Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - Demopolis AL

Wal-Mart Supercenter in green, Demopolis AL, December 21, 2007

And the park has a winter rate of $4.00 per night. This sounds like a good alternative to Wal-Mart parking lots for a few days. So I stock up on food and head out.

No cell phone reception at Payne Lake Campground

Darn; it's a nice quiet campground, nice lake, but I get no cell phone reception. Without cell reception I felt I didn't want to stay and headed on westward on AL 25. So here I am at one of dear old Wally's parking lots again.

This Wal-Mart Supercenter is green

Now here's a first for me. Of all the Wal-Marts I've visited to date, this is the first one done up in green and beige instead of the usual blue and beige. Is this a reflection of the "green" image Wal-Mart has been promoting lately?

Night camp

Wal-Mart Parking Lot in Demopolis AL

Wal-Mart Supercenter in Demopolis AL

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #731, 969 Us Hwy 80 West, Demopolis, AL 36732 - (334) 289-2385

Good level parking, reasonably quiet
Poor Verizon cell phone service - access is via Extended Network, roaming
No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and service varies is slow but reliable
Find other Wal-Marts in the area
Check the weather here

Heliograph route between Fort Cummings NM and Tubac, AZ

1886 heliograph transmissions between Tubac near Nogales Arizona/Mexico, and Fort Cummings New Mexico: Joe Marques (Flagstaff) was doing some research in old Flagstaff newspapers and found something that might interest. In the Arizona Weekly Champion, Saturday August 7, 1886, page 2 column 1, it says: "A message was recently sent by the government heliograph (signalling by sunlight flashes) from Fort Cummings, N.M. to Tubac, Ariz., a distance of 400 miles, and an answer received in four hours." What a great [research] find! This was during the Geronimo Campaign of 1886, and the heliograph system at that time did indeed extend between the two stations. From Tubac, the most westerly terminus, the intermediate stations were Baldy Peak or possibly Josephine Peak just a little south of Baldy), Fort Huachuca, Antelope Spring, Emma Monk, White's Ranch, Bowie Peak (or Helen's Dome), Steins Peak, and Camp Henely (east of Fort Cummings). This means the message would have been relayed seven times, one way. It most likely was a test message, and relatively short, but I would love to know what it and the reply really said. The 1886 "airline" distance between Tubac and Fort Cummings; and of course on to Fort Cummings. I calculate the one-way distance between the two extremes as being 241 miles, with round trip of course being 482 miles.

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