First Officer’s Entry:
Yesterday as we expedited ourselves
expeditiously across NM Rt.60 to get to Pie Town we passed the Very Large Array
(VLA). I knew what it was because of my
work at NASA and other government agencies and Cheryl and I both knew it from
it being featured in several movies we’ve enjoyed, the most prominent being “Contact”
with Jodie Foster.
The good news was we had reserved
ourselves into a two day stay in Pie Town, all half mile, two café’s, no post
office, no grocery store, no stop light, no sidewalks to roll up of it, and had
all of today to either relax (the original plan) or to drive the 50 miles back
to the VLA. The VLA won, and boy-oh-boy are
we glad it did!
The VLA has 27 antennas on-line, each 80
feet wide weighing 100 tons and one spare. The on-line antennas are arranged in
a “Y”, nine to an arm each arm being 13 miles long. The antenna spacing is adjustable from about
one mile to the full 13 miles and since they function as one big antenna that
makes an antenna 22 miles across.
I really enjoyed the VLA. For a REALLY NEAT movie narrated by Jodie Foster,
see: https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/beyond-the-visible-vla .
Now I will let the Captain tell of our
adventure in much more flowing, descriptive, emotional, and feelingfull, words.
Captain’s Entry:
We’re all
alone in the campground, and I love it. Last night it was velvety quiet way up
here at 8,000 feet! Yep, it was so cool last night we snuggled under two
blankets and turned up the heat this morning to take the chill off the rig.
There’s a sign next to the small road by the campground that says PIE – 200 yards
ahead! It’s the Pie Town Café the sign is promoting, and we ate breakfast AND
lunch there today.
Everyone we’ve
met who lives in and around Pie Town has been super friendly, and when we
stopped back at the Café for lunch, we felt like old friends. I walked in the
door, and without hesitation said, “We’re back!” Isn’t it great to have been
made so welcome that you lose all inhibitions about saying the wrong thing?
To top off lunch
we each had a piece of pie that had been fresh-baked this morning. When we were
there for breakfast the waitress was just sliding two coconut cream pies into
the glass case. We both thought we’d order a slice for lunch. Not on your life.
That pie was long gone when we got back around 2:30 p.m. for lunch.
Anyway,
Frank ordered New Mexican Apple Pie (with green chili and pinion nuts). He said it was better than Aunt Imogene’s
Apple Pie that I slave over and bake at home!! Can you believe that Heather
Godel??? The photo and recipe can be found here, http://www.pietown.com
I had a
piece of dark chocolate pie with whipped cream on it that I have to admit was better
than my Aunt Olive’s recipe for chocolate pie that I bake at home. That’s
saying a mouthful!
I’ve decided
I’ll never bake again. I’ll just roll out the RV and head for Pie Town whenever
I’m hungry for a piece of pie!
The First
Officer has fairly well covered the technical aspects of the visit to the Very Large Array, so I’ll just
say I’ve never seen scenic vistas like we saw today on the way there, while we
were there and on our way back. The atmosphere here is clear as can be and the
high-desert landscape is backed by shrouded, light -blue tinted mountains under
a brilliant blue sky full of giant, snow white cumulus clouds. The feeling you get while you’re driving
through it is electric!
Tomorrow we’re
off to Arizona and a couple of days in Heber/Overgaard up on the Mogollon Rim
where it’s cool and smells like wet pine boughs. I won’t want to go home on Wednesday, but I’m
sure the resort where we’re staying will be all booked up Thursday through
Monday for the Labor Day Weekend.
Well, we
almost did it. We almost stayed on the road in our RV from Memorial Day to Labor
Day. As Maxwell the Smart piped up and said, “Missed it by THAT much!” I told him to pipe down, or I’d seriously consider
leaving all those bugs smashed on his grill until after Christmas.
When we
return home on Wednesday, we will have been on the road for 101 days! It’s been
a pretty good test of whether we’d like to do this full time.
End Log
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