Monthly Archives: July 2007

Days 7 – 8 6/27-28

The Very Large Array in New Mexico is the world’s largest radio telescope. After seeing the movie “Contact” many years ago, I knew it was something I wanted to see. Driving out to the Plains of San Augustin I started seeing the dishes dotting the landscape from about 5 miles away. When you see them in the movies they all look very close together, that is thanks to some crafty computer graphics. They can be positioned all together to get a tighter “focus” on whatever they are looking at but it is no small feat. A double set of railroad tracks and a custom vehicle would have to pick up each dish and move them closer together. I didn’t ask, but I’m betting they weren’t going to reposition them to give me a better photo op.

The scale if each individual dish is massive and since they are all connected, the further they are set apart the bigger the collective instrument is as a whole.

After leaving the VLA I decided to start using my video camera to record the drive. Thanks to a “gorillapod” camera tripod and a power inverter I was able to record every mile of road. I thought it might make an interesting time-lapse project. We’ll see what I do with it… better to have the footage than wished I’d done it.

Day 7 included a scenic drive through Taos, NM on my sister’s recommendation. It was a beautiful drive and I came across some great weather to take pictures of. I’ll put a link up to the gallery when I get them all sorted out. 550 miles after I started I found a rest stop just outside of Pueblo, CO. It was a low mileage day so I sat in the rest stop and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while watching South Park on some station the TV in the van picked up.

After a reasonable 6 hours of sleep I was awake and ready for the sights of Colorado. Directly across from the rest stop was a restaurant called Max’s Place. I thought it a fine spot to get some real breakfast. With a parking lot full of pickup trucks and a jeans and baseball cap clad clientele, I figured I’d fit right in (except for the laptop). The Max’s special was exactly what I was hoping for. Ham, 2 eggs, hash, biscuit w/gravy & coffee = Perfect

After dropping another $100 into the gas tank I was off to see the Royal Gorge and its famous “World’s Highest Suspension Bridge”. The bridge is 880 feet long but only 18 feet wide, with a wooden walkway with over 1000 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that are 150 feet high. When I bought my ticket ($16 – early bird special) I was told by the seller that I could drive over the bridge and back. I asked what the weight limit was and was told “aw, couple million pounds I guess”. While I think his estimate was much exaggerated I was still ok with the attempt.

While walking on the bridge I became a little less confidant as I noticed how much the bridge shook with even the motorcycle and golf cart sized utility vehicles driving across it. Was this enough to dissuade me? Nope.

I drove across the bridge very slowly and heard the tap of every wooden plank as my 4ton van made its way across. The expressions on the faces of the other tourists on the bridge as I approached were, I have to say, priceless. I’ve got video of the crossing; maybe I’ll be able to take a few stills of the wide eyed pedestrians.

After that little adventure I was off to Pike’s Peak. My father has told me for years that if I ever find that I have itchy feet it’s because it’s in the blood. The blood connection is due to being a direct descendant of Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike was a US Army Captain that was ordered to explore the South and West of the Louisiana Purchase. This expedition was about the same time as the Lewis and Clark Expedition but far less famous. After reading about his expedition a little I discovered that the anniversary of the end of his journey was 200 years ago last Sunday (July 1st 1807). Seems quite fortuitous to be on my trip and find this out.

It is a long drive up to the top of Pike’s Peak, sitting at 14,110 feet of elevation. (Mt. Hood in Oregon sits at 11,249). It is also a beautiful drive – totally without guardrails. Getting out at the top was a chilling experience, both in terms of temperature and my reaction to the altitude. The air was so thin at the top that I was wobbly and a little dizzy. I think my mountain climbing aspirations had a serious reality check that day. It was fun to realize that in the previous 7 days I had been to the lowest point in the United States at -282 ft. in Death Valley where it was 121degrees, crossed the continental divide, and was then standing on top of a 14,110 foot peak where it was snowing. Not bad for the first week.

I’m still catching up here so hold on.

Day 6

I woke up at 5:30am to the sound of trucks starting up. I decided since the sun was up as well I should start driving. On the way I figured out that the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was still available to me, and probably only 20 miles out of my way. Wrong. 150 miles later I’m at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Impressive, but the awe was diminished by my miscalculation and the $25 I was required to pay to look at this scar in the earth. By the price of admission, you’d think the US Government dug the canyon themselves and were trying to recover the cost.

From there I was off to Monument Valley, Utah. While I appreciated the part of the Grand Canyon that I was able to see, Monument Valley was more beautiful to me. Maybe it was because the scale was smaller and I could take it in from the ground. While an aerial view would be a better way to take in the full grandeur of the Grand Canyon.

After Monument valley I pushed on to Socorro, NM to visit the Very Large Array. It was a 400 mile push that left me exhausted. In the end I’d put in about a thousand miles on three hours of sleep and decided I needed a real bed that night to catch up on some restful sleep. So I found a cheap Motel 6 in Socorro to get a hot shower and some real pillows. I found out what their slogan means that night. “We’ll leave a light on for you” yeah, at least in the case of my room the light was left on to spook the roaches away.