ECHOESOF THE C LDWARWith guides leading the way, reminders of a scarier time in history are evident in the Arizona desert.

By Michael MilneFOR THE INQUIRER

T UCSON, Ariz. — The SonoranDesert surrounding Tucson is ahauntingly beautiful place. Majes-tic saguaro cactus forests rise froma landscape that reveals an unex-

pected array of plant and animal life. Foryears, visitors and new residents have beendrawn to its sweeping vistas. This desert,though, is about not only nature, but alsohuman nature — at its most maleficent.

Burrowed in a bunker deep beneath thescrub and the scurrying lizards, I prepared to

turn the launch key for a Titan missile. Icouldn’t believe how nervous I felt. After all,the missile was topped with a dummy war-head and was no longer programmed to wipeout an undisclosed location in the former Sovi-et Union. So, really, what could go wrong?Still, it’s easy to imagine the thoughts of themen and women who had trained for such aday, a simple twist of the wrist hurling anapocalyptic weapon skyward.

The Cold War may have ended with thefall of the Berlin Wall, but remnants of it arevisible in the Arizona desert, which became

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By Tom KoppelFOR THE INQUIRER

R AIVAVAE, French Polynesia —Hunched over a chopping block, awoman uses a machete to cleave the

green husks from baseball-size chestnuts.Her son prepares to boil them. Smoke froman open fire, where large breadfruits areroasting, fills the air. On a forested slope,huge pigs root around lazily, each tetheredby rope to a tree. Beyond a tin-roofed housesprawls an irrigated patch of taro. Coconuts,bananas, and citrus fruits grow everywhere.

My wife and I are walking through home-steads on Raivavae in the remote AustralIslands of French Polynesia. An hour south ofTahiti by plane, it is lush and lovely, a highvolcanic island surrounded by a barrier reef.The reef encloses a calm turquoise lagoonand is studded with a necklace of tiny islets,called motus. They are cartoon-perfect piec-es of paradise straight from Survivor. Thepopulation of 900 is served by three flights a

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On Polynesian isle, life in the blissfully slow lane

Children on the road in Raivavae, French Polynesia. Life on the islandis quiet and simple, although less so than it was before the airport wasbuilt, when a ship was the only way to get there. ANNIE PALOVCIK

Eleonore White, owner of Tama Inn, thelargest pension on the island. She was bornthere; her husband is American.

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TOP: A Titan missile at the Launch Complex571-7 at the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita,Ariz., 12 miles outside Tucson.ABOVE: Radiation suits are part of the exhibitsgiving the site a 1960s feel. LARISSA MILNE

NThe Inquirer | SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2015 | PHILLY.COM | A |

a strategic setting. When theUnited States and the SovietUnion regularly engaged in sa-ber-rattling, Tucson played a keyrole as a deterrent to conflict.During the era when MAD (mu-tual assured destruction) wasthe normal course of businessbetween the two superpowers,54 Titan II missile sites were onactive alert across America; 18of those encircled Tucson.

Launch Complex 571-7 of the Ti-tan Missile Museum, in Sahuari-ta, 12 miles south of the city, is asobering reminder of how closethe country came to pulling thenuclear trigger. Visitors starttheir tour by descending a set ofmetal steps more than 100 feetdeep into the bunker, protectedbehind a set of hardened blastdoors. As if to show that dangerisn’t delivered only from the sky,the entrance is clearly marked bya sign warning, “Watch out forrattlesnakes.”

The guides are former AirForce personnel, many of whomwere missile crew members whoworked and lived undergroundduring the Cold War. In additionto the daily tours, a monthly Di-rector’s Tour is led by YvonneMorris, head of the museum anda former Titan II Missile CombatCrew commander herself. Shetakes visitors into the launch con-trol center, which, with its vastarray of blinking mainframe com-puters and rotary dial phones,feels like a time tunnel to 1963, orperhaps something out of acheesy science-fiction film. Infact, the museum was a setting inthe 1996 film Star Trek: First Con-tact; in its cameo role, the missilewas transformed into a warpdrive spaceship.

Across the room, a standardgovernment-issue metal file cabi-net painted bright red held thetop-secret launch codes that thecrew would have used to sendthe missile skyward.

Tunnels lit by sputtering fluo-rescent lights turn off at right an-gles, giving the space the look of

an oddly illuminated ant colony.Signs throughout indicate “NoLone Zone. Two Man Policy Man-datory” — an extra security mea-sure designed to prevent a roguecrew member from tinkeringwith the equipment. At the endof one tunnel, the actual Titanmissile looms overhead, stillpoised to reach supersonic speedin seconds. Visitors also accessthe crew’s cramped living quar-ters, a spartan arrangement they

likened to a “Motel 2.” The four-member crew worked in 24-hourshifts, trained for a job it hopednever to carry out.

Another sign of the Cold War’smilitary buildup is the world’slargest military aviation salvageyard — nicknamed “the Bone-yard” — adjacent to the nearbyPima Air and Space Museum.More than 4,000 military planesmothballed for spare parts andpotential future uses lie

stretched out to the horizonacross the desert. The Air Forcesent them here because Tucson’sdry climate makes it the perfectlocation to store things outside,without worries about rust.

The aircraft are lined up inrows, stacked so closely togetherand with such precision that, fromabove, their wings appear to beholding hands — a sharp contrastto their formerroles. It’s a stark-ly beautiful set-ting, as the sil-ver fuselages re-flect the RinconMountains tothe east, display-ing the colors ofa box of earth-tone crayonsrun amok.

The Bone-yard — the309th Aero-space Mainte-nance and Re-generationGroup (AMA-RG), as it’s offi-cially known —is still part ofDavis-Monthan AirForce Base, soadmission is re-stricted. Bustours are of-fered by themuseum,whose grounds are adjacent tothe base.

The amount of hardware on dis-play is striking, evidence wroughtin metal of the massive outlays onweaponry over the last half-centu-ry. Some of the planes look readyto take off; others are partiallysalvaged, as if the turkey vulturessoaring overhead have been pick-ing them clean.

Upon approach, the rows of an-gular F-14 fighter planes emergelike giant metal scorpions lyingin wait on the desert floor. Securi-ty around them is strict, sincethis particular model is stillflown by the Iranian air force,

which is desperate for spareparts to maintain its fleet. Thetour bus ambles by ranks of aban-doned bombers, propeller-drivencargo planes, and fighter jets,while the guide explains theirformer uses. In an odd twist, newC-27 Spartan cargo planes weredelivered directly to the Bone-yard. Although recent militarybudget cuts prevent their use,

productiondidn’t stop.

A sign thatthe militarypossesses itsown brand ofhumor is evi-dent in a lonepilot’s ladderhovering overa set of landinggear and …nothing else. Asign in front ofit identifies itas an F-117stealth fighter.The grizzledtour guide’sday is madewhen groups ofschoolchildrenexclaim,“Wow! You real-ly can’t see it!”

Despite itsmoniker, theBoneyard is nota place merelyto stockpile air-

planes. In February, a B-52 bomb-er old enough to qualify for AARPmembership was restored and re-turned to flying condition.Though the Cold War may haveended, the men and women de-ployed at the Boneyard are onconstant alert for any future chillin superpower relations.

Philadelphia natives Michael andLarissa Milne have been traveling theworld full time since 2011.Get more travel tips on their blog,www.ChangesInLongitude.com. Theirfirst book, “Philadelphia LibertyTrail,” takes a revolutionary approachto visiting the historic district.

TUCSON from N1

Q uestion: My husband andI recently rented an Aviscar in Panama City, Pana-

ma. Our reservation stated thatthe charge for the two days withtax should be $59. When we ar-rived at the car-rental counter,we were asked about insurance.We said we had insurance withour Capital One card, and I hadadditional travel insurance thatincluded car insurance.

We were told that we neededa written letter from eithercompany to be covered whilein Panama. We had neverheard of this policy. We ques-tioned the agent for some time,but because of the language dif-ference, we got nowhere withher. It ended up costing us $138for the rental.

It isn’t the cost that botheredme, but the pressure to buy Avisinsurance. I called Avis as soon

as we got back, and I was toldthat since we used the car withthe Avis insurance, the companycould not do anything about it. Iexplained that we were pres-sured into buying it, but Aviswould not budge.

I e-mailed several other Avisdepartments but got the sameresponse. Not one of the repre-sentatives addressed the poorcustomer service we received.The last person we had ane-mail response from told methat the Panama City locationwas an independent locationand had its own policies. Canyou help?

— Mary Sue Conner,Collegeville

Answer: This shouldn’t have hap-pened. It’s my understandingthat while insurance is requiredby agencies in Panama, the

price is included in the quotedrate. Even if it wasn’t, Avisshould have let you know aboutthe mandatory car insurance. In-forming you at the counter thatyour rate would more than dou-ble is unacceptable.

The insurance ”gotcha” hap-pens all over, most notably inIreland, Jamaica, and Israel. Butlately, I’ve been seeing it southof the border, too.

Interestingly, it goes the sameway here in the States. Some car-rental employees are trained tostrongly suggest that optional in-surance is required, promptinginternational visitors to buy thepricey coverage. So this isn’t aPanama thing; it’s a car-rentalthing.

The best time to fight some-thing like this is at the counter.Remember, if the negotiationdoesn’t go your way, you can

take your business to anothercar-rental company. You were un-der no obligation to rent a carfrom Avis. But once you signedon the dotted line, it becamemuch harder to fix this.

I suggested that you contactsomeone higher up at Avis forsome help — I list the company’sexecutives’ names on my con-sumer-advocacy site (http://el-liott.org/company-contacts/avis-budget/). You did. The re-sponse? ”There are many loca-tions that require proof of cover-age before they release cover-age from Avis,” a representativesaid in an e-mail. “Our recordsshow that you have rented froman independent Avis locationthat may apply different policiesthan other locations. I apologizefor the inconvenience this hascaused.”

I contacted Avis on your be-

half, asking it to take anotherlook at your case. It did.

Avis says its records show thatyou didn’t accept the added in-surance, and that buying ”pur-chase protections” like insur-ance isn’t mandatory in Panama.”But it is our rental agent’s jobto offer them to our customersand it is up to our customer toaccept them or not,” it adds.

Avis blamed the charge on alanguage barrier and refundedyour credit card $79.

+chris@elliott.org.

Christopher Elliott is the author of“How to Be the World’s SmartestTraveler (and Save Time, Money, andHassle)” (National Geographic). He’salso the ombudsman for NationalGeographic Traveler magazine and acofounder of the Consumer TravelAlliance.

The Boneyard — the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), which can be toured at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon, Ariz. LARISSA MILNE

SECRETSOFTHESONORANDESERT

Feeling squeeze to buy extra insurance on rental car

Where Cold War sites are still hot

The style of the Launch Control Center, above, betrays its creation inthe era of the original “Star Trek” series. The launch key, below, isinserted in the crew commander’s console. Titan Missile Museum

yThe Titan Missile Museumis in Sahuarita, Ariz., southof downtown Tucson. Formore information:www.titanmissilemuseum.org.

yThe airplane “Boneyard”is on the grounds ofDavis-Monthan Air ForceBase in Tucson. Access isvia a tour that starts at thePima Air and SpaceMuseum:www.pimaair.org/tour-boneyard. Since the tour takesplace on a militaryinstallation, agovernment-issued ID suchas a driver's license orpassport is required.

yFor more about Tucsonattractions:www.visittucson.org.

TRAVELTROUBLESHOOTER | CHRISTOPHERELLIOTT

N4 | THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER | SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2015 | PHILLY.COM