You are driving westbound down I-20 through West Texas, mile
after mind-numbing mile. Suddenly, you see a new sign. Wow! What's
this? Speed limit 80 !?! Put
the pedal to the metal all the way to El Paso, ten-four.
Well, almost. 18 wheelers are restricted to 70, and the speed
limit drops to 65 after dark. But at 80, travellers can make up for
lost time if they pause to stretch their legs and see a bit of
history that is nearly all but forgotten.
Nearest exit is about 1 mile east if you are westbound, and
about 1/4 mile east if you are eastbound.
Rattlesnake Bomber Base is nicknamed for the numerous
rattlesnake dens uncovered during its construction in 1942 to train
replacement crews for bombers during World War 2.
After the war, numerous aircraft were stored at the facility,
for a while including the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb
on Hiroshima.
When I-20 was built in the early 1960s, it severed this historic
entrance from the rest of the old bomber base.
The youth correctional facility in the distance across the busy
highway is built on the site of the old base housing, and the
weed-overgrown runways are about a mile away also on the other side
of I-20.
While looking around, be sure and find and log the nearby
benchmark CC0260 and read the historical marker.
Container is a camouflaged large vitamin bottle. Initial
contents are just log, pen, FTF prize, and Hot Wheels car. Room for
smaller travel bugs.