3/13 White Sands Missile Range Museum

I had a terrible drive to my next stop in Alamogordo, NM,  Winds were bad and hitting my motorhome from the side.  In high winds, driving a motorhome is a lot like driving a billboard--a gust of wind can hit you and move you over a couple of feet, so you have to keep a tight grip on the steering wheel and be ready to react.  I knew that the winds were expected to get worse and that they were a little less as you headed north, which is the way I was headed, so I got an early start.  Or at least an early start for me.  

After a stressful couple of hours, I was ready for a stop but could not find any rest areas.  However, I saw a sign for the White Sands Missile Range Museum, about 60 miles south of my destination, so I pulled over and took the exit. 

I almost turned around because there were so many warning signs about entering a secured military base.  It was a bit scary, so I pulled over and made a phone call to the museum to make sure it was open and also open to the public.  They gave me instructions to park in the dirt lot just before the visitor's check-in lot, and then walk to the security building to show ID and get a visitor pass.  That only took a couple of minutes, but then I had to walk back to my rig to get my camera as I had not realized I would be leaving my motorhome there and walking across the street to the museum.  

Below is the security gate to the military base.  The arched thing to the right is a device that can x-ray vehicles if needed.   

 

It was quite a hike for my old body, but I made it.  Walked through the outdoor display before finding the museum itself a little farther away.  They seemed to have one of everything, but I stopped and read the signs on only the more interesting ones.  Below are some photos of this display. 

 

 

This is one of the rocket sleds they used to test rocket components and eventually even astronauts.  

 

 

This sign pertains to the tall rocket below it. 

The museum itself was just past the field of rockets!

 

 

The museum started off with some of the history of this area.  

 

 

 Just a reminder that Mexico once owned much of the United States!!

The rest of the museum was a large collection of the history of the missile range.

First nuclear bomb dropped here. 

Some drones.

An analog control panel!!  (Not a real person, by the way.)

They have saved the podium used by JFK during a visit to the missile range. 

In a separate building, across the parking lot, is one of the original V10 missiles developed by the Germans and modified by Werner Braun and the U.S. military as part of the space program. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This turned out to be an interesting and worthwhile stop.  You do need to know, however, that you have to have either a passport or a "Real ID" driver's license to enter.  Children under a certain age do not need ID. 

3/12 Rockhound SP, Deming, NM

My next stop was a place I have been to before--Rockhound State Park in southern New Mexico.  I had hoped to see some flowers and cacti in bloom, but it was a lot colder this year than the last few years, and there has been almost no rainfall in the past year, so everything was dry and not yet leafed out or in bloom.  

BUT, it is still one of my favorite places in New Mexico because it is so quiet and beautiful in this small state park where you can actually pick up and take home any gemstones you find! 

 

I enjoy this state park because it is on the slope of a mountain with nice views of the mountains and valley in the distance.  In addition, it is also a small state park, and sites are large and well-spread out. The result is a very quiet and scenic place to spend a few days.  This time, I spent 10 days. Unfortunately, it was chilly, and we had some major problems with wind and nasty dust storms, so I did not spend much time outdoors or do much walking.

When I arrived on Sunday, the campground looked like this, with nice, blue skies.    

 

 

The sunset made everything look red tonight.  

 

A few of the other campsites.  Notice how far apart they are.  This is a full campground, by the way. 

 

 

 Looking towards Deming and across the valley.  The far mountains are about 20 miles away. 

 

The Dust Storm!

When I checked in, the camp host warned me of strong winds and a dust storm the next day, so I made sure to fill my fresh water tank with at least three days of water.  

The next morning, Monday, it started to get dusty about 10 am.  This first photos looks at the trailer across the roadway.  The closest hill here is only about 500' away. 

 

 

I took this and a few other photos through my windshield with my cell phone because I did not want to go outside.  This one below was taken during the worst of the storm, at about 1 pm, and the hills in the distance have almost disappeared.  

 

 

I could see dust coming in through the weep holes on the windows on the passengers side of my rig, so I stuffed them with wet paper towel.   Notice that I had not put a tablecloth on the picnic table or even set up my rocker chair outdoors so nothing would blow away. 

 

 

This photo was taken looking west over the town of Deming, which is 8 miles away, and the valley in the distance, except you really cannot see either. 

This is looking east, towards the big mountain next to the campground.  It also has almost disappeared.  At this point, I was REALLY happy I did not have a dog who needed to be walked!   Until the storm abated about 6 pm, I saw almost no one outside of their RVs.

The bad news is that after a calm evening, the storm started up again the next morning, Tuesday, and lasted all day.  On Wednesday, I drove to Deming to do several loads of laundry, pick up some groceries, and get gas.  It was good planning because on Thursday and Friday, we had a duplicate of Monday and Tuesday with strong winds and dust blowing everywhere.

However, the weekend was very pleasant as was Monday and Tuesday of that week.  I headed north on Wednesday.  It was windy, but not as bad as the four days of the previous week.  The biggest problem was that it was a sideways wind to my vehicle which meant I had to keep a tight grip on the steering wheel so I could quickly react to stronger gusts.  Driving a tall motorhome like mine is a lot like driving a billboard in the wind. 

On the weekend, I took a quick walk on the short nature trail next to my campsite.  Some views from the nature walk, even though nothing was yet in bloom.

These are last year's fruits on a barrel cactus.  I had not realized that these were edible, but I looked them up and found this interesting article.  Its hard to find a place where you can pick them, and I am not sure I want to go through the preparation process, but the recipes look interesting.   https://foragerchef.com/barrel-cactus-fruit/   The good news about these fruits is that they have no little spines that require burning or scraping as do many other cactus fruits!

 

 

Having found such an interesting article on barrel cactus fruit, I decided to see if you can eat cholla buds.  These look like last year's buds, and the articles I found mostly talked about harvesting the buds just before the flowers bloom, so I am not sure what you can do with these that I think are from last year.  https://tucson.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/its-harvest-time-for-cholla-buds-a-subtle-versatile-native-food/article_c9e74554-3c65-5976-ac29-bd3668399c5a.html 

Also, there are many types of cholla, so do some research before you pick some and eat them.  They have tiny spines on them, so you will need tough gloves and special harvesting tools. 

By the way, if you ever notice a large collection of cholla segments surrounding a burrow in the desert, know that this is the burrow of a pack rat.  The pack rat uses the prickly segments of this plant to surround its home so that snakes and other predators will be dissuaded from entering and killing its babies.  Pretty clever!

3/11 My Privacy Curtain Project

I don't usually post about things I am working on to improve my motorhome, but I have had some friends asking about this project, so I am posting about my recent privacy curtain project. 

Several years ago, I replaced the junky accordion shades that came with my motorhome with the top-of-the-line rolling blinds by MCD.   The problem with the original shades was that they were very flimsy and the strings that wove through them and had to be used to pull them up or down often broke.  It was possible to replace the strings, but based on feedback from others, I decided I did not have the patience for that task.  So all of the windows in the main part of my motorhome had double-layer shades--black mesh screens for daytime and room darkening vinyl for nighttime.  In the 10 years since I invested in these, I have had almost no problems with them, other than the little plastic ends needing to be re-glued a couple of times. 

However, in a motorhome, you need something to block off the cab from the living space at night so no one can look in.  It is a very large space underneath the Class C-type overhead bunk. 

 

 

This is what the manufacturer provided as a solution.  Basically, the platform under the bunk is semi-circular and has a row of snaps to which you are supposed to attach this junky curtain.  Do you see a problem with this setup???  Yes, the snaps and the curtain do not completely cover the opening, so for the past 12 years, I have been stuffing the open spots with a couple of throw pillows.  (Forgot to take a photo of this, but it is sloppy looking and sometimes the pillows fall out.)

 

 

The other problem with the manufacturer's solution is that the privacy curtain is too short to stop the cold air that gets into the cab during extremely cold weather.  (I think the wind comes in around the gas and brake pedals and other areas beneath the dash.)   A few years ago, I bought four yards of some thin canvas-like fabric and mader this curtain that covers the space completely--or almost completely.  It covers the sides adequately, and it fits behind the seats to keep the cold air from coming in underneath them.  Unfortunately, it is not quite long enough to cover the center, so I still end up putting throw pillows on the floor to block that space. 

 

The disadvantage of using this all the time is that I cannot reach stuff in the cab easily, and it is a really junky fabric.  I plan to replace this as soon as I can, but in the meantime, at least it helps.  I really only need this long version that goes completely around my seats when it is windy and really cold outside, so most of the year it gets packed away.  

 

 

 

Now, another problem is that I do not carry a sewing machine in my rig, so what I have learned to do is use iron-on tape instead of sewing.  

 

So, my first stop was JoAnn Fabrics a couple of weeks ago to pick out some heavier and better room-darkening fabric, more iron-on tape, and a couple of snap kits.   I needed two since each kit has enough  pieces for seven snaps.  Here is what the kit looks like.  These snaps are black but they came in a brushed iron also. 

The kits usually come with a round thing to put the snaps in so they don't get scratched while you are inserting them, and a rod you use to pound in the snaps.  Since I already had the snaps screwed into the bunk platform, I only needed the tops and bottoms of the top part of the snaps.  (It takes a little practice to figure out what goes where, but I learned this when I made the longer cold-weather curtain.  Try practicing on a piece of scrap fabric.)

 

 

You need a heavy piece of metal or a rock or even a cement wall to take the next step.  First, you need to poke holes in the fabric where you want to insert a snap.  I used a pair of fingernail scissors.  Make sure you do not make too big a hole or the snap will pull off.  

 

Also, in my case, I start with the middle snap and then take the curtain in, snap it in place, and mark the other places from center to edges where i need snaps.  (Best to do only one at a time as the snap receptacles in my rig are not even.)  

 

Once you have a hole punched, you put the top of the snap inside the little round platform, then poke it through the hole in the fabric, and finally put the opposite part of the snap on the top.  Finally, you line up the rod, pointed side down, into the hole in the snap bottom, and hit it several times with a hammer.  Check to make sure the little flanges are fully flattened onto the snap so it won't come off.  

 

This next photos shows the center snap attached, and two snaps fastened on either side of it.  Notice also that this curtain fabric is quite heavy and has a black felt-like backing.  

I have been attacking snaps one at a time, bringing them in to make sure they are in the right places, and measuring and poking a hole for the next snap.  Then taking it outdoors where I have a rock on top of the picnic table to pound against.  

Also notice that I have bought extra fabric because I was not sure how much I would need on the edges.  I have two more snaps to do on each side. 

 

 

Ta-Da!  I have put in the last four snaps, including the ones that enable me to wrap the curtain around the sides, where I had screwed in an extra snap when I made my cold-weather version a few years ago.  

 

After hanging it up, I decided how much I wanted it to wrap around, and then cut off the excess.  

 Because this fabric was so heavy, and I could tell there was no way it would come unraveled, I did not even bother to fold over and use iron-on tape on the edge and the bottom.  I can also shortened it a couple of inches if I decide it is too long.  I like the fabric and how it hangs neatly!  😊

I will not use such heavy fabric for my redo of the cold-weather curtain, but that will be my next project.