May 07, 2008 - I'm back home in Red Rock
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Parked in the lower driveway for the summer, May 8, 2008
LD and I pass the test
LD, this old Lazy Daze RV, and I passed the test with flying colors - the test to see if my twenty year old dream of traveling full time about the country via RV has legs.
It has legs alright - strong, sturdy legs.
It's been a great trip. This old Lazy Daze has proven to be a comfortable place to live and has taken me to many new places and introduced me to some wonderful new friends this past winter that I want get to know better. I can hardly wait to get back out there again next fall to continue the adventure. Balloon Fiesta here we come!
Night camp
At home in Red Rock (near Chatham in Columbia County, New York)
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.