[ADXA] Trip report - May 24-25

[Richard Harris]

Went back west to activate El Morro National Monument (MN27) and El Malpais
National Monument (MN26) and so see some of the other sights. Conditions
not so hot on the 24th but much better on the 25th.

El Morro National Monument is a fascinating mixture of both human and
natural history. Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this massive
sandstone bluff was a welcome landmark for weary travelers. A reliable
waterhole hidden at its base made El Morro (or Inscription Rock) a popular
campsite. Beginning in the late 1500s, Spanish, and later, Americans passed
by El Morro. While they rested in its shade and drank from the pool, many
carved their signatures, dates, and messages. Today, the monument protects
more than 2000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan
ruins.

Only 48 contacts, all on 20 meters SSB, were made. Tried 20m CW for 20
minutes with no luck.

On the 25th, I made two very interesting stops in Grants, NM,  on the way
to El Malpais. First was the Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum at
the small airport in Grants. I was lucky to find a volunteer docent working
(site normally only open on Saturdays) and he gave me an extensive and very
interesting tour of the site. The group has opened a 1929 airway beacon
interpretive site with an original 51-foot tower and generator shed. It
represents a site based on the Los Angeles-Amarillo Airway. The airway had
ten beacon sites plus two emergency landing fields between Albuquerque and
the Arizona border. The original airway route was laid out in 1929 by
Charles Lindbergh as the Technical Advisor for a new airline,
Transcontinental Air Transport.

Airway beacons were sited every 10-15 miles. A 51-foot steel tower with a
two-million candlepower rotating beacon was visible from 40 miles out. Each
tower also had two "course lights" which flashed the site number in Morse
code. For daylight navigation, towers were built on an arrow-shaped
concrete slab. The route and site numbers were painted on the generator
roof.

The Transcontinental Air Transport had an unique operating idea - coast to
coast in 48 hours via air and train. Daylight travel by air and train at
night.
Eastbound schedule looked like this: Depart Los Angeles at 8:45 am, arrive
Clovis, New Mexico at 6:54 pm (3 intermediate stops). Depart Clovis on the
Santa Fe Railroad "The Scout" at 11:35 pm and arrive at Waynoka, OK, at
8:10 am. Depart Waynoka via air at 8:55 am and arrive at Port Columbus,
Ohio, at 7:13 pm (4 intermediate stops). Depart Port Columbus at 7:46 pm on
the Pennsylvania Railroad "The American" and arrive in New York at 9:50 am.
Travel coast to coast via train only took 4 days.

The planes used were the Ford Tri-motor. This service lasted about 2 years
before it was out-dated by newer travel options.

Cost about $350 for a one-way ticket. Very expensive in that era.

The other stop in Grants was at the New Mexico Mining Museum. Built by
miners, it includes a simulated underground uranium mine. The museum is a
tribute to the historical uranium boom that led to Grants being referred to
as the "Uranium Capital of the World." Mining took place from 1950-1985.

Then on to El Malpais. Although el malpais is Spanish for "badlands," El
Malpais National Monument holds many wonderful surprises. Lava flows,
cinder cones, pressure ridges, complex lava tube systems, and other
volcanic features dominate the mysterious and rugged El Malpais landscape.

102 contacts were made including a number of Europeans on 17 meters - both
SSB and CW.

Pictures to follow.
73 Rick AI5P
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