There’s a star man, waiting in the sky

Yesterday was primarily a driving day crossing from Arizona to New Mexico after a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park. The route took us along Route  666 191, the Coronado Scenic Trail, 100 miles, 460 corners and elevation up to 9000ft. It is also one of the least traveled federal highways so our convoy of 11 cars skewed the average for the day. We had a short stop at the Red Mountain overlook to regroup and catch our breaths before continuing the second half that winds up running through a massive copper mine at the town of Morenci. I have GoPro video of the entire route so eventually the highlights will make it to YouTube.

Today we started with a drive to the City of Rocks park for some short hikes through the volcanic formations. That was followed by some more entertaining roads to Hatch for our lunch stop. The afternoon excursion was to the White Sands Missile Range Museum but due to a minor legal issue I was not permitted to enter the site. Given this is an operational military base I thought it wise to not protest and instead headed to the History of Space museum in nearby Alamogordo. This turned out to be a really nice museum with some great exhibits showcasing the early days of the space program and it looks like they are expanding some of the exhibits. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

Tomorrow we’re off to White Sands National Monument, where they do not require a RealID license for entry, and then a driving tour of some of the other local sights, including a search for the pistachio farm we keep seeing signs for.