A Long-Awaited Opportunity!

When the Missile Testing Site in White Sands, New Mexico, in conjunction with the US Military, conducts a test wherein one missile targets and shoots down another, the early morning light show is spectacular! Previously, I have witnessed two from great distances.....the one pictured, from Phoenix, AZ and the most amazing one, in 1997, I believe, from Globe, Arizona.

The Globe view had been the best.....in the Northwest floated the "cottonball" comet, the name of which I can't recall.
Due East were the amazing colored contrails of the missile test, and, in the Southeast, one of the Planets, Jupiter, as I recall, right next to a Full Moon! What a sight! I had NO Camera!

Couple of months back, there was another test which I only heard of after the fact....POOF! Three Down!

Opportunity #4!!! My friend, Jackie, in Phoenix, alerted me, via E-Mail, of a test scheduled for Saturday, September 9, 2006. Jackie is on top of all this stuff because she is smart and dedicated, probably the smartest of All "Slopers"!

So! Today! Saturday! My day off! I was up until midnight but dragged my old bod out of bed at 4:30 AM, sipped some 2-day-old coffee, microwaved, of course, and, by 5 AM, I, and my dog, Bill, were 300 yards into the Chiricahua Desert, two cameras at the ready, smokes and warm, stale coffee in tow!

It was beautiful! Quiet and peaceful, even though the neighboring gravel pit was warming up the engines. The Mourning Doves were beginning to dart here and there, looking for breakfast and being a tad skittish.....it IS Dove Season, after all!

Located in far SE Arizona, only 20 miles from the New Mexico Border, I expected to have the Golden Opportunity of my Life!

I came across a couple of small dirt mounds, maybe 6 feet from each other, across which some generous soul had seen fit to lay a heavy, weathered old plank just so I would have a comfy seat......a Bench! Perfect for an old Geezer with his hands full!

I sat. I waited. My view was a good hundred miles East to the horizon! Wow! I can't Wait!

At about 5:45 AM, low on the horizon and hundreds of miles away, I saw a brief and tiny flash!

That was all......I reckon they aborted the test, I dunno!
By 6:20 or so, the Sun was peaking over the Big Lue Mountains, or maybe they were the Peloncillos, and, even if the test had taken place, by then, with the sun in my face, photographic opportunities would be virtually non-existant.

Oh Well! Opportunity knocked....I answered.....maybe next time!

Jackie, My Old Friend! You just let me know! Or, better yet, tell me where to go to get the "Alerts" you sent me ! Nah! that ain't "better yet"! "Better Yet" is having one's Friends think enough of you to let you know, personally!

In spite of the abortion, I had a Great Time! I bet that phrase gets used plenty in this here 21st Century, huh?

Thanks, Jackie!