Mirrors, missiles, mission, planes and a peak...

… describes our week in Tucson.

Earlier this week we visited the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab and learnt all about the HUGE lightweight mirrors that are being cast for the biggest optical telescopes in the world. If you’d like to know more about the process, below is the link to their site:

http://mirrorlab.as.arizona.edu/about

At the moment, they are working on 7 x 8.4m diameter mirrors for the new Giant Magellan Telescope due to be built in Chile (the Hubble is only 1 x 2.4m in diameter!). About 40,000 pounds of glass are placed into the mould, by hand. The finished mirror weighs approximately 20 tons and we saw the second mirror that was in the process of being polished:

The polishing table

 The polisher

And the third mirror that had come out of the furnace 

 and was cooling down

The next day we visited the Titan Missile museum. This preserved Titan II missile site is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987. Able to launch from its underground silo in just 58 seconds, the Titan II was capable of delivering a 9-megaton nuclear warhead to targets more than 6300 miles (10,000 km) away in about 30 minutes.  On the tour, we stood on top of the launch duct and saw the Titan II missile in the launch duct and the perimeter radar motion sensors.

We then went down 35 feet into the underground missile complex and visited the launch control centre where the guide simulated launching the missile.

Then we walked across to level 2 of the missile silo where we saw the missile in the launch duct.

Below is a plan of the underground site that we walked around

On Tuesday we visited the Mission San Xavier del Bac which was founded in 1692 by Fr Eusebio Francisco Kino, a Jesuit pioneer and explorer.

Today’s Franciscan church was built between 1783 and 1797 with 7,000 pesos borrowed from a local rancher. The local villagers helped and artists from New Spain (Mexico) completed the interior. Because the Apaches were a constant threat, all workers earned double pay! As with most Spanish Colonial architecture, the inside of the church is anything but subtle:

Wednesday saw us at the Pima Air and Space Museum. It holds the world’s smallest aircraft called the Bumble Bee:

And Mark’s favourite plane, the Blackbird (SR-71)

As well as walking around more than 300 aircraft both inside and out, we went on the “Boneyard” tour aka Aerospace Maintenance Regeneration Group. This is where planes are either in storage or will be broken up and used as spares at a later date and it covered an enormous area (I've included an areal shot from their website to give you an idea of the sheer size:.

Yesterday we went up to Kitt Peak National Observatory, high above the Sonoran Desert. The site was selected in 1957 after a three year survey of more than 150 sites and is now home to the largest collection of astronomical telescopes in the world – 25 optical and 2 radio telescopes.

We toured the world’s largest solar telescope, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope and saw sun spots and solar flares through the Meade Solar Telescope Array

Saw the 2.1m telescope:

And then the 4m Mayall telescope:

We started the week with mirrors and ended with telescopes, so it tied it altogether quite nicely. In fact when we were in the visitors centre, Mark was talking to one of the tour guides and was asked if he was a scientist! No, he just has a lot of info stored in his brain J

Tomorrow sees us leaving Tucson and heading to the Kartchner Caverns and Tombstone before heading east to New Mexico and continuing our adventure.

the awning saga endeth

So badger finally has a working awning after only 10 weeks:

• We were told when we viewed the bus that a new part for the awning was on order
• Once we bought the bus and took delivery it turned out the part had not been ordered, so they ordered it then
• The necessary part is the motor, and they ordered the wrong one, so when we took badger back to the Westminster branch of the dealers for other bits to be done it turned out it didn't fit. They ordered the other motor type
• Turns out the correct motor type is no longer available. 
• We took badger back to Westminster for them to remove the old motor to send it to be rewound, on our way up to Palm Desert. They had to strap the awning arms up so we could drive as the motor is also the lock mechanism. The plan is to ship the rewound motor to their palm desert branch to fit a week later.
• The motor cannot be rewound. We have to order a complete new awning which will take about 3 weeks. They still have to ship the old motor to palm Springs to refit it to lock the awning for the next leg of the journey, as the strapping isn't preventing the awning unraveling as we drive along. The new awning will be shipped to the dealers mesa branch, which we will visit on our way east.
• The same day that the awning arrives in Mesa - December 21st - the dealer decides they are going to shut that branch with immediate effect. We explain that we can't be here any earlier than Jan 8th as we have bookings and things to do on the road.
• Arrive at the dealers yesterday afternoon to find that it is deserted except for the manager, a couple of guys emptying the building and a security guard.
• The manager fitted the awning today himself with a another guy to help a bit. 
• The dealers will vacate this building on friday

To be fair, it could have probably been sorted quicker if we had been staying in one place, and the dealers have ended up paying almost 3 grand for a complete new awning for us without any quibble or argument - we didn't even have a discussion, they just said this is what they would do. And they have not argued or shirked on any of the things we flagged as needing to be fixed, and they have been very accommodating on letting us start using the rig and starting our travels without having to go back to the original Westminster branch

So now we just need to continue with nice enough weather that we can sit out under it and enjoy the outdoors.....

A huge hole, rocks and stars

From the town of Williams at an elevation of 6,800 feet (on Route 66), as well as visiting the Grand Canyon, we had a day trip to the Meteor crater, just out of Winslow. It was formed 50,000 years ago when a meteor 150 foot in diameter travelling at 26,000 mph crashed into the earth. The crater is over 1 mile across, 3 miles in circumference and 550 feet deep. It remains the world’s best preserved example of an impact crater, probably as it’s relatively young in geological terms. It was also used in the 1984 movie Starman.

In the afternoon and evening, we visited the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. The Clark telescope was built in 1896 and is renowned for mapping the surface of the moon for the landing in 1969. It closed in December for repair, but we still got to see it and listen to the history behind it.

In addition, we saw the Pluto telescope that discovered the planet (which was then downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006). In the evening, a number of mobile telescopes were set up and we got to see Jupiter and the surface of the moon. To be honest, the telescope we had in Australia showed the same amount of detail. We also saw the Andromeda galaxy and Crab Nebula as large blobs. What was great, was being able to see the Orion Nebula through the 16” telescope. It was in much more detail than we could make out in Australia, but then with such a large telescope, it should have been!

We than headed south to Sedona and dropped 3,000 feet. We had lots of sunshine during the day even though it was still below freezing at night. The scenery around the town was amazing:

The Chapel of the Holy Cross is built into the rocks

And we met a local J

We’re now down at the RV dealers in Mesa outside Phoenix. The change in the landscape was also visible as we dropped another 2,000 feet and back into the warmer weather.

From here, it's down to Tucson for a week, and still warmer weather :-) 

Grand Canyon

Well, what can I say? We've seen rocks, gorges, canyons and mountains but nothing prepared us for the majestic sights of the Grand Canyon. At 277 miles long, an average of 10 miles wide and nearly a mile deep, the park covers approximately 1.2m acres and has an elevation of 8,800 feet on the north rim. We walked quite a way along the south rim and the views were spectacular. Some photos are below, but they don't do it justice:

winter camping. Brrrrr

at Williams in Arizona for a few days as a base to do the grand canyon, lowell observatory and winslow meteor crater. Its at 2062m elevation, so our first experience of winter camping - snow on the north facing slopes, and we've been warned to disconnect and empty the water hose before dark as it will freeze. So, 2 electric heaters, double duvet and lets see how we go...

Badger repair man

‎So I got to spend new years afternoon under badger. Went to get something out of one of the storage bins and noticed the exhaust‎ pipe that comes from the generator built in at the front of the bus was a bit bouncy. Looked underneath and found that the rubber strapping holding the bracket together was busted through and about 5 feet of pipe was bouncing around on the end of the manifold.

Had to go out and buy an imperial socket set to get the bolts off; managed to get them all undone without too much swearing, then cost me all of 5 bucks for a new bracket with some suitable rubber I could cannibalism. All back together again and ready to hit the road tomorrow. Shame about the $80 for the sockets, but I'm sure they will get plenty more use in the coming years.

Happy 2014

‎From  a quite sedate and tame Vegas. Not the crowds and debauchery everyone warned us of - in fact the most annoying things were all the kids and strollers.

Roll on mardi gras - 9 weeks and counting...