New Mexico's Hidden Gems: Valley of Fires and the Very Large Array - S11E5

today we're visiting some of the more remote parts of New Mexico mainly Valley of fires and the very large array then onto Arizona on a quest for pelic Camp West I'm writing writing ring writing in my RV my RV wherever I want to be guys I'm free in my RV well good morning yeah we've been blessed with great weather up until I mean I'm not complaining I am complaining but I'm not complaining I mean it's cloudy could be a lot worse but the main reason we came to this uh state park is because it is a dark sky area you know and the and the McDonald Observatory which a lot of you have recommend that it's like very close but anyway it wasn't a good dark night because it was cloudy and then the observatory apparently the main thing are the are the star watch parties at night and there wasn't one this week so or this day so we're going to keep on going to Valley of fires and we might take a little bit of a cnic route let me see I don't know exactly which route we're going to take it we might just go up to it 10 and the El Paso The Road to El Paso [Music] who would have thought Texas would be so mountainous there it is the McDonald Observatory today by the way it'll be equally about the journey as it is about the destination we are still a very long way from New [Music] Mexico picnic area with a view let's stop real quick and the sun's coming out kind of sort of all right let's continue [Music] we finally made it to the interstate and here at the Kent Ghost Town we're going to take I 10 west towards Van Horn and eventually the outskirts of El Paso yeah this place has definitely seen better days at some point we're going to cross into the Mountain Time Zone thus gaining an hour an extra hour is always welcome driving to the West this stretch of Interstate always brings back good memories of my first road trip to the West because only on a trip like this you get to notice the gradual changing scenery Until you realize unequivocally you are approaching the American [Music] West besides the Arid scenery these super long cargo trains are also an everpresent Staple in these [Music] parts the West into the sunset driving to the West driving to the West into the sunset dri to the west driv to the West into the sunset driv the West driving to the West into the Sunset Drive driving to the West ding to the West well at some point someone recommended this place because it was pinned on my map so here we are delina's Kitchen in Sierra Blanca it is early so the place is almost empty and I like the No Frills decoration we're having something called the super Mexican dinner which has a little bit of everything really good while we were eating the sun came out and it is now a beautiful day on I 10 as we get closer to the Border once again we can even see the wall in the distance [Music] the driving to the West into the sunset D to the West there is an incredible amount of trash on the side of the road and I wonder why do they not pick it up and it goes on for Miles could it be because of the wind I don't know but it feels so [Music] dystopian the edge of Texas yeah this is pretty much the state [Music] line welcome to New Mexico yes we've made it to the land of [Music] enchantment driving through New Mexico Arizona even California I'm going to going to get my kicks on 66 the mountains and the desert are my fix driving to the West in my Army is where I want to be we've been actually driving north but eventually we'll start driving West [Music] here let's stop and resupply because we're going pretty remote after this D the West into the sunset ding to the West driving to the West into the sunset driving to the west driveing to the West so here's the plan we're going to drive up to kizzo spend the night at the valley of fires and then continue West towards San Antonio sokoro and eventually the VA which is a famous astronomical radio telescope then onto Arizona [Music] here we are arriving in kis zoo we are almost at today's [Music] destination we are arriving at the lava field and I was able to get this site once again by using campnab look for a link in the description it works really well finding consulations so you can book these hard to get sites [Music] it's a little windy today but we have made it to the valley of fires and this place is awesome I had no idea if if I knew this campsite was going to be so good I probably would have stayed an extra night but um it's all I could get I mean tomorrow is Friday so it's everything is probably fully booked but um yeah this is our site we have views of snowcapped mountains on over there and now we're going to do it's a short natural trail that takes you on the lava field and that's what we're going to [Music] do there's a brochure at the bookstore but I believe the visitor center is closed already here's a sample of the volcanic rocks we're about to [Music] see there's mini4 here we have one of several pretty weathered interpretive signs apparently the lava came from there little black Peak not an actual volcano but a lava tube we're going to have to go back all those switchbacks on the way back luckily it's not that steep deep apparently this is one of the youngest lava flows in the continental United States it erupted about 5,000 years ago which by the way the temperature is dropping here quite rapidly it's getting really chilly so we're going to try to do this as quickly as possible and then go back to the camper and hopefully we won't run out of propane because we got to be like like really low yeah more lava rocks [Music] here by the way very accessible Trail [Music] here it is amazing to see how the lava solidified into this interesting textures [Music] [Music] [Music] that's a good looking Juniper very interesting trees and these other ones are called spoon [Music] plant there's once again mini4 what a great location this is [Music] well so far a very rewarding little hike here I don't think uh there will be a need to spend the second day here unless I mean we might be able to if it clears up this might be a pretty good dark sky location I know the town of kiz zoo is relatively close but yeah oh the jar position where till you see it we can see mintini and the mountain behind it well that was a great little loop trail very cool very cool rock formations and I think that's all we're going to do here today go inside turn on the heater and tomorrow we continue West I want to take a moment to thank our longtime sponsor serve shark VPN and VPN stands for virtual private Network and that's exactly what it does it creates a private secure connection between your devices and the internet and that is an essential tool for us Travelers because at some point we're going to have to connect to that potentially insecure Wi-Fi and you never know a bad actor could be if dropping on that connection potentially logging your keystrokes stealing your password your identity giving you malware that would be a very bad day especially on the road right and and it's only that's only its main feature it's got many other features my favorite you can virtually transport yourself pretty much anywhere around the world you just click wherever you want to go and this is especially useful if you need to access content that is blocked at your current location but you know it's available somewhere else yes click to whatever you want to go around the world and as far as the internet is concerned you are in that location it's also got a clean web feature that will get rid of unwanted ads potential malware it's got a true incognito search for your eyes only and I have a very special deal for you guys if you go to Surf shark. dealy RV and you enter promo code my RV at checkout you will get 86% off on up to 3 months for free good morning from New Mexico what a great discovery this place was I'm sure we'll return someday and stay longer but now the road beckons well this place was awesome might return someday and uh as I mentioned I think I mentioned this part of the trip is we're hitting spots that I've missed in previous trips and our next uh point of interest is no exception we're going to the very large array [Music] so far it's been a great Scenic Drive let's take a quick break here at Soro to [Music] refuel what can I say gas station with a view [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] I can see it the VA the very large array our coveted destination located in this remote Valley surrounded by mountains away from all radio interference in fact when we arrive we have to put all our devices is on airplane mode I wonder if Starship has an airplane mode too anyway this is a y-shaped array consisting of 28 25 m radio telescopes and they are all on railroad tracks so they can be moved as needed it is so cool to finally be here this installation has been here since the mid 70s although the electronics have been updated recently since they are so strict about electronic devices I'm just going to use my phone on airplane [Music] mode there's a self-guided tour that we're going to do and it is snowing a little actually they have several interpretive signs this one about their solar telescope too bad we don't have any sun today here's the bracewell radio sun dial named after Australian native and radio astronomer Ron brazell the concrete peers were once part of bracewell's radio telescope at Stanford University the signatures on the concrete belong to many prominent visitors of the aformentioned Stamford radio telescope and they were brought here in 2012 [Music] besides it's obvious scientific importance the vaa has appeared in several science fiction movies like 2010 the year we made contact and more importantly contact with jod Foster Matthew MCC Thomas carret good movie yeah they are pretty massive oh there it is here's a sculpture called Shiva shuana [Music] there goes the Google Street View car maybe we'll be in a picture soon there's a rest up with the view coming up [Music] soon check it out we got slit [Music] here's one final look at the vaa we might never come back to this one but I'm glad we did at least once oh there's a historical marker [Music] too well another one checked off the bucket list for sure I mean the VA has been on the on the L for many many years and it is so remote and so out of the way I mean you have to really want to come here and and we're getting some some bonus SLE or flurries or whatever this is called this like tiny little hail let me know you guys were familiar with this kind of precipitation and um well what now we're going to a town called Pie Town we might have some pie because we haven't had breakfast this is cool but the way it looks kind of abandoned it doesn't look like there's a whole lot going on there gift shop is closed I mean we could have just wandered in without paying the $6 per person and nobody would have noticed oh don't do it don't do it next up py town [Music] just going over the Continental Divide at 7,796 FT of elevation and the snow is getting worse we're getting all kinds of weather here in [Music] Mexico well what to do in Pie Town well get a pie there were several places to choose from but this one seemed a good combination of quality and convenience they're on Pie Town time which means very slow but let's hope the pies are good got a Kish and a chocolate mousse I'll let you know how they are the pie by the way was very good so was the KE but the coolest part was able to say you got a pie at pie town now onto Arizona where our main goal on this trip is the Quest for pelic Camp West to finally own a piece of land in Arizona and we have three areas we're going to look at sholo and snowflake are one of those Valley at the Grand Canyon Junction is another one and Golden Valley near Kingman also since we're we're so close we're going to visit Petrified Forest and maybe even the south rim of the Grand Canyon then up to Las Vegas [Music] baby actually it is starting to look like Arizona well what do you know there's our welcome [Music] sign Desert Rain wipe away the dust flowing F Desert Rain Al turns into but of rain and the wash turns into a great Forest Place and the flly grow far away in the deser [Music] we're arriving in hallbrook and we're going to make this town our home base for the next couple of days in order to be able to explore the area this also happens to be a root 66 town so it might be fun to see what remains but more about that on the next episode until then thank you so much for watching and see you on the road [Music] [Music] I'm riding ring in in my armv

Channel: Traveling Robert

Views: 39,575

Keywords: rv life, RV travel, winnebago, micro minnie, free in my RV, traveling robert

Id: -WCIxI2PK-s

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2024