The first town on our first road trip of the U.S. has not disappointed. Lined on two sides by the rust brown walls of the mountainous Saguaro National Park and sat on open plains of desolate, rocky desert, Tucson shimmers like a mirage under a hazy blue sky which constantly roars with the engines of F-16's from the nearby Air Force base.
Despite appearing to be in the middle of nowhere, there is a lot to keep you entertained in Tucson (the 'C' is silent by the way - "Tooson"). Being just sixty seven miles from the border, the place has, according to many, some of the best Mexican restaurants in the States. We headed over to Mi Nidito, one of the oldest in town and another establishment featured on one of our favourite TV shows, Man vs Food. After some tortilla chips and spicy salsa, we were served a huge taster platter (created for President Clinton's visit in 1999) of tostada, taco, relleno, enchilada and tamale, and a deliciously creamy flan for desert. Cradling our fully loaded stomachs, we left looking forward to more of the same as we tour the border states of Arizona and New Mexico.
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| That's a spicy salsa! |
In the day, Tucson has so much to do we had to pay for an extra night to see everything. First on the list was The Aircraft Boneyard. This military compound is a 2,600 acre storage facility for retired aircraft waiting to be reconditioned, scrapped or to supply parts for active aircraft around the world. Accessed only by a high security tour-bus from the nearby aerospace museum, civilians are taken on an eerie one hour drive among rows and rows of aircraft, all sat in the open desert and stretching right to the horizon. Fighter jets, attack helicopters, the famous and enormous B-52's, jet black stealth bombers, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, air to air refueling freighters, 747's, C-47 Skytrains...the list is endless. It was quite a sight - to see thousands of these dormant giants, laying out in the scalding sun, some hacked and chopped into unrecognisable skeletons of twisted steel, all sat against the lunar backdrop of the mountains and arranged in perfect rows like an army waiting for orders.
Then, onto the once top secret Titan Missile launch site - the last remaining of dozens of facilities that dotted the U.S. during the cold war. Donning hard hats and descending into the deep underground bunker, led by a former employee of the site, one could still feel the echoes of the tension and fear that would have once hung heavy in the recycled air, all sealed inside eight feet of steel and concrete, behind two, three tonne blast doors, and buried beneath 140 feet of desert soil. The place, despite it's controversial use, is a miracle of technology and craftsmanship, especially given that it was built in the early 60's. Everything, even the rooms and corridors themselves, all hang on springs and shock absorbers to ensure that the Presidential command could be received and the hydrogen bomb rocket launched even after a direct nuclear strike to the bunker. The targets where always pre-determined, identified by the very highest authorities and known to those at the site only as numbers. Through either one of a multitude of radio and telephony systems, the command would be received at the facility from the President himself whereby a series of codes, keys and security systems was worked through, (including a secret passcode held offsite to release fuel into the engines). Within fifty eight seconds of that initial command, at the simultaneous turning of two keys, the 31 metre Titan II missile would be airborne, launched from the adjacent underground silo, heading up and out of the earth's atmosphere before rotating into a controlled descent, down onto it's target, without a single way of stopping it.
'Launch alert Alpha. Authentication code sierra whisky seven november charlie four foxtrot mike zero nine, fuel release passcode 396401, target number two, immediate launch, over'....
To take a step further back in time, we headed a couple of hours out of Tucson to Tombstone. A former nineteenth century mining town and the location of one of the Old West's most famous gunfights - the showdown at the O.K. Corral, between Wyatt Earp, along with his brothers, and the Clanton and McLaury brothers - the "Cowboys". The main street in the town has been restored back to how it would have stood in the late 1800's (albeit with souvenir T-shirt and fudge shops) and horse drawn waggons and cart creak up and down all day long. Characters in period costume wander the streets and the famous gunfight is reenacted every day just yards from where it actually took place. The Bird Cage Theatre, an old saloon, brothel and cabaret venue, boasts almost fifty visible bullet holes in its walls and bar. Across the street, visitors can pick up a Colt 45 revolver and pump six slugs of lead* into a cowboy shaped target for just $3. In Tombstone, the Old West is alive and well. Yee haw!
*Actually blank rounds loaded with lead based paint "bullets", like a paintball gun that smokes.
Finally, before quitting town and heading for the hills of New Mexico, we took a scenic drive through the Saguaro National Park, home of the famous cacti from which the park gets its name...
Next stop - Roswell, New Mexico...
Then, onto the once top secret Titan Missile launch site - the last remaining of dozens of facilities that dotted the U.S. during the cold war. Donning hard hats and descending into the deep underground bunker, led by a former employee of the site, one could still feel the echoes of the tension and fear that would have once hung heavy in the recycled air, all sealed inside eight feet of steel and concrete, behind two, three tonne blast doors, and buried beneath 140 feet of desert soil. The place, despite it's controversial use, is a miracle of technology and craftsmanship, especially given that it was built in the early 60's. Everything, even the rooms and corridors themselves, all hang on springs and shock absorbers to ensure that the Presidential command could be received and the hydrogen bomb rocket launched even after a direct nuclear strike to the bunker. The targets where always pre-determined, identified by the very highest authorities and known to those at the site only as numbers. Through either one of a multitude of radio and telephony systems, the command would be received at the facility from the President himself whereby a series of codes, keys and security systems was worked through, (including a secret passcode held offsite to release fuel into the engines). Within fifty eight seconds of that initial command, at the simultaneous turning of two keys, the 31 metre Titan II missile would be airborne, launched from the adjacent underground silo, heading up and out of the earth's atmosphere before rotating into a controlled descent, down onto it's target, without a single way of stopping it.
'Launch alert Alpha. Authentication code sierra whisky seven november charlie four foxtrot mike zero nine, fuel release passcode 396401, target number two, immediate launch, over'....
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| The one and only entrance. |
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| Rosie turns one of the actual launch keys - oopsie! |
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As part of the post cold war peace agreements, various visible deactivations had to be made. All but one of the Titan sites were blown up, a large hole cut in the warhead of the remaining rocket and the blast door sealed half way open - all for Russian satellites and spies to observe. A fleet of B-52's were also hacked up and left in the sun at the boneyard for the same reason - and they are still there.
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*Actually blank rounds loaded with lead based paint "bullets", like a paintball gun that smokes.
Finally, before quitting town and heading for the hills of New Mexico, we took a scenic drive through the Saguaro National Park, home of the famous cacti from which the park gets its name...
...these cacti are much larger than they appear in the cartoons!
Next stop - Roswell, New Mexico...
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