We’ve
been turning the A/C off in the evening when the outside air cools down. Not
that it’s cooler outside than in the camper but why pay for A/C when the cool
night breeze coming in the windows feels refreshing? Last night with the threat
of rain, we ran the air until it felt almost cold in the camper. Our bedroom
has one little round vent in the ceiling…it doesn’t do a great job of cooling
that area but a fan and open windows at night usually chases the stuffiness
away. Not last night. At the point of going to bed, the outside air still felt
a little warm and heavy, but the wind had picked up so I opened the windows,
expecting it to cool down. I was wrong. The temperature may have dropped
through the night but there was not a cool breeze coming in; the fan didn’t
even seem effective. Going to have to reassess that situation tonight.
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Rode
the bikes into town to mail letters, then we checked out the Eloy Veterans Park
before heading back. There were plaques honoring both World Wars, the Korean
War and the Vietnam War. There’s a plaque honoring the GWOT from 1990 to
present; it took me a minute to figure out the GWOT plaque meant Global War On
Terrorism. Code Talkers and Buffalo Soldiers were also given recognition. It
was very well done; however, I noticed there was no mention of the part that
women played during these wars…as nurses, doctors, or soldiers. Just sayin’….
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I’m familiar with the term Code Talkers and
the part that the Navajo Indians played in WW II. However, according to the
plaque, code talking was pioneered during the first World War in 1918 by
Choctaw and Cherokee Indians serving in the Army. In addition, soldiers of
Basque ancestry were used for code talking by the Marines in WW II. I didn’t
know about those code talkers.
Other than knowing that Bob Marley had a
song called Buffalo Soldiers, I had no reference point for the name until I
read the plaque. Then I filled in the blanks when I got back to camp. The first
response to my inquiry about Buffalo Soldiers was an AI overview, wordy and
concise at the same time:
Origin and Composition
Establishment: In 1866, Congress passed
legislation allowing African Americans to serve in the peacetime army, leading
to the formation of the 9th and 10th Cavalry and 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st
Infantry Regiments (later reorganized to the 24th and 25th Infantry)
Composition: These units were composed of
former slaves, freemen, and Black Civil War soldiers.
Name Origin: Native Americans on the Great
Plains gave them the nickname "Buffalo Soldier," likely due to the
soldiers' dark, curly hair resembling a buffalo's coat and their fierce
fighting nature.
Historical Significance
and Duties
Westward Expansion: They played a key
role in the "Wild West," guarding the U.S. frontier from Montana to
Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Key Responsibilities: Duties included
escorting settlers, cattle herds, and railroad crews, as well as building roads
and forts.
Conflict and Combat: They fought in
over 177 engagements during the Indian Wars against various tribes, including
the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and Sioux.
National Park Rangers: Before the
National Park Service was established, Buffalo Soldiers served as some of the
first rangers, protecting national parks from poachers.
Beyond the Frontier: They served in the
Spanish-American War (fighting at San Juan Hill), the Philippine-American War,
and both World Wars.
Last Survivors: The last living Buffalo Soldier,
Mark Matthews, passed away in 2005 at age 111.
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The National
Museum of African American History and Culture added this tidbit: Black soldiers used military service as
a strategy to obtain equal rights as citizens. Paradoxically, they sought to
achieve this by engaging in government-led wars meant to overtake the Southwest
and Great Plains from Native Americans. It seems the government leveraged the black soldier’s desire
for equal rights against the stripping of Native Americans’ rights.
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Take #2 on the drone video for our bikes: We
talked about it; we all knew what to do. Kim put the drone in place, pushed the
‘record’ button and we started riding. He only wanted about 15 seconds but we
both knew that to get 15 seconds, a minute or more had to be recorded. Mission
accomplished, Kim put the drone w and we finished our ride.
Got back to camp to discover that the video
wasn’t usable because the drone was in front of us facing the sun. It came out too dark. So, tomorrow we’ll try
again.
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We have a bike rack for our e-bikes that
mounts on the truck’s hitch. Obviously, the camper has dibs on the hitch when
traveling but Kim wanted to bring the bike rack out, so he figured out a way to
store the bike rack on the front of the camper. However, the weight of it caved
in the top of the gas cylinder cover.
Kim’s project for today was modifying his makeshift bike rack holder to
keep it from damaging the gas cover on the front of the camper. Mission
accomplished…it isn’t pretty but it works.
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Pool is open so we went up to try it out. Mom and I only dipped our feet
in, but Kim went swimming. Then he stopped at the office and gave Audra a
thumbs up. Felicia was apologetic earlier today when I asked if it was open
because there are leaves in the pool, but it can’t be vacuumed for another 4
days. They’re having a grand opening
party on Easter Sunday afternoon, complete with an Easter egg hunt, games, and a
dip in the pool.
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Encountered a train the other day when we were riding the frontage road
by the tracks. It was going slow in the opposite direction, so I had an
opportunity to count cars again. Two hundred sixty cars, including six
engines…three in front, two in the middle and one in back. Over 3 miles of
train.
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Audra called late afternoon to say that there was a family interested in
Kim’s telescope, so he met them and gave them the run-down. When he returned,
he said that he wanted to give them pictures of the images he’s done this year.
So, I put a picture order into Walgreens.
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The air was still sweltering when we left to pick up the pictures…a 20-minute
ride in an air conditioned truck with a vent blowing the cool air right at me was
a welcome relief. On the way to
Coolidge, Kim mentioned stopping at a food truck for supper. Comadres and Nacho
Mafia were both open; we just had to decide which one. Picked up the pictures, filled
up the truck at Walmart ($5.74/gal) and just as Kim got back in the truck, I
got a weather alert on my phone…wind and rain. Looked at the black clouds over
in the direction of Picacho and asked Kim, “Where’s the scope?” He said, “Where
it shouldn’t be.” Oh, shit!
We could see the evidence of a hard rain around Randolph…puddles
everywhere. Then suddenly the road was
dry. Okay, so maybe the rain did miss the campground. Telescope, awning and
e-bikes, oh, shit! Yeah, we weren’t that lucky…it was raining when we hit
the I-10 overpass and judging by the water laying everywhere, it had been at it
for a while. Kim noticed right away that
the power at the campground was out…clubhouse security lights and streetlights were off. Oh, oh!
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Telescope was still upright when we pulled up to it. Kim put it in a
protected area and thinks it will be okay. The awning wasn’t damaged and the
e-bikes were able to turn on. Retracted the awning, covered the e-bikes and
went in to make supper. Camper has a battery back-up system and the stove uses
gas, so we were good there. But we couldn’t turn on the A/C or fans. It got a
little stuffy in the camper. After the storm passed over us, I opened windows to
try to cool it down in the back…it took time but it was what we had with no
power.
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Aha!! Power came back on shortly after 8:30 p.m., with the A/C and fans
roaring to life. The weird thing about this storm system is that it wasn’t in
the forecast. And I’d know because Mom has me checking the temperature throughout
the day because her phone won’t pick up her weather app out here. Rain was
predicted for yesterday but not today. What’s up with that? A little
warning would have been appreciated.
