Friday, May 1, 2009 - Enid OK
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Welcome day, Valley of Fires, Carrizozo NM, April 28, 2009
A fine time was had by all
Except me. The ride over to Enid today was not much fun. I awoke in Pampa TX in the midst of a peas soup fog and air humid enough to chew. Quite a shock after a dry southwestern winter I must say and more than a bit unpleasant. The first 1/3 of the drive was in that gradually lifting fog - which was gradually replaced by a light drizzle. This was joined by a strong headwind and rough pavement that had the rig a rocking and a rolling along with cabinet doors and drawers opening and carefully (I thought) possessions scattering about the rig (insert grouchy grumble here). So I stopped short of my plan to reach Ponca OK today and holed up in Enid.
To top it all off the WalMart here in Enid is one busy scene and the only level parking is in quite near the store. So I shut my refrigerator off (they tend to die if run unlevel) and waited patiently for business at the store to let up so I could move to a level spot for the night. About 6:00 I decided to move - ha! - the chassis battery is flat stone dead! I had left the headlights on. Oh how I hate it when that happens. And how much I like carrying my own jump battery in the form of the house batteries. It's the best thing since sliced bread and an onboard toilet {grin}. A few minutes moving wires about and recharging things with the generator had me going quite handily.
But I'm still grumpy with the marginal at best internet access signal here....
Let tomorrow begin.
[Update] Tomorrow began - it took until then to post this longer post - this one from the Wal-Mart in Vinita OK en route east on US60, where I stopped to punch down the bread.
Night camp
Wal-Mart Supercenter in Enid OK
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #499, 5505 W Owen K. Garriott Rd, Enid, OK 73703 - (580) 237-7963
- Some level parking - most with a gentle slope
- Verizon cell phone service- Extended Network
- Verizon EVDO Broadband service - via Extended Network, poor signal with dropouts
- Find other Wal-Marts in the area
- Check the weather here
The Heliograph in the Apache Wars
"The mountains and the sun...were made his allies, the eyes of his command, and the carriers of swift messages. By a system of heliograph signals, communications were sent with almost incredible swiftness; in one instance a message traveled seven hundred miles in four hours. The messages, flashed by mirrors from peak to peak of the mountains, disheartened the Indians as they crept stealthily or rode swiftly through the valleys, assuring them that all their arts and craft had not availed to conceal their trails, that troops were pursuing them and others awaiting them. The telescopes of the Signal Corps, who garrisoned the rudely built but impregnable works on the mountains, permitted no movement by day, no cloud of dust even in the valleys below to escape attention. Little wonder that the Indians thought that the powers of the unseen world were confederated against them."