift Valley has also been subject to massive volcanic activity and there are various volcanoes, lava fields and igneous intrusions. dating back a mere 50,000 years. It is fascinating to drive through this countryside and see the raw forces of nature tat have been at work.

Earthship
Anyway, when we had looked enough at the gorge we wandered a couple of miles up the road to a small community called 'Earthship', which is a large number of houses which are built on sustainability principles, with adobe walls with bottles or cans as the 'bricks', lots of solar power and hydroponics. Very interesting, if a bit bizarre.
We decided to go home 'a different way', on the map there was a small road which ran down the west side of the gorge, this would save going back to Taos, so we went for it. It was a very good paved road. We could see the edge of the gorge to our left, slowly getting closer. Then two things happened; The road turned to a rough gravel track, wide enough but lots of loose stones and dust; the road turned left and nose dived into the gorge. We went with it! and eased our way down the side of the gorge, as the road twisted and turned down to the bottom of the gorge (650ft, remember?). Then when we reached the bottom we crossed a bridge and returned to paved road and we now travelling down the beautiful Rio Grande river, with high canyon walls, once again we were astounded by the grandure of the scenery. As we moved south the canyon opened out and became less high, eventually we met the Taos road and returned to the trailer tired but astounded by the scenery we had encountered.

Albuquerque

Albuquerque is the main city of New Mexico. It has grown a lot in the last 50 years as many people have realised that it has an almost ideal climate.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we drove into the city and sorted what we would do today. We then went to the local Whole Food Market for Sally to stock up on Soy Yogurt.
Today we travelled back into ABQ to the museum, which is just by the Old Town. They have a guided walk from the museum, which was very good value. The tour guide was an English woman, which was interesting. The history was fascinating. Starts with the Pueblo Indians, which just means Village People (No they didn't have a YMCA then). In 1539 the Spanish wandered in, coming back in 1590 to settle the place. In 1680 the Peublo had a revolution and kicked the Spanish out, but after 12 years they both realised that they needed each other (aah!)
The architecture is all adobe, which is mud and straw bricks. Because the material is weak you can only have a single story building (unless you make the walls several feet thick, like for a church). As wood was quite difficult to obtain and bricks need wood/coal to make then adobe was the best stuff. It was also a good insulator.
Things really changed with the coming of the railway in 1881. They brought tin sheets (rain proof roofs) and wood. They also brought ideas. So we see the architecture change dramatically - 2 story houses! roofs that didn't leak! building designs that owed more to East Coast fashion than practical desert dwellings. Unfortunately for Old Town ABQ the railway passed about 1 1/2 miles to the East, so the people moved, so Old Town stayed Old Town, while ABQ grew and grew.

A word on the weather. ABQ is at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert and is about 4000 feet up. It has much cooler summers than even 100 miles south. 340 days of sun per year and built on the banks of the Rio Grande, so plenty of greenery. If you go 100 miles north there are ski resorts, 100 miles south just desert. ABQ is built in a valley. If you want it cooler, buy a house in the hills. No wonder people are moving here by the thousand.
A fascinating city, with a great history. we have rally enjoyed our few days here. Tomorrow we move 90 miles further North, by-passing Santa Fe for the moment and stopping in Espanola.
Another word about the weather. Not only is it dry but we are still getting strong winds. Gusts up to 60 m.p.h. are predicted for tomorrow, hope we are OK travelling.

Driving Through The Deserts by the Rio Grande

As we left Heuco Tanks it was like emerging from a mystic oasis as we had immersed ourselves in stories of ancient peoples, Pueblans, Indians, Stage coaches and wagon trains. We now drove hard across to El Paso, which was an interesting place.

It's image is well known in cowboy films and books, quintessentially portrayed in the Marty Robbins Song of 'El Paso', which is of a dusty main street with tumbleweed rolling, with gunmen and cowmen moving from Rosa's Cantina to the Saloon and back.
Unfortunately, what we saw burst the bubble; we saw it as the following. On a dead straight 10 mile road into El Paso we passed mile after mile of scrap/salvage yards full of cars. No idea why, but this must be the salvage car capital of U.S.A. (on reflection it is a good place to keep them as they never rust in this climate.) El Paso itself was much bigger than we thought as it sprawls over 30 miles of the Northern Bank Rio Grande Valley (the south is in Mexico). We had a good view of Mexico over the River Grande - that's as close as we wished to get as there are gun wars taking place between the drug cartels in this area.Fortunately Interstate 10 ran right through it, so we we able to move quite quickly. I 25 branched off to the North and we reached the other side, only to find that there was now mile after mile of cattle pens, with literally tens of thousands of cattle crammed into them. We figured at first that they had been rounded up for slaughter, but no these appeared to be dairy cattle, living their life in pens about 50 yards square, feeding from conveyor belts and when the pen was full of droppings the cows were rotated to another pen so that the dung could be removed. Frankly it was disgusting, as was the smell. It was factory farming on a huge scale, but outdoors.
Eventually we cleared El Paso altogether, frankly I would rather remember the song than the place.
We now travelled North on I25, parallel to The White Sands Missile Range, but this time to the West of it. We were travelling north up the Rio Grande Rift Valley - mile after mile of desert with huge mountain ranges on either side, with the Rio Grande first to the west then to the east of us. You could see it easily, not because it was large, but because wherever it was, people had used the water for irrigation and there was a strip of green perhaps a mile or two wide. As soon as the irrigation stopped the desert closed in.
About half an hour up the I25 the road was blocked ahead. All vehicles had to leave the road and pass through Border Control (even though we were 30 miles form the border). We stopped and chatted pleasantly to the guard, showed out passports and were just about to drive on when he beckoned for us to move to a side lane. While he was talking to us a sniffer dog had been round our trailer and had found something suspicious. No problem at this point as we knew that we were not carrying Mexicans. However it became more serious as they asked for the keys to the trailer, asking me to step away from the vehicle. By now there were half a dozen guards, a dog handler, someone in charge, a couple of people searching, someone guarding me, standing between me and the trailer, and a woman near watching Sally, who was still in the van. They then asked Sally to get out, asking if we were carrying any cash, on enquiry he meant anything over $10,000. We would have laughed, but now it was becoming serious. We were asked to wait in room nearby. After half an hour, during which we worried if someone had planted something on us, or if somehow we had something which we had forgotten about, the man who had guarded me came back with our keys and said OK we could go, as simple as that. On enquiry it seemed that the dog had smelled something in the rear of our trailer, but nothing could be identified. They were of course pleasant and polite at all times. However we went on out way slightly more stressed than before.
That evening we spent in one of those places that have no meaning whatsoever, but you just have to go there. The place is known locally (anywhere in New Mexico) as 'T or C', its original name was Palomas Springs, in 1914 it was changed to Hot Springs, but in 1950 it voted to change its name to Truth or Consequences, which was the name of a popular Radio Quiz of the time. The name has stuck ever since. Although it is also famous for its spas and hot springs, it was not a particularly attractive town. We stayed at Elephant Butte State Park which overlooks a large lake - with the water level well below normal due to the prolonged drought.
On Monday we moved on to Albuquerque, following the the Rio Grande Valley. To our right (East) we could see the San Andres Mountains, where ten days before we had stood on the site of the first atomic bomb. We had now come full circle in a trip round the southern half of New Mexico. We had our packed lunch in the old town of Socorro. After lunch, spotting a Thrift (Junk) Shop and wanting some new books, we had a bit of an explore only to find that Socorro had a small but fascinating town square which dates back to 1598 (now that is old, even to us Brits). Apparently when the Spanish had conquisterdored Mexico they started to migrate north along the Rio Grande Valley starting a large number of missions and communities, more or less running the locals simply because they were organised. Socorro was one of those villages. New Mexico was part of Mexico until 1846, when there was a revolt similar to Texas, but more of that in our visit to Albuquerque.
We eventually made it to Albuquerque and arrived at our chosen RV Park - Enchanted Trails. We were now back on to Route 66. This park had been one of the original trading posts when Route 66 first opened, changing later to an RV Park. It is full of Route 66 memorabilia, there are 1950's cars and trailers outside as well, quite interesting.
Asking where to eat we find that there is as casino 6 miles down the road which has a buffet dinner special at $7.99 and it was very good. As we came back we could see the city of Albuquerque laid out below in the Rio Grand Valley.

Hueco Tanks State Park

After considerable administrative confusion we managed to get a site at the enigmatically named Hueco Tanks State Park.
We only expected to use it as a stopover between Carlsbad and Albuquerque, however as we entered the park we became ensnared in the timeless beauty that is Huego Tanks.
The S.P. is small. It is centred on an igneous intrusion/pluton, that is a huge lump of magma that rose almost to the surface, cooled and then the softer rocks were eroded away leaving it as a big lump above the surface of the desert. (a bit like Eyres Rock). One of its unique features, apart from the jumble of big rocks, with nooks and crannies and caves, is that when it does rain here (14" per year) the impervious rocks collect water in those spaces and hold it for many months. This in turn enables a wide variety of life to survive. It is like an oasis. The availability of food and water also made Hueco Tanks a magnet for people. So remains of habitation from 6000 years have been found. Part of the evidence for this is a large number of wall/cave paintings which date from 1000 years ago.
Boy did we enjoy wandering round.
Saturday the wind got up again (it is the windy month) and we had another White Out (like at Lee Oliver last Sunday).
I found a permanently dripping tap at one campsite and sat and watched as birds and a rabbit came and drank from it.
On Sunday Morning we took part in a guided tour of one part of the rock. It was fascinating to hear about all the different peoples that have inhabited the place and to see some of the rock art they left behind.

We pay our respects to El Capitan

We have now been in the Chihuahuan High Desert for 12 days, from Tacumcari, to The Valley Of Fires (lavea beds), then Lee Oliver S.P. (Alamogorda and The White Sands), Lake Brantley S.P. (Carlsbad) and here at Hueco Tanks S.P. In that time we have come to respect the desert as a harsh environment, yet one that is fascinating and complex. We are also appreciating not only the climate, but also the effect that the geology has had on the landscape. The whole area of central New Mexico has been subject to some intense land movement which has revealed rocks which are 350 million years old. The land has been shaped by water erosion as it has been desert for less than 10,000 years. Interestingly the major movements, which produced the Colorado Plateau (5,000 foot uplift from Utah down to Arizona, which produced the Grand Canyon) and the Rio Grande Rift Valley all happened about 65 million years ago (the time when dinosaurs died out). So although the dominant rocks are limestone (they form the major material for the big mountain ranges right up the Rockies) the valleys and basins in between are covered with aluvial sand of a variety of types. Limestone varies in hardness dependent on how it was formed. This with the major upthrusts and volcanic/igneous activity has led to some pretty awesome rock/mountain formations. The characteristic of these mountains is that they seem to rise abruptly from flat, valley floors. We have seen this time and again in our travels.
On Friday we planned to camp at Hueco Tanks State Park near El Paso, to do this we had to make our way even further south in order to get around the Guadaloupe Mountains. Almost the whole route (140miles) was dominated by driving round this most southern outcrop of The Rockies. The most dominant feature being a huge outcrop of limestone at its southernmost tip called El Capitan. From there the desert stretches all the way to Mexico in the south. El Capitan came into view within 30 miles of leaving Lake Brantley, we drove through its foothills to the Visitor Center and it stayed in view until we were about 20 mies from Hueco Tanks S.P. We stopped at the Visitor Center and enjoyed the scenery.
When we were stuck in Hickory Creek a couple of weeks ago we visited Denton Old Town, where we discovered that the Butterfield Stage coach line passed through on its way from St Louis to San Francisco. Well, we again found ourselves on the Butterfield Stage Route as we explored the Pinon Station, right under El Capitan. Because of the mountains and deserts further north the stage was forced to come this far south to provide a reliable route to carry mail to and from the West.
As we left El Capitan behind we crossed more desolate desert, including salt flats. Although this was a very good road we only saw a handful of cars on this stretch. One problem not mentioned was the wind, it was strong and against us. With a good wind and gentle driving our rig can cover 250 miles on a tank of gas. With a head wind that can be easily cut to 180 miles. However not only did we have a head wind we had to climb 2500 feet to get through the pass at El Capitan, go down the over side then climb steadily again for the next 50 miles. We could almost see the fuel gauge needle dropping. Oh by the way there are NO GAS STATIONS BETWEEN CARLSBAD AND EL PASO - 160 MILES! We arived at Hueco Tanks S.P. with barely a quarter tank left, and we still have to travel another 20 miles to El Paso, but I think we will be OK.
Although I have not described it adequately we were very impressed with the grand scenery of our trip from Carlsbad to Hueco Tanks S.P.

Carlsbad Caverns

Today we have visited what I think are the most famous and best caverns in the world. Carlsbad Caverns.
Known for thousands of years but only explored since 1898 and opened to the public in 1933.
They are still exploring the system, some parts are more than 100 miles long.
The part that we were able to explore is more than half a mile long, with a path 1 1/4 miles long, all in one cavern.
To get to it you can either walk in the natural entrance or ride the elevator 750 foot down to the reception area the bottom. It has a restaurant, gift shop and restrooms. Once we had oriented ourselves and got used to the 56 degrees F we set off. What a fabulous walk amongst the many rock features, stalactites, stalagmites, rock curtains, pools, high ceilings, huge drops, masssive features and tiny little cameos of rock formations.
Well we took three hours to get round the loop of the big room and had a great time.
We took many pictures, not all of them came out, but I expected that in the low light conditions. However the ones that I have published do not really give any idea of the scale of the caverns, but at least we ahve tried.

The Solar Laboratory at Sacremento Peak

After visiting the White Sands and feeling OK, we stopped in Alamogordo at the Golden Corral for lunch and then decided we would take a look at the Sacramento Mountains, which form the East edge of the Tularosa Basin. There were three reasons for this,

1. It was there and it would be interesting to explore the very different environment up in the mountains.
2. The National Solar Laboratory has its main observatory in a place called Sunspot, on Sacramento Peak and can be visited.
3. Our route with the trailer would take us across the Sacramento Mountains and we would be able to check out the steep climb to Cloudcroft, 16 Miles from Alamogordo.

in hindsight we should probably have taken a whole day for this, but we felt that we wanted to move on, so up we went.
The road to Cloudcroft is 16 miles long and climbs over 4000 feet not too bad in a car, but we were worried that the Chevy would overheat with the trailer on the back (in the event we had no trouble with the rig in going through Cloudcroft). The drive up was very beautiful and when we reached Cloudcroft we branched off to follow the mountain range south to where the Solar Laboratory is. We were now in dense pine forest, on a road which stitched back all over the place, evey now and a gain you could see down to the Tularosa Basin below, or rather you could have if it was not full of sand blowing in the wind. Even though we were in southern New Mexico we were now high enough that there was snow at the side of the road.
We eventually reached the Solar Observatory and took a tour.
The Observatory has a number of telescopes, all of them for looking at our sun.
Although the astronomers there do look directly a the sun and have done a lot of valuable research into the way the sun behaves, its atmosphere (Chronoshpere) and sunspots, much of the work is done using spectroscopes, where the sunlight is passed through a prism and broken up into the separate colours which make up it spectrum. This is extremely valuable for finding the composition of the sun, the fluctuations in temperature and what is happening on its surface. The big (I mean huge) Dunn Telescope can revolve the surface of he sun down to an area of about the size of a Continent! This means that it can record spectroscopic data of the edges of sunspots and the centre of sunspots and use it to find out more about the sun. Pretty clever. On our visit we were allowed on to the viewing floor of the telescope, unfortunately the telescope had to be shut down because of the wind blowing sand particles around. (yes the same sand that we had seen in the morning was blowing up onto the mountain, 5000 feet below and 2o miles away).
As well as the variety of telescopes there it also has a fabulous view over the high Desert Plains, just above Lee Oliver State Park, unfortunately the view was restricted to about 2 miles because of the blowing sand.
So although it was fun it was a little disappointing not to have done everything we wanted to.
On the way back though we did see a herd of deer, and for the first time a herd of Female Elk (no male in sight though).

White Sands National Park

We had come to Lee Oliver S.P. principally because it is quite close to the White Sands National Park. Today we would visit the park. We had decided that the the best time to visit was early morning, when it is cooler, so we packed a picnic and set off.
After a brief stop at the Visitors Center, where we found out:

• The White Sands are Gypsum (calcium Sulphate), water soluble mineral, which is blown from several nearby lakes in the Tularosa Basin.
• The Tularosa Basin has no water outlet, so run off from the surrounding mountains gathers and evaporates. leaving gypsum crystals behind.
• Wind Action blows the gypsum crystals from the dry lakes and they gather in this one area.
• There is so much gypsum that the dunes cover an area of 270 Sq Miles and are up to 60 feet thick.
• Though transparent the wind action scratches the surface of the tiny crystals, giving them a white surface.
• Microbes and algae are able to establish themselves in the sheltered spaces between the dunes, which is the foundation for a complete ecosystem. Many of the plants and animals are unique to the White Sands, as they have lost colouration as a camouflage.
• Plants have a number of mechanisms to help them survive in the shifting dunes. e.g. the Yucca can grow faster than the dunes build up, so always have the growing part of the plant above the dune level.

Enough of this science talk. We wanted to get in there and see for ourselves.
The dune area is so big that a road takes you 6 miles to its center. On the way we stopped at a boardwalk which went out over one of the interdune areas and we could see many of the unique features of the dunes.
Driving on we reached the picnic area, here we found a number of other people enjoying the sand dunes. With a lot of effort you can climb the faces of the dunes. difficult because as soon as you step on to the dune the face collapses and starts a mini avalanche, also you immediately sink into the sand up to your ankles. Of course you could take the easy way and walk up the less steep Windward side of the dunes, but that would be too easy.
One of the reasons for people visiting the dunes is to sled down the steep face of the dune, using a poly sled, a bit like a large Frisbee, which you sit, lie, stand, kneel on and zoom down the dune.
We spent a couple of hours marvelling at the dunes, by this time the wind was starting to blow harder. The wind in this area is quite strange. In UK we expect wind to be associated with weather patterns, when we get a low pressure system we get wind. Not so here, Wind may happen at any time. It may last for a few minutes, or several days. The wind speed can often be above 20 m.p.h. We had noticed that though it is sunny and there are few trees at the campground nobody puts out their awning. This is because of the wind, which is so unpredictable and gusty. It is usually form the South West. This is of course why the sand dunes are there at all. However, we had heard that a strong wind was likely in the afternoon, which is why we visited in the morning.
Although we know about the wind we did not expect its effects (though in hindsight we should have realised)! As we were visiting the dunes and the wind increased in strength, sand began to blow. Strangely enough it wasn't sand grains close to us, so was not bothersome, but we could see white clouds blowing off the dunes further away. By the time we left the park these white clouds had started to obscure the scenery, after a while it became like a white fog, bringing visibility down to about a mile. Again we were not worried as we were now leaving the park. What we found though was that the sand blowing from the dunes created a fog right along the Tularosa Basin, which is 30 miles wide and hundreds (?) of miles long. It was quite a sight - except you could not see it.

Visit To Trinity Site

I suppose that there are many places that could be said to be where the course of history was changed. In our trips to the States we have been to many of them: The bus stop in Montgomery where Rosa Parks boarded a bus; The balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated; Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was assassinated; Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the American civil War were fired; U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbour; Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Yet, though the events of these locations changed history, what happened at the Trinity Site could be said to have changed a civilisation.
The Trinity Site is where the first atomic bomb was assembled and detonated, on July 16th 1945, proving that a new type of weapon worked and paving the way for it to be used on August 6th, to end the Second World War with Japan and usher in a new era of peace, no matter how tense.
Because The Trinity Site it is a national monument it is open to the public but because it is on a military base and still radioactive, access to it is limited to 2 days of the the year. April 2nd is one of those days and we really wanted to get to it. This has meant planning our itinerary round being within striking distance for that day. Oliver Lee State Park is a mere 130 miles from it by public road. However by joining an official Caravan from Tularosa we could cut 40 miles off, as they have permission to cut through the White Sands Missile base.
We had decided that we would join the Caravan. This is what we would call a convoy but Americans call it a caravan. Anyway, we were invited to assemble at the Tularosa High School Football Stadium car park at 7.45 to drive, with special permission, which included police outriders, flankers, leaders and tail end charlies, through the military area of White Sands Missile Grounds, saving about 80 miles on the round trip to the Trinity site. Well 160 cars turned up and it was a very long caravan, led by two coaches of folk who were prepared to spend $45 each for the ride, being escorted through the streets of Tularosa and on to the vast expanse of the White Sands Military base. We had to show our passports and were told not, under any circumstances to take photos in the base (except at Trintiy Site).
It took about an hour and a half driving through the desert, passing some very deserty desert, as well as a number of strange and unexplained military installations, mostly what looked like bunkers, and communication posts, although there was one set of bleachers in the middle of the desert that looked quite bizarre.
Arriving at the site after a 2 hour drive, we parked the van and were able to walk to the actual site of the bomb detonation. We passed the Jumbo, which was a very large steel containment vessel, designed to hold the bomb, so that if the detonators worked, but the atom bomb did not, then the precious plutonium would not be lost. However in the end they had such confidence in their bomb that they did not use it ,so it still remains there for all to see, even though the ends were blown off in later tests.
We walked the short walk through the desert to the actual site. The site itself was surrounded by wire fence, to stop us from going on to secret installation land (desert). The most obvious feature was a large stone obelisk which had been erected at the actual site of the bomb. The bomb had been installed at the top of a 100ft tower, of which nothing remained apart from the foundation of one of the four legs.
When the bomb exploded, a column of hot air sucked up sand from the ground around, heating it to 8500 degrees K, this instantly turned to a radioactive glass like substance called Trinityite. Although much of it was removed by the government the whole site is covered by small fragments of it, although by law you cannot remove any of it. The bomb made a small depression, rather than crater, about 3 feet deep and 50 ft wide, but before it became a national monument much of the depression was filled in.
We stood and looked around for a while, talked to some people, also to some guy with a Geiger counter, who said that there was very little extra radiation at the site. There was a
replica of 'Fat Man', the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Fat Man was being assembled in the pacific as the first atom bomb was being tested.
After we had visited the actual site of the bomb, we rode a bus to the nearby MacDonald Ranch, where the bomb was assembled prior to testing. Very interesting, but basic.
After this we all got back in our cars and caravanned back through the Missile Base to Tularosa High School and went our separate ways.
We both got a definite sense of this being a historic site. It was a good day out despite being a bit macabra.

The Great Chihuahuan Desert

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It is great to use the Truck and Trailer to get to places, but we really want to use the Truck and Trailer to be in places. We have now arrived at OliverLee State Park and promptly collapsed. Having been on the road for 5 days we are in need of some R&R. We have been here for two whole days and done nothing really except a few short walks, sleep, eat, sleep, sit in the sun and sleep.
Oliver Lee Park is in the middle of the Cihuahaun Desert in New Mexico. The ground is bare rock or pale sand. The plants are either cacti, stunted bushes, grasses, or small flowering plants that can tolerate high temperatures and very little water. The grasses are all very brittle. Almost all the flowers are very small, although I have seen one very pretty yellow colombine that is about the size of a small daffodil. The Campground is right under the Sacremento Mountains which rise from our 4100ft to 9250ft. It is at the mouth of the Dog Canyon, which is one of the few places in this desert that has a perrenial spring. I have followed this small stream for a few hundred yards up into the Dog Canyon and it is amazing to see fresh spring water in such a place (that is where I found the colombine, so that may have been a factor in the colombines presence there).
So far it has not been unbearably hot outside, we did not use the air conditioner until luchtime today. There had been a cool, often strong, wind. However this afternoon the temperature has reached 88 degrees and it feels hot!
Although the information for the State Parks says that there are Tarantula spiders, rattlesnakes and scorpions we have only seen lizards and birds. No roadrunner yet though.
The birds are interesting though a little bird that keeps flying around is the Common Redpoll, with a red front. There are different sorts of wren, the canyon and the mountain wren, though I haven't worked out the difference yet. There is a dove with a white flash on its wing that makes it stand out when flying. Also various flycatchers. I have photographed one eagle flying high (white head, curved fan tail) above the mountain top and one small hawk flying overhead. Also a number of sparrows.
The most amazing find was on the evening of the first day we were here. There is a small garden, which is watered and so has many flowers. When walking through there at sundown I was amazed to see two tiny hummingbirds, but I could not identify them. They were too quick to photograph, except a blur. On asking the next day I was told that they are actually a type of moth that mimics the hummingbird called strangely enough, the Hummingbird Moth. It flits about really fast, then hovers in front of a flower using a long probiscus to remove the nectar. The next evening I went prepared and used a flash to get a good picture of it, which I managed. You can see for yourself how much like a hummingbird it is. (Example on You Tube) Why mimic a hummingbird? No idea, but there must be some advantage for it. Now apparently in Europe there is the Hummingbird Hawk Moth, which has similarities to the hummingbird, but it is an example of converging evloution, in other words two different species become similar because they live in a similar environment or have similar habits. (example on Youtube)