Friday, January 18, 2008 - Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM
< previous day | archives | next day >
Baby it's cold outside
This cold weather is setting new records for LD & Me. Maybe even an all time record for LD, a southern gal all her life, as far as I know. She seems to be weathering the freezing temperatures fine so far. Nothing has burst - there are no telltale puddles underneath. I assume the waste drains are frozen and perhaps there is ice in the tanks too. We'll see what happens when everything thaws out.
When the pipes freeze
The fresh water drain valve is exposed and is surely frozen as well. I've been expecting the plastic piping and valve I used to replace the original with last summer to burst but so far so good. I think I will replace it again this coming summer with pex, which has greater resistance to freeze damage, just in case these freeze-thaw cycles have weakened it. Each freeze-thaw cycle stretches the pipe when ice forms inside and expands. If the pipe is stretched beyond its elastic limit it will take a permanent set in a slightly stretched state. Then the next cycle adds a bit more to the permanent set. Freeze. Thaw. Set. Repeat until the pipe ruptures. Having said this, surely the principal applies to the waste tank drain pipes and valves as well. Uh....anybody know how many cycles they will withstand?
Maybe just put a plug in the bottom of the fresh water tank since I don't see much need to access it except for draining & cleaning. On second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea. If the water pump quit someday, easy access to the fresh water tank from outside might prove valuable out in the boonies. Maybe two valves - one up at the tank to close in cold weather and one down where it is accessible to get a bucket of water is better. We'll see. Then there's the waste tank drains to think about stretching as well.
Now to try to find out if there is any snow on the road over the mountains I need to be concerned about.
Today's journey: US 380 west to Hondo, New Mexico then US 70 west to Alamogordo, New Mexico then US 54 south to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park.
Night camp
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM
- Verizon cell phone service - good signal
- Verizon EVDO service - very good signal and access speed ( I have to qualify this - during my January 2008 visit the signal and access speed was excellent - in January 2009 it was practically non-existent during the day and slow at night with unpredictable short periods of excellent access)
- Go to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park website
- Go to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park on my Nightcamps map
- 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.