TITAN MISSILE SILO, Melon Tracks travel

Take a trip into an actual nuclear missile silo and see all the high-tech gadgetry of this period: huge buttons, switches, and rotary phones. ‘Tipsies’ surround the area and triggered alarms upon any movement within the silo perimeters. This included local birds unfortunately. (Those scientific minds forgot about those buggers). My wife actually got to push the button that at one time would have cooked Moscow but now just sets off amusement in the kids of the tour group. SALT II has mothballed this place and installed a gift shop. SALT II does sound very high-tech and complicated as well… until your tour guy (we’ll call him Fred) shows the concrete slap that half covers the missile’s hole that is required under the treaty. This trick is what actually keeps the missile from exiting the silo if launched. (I was picturing something more elaborate and Sharper Image like.) I don’t know much about missiles, so I asked few questions— every so often asking our tour guide for his name.