2021-2 Truth or Consequences New Mexico and Spaceport USA

 2021-2

Truth or Consequences New Mexico
formerly Hot Springs

Spaceport USA

Virgin Galactic, when will it finally fly passengers?

Campground: RJ Rv Park, T or C. $17 a night, $125 weekly using Passport America. Close to town, on south side. Basic full hookups. Laundromat and wifi. Good Tv signals and Verizon Cell.

RJ Rv park

Campground: Pie town City campground. Forested dirt road loop with ample campsites. Some with picnic table (in poor condition). Free, no hookups and only 1X Verizon cell service. (didn't stay)

Campground: OM Place Rv park. Springerville AZ. $20 full hookups. Basic gravel lots in town. Close to restaurants and gas station. Personally not going into any place in town, as the two places I checked out, no staff or customers wear face coverings. 4/2021.

I’ve traveled through this town numerous times and decided to stay at a Passport America campground. I usually just got a non preservable site at the Elephant Butte Lake State Park, but they aren’t quite set up for accepting folks without reservations…. All a part of the covid thing.

Spaceport USA

entrance guard station

The main reason for staying over is that I have a reservation to tour Spaceport USA. A bit expensive, but something I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years now. So at the end of my stay here in T or C, I drove out to the Spaceport and hooked up with the tour.

Our small group were able to ride in the van/bus and as it turned out, we all have had our Covid vaccination shots. Still continued to wear face coverings, which made it difficult to hear the tour guide occasionally. We were able to tour mission control, the huge runway and the main terminal where the space flights will be taking off and the space plane and it’s space booster reside. The only downer is that we were only allowed to see it through a frosted glass overlooking the hanger.

Not sure when the first commercial launches will occur they keep delaying that part of the whole thing. Supposedly two pilots will ride into space sometime this year.

main flight terminal

flight control building, great architecture
roof is covered in Home Depot ceramic tiles

tour guide, did his best but I only 
heard about half, due to mask

Control tower and conference room

A one of a kind fire fighting truck for the desert landscape

ready to fly into outer-space

flight terminal and Virgin Galactic hanger

Front entrance to main terminal
very Starwars type design

most all of the office spaces are vacant at this time.

a sparse visitor center experience

An interesting tour, though I would question the value of the $56 tour fee. For me it was worth it and especially to see the futuristic buildings everything is housed in. Kind of funny to see an office/mobile home next to those stunning buildings, especially since the main buildings are hardly utilized at this point. With empty offices, control rooms etc.

• Cost to fly: $250,000

• to an elevation of 50,000 ft up

• length of time in space, 5 minutes

• total flight time approx. 1 and ½ hours

Back in Truth or Consequence which was named after the Tv show years ago, changing it’s original name Hot Springs New Mexico. Kind of nice to have the time to meander around town and see how the locals are holding up. Definitely small town USA.

One of the things I’ve noticed, walking/riding my bike around town, is that I don’t enjoy browsing through stores with a face mask on. It feels stuffy, my glasses fog up and it just seems unnatural. Having avoided that sort of thing all this past year, only going into grocery stores and dollar stores to pick up essentials and leaving rather quickly. The face covering doesn’t bother me in those situations, wonder why.

So it’s much more enjoyable to ride the bike around town, taking pictures and exploring back roads off the main street.

many buildings in town, little used or empty

tumble weeds, blowing in the window
this one only temporarily halted
on it's journey 

nice looking apartments
some for rent.

Buffalo sculpture
made with old radio tubes
car lights

run off from the row of hot springs resorts

lots of art shops, thrift stores downtown

Elephant Butte Lake
lake is very low

Not sure I’ll make it to Albuquerque as they are expecting high winds and a dusting of snow over the next couple of days. May start heading back west again.

April Snow, New Mexico

hwy 60 heading west thru NM
great RV road

dozens of Very Big Arrays
visitor not welcome at this time

As much as I would have enjoyed visiting a couple of friends in the Albuquerque area, I decided on a more rural route. So after leaving T or C I headed north on I-25, which had very light traffic on a Sunday. Then from Socorro I headed west along a two lane road, hwy 60. What a perfect route for any Rv-er. Well maintained, light on traffic as well.

I stopped at the Very Large Array. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory just to take a few pictures, as the site is currently closed to visitors. Still, worth the stop, to contemplate the research man is doing into the pursuit of finding more life out there in the universe.

Well now, I hadn’t quite anticipated see patches of snow, but with some recent cold weather in the region, the forested trees all looked like they had been in a deep freezer and someone forgot to hit the defrost button. Along with small patches of snow surrounding a number of trees and a bit of low cloud cover or perhaps fog hugging the mountain sides.

Pie Town

I continued on to Pie Town. Where the only place opened is the Gathering Place. Checked it out. Very small restaurant, no space between tables. Both customers and staff had no face coverings. Oh well, I’ll have to get a piece of pie some other day. Heading out of town.

just outside of Pie Town

Driving west on hwy 60, crossing over the Continental Divide again, and ekk, it started to snow. Pastures covered in a light blanket of snow. Move on Doug, move on…

Arizona, Springerville

An hours drive further west and I’m back in Arizona. Checked out a couple restaurants no mask wearing. Needless to say, I’m not dining in town today. Couple doors down is a small Rv park, only $20 a night. The owner/manager didn’t bother putting on a face covering. Not a problem, as I never got out of my vehicle, had mask on, signed in and paid through drivers window. Life on the road, I’ve got to accept there are lots of Covid deniers out there.

Update on attempt to purchase Park Model in Florida

• Update on attempt to purchase that Park Model in Shelter Cove. The 2^nd appraisal company was not to the liking of Fairwinds Credit Union, so they have chosen a 3^rd appraisal company. Probably another weeks delay.

More photos:

Truth or Consequences New Mexico

Spaceport USA

hwy 60, Pie Town New Mexico