Nevada Outback Trip, Part 1: Atomic Tour

Lisa and I have been getting increasingly antsy and wanting to get out of the house and go see things, but with no sign of a vaccine being available for us mere under-65s, we wanted something that would be away from other people and was close enough to be able to get back home the same day. So we decided to go see the site of the atomic test in our backyard.

( It Was a Blast )

We found this a very interesting trip. If it weren't for the monument and the monitoring shafts, you'd never know that anything had ever happened here, let alone a 12-kiloton nuclear detonation 300 meters below our feet. Now while as one news story said, you wouldn't want to eat the dirt here (probably because it's naturally contaminated with stuff like arsenic), this area is not "hot" and we were not concerned for our safety. After nearly sixty years, it would probably be difficult to even detect anything above normal background radiation here.

I know it's unlikely that anyone else will come visit this spot, but if somehow your travels take you across "The Loneliest Road," you might consider a relatively short side trip to one of the few atomic bomb test sites you can visit on your own.

Our original plan was to retrace our steps and go home, but when we got back to NV-839, we had a different idea. More about that tomorrow when I feel up to writing about it and get the photographs and video cataloged and uploaded.