Fort Huachuca, Arizona (GA38)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV Resort at Acton, California. I’m expecting to depart here March 27th.

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

 

 

In 2012-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

 

 

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

 

 

 

This entry was posted March 3, 2012…

 

 

 

Yesterday Mary and I left the motorhome at the VFW parking lot in Sierra Vista, Arizona and visited the museum at Fort Huachaca (Wha-choo-ka) about 5 miles distant.

 

 

The fort was established in 1877 so the Army could protect settlers and those on their way to California from the Apache Indians. With the exception of a brief seven month shut-down, it has been in continuous operation since that time. It has been the home of the famous Indian Scouts and also the Buffalo Soldiers.

 

 

Here’s a Wikipedia link about the history of the fort…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca

 

 

The museum had lots of old photos, prints, paintings and statues. However, the museum was very dimly lit and the photography was difficult at best.

 

Here are some of the photos that I took…

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see the other 58 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/FortHuachucaArizona

 

 

Last evening we went into the VFW for their Friday night fish fry, While there we met both the manager and the commander. The manager told us they are…membership-wise..the largest VFW Post in Arizona and the third largest in the World! I guess it helps to be right night to a major military base. Also unusual about this Post was everyone was very friendly. A general rule of thumb is…the smaller the facility…the friendlier they are. Just goes to show there’s an exception to every rule!

 

 

This marks the end of our visit to Sierra Vista, Arizona. We’ll be moving along this morning.

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW…!!!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/people-are-history/

 

 

 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

 Yesterday was mostly sunny and 84 degrees. Forecast for today is partly cloudy and 68 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017

FORT HUACHUCA

You are looking at the historical site of Fort Hauchuca, the buildings are newer but the beautiful mountain frames the very spot where Captain Whitside brought new recruits to live in their tents and fight the Indians.

They sang, they trained, they marched and accepted their lot.

During the grueling Apache campaigns, officers decided  a soldier could live on 3/4 pound of slab bacon, or l 1/4  pound of fresh beans; 1 1/8 pounds of flour or 1 lb of hard bread; 0.15 pounds of dry beans, or 0.10 pounds of dry rice; 0.10 lb of coffee and 0.15 lbs of sugar.  An Irishman might lament a diet of beans and bacon and did so in song:

“We wint to Arizona, got to fight the injins there, we came near to be made bald-headed, but they dint git our hair. We lay among the ditches, in the dirty yellow mud, but we never saw a turnip, an onion or a spud.”

And then, later, they  built their own quarters.

Women joined their husbands after permanence came to Fort Huachuca.

It wasn’t easy for the enlisted men’s wives and they, too, put their woes to verse.

By this time the Mexican border skirmishes were subdued but Pancho Villa lived to fight another day.

The fort, along with 70 other forts between Texas and California, saw settlers into the Western regions and secured and expanded the borders of the United States.

In 1886, Captain Lawton, and Lt. Charles Gatewood rode into Geronimo’s camp and asked him to surrender. These photos are from his first surender when he signed a peace treaty. A magazine cameraman got the first photos of Geronimo during the negotiations for that first surrender.

The cameraman was intent on his work and would ask Geronimo, stand here, turn your foot that way.  Much to the officer’s surprise, Geronimo did as the cameraman suggested.

Eleven years later, the army was using the Apache’s for scouts.

An Arizona regiment of  Buffalo Soldiers came to the fort in 1892. They had been stationed in Arizona since 1885. They were much admired by the Indians who referred to  them as “buffalo soldiers” because their wooly hair resembled the curly buffalo hair between the horns. The soldiers liked and accepted the name and went with it. The Buffalo Soldiers fought the Indians, Mexican insurgents and proved their metal in many ways. They didn’t get the acceptance they wanted after the Civil War, but they didn’t give up. They were indispensable foot soldiers in  WWI. Several men received France’s Crosse de Guerre,  during battles in France fighting with the French army. One man stood out above the rest, Corporal Eddie Stowers was recommended for the United States Medal of Honor for his heroic actions. The paperwork conveniently “got lost.” African Americans didn’t get the acceptance they had earned as hard fighting Americans then, either.

Nor after World War II. In fact, Corporal Stowers didn’t get his metal awarded to his family until 1991. Click on his story to read about his heroism. What a blot on the American conscience to have so treated a heroic soldier in this manner, and the still overt and subtle racism we have today.

The fort was predominantly home base to the Buffalo Soldiers for 38 years, with various regiments in and regiments out. At times, they were the only soldiers on post.

The Apache served again, not only as enlisted men, but for the use of their language for codes during WWII that the enemy could not break.

Modernization came. Most of those 70 forts are gone but Fort Huachuca is still a vital link in the service of our country. It has seen every war. It closed briefly after WWII and for seven months after the Korean war. It was revamped as an intelligence center. In 1954 it became the electronic warfare proving ground and test center and is still used as a vital part of our defense today.  A separate museum depicts early army intelligence.

I like museums but sometimes they overwhelm. This one gave its story in an easy flow, without miring you in minutiae. Besides the people of the Fort, there are wonderful paintings, drawings and sculpture. The grounds have much history and archeology to view as well. Well worth a stop if you are traveling in this area.

Fort Huachuca, Arizona

Yesterday Mary and I left the motorhome at the VFW parking lot in Sierra Vista, Arizona and visited the museum at Fort Huachaca (Wha-choo-ka) about 5 miles distant.

The fort was established in 1877 so the Army could protect settlers and those on their way to California from the Apache Indians. With the exception of a brief seven month shut-down, it has been in continuous operation since that time. It has been the home of the famous Indian Scouts and also the Buffalo Soldiers.

Here’s a Wikipedia link about the history of the fort…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca

The museum had lots of old photos, prints, paintings and statues. However, the museum was very dimly lit and the photography was difficult at best.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Here are some photos that I took…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...

To see the other 58 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/FortHuachucaArizona

Last evening we went into the VFW for their Friday night fish fry, While there we met both the manager and the commander. The manager told us they are…membership-wise..the largest VFW Post in Arizona and the third largest in the World! I guess it helps to be right night to a major military base. Also unusual about this Post was everyone was very friendly. A general rule of thumb is…the smaller the facility…the friendlier they are. Just goes to show there’s an exception to every rule!

This marks the end of our visit to Sierra Vista, Arizona. We’ll be moving along this morning.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

LAND OF STANDING UP ROCKS

Much to my dismay, I’ve inadvertently erased the rest of my pictures from Thailand. The visit to the elephant camp, poling down the river on a bamboo raft, an alms giving ceremony with monks, sending up a paper balloon in the moonlight to dismiss bad luck, our bus crash, the grand palace, a fish spa with fish nibbling at our feet, and so much more. I’ve contacted fellow travelers in hopes they can help me out with pictures. In the meantime, my partner Jim and I are now settled at Chiricahua National Monument in the motor home. I will proceed from here and when I get pictures, I’ll continue the saga of Mason’s and my trip to Thailand.

Chiricahua National Monument is a mountain Island in the middle of a grassland plain. It sits next to two deserts, the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan. This was notorious Apache Country where Cochise and Geronimo made their last stands against the armed battalions of U.S. Soldiers after a long fought war on settlers and all intruders onto their lands.
Jim and I visited the visitor center and hiked for several hours on the valley floor in the crisp, cold air. He saw two coatimundi and a ring tailed cat. Another escaped the camera while we ate breakfast. The picture below is a picture of a picture, on of the balancing rocks we hope to see as we hike the pinacles today.

Once Cochise and Geronimo were moved to reservations, settlers moved in. In this territory, notably, was Neil and Emma Erikson who first built a fort to fend off indians, then added a cabin, expanding and expanding until a modern looking house called Faraway Ranch remains, now part of the National Park.
President James Madison made it a National Monument. Roosevelt sent in CCC troup 858 to build trails and roads to the best sites.
The last descendant, Lillian Erikson Riggs, lived here until 1970. It was she and her husband who pushed to have the place made into a National Park.

This Erikson cabin was similar to one I lived in as a child.

The Erikson’s daughter Lillian Riggs turned the ranch into a retreat for visitors who came to ride horseback, honeymoon, get married, and always, visit the rocks.

We hiked through dry washes and woods, rocky paths and grassland. The trail led us to site of the old CCC Camp where huge fireplaces still stand against time and weather.

Here we find desert plants mixed with conifers, junipers, maples and oaks, seemingly and odd combination.

The distinctive bark of an alligator juniper.

This photo of H.O.Flipper, the first black cadet to graduate from West Point. He was stationed here with a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers to provide the settlers protection from the Indians. Many of them carved their names in the rhyolite rocks on Madison’s monument, built by the CCC. The monument fell into disrepair and the Erikson’s used it as the mantel in their house. Flipper’s story is a worthy read at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia