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, lengthy 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!
Dark streaks coming from the clouds indicated that somewhere in front of us and off to the west of us
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.
