Monday, November 7, 2011 - Hidden Valley RV Park, Tijeras NM
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On Point, Sumner Lake State Park, Fort Sumner NM, November 4, 2011
Snow
Well, I moved over near Albuquerque today to get on with my chores here and head south before winter sets in. I didn't get here quite soon enough I guess. It's been snowing lightly this afternoon and overnight temps in the mid twenties are forecast for the next few nights. Bah!
In Albuquerque
- Get the front end checked out and aligned to correct the altered right front tire wear that cropped up on the way out here with the trailer. Towing changed the load balance and I'm seeing some wear on the inside edge instead of the previous outside edge wear.
- Stop at the Apple store and use their high speed internet connection to upgrade a few OS X apps and iPhone & iPad apps that are too big for my Verizon broadband accounts to gracefully handle.
Night camp
Site 100 - Hidden Valley RV Park, Tijeras NM
- This is an older, 100 site, dirt pad, full hookup, RV park on a wooded hillside. The sites are a little small and close together by today's standards but are quite serviceable, quiet and clean.
- Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here with a strong signal.
- Locate Hidden Valley RV Park on my Night Camps 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.