North to Alaska » greg

Thunderstorms

greg — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 23:03:53 +0000

Thunderstorms rule our day. We are learning by experience about the strange summer weather in the USA. We have had thunderstorms every day for the last two weeks. Some days its just lightening and dark clouds in the distance, while on other days its very up close and violent. We hid in the car twice in the night during a very close thunderstorm in Sundance Wyoming. We have had thunderstorm warnings on the radio in Nebraska. A few nights ago north of Canyonlands National Park we had a thunderstorm that nearly ripped the tent from the ground despite many guys and all our pegs. It poured with rain, and we had thunder and lightening blasting above us, while almost washing another tent in the campsite away. Yet earlier in the day it was all blue sky and sun. An hour after the thunderstorm it was blue sky again.

In Escalante yesterday it was again a 15 minute violent thunderstorm pouring with rain (although not much wind this time), and again an hour later it was all over and blue sky again.

We look at campsites now differently, looking for the slightest sign that a small depression will turn into a raging torrent during a thunderstorm. We guy the tent every day, because we just don’t get much warning when a thunderstorm starts.

The warning signs are around. In Capitol Reef National Park there were warnings everywhere about the dangers of flash flooding during thunderstorms. In Bryce Canyon National Park every lookout has a warning about staying in your car during a thunderstorm. In this national park in the last 19 years 3 people have died from lightening strikes and 10 people have been injured.

Arches and Canyonland National Parks Utah

greg — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 02:29:59 +0000

Windows – Arches National Park Utah

Camped for 2 nights at Sand Flats recreation area Moab Utah

We are in desert now, Cactus plants near camp

Arches National Park

Landscape arch so thin and close to collapse

Double D arches in Northern Arches National Park

Private Arch

Canyonlands the view from Green River overlook

Canyonland National Park

Minuteman Missile Command Centre

greg — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:09:07 +0000

We visited the Minuteman command and control centre in South Dakota. This is now a national monument, but was built by the US Government in the early 1960s, as part of its response to the Cuban missle crisis. The control centre commanded ten ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) which were Minutemen I missiles armed with 1.2 Mega tonne nuclear warheads. The support building is on the surface but we decended 10 metres into the ground to the shielded control centre. The control centre had two staff who did a 24 hour shift. The control centre was shielded against attack, with backup generators and air supplies. The two controllers could launch all ten missiles simultaneously with the turn of two keys. The missiles had no self-destruct and could not be turned back. The ten missiles were placed several kilometres away from the command centre. There were five command centres each controlling ten missiles in each “flight” in South Dakota.

The 8 tonne blast door protecting the underground control centre. The flight time of the Minuteman Missiles was 30 minutes to their targets in the Soviet Union.

Control panel of the commander showing the status of all ten missiles.

Two control seats. The seats are mounted on rails so their can absorb shock. The whole command centre is also suspended to absorb shock. Red box are the right contained the two command keys.

Delta-09, one of the ten missile silos controlled by the Delta control centre, which was about 10 km from the control centre.

Minuteman missile in Silo at Delta-09

A Close Encounter

greg — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 00:33:57 +0000

For those of you old enough to remember “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” by Steven Speilberg (1977) you may remember that the aliens were going to arrive at a prominent landmark, Devils Tower in Wyoming. This is what we went to visit. The 1970s were the days when Aliens were friendly, with Close Encounters and “ET”. Alas by the late 1970s and 1980s the Aliens had got dangerous with “Alien” and its sequels and in the 1990s “Independence Day”

The (friendly) Aliens arriving at Devils Tower

The real Devils Tower.

Prairie Dogs on the way out of Devils Tower

McMansions on Wheels

greg — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:56:02 +0000

We are travelling around the USA in what in Australia would be a medium sized car. We have a tent and cooking equipment and most things we need. We are surrounded however by these monstrous RV’s . We keep mistaking these RV’s for buses, and that is because that is how big they are. We have only recently noticed an even larger version of RV. It has twin rear axles, which makes it by my calculations heavier that 16 tonnes. They usually tow a car as well. And how many people you might ask are in these monster RV’s? Usually two. These RVs cannot fit into lots of RV parks, and thankfully they cannot fit into most of the parks we camp at. Here is a picture of one next to our car.

Monster RV versus our car (ours is the grey one). The white car is their tow car.