Set
the alarm to get up but it was unnecessary as I was awake before it was and laid
there awake waiting for it to go
off. Even then I snoozed it so I could
wait some more. Me and alarm clocks…it’s a mind game. 😉 Couple of reasons for the alarm this
morning…I needed to make a call to the credit union and today we’re going
exploring on foot and it seems prudent to do that in the cool of the day. Hey,
Karen…come on…get your butt out of bed!!
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The
camp owners have laying hens and sell fresh eggs up at the office. We’ve been steady customers…in fact, one of
the first things Kim asked when we checked in was, “Still have fresh eggs?” A bag of ice and a dozen eggs…$5.00 please. 👍
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It
was postcard day…needed to get postcards finished and in the mail. I print up pictures as we go along on our
trip (yay! Walgreens👍) and put a postcard backing on them to make
personalized postcards…great to send to the WonderKids and the GR Grandkiddos. And my
mom…she enjoys them too. Why buy a
postcard of a wolf I never saw when I can send a picture of Kim kissing a goat or
of me standing on a tire? Those are the
real moments that capture a Kim n Karen Adventure. 😊
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Passed on the bicycle ride today for a hike up a mountain. We’ve ridden on SR 79 north of city of Florence
a fair amount this year. On the route that
bypasses Florence there is a lone mountain with a pyramid at the top…or maybe I
shouldn’t call it a mountain because it’s more of a really big hill. Anyway there’s a pyramid….and I noticed there
was a trail up to the top. When I asked
Kim his opinion about it, he said ‘Google it’.
So I typed in “pyramid on top of mountain in Florence, AZ” and the first
thing that pops up? I got me a bona fide
Roadside America hit! The pyramid is the second burial site of
Charles Poston who is called the Father of Arizona for some reason. This is what the Roadside America site has to
say:
Charles D. Poston, called "The Father
of Arizona," had intended to build a temple to the sun atop Poston Butte,
but ran out of money (He was fascinated by Zoroastrianism). When he died in
1902 he was buried in a normal grave in Phoenix -- but that didn't seem right
to his friends. So in 1925 they built a 14-foot-tall pyramid atop the Butte
(now known as F Mountain), dug up Poston, and reburied him in it, facing the
rising sun. His re-interment was attended by a crowd of 1,500, including the
governor, and the crowd was assured by Poston's old friends that he did in fact
believe in the Christian God.
And from that I had some questions so that led me to do a little more
research:
Father of Arizona:
Charles D Poston was born in 1825 and came
west in pursuit of mining opportunities. Soon he became interested in politics
and led the fight for the separate territory of Arizona. Upon winning that
fight he became the first delegate to the U.S. Congress to represent the
Arizona Territory. For that reason he is often referred to as the Father of
Arizona. After losing his seat in congress he traveled and wrote of his travels.
In India he became fascinated with the Parsi people and Zoroastrianism. He
wrote a book entitled The Sun Worshipers of Asia in 1877. Back in Florence,
Arizona he became obsessed with building a fire temple in the shape of a
pyramid on top of Primrose Hill. He took deed of this hill in 1883 from James
Addison Reavis, The Baron of Arizona. He never finished the Temple to The Sun
and the locals jokingly referred to it as Poston’s folly. After holding several
jobs as a miner and various political appointments he died in 1902 near
penniless and was buried in Phoenix. On his 100th birthday in 1925 Governor
George W.P. Hunt led a ceremony
relocating Postons remains to a pyramid shaped tomb and renamed Primrose
Hill-Postons Butte.
Zoroastrianism:
Zoroastrianism
is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. Zoroastrians do believe in one God, Ahura
Mazda, meaning Wise Lord. They believe He created the world. The truth was
revealed through His prophet Zoroaster, who is not worshipped but is followed
as his directed path of truth and righteousness. While Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s
oldest monotheistic religions, it is one of the smallest today. It is reported that
there are less than 200,000 practicing worldwide.
There is a lot more information on
the subject but that was enough for me.
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 |
| Selfie stick time up on the butte😊 |
So we didn’t hike to the top of a mountain or a hill...we hiked to the
top of a butte. 😏There were two routes up…one favored by goats
and one favored by humans. We took the
goat path up and the human path down.
There was a geocache listed up near the pyramid and while we were looking
for it, two boys and their grandma joined us at the top. We chatted and were having no luck with the
geocache so we started back down. It
didn’t take long before one of the boys, Elijah, caught up with us. He was very content to walk with us and chat. He and his brother Sam are from Minnesota, on
spring break and visiting grandparents who come to Arizona for the winter. Elijah is 9 and Sam, who is 1 ½ years
younger, has a birthday coming up in April as does an uncle so they’re going to
Benihana to celebrate because that’s what they do for birthdays…go to Benihana. Yesterday they visited Rooster Cogburn’s
Ostrich Ranch so we talked about that, too.
I told him about my unfortunate meeting with a cactus and that Kim had
to pull the spines out with a pliers…he seemed impressed with that. Then Sam caught up with us and the four of us
walked to the parking lot together which is where Grandpa was waiting. It was a good way to spend the morning. 👍
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For three years, we’ve been coming to the Picacho KOA and
it was only the other day that we accidently discovered that there actually
is/was a little town called Picacho. Nearby
Picacho Peak has a very distinctive shape and we’ve learned to recognize it
from a distance. It’s definitely an area
landmark and a State Park is located on it but we’ve never been there either. Here’s a bit of trivia about
Picacho Peak that we learned yesterday and honestly it’s the reason we went there
today: The westernmost battle in the
Civil War was ‘fought’ at Picacho Peak. What?! I didn’t realize the fighting
extended west of the core southern states. I don’t remember Mr. Visscher covering this in
History class. There is a memorial in
the Picacho State Park and this is from one of the signs:
By early April, 1862, the California Column (Union
troops) had reached an area near present day Casa Grande, Arizona. From there, they dispatched 13 troops to
Tucson, commanded by Lieutenant James Barrett.
This detachment was conducting a sweep of the area, looking for Confederate
soldiers. During their patrol they
discovered three Confederate lookouts who surrendered.
However, Confederates under the command of
Captain Sherod Hunter had occupied ambush positions and opened fire. Fierce fighting continued for 90
minutes. Lt. Barrett and two of his men
were killed and three others wounded.
Both sides withdrew from the scene.
Unconfirmed Union reports indicate two Confederates may have been
wounded.
Although what happened here delayed the
Union forces, the following month the California Column took Tucson without
firing a shot. The Engagement at Picacho
Pass helped the Union take control of this important southern travel
route. This ended the Confederacy’s goal
to reach the California coast.
What transpired at Picacho Peak was only a
tiny skirmish compared to the great battle in the east, but to the men wounded
and killed here, it was life and death.
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The
word ‘Picacho’ means ‘big peak’ in Spanish…therefore the name Picacho Peak is redundant. 😉
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After
our visit to the state park memorial (also a Roadside America hit) Kim needed
to get to StellarVision to pick up a filter that would help with imaging during
the full moon phase. He took off for
Tucson and I went for a ride on Zeus.
Really didn’t have a destination in mind, I just wanted to ride. My inclination when I have an hour or so to
ride and don’t want to deal with towns/cities is to head over to Indian Route
15. The road is open, it’s not heavily
traveled, and the scenery is good. Rode
out about 35 miles and turned around. I
was back to camp before Kim.
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The
moon is heading on full so Kim is using his new filter to image the Horsehead
Nebula again. It’s a practice run to see
how good a job the filter does. He just
popped in to say that due to the light restriction properties of the filter he’s
having to take 10 minute exposures to get enough light. Wow.
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Bike miles today: 70
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