Nikolai, Alaska
The website Gawker has gone through the Ashley-Madison information dump, and they found that only three zip codes in the entire U.S. did not have any Ashley-Madison users on record. Three!
Two of those zip codes are in Alaska: Nikolai and Perryville. Populations of 94 and 113 respectively. Polvadera, New Mexico (population 269) was also on the list.
There are approximately 43,191 zip codes in the United States.
Today is World UFO Day. I had no idea that the world had such a day. Where have I been?
Not to be outdone, the Roswell UFO Festival celebrated its 65th Anniversary over the past weekend. Go Invaders!
Celebrate with an Alien of your choice.
It was a short run on Sunday in the heat and battling the wind. The Rover was getting hot, I was getting hot, my right foot was way past hot, so I pulled over for a much needed shower and AC.
Then the wind picked up. I couldn’t believe it was going to blow harder. I crawled under The Rover to check ALL fluids, and had a full gallon of gear lube knocked over by the wind. When I opened the driver’s door, items flew out the rear end. Insanity.
Still windy today, but the temps dropped 20 degrees and The Rover ran fine. No over heating problems, no vapor lock, and I was able to drive until sunset.
Getting psyched for hockey.
After crossing back into the States, one of my camps was in Columbus, NM at Pancho Villa State Park. It’s a cool, little park in its own right, with a cactus garden and some interesting long-term tenants… but it was the history tied to Pancho Villa that caused me to stop here over other parks.
I received an extremely enthusiastic greeting upon arrival by a passionate museum volunteer. I parked The Rover in the primative area, which happened to be by the very first grease pit used by the U.S. Army, then explored the museum that is at the entrance to the park.
The museum was great, with an even-handed viewpoint of the Columbus Raid, and exhibits were in both English & Spanish. The museum staff was phenominal in their knowledge & attitude.
9 March 1916 Pancho Villa’s troops raided Columbus, New Mexico. The reason’s for the raid, and why Columbus was chosen, are still being debated, but the acquisition of supplies was certainly a goal. The battle lasted for an hour and a half. 75 raiders, 10 American civilians, and 8 U.S. soldiers were killed. Several buildings in Columbus were burned to the ground. It is doubtful that Pancho Villa ever entered the town.
The park museum has exhibits from both the Villa raid, and the Punitive Expedition that General Pershing led into Mexico from Columbus. It features a Curtiss “Jenny” bi-plane, a Dodge staff car from the Pershing era, a Jeffrey Quad armored vehicle (precurser to the tank), and a Dodge convertible that was riddled with bullet holes as its occupants fled Columbus and Villa’s men.
(Would it be a good time to mention that I saw SUV’s in Mexico with similiar inflictions? Of course, those had been torched, as well as shot.)
My favorite vehicle, however, was the FWD truck built by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. out of Wisconsin.
