Grants, New Mexico

We had a short drive to Grants, New Mexico, and a stop off at a sight-seeing agenda item yesterday. When I took the new pictures off my camera, I realized there were a few leftovers from the day before. Since the kitties went with us as we drove around Albuquerque, their afternoon napping was disturbed. They made up for lost time when we returned to our campsite.

While they napped, I finished off the 6th of Grandma's Thimbles. This one was finished in two days. The "starburst" designs are all stitched in straight stitch, and so that went pretty fast. The next one will take longer.

Later in the afternoon, Smitty sat on his throne, snoopervising the campground from the back window. Kitties aren't ordinarily allowed on the table, but in this small space, we cut them some slack. We lay one of the quilts there as their permission slip.

They are pretty good at sharing the catio. Sadie had it for the afternoon.

So moving on to yesterday's travels, we left Albuquerque under threatening skies.

As we drove along, I happened to look out my window just in time to see this little village off to the right. Checking the map, I was able to identify it as Laguna Pueblo and the Mission San Jose de Laguna. You can see the mission in the upper left corner of the image below. 

As it turns out the area is recognized by the National Park Service. You can read more about it right here. It is the largest of the Keresan-speaking pueblos. The name, Laguna, is Spanish (meaning "small lake") and derives from the lake on the reservation. This body of water was formed by an ancient dam that was constructed by the Laguna people. After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680–1696, the Mission San José de la Laguna was erected by the Spanish at the old pueblo (now Old Laguna) and finished around July 4, 1699. Have I said lately how much I 💓 the internet?

As we approached the city of Grants, we noticed these lava fields that extended for a period of several miles.

It was on both sides of the road, and probably beyond those trucks over there.

This flow, known as the McCartys lava flow, has been dated at 3,800 ±1,200 years. You can see a satellite image and read a little more about the lava flows in New Mexico right here.

Okay, and we were almost to the place I've been waiting to see for many years. As I've mentioned before, I've been collecting items I hear about or read about, literally, for decades and stuffing printed off sheets into manilla envelopes labeled by state name. (I have some for the Canadian provinces too.) When we travel to a state, or take any kind of a road trip, I sift through all that printed material looking for any places we could see along our route. The Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum was one of those items, and it has long been near the top of my bucket list as a place to see. It was just a few miles away from our final destination, and so we stopped in. 

Before the days when radio was in common use, the U.S. Postal service decided to improve their mail delivery by putting old World War I military planes to use for air mail service. Without the help of radio control towers, pilots needed a fool-proof way to navigate across the country. The solution came in 1924 when the federal government funded the creation of giant concrete arrows, painted bright yellow and measuring anywhere from 50 to 70 feet in length, to be placed every ten miles across the entire country. Each arrow was placed near a 50 foot lighthouse, ensuring that pilots had a cross-country runway for their midnight flights. By the time WWII rolled around, use of the radio was commonplace, rendering the giant beacons obsolete. Most of the airway lighthouses were scrapped and recycled during the war, but many of the giant arrows still sit in the desert to this day. 

Oh my gosh, I was so excited to finally get to see this. My pictures aren't very good, since they were taken under these moody skies.

This site is one of many preservation programs protecting the few remaining beacon sites. This is an original beacon site. It commemorates the Los Angeles to Amarillo segment of the Transcontinental Air Transport, one of the earlier air mail providers. The original airway route was laid out in 1929 by Charles Lindbergh as the Technical Advisor for the new airline. I'm including some of the informational signs to help you understand what you're looking at.

Here's a picture of the generator shed.

Here is the beacon.

Below...the object of my desire...the concrete arrow. Ever since I knew these arrows existed, I've wanted to see one. 

SQUEE!!!

Also present at the site is a restored metal route arrow.  Concrete guide arrows were costly and impractical at many sites, and were no longer built by 1932.  A 90-foot metal-panel arrow was designed for those sites where such an aid was necessary.  Raised above the ground, they were more visible even in winter.  The LA-A 59B arrow, at the airfield near El Morro, was abandoned and forgotten by the 1950s.  Sited on a hilltop on private lands, the badly-weathered remains of this arrow were threatened by construction.  The landowners understood the significance of this relic and in 2013, assisted volunteers in removing the arrow for extensive repairs and restoration.  Finally reconstructed in June 2017, this restored metal arrow may be the most complete such airway navigation aid left in the United States. 

Let's just take a little walk over to see it. Watch where you're stepping, please. You could die out here.

I couldn't get up high enough to get a good picture of the metal arrow...

but I've included one I found on the internet below. And, in case anyone is wondering, we couldn't use the drone here because the site is adjacent to an actual small airport. Drones cannot be flown near airports.

Here was something else I wasn't expecting.

A larger structure nearby is the museum, open only on Saturday mornings. We were not able to go inside, but the concrete arrow was the real draw. 

I put my camera lens right against the glass window and took a picture of the interior. If I'm not mistaken the poster board man standing there is probably Charles Lindbergh.

Just outside the front door was this memorial.

I'm assuming this propeller was part of the ill-fated plane.

Okay, and so we were only minutes away from the campground here. It was one of the more pleasant check-in experiences I've had. A man, who appeared to be the manager/owner, had quite a sense of humor. Also, they sold shot glasses, and I needed me these two. 

I've always loved New Mexico's state flag...on the right. And this campground is located along Historic US Route 66. Obviously, I needed to add these to my collection.

We're here in Grants for 3 nights...one down, two to go. It rained hard yesterday afternoon after we arrived. We're expecting better weather today, but then more rain tomorrow. We have just one more day of sight-seeing here, and so we'll do it today with a visit to El Malpais National Conservation Area. This was another item from New Mexico's manilla envelope. The article I'd pulled out was from a photography magazine. Reading it again, it was really about photography and didn't say a whole lot about the park. So, I don't really know what we can expect to see there. We'll be as surprised as you will be when I tell you about it tomorrow.

We're running out of some staple items, and we've found a Kroger store nearby. Also, a Walmart, in case we can't find our favorite Skinny Cow ice cream bars at the Kroger store. Walmart, don't let us down now! Mike made waffles last Sunday for our usual Sunday morning blueberry pancake breakfast. I promised him blueberry pancakes yesterday afternoon, so that's where I'm headed next. We'll have a slow morning followed by some sight-seeing and some grocery shopping. More later. Thanks to all of you who have left kind comments about these travelogues. I'm glad you are enjoying them. We certainly are enjoying our trip.