Atomic Bomb Site Visit

[Scooting]

Interesting Day! The first photo is at the stone monument marking Ground Zero of the first Atomic Bomb Explosion in the world. The Second is of the Fat Man Bomb Casing. This was the first time the Trinity Site at White Sands Missile Range has been open to the general public. In years past, it was controlled by hard to get reservations and open only one day a year. When we turned off the highway at Stallion Gate, we came to a stop within feet. In front of us was a solid line of cars reaching 5 miles to the pass gate. It took us an hour and a half to get to that gate and then was in constant traffic for the next 17 miles to the bomb site. During our sit and wait time, we calculated that about 2,000 cars per hour were being processed and while we don't know the total, estimated between 8,000 to 10,000 cars were there for the few hours it was open. For the Greybeards who have traveled across New Mexico to the roadster show, you remember going through Gallup NM at the Arizona border. When this bomb was detonated, residents hundreds of miles away in Gallup heard such a loud explosion that they thought a weapons bunker at nearby Fort Wingate had exploded and sent the local fire department to that base to help control the disaster. Imagine that! Overall a good day, we visited ground zero and the ranch house where the device was assembled. It was also interesting to me to watch the crowd. Several retired folks, but lots of families with kids and many young couples in their 20's. Almost everyone looked like they could have come from the southwest area, no big groups of people from other countries like you usually see at National Parks. Refreshing to me that the younger people were very interested in the history. Excellent trip.