Hysterical Journey to Historic Sits

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DAY TWO: APRIL 23, 2013 - MORNING



I had breakfast in Socorro this morning at the El Camino Family Restaurant. Good food, reasonably priced and all of the waitresses are cute. A cold front blew through last night behind heavy winds that left lots of dust in the air. The dust caused problems with picture taking at the Trinity Site. It is still part of the White Sands Test Range and there is stuff out there the government does not want for anyone to see. Access to the Trinity Site is only allowed twice a year to a select few who promise not to take pictures unless they have permission. Isn’t our government great? The Manhattan Project was working on two different types of atomic bombs for use against Japan. The first bomb had Uranium 235 core and featured a two sector gun type trigger. It was called Little Boy and was simple enough that it did not require testing. The second bomb had a Plutonium 239 core and a much more complex triggering mechanism was needed to reach a critical mass that would result in explosion of the core. It was called Fat Man. The prototype of Fat Man was what was tested at the Trinity Site at 0530 am on July 16, 1945. The success of that test terminated the Manhattan Project. It changed the world forever.



Eugene Manlove Rhodes



Those of us who enjoy reading western novels should pick up a story written by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. As a young man he was an actual cowboy working in the area of Tularosa during the most turbulent times there. After he got a little more age to him he started in writing stories and much to his surprise they became popular enough that he could buy his own ranch. When he died on June 27, 1934 his friends buried him out behind the corral on his ranch. You can’t go pay your respects at his grave though. His ranch was in the mountains right behind the Trinity Site. I suspect the government would have found him to be a feisty customer had they ever tried to dispossess him of his ranch.



Sandra Day O’Connor



The retired Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, was raised as a working ranch girl on the Rocking B near Duncan, AZ. Before daybreak on July 16, 1945 she was already up preparing help with the never ending ranch chores. Most of the men were away fighting the war and heavy work was her routine. She was having coffee in the kitchen with her dad and discussing the day’s work that lay ahead. She was facing the window at 0530 and saw bright flash of light in the sky followed by an eerie glow. Nobody had seen anything like it before. It was the dawning of the atomic age. In retrospect it was a startling thing to behold for a young teenage girl raised with 19^th Century ranch values. She is an amazing woman.

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Photos

TRINITY SITE
The sign is about 50 miles east of Carrisozzo, NM on Hwy 380. The Trinity Site is 17.55 miles baring SE 141.42 degrees. Our government will not allow access to the site. They claim it is for our own good.

YOU CAN'T GET CLOSER THAN THIS.
The site is in the basin behind that first range of hills. Eugene's Ranch is behind the far range of hills to the right. The Lazy B Ranch is near Duncan, AZ.