Message posted by Tom on December 06, 2006 at 19:57:52 PST:
I've been on about 4 or 5 NTS tours, but they were some time ago, so things could very well have changed, but here's some info for you... The only way you can get a camera along (forget a geiger counter)is if you are doing what was called a "press tour". You had to be a legitimate, credentialed member of the press and they only take a few at a time. You might have up to 4 or so members of the press and one or two NTS folks to keep an eye on you. Very personal and structured to see whatever you wanted, usually done in a passenger van. But you are closely chaperoned. That's the sort of tour that might make it to the outskirts of Plutonium Valley. After doing the stock, public NTS tour, I set up a private tour for about 20 engineers from where I worked at the time. The NTS Public Affairs office was very helpful in this. They let us pick our own date (within some parameters set by the NTS), and picked us up in Vegas just like the regular tour. No charge for the thing. We were able to pick out the sites we wanted to see, which ended up being the usual "tourist spots" as most on the bus hadn't been there before. Everyone had a great trip. I was also on a private tour dubbed "Last Ride of the Interceptors" because it was a bus full of us Area 51 loser types. I'm not sure, but I think it was set up by Glenn Campbell in his waning Area 51 days. I think Darwin Morgan from the NTS was assigned to keep an eye on us, no small task. We repeatedly badgered him about where the alien bodies were hidden. Along the way we played our own videos on the bus's CCTV system. Again, we were able to pick the spots we wanted to see, within limits. Part of the limitation was that the drive from LV to the north end of the NTS is so damn long to start with, and you have only so much time. So in summary, unless they've changed their operating practices, you might be able to do your own private custom tour if you give the NTS enough lead time and you have enough bodies to fill a bus. Not being able to take pictures is no big deal compared to seeing all the neat stuff to begin with.
In Reply to: Help with Nevada Test Site Visit posted by Steve P. on December 06, 2006 at 11:30:09 PST:
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