CLOUDCROFT, PISTACHIOS, & OLD ROCKETS

INTERNATIONAL SPACE HALL OF FAME
Another cool start to the day but that is normal for this part of the country. Thought I would take a chance & head over to the parks shower facility. I think orders from headquarters must have come down the pipe to all State Parks regarding some cost cutting measures. I'm sure they save an extra few dollars by turning the dial down on the water heater for the showers because the water was hardly warm again. I would never have made a good Eskimo!! And for sure whoever designs these showers for parks & campgrounds, has never used one!! For the most part, they are not well thought out at all.

A few more adjustments to our satellite system this morning & Kelly was able to use our Skype phone set- up with the computer to phone HWH, the hydraulic leveler company. We were given the phone number of Recreation USA in Las Cruces who service HWH hydraulic leveler products. A second Skype call to Las Cruces & we had an appointment for Wednesday morning at 9:30 to check the problem leveler. HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WHERE WE STEP
Hopped in the car around 10:30 & headed into Alamogordo. Nice sunny morning with temps in the low 60's. We had heard about the nice drive up to a town in the mountains to the east of Alamogordo so off we went. A few grades, a few tight curves & a tunnel led us up 16 miles & 9,000 feet to the small Alpinelike town of Cloudcroft. It was another 15 miles to the solar observatory so we decided not to go that far. I had been up to Kitt Peak in Arizona two winters ago so had seen lots of observatories up there. Back down the winding road to Alamogordo again & headed off to the International Space Hall of Fame, a fairly new complex with a nice display of old rocketry on the grounds. There is an IMAX theater here & a large 4 or 5 story building with more artifacts relating to the White Sands Missile Range. A TUNNEL ON THE WAY BACK FROM CLOUDCROFT
Kelly wanted to check out a Pistachio farm she had noticed a few days before on our way in from Tularosa so we headed off to Eagle ranch where the Pistachios are grown & processed. Nice neat & clean little operation & we bought ourselves a stash of Pistachios. A few more errands, coffee, frozen custard, & we were back out to our RV site at Oliver Lee State Park. This picturesque park is nestled into the Sacramento Mountain Range. Just before getting there we deaked off the road & took a drive around some dusty old laneways & ramshackle tumbledown dwellings in some kind of community cluster. I was able to get a few pics from the car window. Reminded us a lot of Slab City in California. Hard to imagine people living in some of these places......but they do. A NIKE MISSILE USED TO INTERCEPT HIGH FLYING AIRCRAFT (ALAMOGORDO IN THE BACKGROUND)
The doggy gang welcomed us back with lots of barks & wagging tails. Awhile later we heard & felt a detonation of some kind so assumed it had to do with rocket testing. There was also the sound of jet aircraft in the direction of the missile range. Holloman Air Force Base is here & it is the home of the F111 Stealth Bomber. KELLY CHECKS OUT THIS DUSTY LITTLE WESTERN STORE
Kelly lit up a nice campfire & roasted a couple of hot dogs for supper. Pretty sunset over the San Andres mountains & that was about it for another day. Took Max for a short walk under a crystal clear canopy of stars around 7. The wavering multi colored lights of Alamogordo off in the distance, the peeping of frogs in the desert darkness, & the twinkling of diamonds in the black satin sky made for a beautiful night. Now, if we could only get a little heat into this nightly desert air................. THE SAN ANDRES MOUNTAIN RANGE
I will start the next photo album to-day.
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/