UP, UP AND AWAY…SPACEPORT AMERICA

Saturday, October 23 - We ran into the town of Truth or Consequences this morning to take a look around. A nice little town with some unusual little shops. We walked into several selling used books, collectibles, antiques, and even a gal that had a costume shop/art gallery.

We then decided to take a ride out of town, following the rocket ship stickers placed on various signs, to the New Mexico Spaceport America being built about 25 miles out of town in Engle. It is the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport…estimated construction cost $198 million.

 

How does Spaceport America work?

• Like an airport, the spaceport is owned by the State of New Mexico and its citizens
• Like an airline, Virgin Galactic pays lease fees and user fees to use the spaceport
• Private companies pay fees to launch from the spaceport.

The rockets were even on cattle crossings.

It seemed like an awful long drive (especially because the sign said it was 16 miles not 25). There is NOTHING out here.

We did almost run into this fellow. When they say open range out here, they mean open range.

This historical marker gave us a big boost.

Much of the land out here is owned by Ted Turner of CNN fame. He even had a herd of Bison grazing near the road.

We eventually came to a construction site (a new road) heading back to the Spaceport.

There was a guard stopping all traffic.....not permitted back to the Spaceport. There was a couple on a Harley that arrived about the same time we did. We had passed each other at various pullouts on the way out. Here, he is working on the electrical installation at the Spaceport. He told us all about the place and even lent us his binoculars to get a closer look. The concrete runway is 200 feet wide by 10,000 feet long — nearly two miles! 42" thick with a 14" concrete finished surface, can accommodate almost any manned or unmanned aircraft in the world.

Can’t get close enough to take a good picture of the terminal. They are still working on this area.

Terminal Hangar Facility (THF) Facts

• Site Area: 670,000 sq. ft. including apron 
• Terminal Hangar Facility Gross Area: 110,152 sq. ft.
  

It's going to be pretty impressive! For $200,000 you can ride the space-plane/rocket into the edge of space. There are already 400 people signed up. This is a PRIVATE enterprise undertaking. They had the dedication of the runway on Friday with all the important politicians from around New Mexico in attendance.

We also stopped to see the Elephant Butte Dam. It wasn’t exactly holding much water back.

We took Bella for another walk just behind our motor home. It is just so peaceful here.

 

Beautiful landscape.

 

We bought some fire wood and had us a beer.

Sunset

The moon is AWESOME up here. Again, we just looked right out our front window to this…

 Sunday, October 24 – Drove from Truth or Consequences, NM to Balmorhea, TX a total of 316 miles in 5.75 hours. It was an uneventful trip, and we are now settled in Saddleback RV Park for $10 per night for full-hookups. It is a Passport America Park. We've stayed at this same Park several times in the past. Its location and price makes a great stopping point when crossing Texas on I-10. We were the only ones in the entire campground.

Marsha did not feel good all day or night. She fell asleep as soon as we got here and woke up over three hours later not feeling much better. We had a very quiet night.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you back real soon. Have a great day!

THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL…ELEPHANT BUTTE, NEW MEXICO

Friday, October 22 – OUT OF THE COLD!!!! It was 41 degrees this morning when we woke-up in Gallup, NM......that's toooooo cold!!! We headed to warmer areas in southern NM. We stopped in Socorro to see the Very Large Array Observatory. After driving about 20 miles off I-25 south, we saw a sign saying 44 more miles. We were in twisting mountain terrain and Paul decided to turn around. He wishes he would have stopped just off the interstate and unhooked the car for the sightseeing trip. Rookie mistake.....he'll remember it next time (yeah....right!).

We had a beautiful drive. We went through a large area of Lava rock from El Malpais.There is much evidence of past volcanic action in New Mexico, including El Malpais National Monument. The deposits near Grants are the largest, and most are contained within El Malpais.

 

What a drive!

So back on I-25 South to Truth or Consequences, NM and a two night stop at Elephant Butte State Park. Our new friends, Sheryl and Jeff, gave us a heads up on New Mexico State Parks. We are in site #61 overlooking the lake. We choose to go with 30 amp electric over the 50 amp because the view is sooooo much better. The 50 amp sites don't overlook the lake and are much more crowded with sites very close to each other. The price is $14/night, 30 or 50 amp…your choice!

This is our camp site. It is so big.

A super picnic area and fire pit.

 

Look at this view…right out side our front window, and we aren’t even on the beach. If you camp here, get on the third tier. It is so awesome. Can you see the mountains in the background?

We took a drive around the park. Just beauty at every turn! This is Elephant Butte Island.

There is camping right on the beach…0 dollars!

There is boating, swimming, fishing, etc.

We drove off road down to the beach. There are tons of dirt roads…if you are adventurous.

 

Seems like a pretty nice place. This could be one of the best campgrounds we've had in our full-timing days!

We took a walk with Bella and Marsha saw what she called a Jackalope......I think it was a Jack Rabbit. It was huge with big ole' ears! Later, we went for a ride and saw our first Coyote in the wild. We saw him twice in the brush along the road. Really neat, but he was on the move, and we couldn't get a picture of him. Makes us re-affirm our need to watch Bella when she out doors!

Bella is marking her territory. This is to let those wild animals know this is HER territory…STAY AWAY!

She's sitting now on the dash board looking for all the wild creatures outside.....ha ha! What a cutie!

Marsha has stars in her eyes...jeesh! She wrote to the  Colorado Dept. of Travel Webmaster reporting a broken link on their site. She received an email today thanking her and telling her that the link is now fixed. BUT…there is more to the email. She said I was to put exactly what they said, so I told her just to copy and paste it…so here it is.

P.S. – I LOVE your blog!  You have a fantastic set of photography skills.  Should your travels take you into Colorado, we would be honored to post them on our website.

She is on Cloud 9. Does this mean we have to head to Colorado soon????? Goodness!

We had a beautiful moon rise over the lake this evening. What a view out our front window! We aren’t even closing the curtains tonight.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day!

NAVAJO INDIAN COUNTRY

Wednesday, October 20 – We turned back East today (about 90 miles) to Gallup, NM. There are a couple Navajo sights we want to see there. Window Rock, Canyon de Chelly, and Hubbell Trading Post.

We pulled into USA RV Park about 11:30 Mountain Time....remember, Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time so we lost an hour in a very short time....zoom! We decided on this stop at the last minute. The place we planned on stopping was another 50 miles East and too far away from the area we want to visit.

Very nice park

Nice office and store

They have cabin for rent.

Once settled in, we decided to head up to Navajo Country to see Window Rock. Window Rock is the administrative Capitol and administrative center of the Navajo Nation, getting its name from the hole in the 200 foot high sandstone hill (Window Rock) located there.

It was strange to think we were in their Nation's Capital. We started walking around the area and low and behold we heard thunder and saw lightning. So we took a few pictures and headed back to the car. This is the first rain we've been in for over a month....really can't remember the last rainy day. Even this was just a brief shower!

We followed a path in back of window rock until the lightning began.

Navajo Code Talkers were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. These modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war's end.

Since we were rained out at Window Rock, we headed down the road to Hubbell Trading Post. About five miles outside of town we notice the roads were flooded and the ground was covered with about two inches of HAIL.....holly cow! Well, that was enough of that! We decided to head home and return tomorrow.

Back at the RV, it thundered and had dark skies. It poured down rain. Crazy weather!!!

Thursday, October 21 – We intended to visit a couple sights today but the weather wasn't very cooperative. We headed out early to the Historic Hubbell Trading Post. This is the oldest, continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Nation.

Trading Post

John Lorenzo Hubbell purchased a trading post here in 1878, ten years after Navajos returned to their homeland from their terrible exile at Bosque Redondo, Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. After they returned home, traders like Hubbell supplied those new items for the Navajo.

Navajo woman weaving a rug. Marsha asked her how long it takes to complete that size rug. Her answer…5 months!

Marsha can’t believe that Paul picked up a $6669.00 blanket. What goes through his mind sometimes…baffles Marsha.

Inside the Trading Post

Lots of baskets we couldn’t afford.

Outdoor bread oven

Guest Hogan

Original supply wagon

NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE. I guess if you had the $7000 (that's right THOUSANDS) to spend on a Navajo blanket it would be worth the drive out in the middle of nowhere to go there, but.......I recommend you skip this place! I'm sure the wet and cold weather didn't help.

We hoped to visit the Canyon de Chelle, but it was too rainy and cold. Time to head for warmer areas! So we returned to the MH and planned the next day's travels.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you back real soon. Have a great day!