Trinity

Kind of funny to have a national historical monument that is closed to the public 364 days a year, but that's where I'm headed on day number 365. I'm on the dirt track that's the back way in, based on directions from Linda who runs the ranch B&B where I am staying. The route cuts from the back of the ranch across scrub desert towards the paved road to the gate onto military land. It's a beautiful morning and I stop for a bit to climb a ridge for the panoramic view. A few grazing cattle reluctantly get out of my way as I pass. Bit of a backup now at the gate as MPs check identification and give instructions: 14 miles, stay on the road, no stopping, no photos until you get there. When I do get here, there is a modest crowd milling and taking pictures, although, in fact there is not much to see now. But on a July morning in 1945, the air temperature went from the pre-dawn chill to ten million degrees in an instant. When it cooled, the surrounding desert sand had fused into a sheet of green radioactive glass. Because it had never been produced naturally it was given its own name: Trinitite, for the first atomic bomb test at Trinity Site, New Mexico. What is here today is not much. A somber stone monument, security fences, and if you look hard enough, pieces of Trinitite, left after the government removed all they could in a effort to "clean up" the site in the 1950's. I handle some found today that after checking that it registers only a few clicks on a Geiger counter operated by a volunteer. Not much physically here, but what
does remain when you think on all this, is the legacy of what we did here. They say man lost his innocence in the Garden of Edan, and certainly lost a bit more when the first stone was raised in anger. What we did here was certainly a giant leap beyond that. It worries me that the people who did this, including the brilliant scientists - did this mostly just because we could. What will we decide to do next?

OK,  I realize that I am pontificating a bit and as I write this tonight I am finishing a cheeseburger and my second Carta Blanca  at the Owl Bar and Cafe in nearby San Antonio. Only place open on Saturday night, so it is without a doubt the best place in town.