Galveston, Texas – Day 1
January 28, 2013
Yesterday we drove the motorhome the about 55 miles from Freeport to Galveston, Texas.
Recently we have been slowly moving north and as we follow the Texas Gulf of Mexico Coast…east. The reason is because on February 6th, we have reservations to enter Sam Houston Jones State Park at Lake Charles, Louisiana for a one-week stay while we enjoy Mardi Gras!
As shown in this Google Earth image below, we ran directly along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for 40 miles. V marks our current location at VFW Post #8248. Galveston is on an island of 56.000+ population with even more people in the city getting ready for Mardi Gras. Real estate becomes very expensive so there are only two clubs…the Elks with no parking lot and the American Legion with a very small parking lot…so we had to move off-island to find a place to park…
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…
We are parked at another very friendly VFW Post, #8248 about 12 miles from downtown Galveston. We expect to depart here on Friday…
As always, I like to show the view from the dinette window…
The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…(look closely on the Texas coast…)
Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures 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
If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
At least in this sequence of events. I expect some time in the future we may have occasion to discuss this event again…but for now it’s time to move on both physically and mentally.
We are planning to depart Chinle, Arizona tomorrow morning and head on down the road once again.
Yesterday Mary and I took our Ford Bronco II and headed out on the south rim of Canyon de Chelly, here in remote northeastern Arizona. I’ll show you the photos that I took, tomorrow. I also wanted to confirm my ability to drive a vehicle once again and I seemed to do okay.
We started out on the south rim trip one week ago Saturday, but after only about 30 minutes called it quits because of high winds and blowing sand. You can read about that day by clicking this link…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4Dx
In the previous seven Blog entries I’ve reported about a terrible accident Mary and I lived through eight days ago. In case you missed those entries, here are the links…
In today’s Blog entry I want to discuss odds and ends associated with the tragic accident.
First, the remoteness of the location. Here’s a couple of Google Earth images to assist. The dark shadows that look like lakes are indeed dark shadows caused by late afternoon sun coming across the mesas on the other side of the canyon. X marks the approximate tragic accident site location. I was helicoptered up from the accident site to the Mummy Cave overlook parking area where a waiting ambulance took me to the Chinle Hospital about 20 miles distant.
The nearest metropolitan cities straight-line distance approximate mileage is 185 to Albuquerque, New Mexico, 235 to Phoenix, Arizona and 325 to Denver, Colorado.
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…
Next is to discuss the three other fatalities of the tragic accident…our three cameras. Mary’s two and my one. Due to the physical shocks they received, like us, and the extensive amount of dirt and dust they were exposed to, they soon stopped working. I spent about two hours last Monday afternoon cleaning them with the hopes I could revive them. Nope, no hope. Done for…kaput…finished.
The owner of the tour company and the Thunderbird Lodge told us to go ahead and order our new cameras right away and submit the receipts to her insurance company. We did so and received the cameras a couple of days later. Here’s my new camera…a Sony HX200V…
Here’s just one review about this camera, click this link…
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-hx200v/sony-hx200vA.HTM
Next, I have been unable to find one news account other than the newspaper that reported local resident Richard Crowe’s death. See my Blog entry by clicking this link…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4Gq
The National Park Service has finally issued a statement about the accident. It is on the News page of the Canyon de Chelly website and can be read by clicking this link…
http://www.nps.gov/cach/parknews/index.htm
Over the past several days Mary and I have been interviewed by several law enforcement accident investigators. In addition to their questions, I’ve indicated that everything I/we know about this accident has been documented on our Blog at
http://otrwjam.wordpress.com/
Finally, the interest in our personal blog has been phenomenal…in excess of 10,000 hits in seven days. I was unable to get hit numbers for our Seattle PI and San Francisco Blogs.
Tomorrow you’ll get to see all of my Canyon de Chelly photos.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
I Visit Bethlehem…
April 27, 2012
A few days ago I passed through Belen, New Mexico. I had read that everything in this city revolved around the railroad. So I parked the motorhome nearby to the Harvey House Museum in the old station. There are actually three stories here…the railroad, the Harvey House and the Belen Model Railroad Club. The city name in Spanish means Bethlehem.
Rather than me try to explain the history here…it’s easier if you will click the below links and read for yourself…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belen,_New_Mexico
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Harvey_Company
http://www.donaanacountyhistsoc.org/HistoricalReview/ThreeHistoricalReview2011.pdf
http://www.belenharveyhouse.com/BMRC/index.htm
Once again I was faced with difficult photography conditions…rather dimly lit interiors and brilliant sunshine showing through the large windows in the background. Nonetheless, forward I went…
Shortly after my arrival I was fortunate enough to meet up with Maurine McMillan. She’s been at the museum for 20 years and now serves as the Director of a staff of 14 volunteers…
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...
She was very knowledgeable and told me all about the history of the railroad, station, museum, the Harvey Girls and the Belen Model Railroad Club.
Here are some photos that I took while there…
To see the other 50 photos that I took while there, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/BelenNewMexico
There’s no way that I can show in the above photos the details of the model railroad club’s layout. Only an in-person visit can allow for the full appreciation of their efforts.
To appreciate how big the railroad is here, I’m presenting three Google Earth images.
The first one show the full railroad yard and how it relates to the city…
Then a closer look. Can you count how many sets of railroad tracks there are? I can’t…
And then a view looking down on the building that serves as a station, museum and home to the Belen Model Railroad Club…
Another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle is visiting unique and interesting places. Belen certainly qualifies for that category!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Pretty And Quiet…
April 18, 2012
Yesterday I wrote about Elephant Butte State Park near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4eb
In that posting I mentioned that within the state park boundaries there are about a dozen different campgrounds, mostly primitive, along the western shore of the lake. Yesterday morning I departed the overlook site near the park entrance and drove about eight miles north to the northern-most campground that has RV facilities. It’s named South Monticello. Here’s a Google Earth image showing the relative location on the lake shore…
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...
Only…I didn’t enter the campground with the RV facilities. I drove by that entrance and continued down the road for about another mile to the end…
This Google Earth image shows my location. The RV facilities campground is about 1/4 mile away…
Here’s my parking location. No RV facilities here…
Through the windshield I can see the RV facilities campground in the distance…
And this is the view through the dinette window…
Finally a panorama looking from North to East to South…
The dam created the lake in 1916. If there were no dam…the water would be narrower and be called the Rio Grande River.
As you can see I’m out on this point of land all by myself…and it’s pretty and quiet! One week from today I expect to be in Albuquerque and I’m betting that I’ll be thinking about the quiet I enjoyed here. I know it won’t be quiet there!
A lovely sunny day of 74 degrees and a nice gentle breeze off of the lake made for a most enjoyable stay.
Today I’ll continue wandering north towards Albuquerque which I expect to enter this coming Sunday morning.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
A Democrat’s RV…
April 16, 2012
Shortly after my arrival here in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico…I took my towed Ford Bronco II over to Elephant Butte State Park about five miles distant to checkout the four campgrounds there. I’ll be moving the motorhome there this morning and I wanted to get to know the lay of the land before I go there as the online maps are very confusing.
As I was driving through the campgrounds…I noticed this Democrat’s RV. I had never seen one before and I thought I’d share it with you…
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...
Kind of unique…isn’t it? I wonder what a Republican’s RV looks like?
In other news…
This morning I will depart Moose Lodge 2050 after an 11 day visit. I chose to stay here rather than drive in daily from the state park. It’s nice to enjoy good food and drink with the locals. Thank you Moose Lodge 2050 for your hospitality!
In addition to visiting local attractions while here…I’ve also been busy researching my upcoming approach to Albuquerque. The locals here tell me it’s a city of about 900,000 people and everyone drives like they are crazy.
Whenever I’m approaching a large city…which I’ve not been to before and don’t know my way around…I use Google Earth to learn about the area. In this first Google Earth Image you can see that I’ll be traveling…more or less…along side of the Rio Grande River towards Albuquerque about 150 miles distant…
The pins identify pre-planned potential stops. The below Google Earth concentrates on the southeast area of Albuquerque…where I expect to spend the better portion of my time while there. The APT pin marks the location of the airport where I’ll meet Mary hopefully in about ten days…
Since this is my first visit to Albuquerque…I’m planning to enter the city on next Sunday morning when traffic should be the lightest. It sure makes traveling a lot easier having Google Earth and The Internet for researching areas prior to arrival.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Jornada Del Muerto, New Mexico
April 8, 2012
Being an avid reader of history over the years, I have many times read about the Jornada del Muerto or otherwise known as…”Journey of the Dead”.
The best description I’ve been able to find online is this link…
http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southwest/JornadadelMuerto-90mileso.html
The Wikipedia link provides another description…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jornada_del_Muerto
After reading these descriptions you now know that the Jornada del Muerto was a particularly harsh portion of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or The Royal Road of the Interior Land…which is described in this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_de_Tierra_Adentro
Well, as luck would have it…the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and the Jornada del Muerto are located only 17 miles east from my current location of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and there is no way that I could be this close and not go out to see it in person. And yesterday, I did just that.
To help better acquaint you just where I went…lets start with this map of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro from the Wikipedia link above…
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...
Now a map of the Jornada del Muerto…
On the above map you can find the Laguna del Muerto (dry) Lake of Death and immediately below it you will see the road on which I traveled.
Here’s a couple of Google Earth views of the big picture…
So what did I see when I finally got there? Here are some photos…
First this sign…
And then this plaque…
And then another sign…
Looking north towards Laguna del Muerto…
And finally looking south towards Mexico City about 1,300 miles distant…
If you have read Larry McMurtry’s book or seen the movie version of “Dead Man’s Walk”…part of the story occurs on the Jornada del Muerto.
While there, I found myself mesmerized trying to comprehend how many people traveled this road for so many years…and how many died along the way!
Visiting historic locations remains one of my very favorite activities as a full-time RVer!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
City Of Rocks State Park, Faywood, New Mexico…
March 22, 2012
Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 40 miles from Rockhound State Park to City of Rocks State Park at Faywood, New Mexico.
From their brochure, in part…
————————————
Born some 33 million years ago from a volcanic eruption 1,000 times greater than Mt. St. Helen’s, mother nature has slowly chiseled her into to the rock “city” you see today. The park encompasses one-square-mile area in the scenic Chihuahuan desert region of southeastern New Mexico at the elevation of 5,200 feet. The “city” is a truly geologic monument formed by large sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets.
————————————
Here’s the official website link…
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/cityrocks.htm
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...
First through the magic of Google Earth where my campsite is marked by an “X”…
Entering the park…
The view through the motorhome windshield from my campsite…
My campsite…
A view of some of the rock and park of the campground. My rig is the furthest one…
A picture of the rocks in the visitors center…
Now some closer ones of the rocks…
To see the other 50 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/CityOfRocksStateParkFaywoodNewMexico
I took this photo through the windshield of the motorhome about one hour after sunset…
I got up to pee about 2:00 AM…peeked out of the dinette window where I saw about one bazillion stars. What there is to see once you get away from city lights!
Though it’s very pretty and quiet here…once you’ve explored the rocks there’s little else to do since the park is located about 25 miles equi-distant between the cities of Deming and Silver City. So today I’ll move on up to Silver City to begin a visit which I’m expecting will last a few days.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Pancho Villa Attacks Columbus, New Mexico!
March 9, 2012
We are currently parked at the Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico.
This morning at about 4:20 AM, 96 years ago, in 1916, Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico from the southwest, riding over the very ground where we are currently parked. The below Google Earth image shows Mexico is only three miles south of our location marked by the “X”…
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’s a photo of Pancho…
and a photo of a mural honoring Pancho. I took this photo in Parral, Mexico in 2004. Pancho was living in near Parral in retirement when he was assassinated in 1923.
To read all about Pancho Villa, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa
To read all about the attack, click this link..
http://web.nmsu.edu/~publhist/colhist.htm
Here’s a photo of our site. Mexico can be seen in the background. Pancho Villa and his men rode across this very land to attack Columbus, New Mexico…
Once again, it is interesting and fun to walk literally in the footsteps of history.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona – Day 1
January 30, 2012
We arrived here yesterday after about a 40 mile drive from Ajo, Arizona. The way the crow flies (presumably in a straight line), our campground is only 4.2 miles from Mexico. In the below Google Earth image “X” marks our campground and “B” indicates the border crossing…
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…
This is the border crossing that I used for my 2004, 343 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America. See my previous blog entry by clicking this link…
http://wp.me/pDCku-3sb
I have crossed into Mexico over the years three different times at this border crossing, but have never taken the time to stop and enjoy Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument…but this year is different. I’m expecting we will be here for a four-day stay.
Approaching our campground area…
Our campsite is delightfully pretty, peaceful and quiet…
After we got everything set up, we went to the visitors center about 1.5 miles away…
During two hours there we saw a hawk in a nearby tree…
I took this photo of a photo of a Gila Monster as I do not expect to see one in person…
In addition we watched nice 15 minute video about the Sonoran Desert and enjoyed an informative 20 minute talk by a park ranger…
We found out the Sonoran Desert is in excess of 100,000 square miles and relatively young at about only 10,000 years old. Also the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is 516 square miles.
Here’s last night’s sunset photo…
After it got really dark, we sat outside for a while and stared at a few million stars. Really neat! The weather forecast for the next several days is for sun and temperatures in the mid to low 70′s. really neat!
Today we will begin our exploration of the monument.
You can find out all about the Organ Pipe Cactus National monument by clicking this government link…
http://www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm
You may also click this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_Pipe_Cactus_National_Monument
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Southern Historic Trail
January 27, 2012
We’re still parked in the campground at the Painted Rocks Historic Park, northwest of Gila bend, AZ. It’s a unique and pretty place, so we decided to stay over an additional day so that we could do some exploring. See my Blog entry of yesterday by clicking this link… http://wp.me/pDCku-3pW
A portion of a sign here identifies it as the Southern Historic Trail…but it is also known by several different names such as the de Anza, Butterfield Overland Mail Route, the Mormon Battalion Trail and the California 1849 Emigrant Trail because all of these people in addition to many others used this very trail going westward. The trail leads westward to Yuma, Arizona where it was the only place to cross the then mighty Colorado River for 1,200 miles. Many etched their information upon these two piles of rocks as they passed through the area. See yesterday’s blog entry.
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…
Our campsite is about a mere 250 feet from the trail. As all of these folks were heading west…which means they had to come through Painted Pocks Pass about 2.5 miles to the east. The following photo is a pre-sunrise looking right at Painted Rocks Pass…
The below Google Earth image shows the path that Mary and I took yesterday. “X” marks the petroglyphs and our camp site. We were gone 2.5 hours and I guess-timate the distance as 2.5 miles one way…
In three different areas we were sure we could detect wagon trail wheel indentations…remembering that it has been a long time singe a wagon passed this way. But we know for certain that they came over the pass and on a direct sight-line from the petroglyph rocks to the pass…the wheel indentations were right where they should be. The following three photos show these indentations…
We saw evidence of several encampments…broken glass bottles and tin cans…
To see all the other photos I took during our walk, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/SouthernHistoricTrailDay1
To read about the de Anza Trail, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bautista_de_Anza_National_Historic_Trail
To read about the Butterfield Overland Mail route, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfield_Overland_Mail
To read about the Mormon Battalion Trail, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Battalion
Mary and I both thoroughly enjoyed our walk over this very famous trail.
Shortly before sunset, out of the corner of her eye, Mary noticed some movement across the road from our camp site less than 50 feet away. A young fox had crawled out of its hole and was sunning itself. A little later, two more emerged and all three ran off into the bushes in search of supper. Here’s the photo…
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
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