The final day of the road trip

Cole and I started the day by going to the New Mexico Museum of Space History.  I love anything that has to do with planes, helicopters, spacecraft, and space exploration.  It was a small museum but very interesting and we enjoyed it very much.  It did make me a little sad though.  Seeing all the exhibits and info about the past US space program, and all the amazing things that the US government and NASA did reminded me of how awesome our space program was. I remember watching launches on tv at school and seeing the news of the astronauts walking on the moon and how exciting it was.  Now we don’t have any real space program to speak of and we have to rely on the Russians to get into space. We hitch rides with the Russians, the people we beat in the space race, how embarrassing. Hell, now our government can’t even build a web site that works.

After  the space museum, I checked the map to see what the distance was from Alamogordo, NM to Frisco, TX and decided to drive all the way home.  The first highway we took out of Amamogordo was highway 82 and it went through the mountains and was very winding. It was on this section of road that I came as close to a head on collision as I ever have. As I was coming around a corner, a car decided to try and pass a pickup pulling a camper. Why they decided to try and pass on a blind corner I do not know, but it was way too close for comfort, I slammed on my brakes and they slammed on theirs and swerved violently back into their lane, almost clipping the backend of the camper in front of them.  I had nowhere to go since there was a steep cliff off to my right so if they hadn’t reacted as quickly as they did, it wouldn’t have been a good outcome. My heart was pounding for quite a few miles before it started to settle down.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful and we made it back earlier than I had thought we would. I had expected to arrive home around 1 AM but we made it back around 11:45.  I was pretty tired so after we brought everything into the house, I went straight to bed and had the best nights sleep I have had in days.
 

It feels good to be home but Cole and I really had a good time together on this road trip. I am really glad that we did it and I am already planning on the next trip he and I can take together. I think the next trip will need to be an international trip. Time for Cole to see some of the world.

This will be the last post for a while. I am going to keep the blog active though and as soon as I am off on another trip, I will blog about it. Until then, I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas, or happy Hanukkah, or whatever it is you celebrate this time of year.

Big Satellite Dishes Are Cool

Cole and I got on the road today by 9:00 AM and continued heading east on highway 60 through rugged but gorgeous eastern Arizona.

Something I have learned on all the road trips I have taken over the years is that no matter where you go or which route or road you decide to take, you will end up running into road construction somewhere, and if its a two lane back road or highway, you will end up waiting.

The goal was to reach the very cool NRAO VLA, or National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array. Those of you who followed an earlier blog, I did about 2 or 3 years ago about my motorcycle trip, may remember me talking about this place and seeing pictures.  Even though I have been here before, I think it is so cool that I wanted to take Cole there to see it.  While Cole thought it was cool, I don't think he is quite as geeked out about it like I am. I just find this place so intriguing and fascinating.  It amazes me that they move these massive satellite dishes closer or further apart and that they are all synchronized, and combined, they act as one very large satellite dish. The VLA is also part of what is called a Very Long Baseline Array, which is combines other satellite dish locations across the continental US, Hawaii, and the Caribbean to act as one huge dish.  The VLA has also appeared in a number of movies, like Contact, 2010, Terminator Salvation,and Transformers:Dark of the Moon, as well as in a Bon Jovi music video, Night Ranger and Dire Straits Album covers.

After the VLA visit, we drove to Alamogordo, NM where we are spending the night. Tomorrow we plan on visiting the New Mexico Museum of Space History before making a hard push to cover as much distance to Frisco, TX as we can.

Thanksgiving holiday weekend

Thought I would post a short update. Cole and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the Tempe/Gilbert, AZ area with family. My Sister and her family flew down from Bismarck, ND and my brother flew down from northern California to spend Thanksgiving with my Dad and his wife, and Cole and I. We all had a pretty good time, ate lots of good food and did a little drinking. As usual, I ate way too much and probably put on an extra 5 lbs.

Cole, my brother, and I stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Tempe, The Four Points, right next to Arizona State University. Saturday evening, we went to The Vine for dinner, where we had some really good wings. After dinner we decided to go find somewhere to have a drink. What we didn't really take into consideration was that ASU had a home football game against their in state rivals, University of Arizona. We drove smack into traffic gridlock around the stadium. We eventually made it to where all the bars and restaurants are located. on Mill street, but there was no where to park and everyplace was completely packed. It took us a while to work our way out of this mess and get back to our hotel where we stayed for the night having drinks at the hotel bar. While the hotel was pretty nice, we didn't get a very good nights sleep. Our rooms were right next to the elevator and starting around midnight until 3:30 or 4 AM, we had to listen to very loud, drunk, ASU fans returning to their rooms, complete with singing and lots of door slamming.

We spent today doing some things for my dad, around his house. After dropping my brother off at the airport, around 3:50 PM, Cole and I started our drive towards Dallas, TX. We didn't drive to far before stopping for the night in Globe, AZ. Tomorrow we will begin the drive back to Frisco, TX.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.