With the official Texas Exodus trip ending last Thursday the misses and I spent another 9 days doing our own thing in Colorado. We attempted Wyoming but decided against it after one of the roads from Estes Park going East was closed and would have added a fair amount of time to detour. I wanted to take the long way to Houston via El Paso from northern Colorado due to the many beacons along the route. Each yellow marker is a beacon and the blue ones are the ones we made it to or at least attempted.
First one was in Pueblo, CO at their air port. All that remains is the beacon tower. Not much to see so we left without really stopping.
The next one was south of there. The most direct route took us on a dirt road for about 20 miles until we came upon a gate for private property. I waited for a bit to see if anyone would show up so I could ask permission however nobody did.
The next one was a few hours south into NM. South of Las Vegas. It was 430ish by this time and I knew it was gonna be dark when we got there but we tried anyway. After driving on a muddy county road for a while we came to another gate quite a distance to the arrow so we turned around.
We then stayed in Albuquerque that night.
Next stop was east of El Paso. Being on somewhat of a clock to get back home with a day to relax before work Monday we attempted ones that looked like we could get to going off the map. First one we didn't attempt due to this. Second beacon was literally right off the highway which was easy to find and was the first actual arrow located. The survey sign was intact as well however couldn't find the monument.
Next one was about 12 miles east, north of the road. We drove on some dirt roads that seemed like private property but we didn't see signage nor opened gates or anything like that so we continued. Not that we saw any signs of active life anyway. Just run down houses and cars. After driving for a while we ran into a corner of fences and gates. Not wanting to upset a west Texan that could easily dispose of my corpse we turned around before my dumbass decided to hop barbed wire fences. No pictures.
Next one was about 15 miles east. This was was behind the Salt Flat Cafe. It was close to the cafe but also there were some homes. I pulled onto their property and people were outside. I told the first guy what I was doing and asked permission. He had no issues without and went over to an elderly couple and, in a family ribbing joking way, yelled at, I assume his mother, to show me around since apparently she knew all about it. And boy did she.
She was born there in the late 20s. The beacon and even an air strip was installed in the 30s. She remembered it well. She also recalled paratroopers doing their training and so forth on on that property during the war in the 40s. The air strip and all was decommissioned in the 80s however the arrow and survey marker are all intact. They have hundred of acres in west Texas where all her family lives. She says she occasionally gets people like me looking for these things and enjoys telling her story. I didn't get any pics of the cafe or jeep since it was parked a fair distance and honestly I was just distracted by her history lesson. Plus I didn't want to take up their time with a photo shoot.
She told me about Jeff Bezos' property in Van Horn( CEO of Amazon). Didn't know he had property out here. Apparently his other company, Blue Orgin, has a suborbital launch site in the mountains along with a residence of his. An arrow or two are on that mountain top so obviously we didn't even attempt it. The two east of Pine Springs are believed to be on his property.
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After that we headed towards Orla. There was one a little bit off the road. There is a ton of drilling for oil and gas in west Texas. This beacon was on the property of a company but the gate was open and there weren't any no trespassing signs despite it is off a county road. We came upon a cattle gate which was closed. I didn't want to deal with it so we parked and I hopped the gate. This was the best-intact one yet.
About 50 feet away was clearing. There was some rubbish and other junk. Closest to the arrow was a pile of broken glass which appeared to be a Fresnel lens. At least nothing else came to mind.
That would end up being our last one due to dusk, needing gas and just needing to keep going. I still plan on attempting the other ones however it may be a a year or two before I can since it is a full days drive from Houston.
They had a ton of skill and were a little crazy but, definitely weren't the insane cowboys of the movies.
