Missile Silo Day!

We learned that, even if your best intentions are to makes plans on the fly and plan the trip one day at a time, you might lose out on some of the fun things you really wanted to see. On our way out of Tucson today, we had planned to stop at the Titan II Missile Silo, and then at the Kitt Peak Observatory. A couple of nights ago, we were looking over the rough sketch of our itinerary, and thought we should probably reserve our tickets for the tours of the two locations. And lo and behold, Kitt Peak was completely sold out for the day of our visit. For all their tours. And there is no museum, no visitor's centre there - you either get a tour of the site, or you don't show up. Next, we hit a similar brick wall with the missile silo, with one silver lining: Two spots were still available, one for the noon tour, one for the 1 pm tour. We'll take it! And so that's how Mario and I found ourselves with a morning to take care of some #vanlife chores before separately viewing the decommissioned silo of the last Titan II missile in the United States.

Postcards from Arizona!

First, we discover that the Speedway not 10 minutes away from our campsite the last two nights, offers both bulk propane AND a water spigot as well as the usual gas fill-up, so we take advantage to top up all our tanks at the same time. Next, as we drive south of the Saguaro National Park, we stop at a post office so I can pick up stamps to mail postcards back home. The curious little mall where the Post Office is located has a couple of art shops, a laundromat, and plenty of room to park off to the side, overlooking a dry river bed. We settle in for a moment while I make pancakes with some roughed-up bananas that took a little tumble on our first night on the road. 

To the Missile Silo!

Flag at half-mast for President Jimmy Carter

The tour is excellent. Mario gets a tour guide who actually used to work IN the missile silo when it was still operational, so he has even more knowledge of the inner workings, and can relate his own personal experiences. My tour guide is a little more relaxed in his delivery, but just as informative, and a bit of a comedian, too. Here's some of the things we learned: 

View of the missile silo from above ground

- There were 54 total silos built, in 3 separate locations, to cover the fact that not all the launches would be successful, as no rocket was ever test-launched out of a silo. 

The Control Room

- The program was terminated in the late 1980s, with all the silos being blown up, and the decommissioned missiles ultimately used as part of the Gemini Space program by NASA - without the warheads, obviously. 

- The one silo left semi-intact is in the form of a museum south of Tucson. It, too, is decommissioned, launch doors permanently cemented in a half-opened state, and a Russian satellite actually passes overhead 3 times a day to confirm this fact.

Corridor to the missile silo

- Officers would work in teams of 4, on 24-hour shifts, to man the control room tied to each missile silo. It would take two of them to receive the order, input the launch codes and confirm them, then turn the keys to fire the missile.

- Each silo had 3 set targets, labeled "Target 1", "Target 2", and "Target 3", and the crew was instructed which of these to select. To this day, the location of those targets is classified information. The reason for this was to keep the officers neutral, thus NOT giving them a reason NOT to turn the key to start the launch sequence.

- The current museum site has been used as a movie set a couple time, including Star Wars : First Contact, with LeVar Burton doing a scene in from of the Titan II Missile - the hydraulic platforms in the silo were lowered for this film shoot, and are permanently stuck in that position as a result!

Finding beauty in something so loathsome

-Mario's tour guide believed that the Titan II Missile Program was a deterrent of Peace. That it was necessary to keep peace, as the ability of one country to completely annihilate its enemy, with the certainty of an equally devastating response, ensured neither would want to be the first to fire and ultimately destroy BOTH countries.

Lunchtime!

We both got so much out of the tour of the facilities, and agreed that we were glad we had managed to get those last 2 spots today. We finished the visit by making sandwiches and having a picnic at a table just underneath the giant ham radio antennae on site. Ham and cheese sandwiches, if you are curious.

We spent the rest of the afternoon travelling down a rather empty stretch of highway between saguaro cactuses, chollas, creosote bushes and other nature, between mountain, enjoying the beautiful scenery passing by in the golden light of the setting sun. I scanned the radio for any Mexican station I could find, which seemed like the perfect soundtrack to the drive.

Mario loving the drive	Hazy Cactus scenery

Tonight, we are parked in Gunsight Wash BLM just north of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. You can guess what awaits us there - more hiking. And *maybe* cactuses.

 

Sunset at Gunsight Wash BLM

Happy hour at the campsite!