Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - Socorro NM
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Bullock's Oriole, Caballo Lake State Park, Caballo NM, May 1, 2012
That's it, I'm outa here.
My three weeks is up here at Caballo Lake State Park and I have to move on. I'm only allowed three weeks at a time in a given park.
May is marching on and it's time to head east if I want to get back to Red Rock and off the road before Memorial Day so I might as well head out. Of course I'm headed north a bit first (can you feel my eastbound feet dragging?)to get my periodic fix at the Apple store in Albuquerque before actually turning east.
Night camp
Wal-Mart Supercenter in Socorro NM
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #5492, 700 North 6Th Street, Socorro, NM 87801 - (575) 838-1415
- Good level parking
- Verizon cell phone signal- very good
- Verizon EVDO Broadband signal - very good
- 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.