On April 2, 2022, 12 BMWs and 23 participants joined the BMW Car Club of America New Mexico Chapter for a tour of the Trinity Site, where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16th, 1945. Participants drove from as far away as Farmington to the North and El Paso to the South to rendezvous at the Socorro Historic Plaza. From there, we caravanned roughly 20 miles to enter the White Sands Missile Range through the Stallion Gate. We spent about 2 hours at the Trinity Site Open House viewing historic photos around the detonation site, attending lectures and viewings of trinitite (a green glassy substance formed by the intense heat of the explosion melting desert sand), and traveling by bus two miles to the McDonald Ranch House where the plutonium core of the bomb was assembled. We then drove back to Socorro and had lunch outside on the patio of M Mountain Grill, located on New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology’s golf course. We had gorgeous weather for the entire event and it was a fun and educational day.
Photos by Phil Undercuffler
