Thursday, January 30, 2014

Comment Answers and A History Lesson

Yuma, AZ  High 82   Low 53

P1070765Nan wanted to know who Kokopelli is. Like Rick said, he can be dangerous to have around because he is a fertility deity. (I don’t really think I need to worry about it too much. But let me tell you, the money we could make.) Kokopelli is a Hopi word showing him as a humpbacked flute player who is a symbol of fertility, music, dance and mischief. The first known images of him appear on Hohokam pottery dated to sometime between 750 and 850 AD.

Donna asked about the beans in the grocery store picture. The majority of the packages were beans but there was also some pasta and rice. A lot of them I had never heard of before.

p-all-american-map

To get to the border you have to cross the American Canal which is an 80 mile long aqueduct. It diverts water from the Colorado River into the Imperial Valley and is it’s only water source. It is the largest irrigation canal in the world. It runs parallel to the Meixco/California border and has been called “the most dangerous body of water in the U.S. because over 500 people have drowned in the canal since 1997.

I really enjoy reading historical markers and learning more about what happened at that spot. This marker is at the Canal.

P1070709

Hernando de Alarcon was a Spanish explorer in the Southwest in 1540. He was commander of a fleet that was supposed to meet up with the land expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. He sailed up the Gulf of California and proved that Lower California was a peninsula, not an island and he also discovered the Colorado River. He was the first non-Indian to sight Alta California and was well liked by the Indians because he treated them with respect.

It just amazes me that I stood at the point where this man explored almost 500 years ago.

Then I began to wonder why Pilot Knob was named as such and did anything happen here. I discovered that Pilot Knob is actually the peak that makes my sunrises so beautiful. It’s 876 feet high and Doug climbed to the top. It was named for its prominence as a landmark for riverboat traffic on the Colorado River.

pilot knobThere is also an historical marker about Camp Pilot Knob. The camp was established in 1943 by General Patton to prepare American troops for battle during WWII. The only structures erected were temporary latrines and wood frame tents. There is nothing left of the camp.

There is always something I can learn no matter where we are.

15 comments:

  1. People tend to think those canals are lazy bodies of water. They may be and they may not be. However, I have no desire to swim in one of them.

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  2. I knew about Kokopelli, and I knew the first soldiers of WWII trained in the desert, but appreciate hearing more about it and other things I didn't know, such as that Gen. Patton established Camp Pilot Knob.

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  3. You are so right about the learning.....it's so much fun! Especially now that we can actually be in some of these places we read about!

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  4. Knew most of this cuz we lived in Yuma for about 6 years, but thanks for the refresher course. It never hurts to bring those facts back to the surface again. Becki

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  5. Very interesting post - thanks. I bet I could find a lot I liked in that grocery store with all the rice, beans, and pasta!!

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  6. Well, my goodness, aren't you full of all the history today...lol Nice job.

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  7. Always love stay at Pilot Knob such an almost peaceful area. Nice sunrises and sunsets into the sand dunes.

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  8. I always enjoy learning a little more about history. You are a good teacher and I give you an A+. :c)

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  9. Interesting....you always do your homework. I never knew that about the canal.

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  10. And you can definitely see the planes using Pilot Knob as a marker.

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  11. Thanks for todays lesson. Like you, I can never get too much history.

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  12. That's the best part of traveling ... love coming across history I hadn't even thought of... I knew about ol Kokopelli ~ always thought of him to be a mischievous spirit... then someone told me about the fertility .. well, fine.

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  13. thanks for the info.. I never knew about Pilot Knob's name origin.

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    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
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  14. A benefit of traveling is finding out neat stuff everywhere we go.

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