USA 2006: New Mexico

Whilst trying to sketch out a rough driving route around Nevada, across Arizona and around New Mexico I stumbled across a couple of interesting things.

Over on www.mapquest.com I requested directions from Roswell, NM to Truth or Consequences, NM, avoiding highways. What MapQuest returned was a route that took me right through the middle of White Sands missile Range. Whoa! Is there really a public road straight through a US Military Base? I thought not so I did some further investigating on the 'net.

I tried looking up the road it suggested - WSMR P ROUTE 6. No luck. However, the fact that it has a WSMR (White Sands Missile Range) at the beginning tells me this is not really a public road at all. Good one MapQuest...

Now, I find that kind of interesting that a website, such as MapQuest, would suggest such a road. Perhaps you can drive it, I don't know. Perhaps you can get a visitor pass, I don't know. Perhaps you need to be a USA Citizen, I don't know. I've seen two many episodes of X-Files to risk it (Episode 2: Deep Throat).

But the thing that I found very interesting was what I discovered you could do during a vist to White Sands Missile Range.

I knew that White Sands played a large role in the Manhattan Project, the development of the first US nuclear weapon, and that it was the site of the Trinity test, the first test of a nuclear weapon. What I didn't know was that you can actually tour the Trinity Site which is "now only mildly radioactive." Two days a year they open the site up to the public. Shiny! Glow-y!

While the link in the previous paragraph is a bit old (circa 1996.) it's none the less fascinating. I like the fact they include a 'caution' to look out for antelope when driving through WSMR on your way to ground zero but there is no caution to the fact that you may start glowing in the dark shortly after your visit!

It also mentions you may be asked for a valid drivers license proving US citizenship. That's me out. Not that I wanted to glow anyway. Actually, I'm not even there at the time it will be open but I think it would be a fascinating excursion. Eerie and disturbing... yet fascinating

Here's a more recent link to a Travelogue website that contains a few photos and looks to be more recent.