The Rest of Yesterday

Evenings and mornings are kind of hectic, so I didn't get to post the rest of the photos that I took yesterday. I'm already taking photos for posts about today, but I don't want to get behind so I'm juggling the camera and the computer. Quite a trick.

After it got too dark to take more sunset pictures, I was taking random shots of cars going by, and accidentally discovered the secret to UPS's fast deliveries.

They use warp drive!
Well, we made it to the campground - a very nice one run by some very Eugene-type people - without any adventure at all. That's probably good.
This morning I caught this picture of Riley:

And while I'm doing cats, here's a really cute one:

Titan II Missile Museum

We obviously didn't get to the see the Titan II Missile Museum yesterday, so we did it today. It's the only Titan II missile silo and base complex that still exists pretty much the same way it did when all 54 launch sites across the nation were decomissioned in the 1980s. The others have been destroyed by blowing up the first 25 feet of the silo; pretty effective.
We took a guided tour of the underground complex...about an hour long and fairly interesting. My camera was pretty busy, too.

We had a simulated launch while in the control room, and the tour guide picked me to play the part of base commander. Dad managed to snag a photo.

Ignore the intelligent look on my face...
I got a few pictures topside, as well.

 

Custodes Pacis - Guardians of the Peace

Peace through deterrence. It's a strange concept, and it spawned some of the USA's most dangerous weapons. Thank God none of those weapons ever had to do their work.

Well, that brings the blog up to date. Right now we're driving out of Pheonix heading toward Flagstaff.
Keep ya posted!
~Pe†er

Arizona

First off, a few random southwestern photos:

Ah, yes...Arizona. Sorry about the fuzziness, but we were going past the sign at about 60mph...
Anyway, it looks like I'm getting closer and closer to actually being current with our location. We happen to still be in Arizona, even though that photo was from three days ago.
So we took off from New Mexico and made it to Tombstone, Arizona by dusk. Home of the OK Corral, and legendary site of Wyatt Earp's most famous gunfight. It wasn't too impressive, but I was glad we went there. We spent the night at the Stampede RV Park, and in the morning headed north, intending to stop by the Titan II Missile Mueseum on our way. Well, we had a slight change of plans when we found out that Old Tucson Studios lay not too far off our planned route. This is the site where numerous western films, beginning with Arizona in 1939-1940, and having among their ranks such classics as Rio Bravo and El Dorado, and several tv shows including Bonanza and High Chaparral, were filmed. They had a terrible fire on the lot back in 1995 which destroyed a lot of the sets (including, I suspect, all the recognizable street scenes from most of the Bonanza episodes, and the main street from Rio Bravo). In fact, the only thing I recognized was the corner hotel, which I'm pretty sure is the Virginia City hotel from Bonanza. I'd have to check, though. Anyway, we stopped by and spent two hours there.

 Of course, even though I would have been happy to take scenic pictures the entire time, my parents insisted that pictures with people in them are more interesting. Hence...
My dad:

And my mom and I:

It was bitterly cold, so we had to cut our visit short, even though there was some things I didn't get to see. On the way back to the highway I caught some pictures of the setting sun:

Texas and Beyond

Well, there's not much more to tell about Texas. I got a few pictures around Sonora before we left. They remind me of the location for some kind of western movie. El Dorado, perhaps...or maybe a show like Bonanza.

Well, despite the film opportunities, we left Sonora and drove until we stopped and a visitors center with this sign out front:

'nuff said.
We made it to Demming, New Mexico, where we stopped for the night. Next morning we took off for Arizona; taking time, however, to stop by Rock Hound State Park. It's a little area at the base of a mountain. Quite nice, actually.

However, this place reminded me so much of a John Wayne western that I was sort of disappointed not to see a scene or two from The War Wagon played out before my eyes. (Have you noticed that my brain thinks in terms of cameras and fim locations?)

And I found these bugs:

  And on that pleasant note (*ugh*)...