Thursday, February 2, 2012 - Casino del Sol, Tucson AZ
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Flash of Light, Plomosa Road, Quartzsite AZ, January 29, 2012
Lightning strikes twice
It's my turn in the barrel - I've been up all night with a variant of whatever Jane has and now at dawn it's time to decide if she's well enough to fly and if I'm well enough to drive her the 150 miles to the airport in Tucson. We decide we're both up for it, dose up on Kaopectate and head out across Phoenix before rush hour and play it by ear from there.
The plan worked - we got to the airport about noon, giving me time to crash for a couple hours and Jane time to get herself gathered up to fly out at 4:45. Phew! - we made it. Happy Groundhog Day.
Night camp
Boondocked - Casino del Sol, 5655 West Valencia Rd, Tucson AZ
- Good Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here at Casino del Sol
- Locate Casino del Sol on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Heliograph routes of the 1890 Practice
The date was May 15th, 1890, and the Army's Department of Arizona had just completed a major heliograph practice; it was, in fact, the largest the world had ever seen. I call it the "Volkmar Practice", after the man responsible for it, Col. Wm. J. Volkmar, the Assistant Adjutant General and Chief Signal Officer for the Department of Arizona. Although the practice lasted only sixteen days, preparations for it took months of reconnaissance and preparation. Involved in the long range signaling maneuvers were twenty-five heliograph stations stretching from Whipple Barracks near Prescott to Fort Stanton near Ruidoso, New Mexico. My guess is that close to two hundred men were involved, both cavalry and infantry.