The Great Adventure Dinette Window Photos…So Far…

Back on November 29, 2011, I began what is my 6th circumnavigation of the United States. It will be Mary’s 2nd.

I’m calling it The Great Adventure, because it’s different from my other five circumnavigations…in which the routes were kinda-sorta preplanned. This time…with the exceptions of attending my oldest grand-daughter’s high school graduation in June 2013 in southeastern Connecticut…I don’t know where were will be going or when we will be there! Hence…The Great Adventure.

The only plan is to live a day-to-day lifestyle and let the wind blow us where it may!

Another thing different about this circumnavigation…in addition to our daily Blog entries documenting our experiences…is in every overnight parking spot I’ve decided to take a photo out of our dinette window.

For instance here’s the view out of our dinette window at our current parking location of Dancing Eagle Casino RV Park, Casa Blanca, New Mexico…

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...

During the course of this two-year circumnavigation I’m expecting that we will park overnight in somewhere between 250 and 500 locations. In addition you need to know that when I park the motorhome…I do not say to myself…where’s the best view? It is strictly by chance what view ends up outside of our window.

You need also to remember that we overnight a lot at free locations such as Eagles and Moose Clubs, the American Legion and VFW. Free is good but the views are not always spectacular…but usually somewhat interesting.

Finally I started taking these photos once we departed Yuma, Arizona. Prior to that time all the previous overnight parking locations are repeats from previous times since I travel those routes somewhat regularly.

With that said, I’ve got 25 out-of-the-dinette-windows collected so far. You can see them all by clicking the below link. Once there, click the slide show button…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/GreatAdventureDinetteWindowPhotos#

After viewing the 25 photos I think you’ll agree that the full-time RVing lifestyle exemplifies the saying of “Variety Is The Spice Of Life”! The constant changing of scenery, people, local foods and music is most stimulating. I never tire of it!

I intend to post this Blog entry periodically as The Great Adventure rolls along..

It will be fun to look at the 250 to 500 photos that will finally end up in this collection when the circumnavigation has been completed!

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

It Appears More Adjustments Will Be Necessary…

Yesterday I departed the Moose Lodge #2241 and went to the Workhorse Chassis repair facility about one mile away. The ABS light on the motorhome would not go out. I had such an interesting experience there that I want to cover it in a separate Blog entry real soon.

In yesterday’s Blog entry I indicated I was moving to VFW Post #401 near the airport where I’ll be meeting Mary one week from today. The proximity to Interstate Highway 40 at the Moose Lodge made it far too noisy for sleeping.

I arrived at the VFW Post in mid-afternoon and got settled in…

The locals tell me that Albuquerque ranges from 5,000 feet in elevation at the Rio Grande River valley to 7,000 feet on the eastside…which means it’s a little difficult to find a level parking spot. After surveying the VFW parking lot this was the levelest spot I could determine and settled in. However…all is not ideal.

The first thing is the weather. Albuquerque temperatures are at near all time highs. Yesterday at 84 degrees it was really hot! The forecast for today is 86 and tomorrow is 88. YUK! Which means I need to leave all the windows and vents open.

About 150 feet behind where I’m standing when I took the above photo is a busy four lane city street which gives off a substantial amount of noise.

But…here’s the real problem. To the left of the trees in the above photo is commercial storage facility. The VFW Post itself is in an industrial business complex. All this means I’m in a commercially zone area and not a residential zone. Last evening/night…in the commercial storage area to the left…there are apparently two young “musicians” and I use the term very loosely. They apparently are very dedicated and I’m told by the locals practice every night from 6:00 PM to after midnight. Last night they quit at 12:30 AM. There’s only two…one plays a bass guitar and the other plays the drums. Their “music” sounds very angry…hard/acid rock?…and they play it at full amplified volume! Not a good thing for an old guy like me!

So, what am I going to do about this situation? I don’t know at this moment. I really like the fact that the VFW Post is within locked security gates at night…so I’ll try to figure out something that will allow me to stay here.

A little later this morning I’ll survey the parking area on the other side of the building and see if I can find a spot that will somewhat move me away from the volume of the road noise and the “music”.

Have I ever told you I really do not like being in big cities? I’m sure I have! If I didn’t have to meet Mary one week from today…you can be bet I’d be a loooong way away from here!

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

I’ll Be Making Some Adjustments…

hopefully later today.

I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday on a Sunday morning at 10:00 hoping for light traffic. The below map from the visitors center shows that Albuquerque has two intersecting Interstate Highways forming, more or less, a big plus (+) sign in the middle of the city. I-25 running North to South and I-40 running East to West…

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...

I must admit I was truly surprised at how much traffic there was on a Sunday morning. Sure glad I didn’t decide to come in on a weekday!

I settled in at Moose Lodge #2241 shown as #1 on the map….

This is the view out of the dinette window…not bad for a large city…

It was difficult to find a relatively flat piece of ground in the sloping grade of the parking lot. The reason I chose this location is because it is very near to the only Workhorse Chassis (the kind on the motorhome) repair facility in the area. You might remember a couple of weeks ago when I entered Truth or Consequences that the ABS light came on…

I stopped at the local Chevrolet dealership there…but their three different diagnostic scanners would not communicate with the Workhorse Chassis. Hence my current appointment at the only Workhorse Chassis repair facility in the Albuquerque area at 9:00 AM this morning. Hopefully by noon the ABS light situation will be rectified and the Anti-Locking Brake System will be working properly.

So…what adjustments am I talking about. If you look at the above Moose parking lot photo once again…

On the far right side of the building you can see a sound barrier wall. Directly on the other side of the wall is eight lanes of a very busy Interstate Highway 40. The sound barrier wall really doesn’t work. The parking lot is VERY NOISY FROM THE HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AT ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT! Get the picture? Trying to get some sleep last night was a real nightmare! Pun intended! It’s interesting to note that on the left side of the above building…just on the other side of those trees…is a KOA Campground where folks are paying $46 a night and listening to the same noise I had last night.

So, what to do? Yesterday I took the Bronco and did some scouting of the area. One of the places I went to is VFW Post #401 shown as point #2 on the map…

it’s located very near the airport where I’m scheduled to meet Mary one week from tomorrow. It’s situated in an industrial complex with a locked gate at night and quite quiet for being in a large city. Once the ABS light is fixed…hopefully today…I’ll be moving over to the VFW Post. The Commander there said there’s no problem with a long-term stay.

The only potential glitch with moving today is the Workhorse Chassis repair facility might not have the parts to affect the repair. If that’s the case…I’ll play it all by ear.

A few days ago when I was camped at South Monticello Campground on Elephant Butte Lake…I mentioned that the quiet there was almost deafening and that I would be wishing I had some of that quiet here in Albuquerque. I was so right!

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

Historic Silver City, New Mexico…

Yesterday I departed Silver City, New Mexico after a nice 13 day visit. Okay…I could have done nicely without having to rebuild my 1986 Ford Bronco II transmission. But…if you have to breakdown…Silver City is a good place to do it. Thank you again Moose Lodge #1718 for your hospitality.

Historic downtown Silver City. New Mexico is very clean and has lots of nice old buildings including the Silver City Museum detailing the Big Ditch.

I was so busy while there…I didn’t have a chance to show you some photos of the historic downtown area. So here they are…

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 32 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/SilverCityNewMexico

To read all about Silver City, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_New_Mexico

I arrived at Lake Caballa State Park…about 75 miles east of Silver City. I’ll show you those photos tomorrow.

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

It’s Something We Seldom Give A Thought About…

Note…I’m currently hanging out in the motorhome at the Moose Lodge in Silver City, New Mexico waiting on the completion of a transmission rebuild for my 1986 Ford Bronco II

———————————————

Much like a light switch on a wall…we flick the switch and presto…there’s electricity! Most folks do not have a concept of the complexities behind that switch that brings the electricity to our homes. And it is indeed a complex system.

Much the same with the automatic transmissions in our vehicles. We simply start the vehicle…put it in drive or reverse and be on our way. Most folks do not have a concept of the complexities of this device that takes the energy produced by an engine and converts it to vehicle motion.

As you saw in the above note I’m awaiting completion of a transmission rebuild for my 1986 Ford Bronco II. Yesterday I spent three hours at the garage where they began the dis-assembly of the transmission. With Nacho’s help I was shown the reasons for my transmission failure as a thrust washer that had broken in to two pieces and went where they were not supposed to be.

Here are some photos…

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 the transmission before the start of the dis-assembly process…

Nacho, the mechanic, mounted the transmission casing to a work bench to begin the dis-assembly process…

And then two photos of the major components of the transmission…

The work bench is covered with internal parts from the transmission which is only about one-half dis-assembled at this point…

I’m not sure how many individual parts there are in my transmission…but I guessing somewhere well in excess of 100. And unless they all go together in a very precise manner…the transmission will fail to do its job. That’s one of the reasons that a transmission rebuild is so expensive.

However…I hold no hard feeling against my transmission for needing to be rebuilt. Automobiles are nothing more than mechanical. electrical and electronic components in a single vessel. They work hard to deliver us where we desire to go. After 150,000 miles…I have no complaints. With a little time and a few $’s I’ll once again soon be on my way. We only give it a thought when it doesn’t work.

Nacho is hoping to have it ready for me by Friday afternoon.

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

2011-2013 – 6th Circumnavigation Of The USA…Update #2

This Blog posting…which I will post from time-to-time…will be used to present my/our travels on this almost two-year circumnavigation of the United States…my 6th…Mary’s 2nd. During these circumnavigations, I try to travel on roads I’ve not seen before…I’m about 90% successful in that regard.

The only things I know about our potential destinations during this upcoming adventure is that I/we plan to spend a good portion of 2012 exploring the State of New Mexico. In 2013 we’re planning to attend my oldest grand-daughter’s high school graduation in June in southeastern Connecticut. Other than that…we’ll just have to find out one-day-at-a-time where our fates will send us.

The trip began from Murphys, California on November 29, 2011 with 35,956.5 miles on the motorhome odometer. In addition to showing the route taken, I intend to also document where I/we parked during this journey. My guess is that within the about next 700+ days we will park in about 250-500 different places. Here’s the map so far which you may click on to see in a larger view…

#        Date          Location

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

001 – 11/29/11 – Bakersfield, CA – Loyal Order Of Moose – Lodge #2178

002 – 11/30/11 – Riverside, CA – Fraternal Order Of Eagles – Airee #997

003 – 12/01/11 – Thousand Palms, CA – Thousand Trails RV Resort

004 – 12/17/11 – Slab City, CA

005 – 12/18/11 – Winterhaven, CA – Paradise Casino

006 – 12/20/11 – Yuma, Arizona – About 12 miles north on BLM land

007 – 01/03/12 – Winterhaven, CA – Paradise Casino

008 – 01/09/12 – Slab City, CA

009 – 01/16/12 – El Centro, CA – Loyal Order Of Moose – Lodge #1033

010 – 01/17/12 – Winterhaven, CA – About 8 miles west on BLM land.

011 – 01/18/12 – Winterhaven, CA – Pilot Knob RV Park

012 – 01/22/12 – Winterhaven, CA – Quechen Indian Casino

013 – 01/23/12 – Yuma, AZ – American Legion Post #19

014 – 01/24/12 – Wellton, AZ – VFW Post #6790

015 – 01/25/12 – Painted Rocks Historic Park, AZ

016 – 01/27/12 – Ajo, AZ – VFW Post #3570

017 – 01/28/12 – Organ pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ

018 – 02/02/12 – Apache Junction, AZ – Loyal Order Of Moose #2039

019 – 02/03/12 – Apache Junction, AZ – Golden Sun RV Resort

020 – 02/13/12 – Tucson, AZ – About 20 miles north at Mary’s friend’s home.

020 – 02/17/12 – Tucson, AZ – Loyal Order Of Moose #1964

021 – 02/24/12 – Nogales, AZ – VFW Post #2066

022 – 02/27/12 – Lake Patagonia, AZ – Arizona State Park

023 – 02/29/12 – Sierra Vista, AZ – VFW Post #9972

024 – 03/03/12 – Douglas, AZ – Belle Starr’s Silverado Ranch

025 – 03/06/12 – Columbus, NM – Pancho Villa State Park

026 – 03/11/12 – Deming, New Mexico – Rockhound State Park

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

Golden Sun RV Resort, Apache Junction, Arizona

We arrived here yesterday for a ten-day stay, during which time we’ll visit friends in the area.

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 Google Earth image of the resort…

This is not a real-time image. If you look closely on the lower left you can see the image was made June 24, 1992, The units on the left and center are permanent mobile homes. Streets H, I and J are vacant because it’s June. Right now they are mostly full of RV’s like ours. We’re in site I-23 as indicated by the red “X”.

Here’s a photo of our site…

Looking north on I street you can see us as the fourth unit on the left…

After we got settled in, we took a walk around the park to acquaint ourselves with the place. They have a nice book-exchange library so we spent some time finding new books to read. Which then led us to inventorying our current book stash. Mary and I are both avid readers so we have a lot of books ready for exchanging as well as waiting to be read. Mary out-stashes me by a factor of 2 to 1.

Later in the afternoon we went to the post office to pick up the tabs for the motorhome which had been forwarded to us. Then a visit to my home VFW Post #7968 for a cool beer. In the evening we went to my home Moose Lodge #2039 for a meal.

The park is nice and clean with lots of amenities and activities. It’s also very conveniently located only about one mile from downtown Apache Junction. There are many parks like this one in the Apache Junction area. Many folks spend their entire winter in one warm and sunny location.

To read all about this resort, you can click this link…
https://www.thousandtrails.com/getaways/arizona/goldensun.asp

To see their photos of the place, click this link…
http://els.smugmug.com/RV-ing/AZ-Golden-Sun-RV-Resort-ELS/4160460_FkkxP#!i=256801088&k=UEFLT

The normal daily rate here is $34 a day. Because it is owned by Encore which also owns Thousand Trails RV Resorts of which we are members…we get to stay here for only $3.00 a day. Such a deal!

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

Bakersfield, California

Yesterday I drove the motorhome about 250 miles to Bakersfield, California. After brief stops at Costco for gas and Winco for a few groceries I ended up parking at Moose Lodge #2178 shortly before 4:00 PM.

As you can see the parking lot was almost empty, but by 6:00 PM it was packed. That’s because it was Taco Tuesday where myself and about 200 other people enjoyed large, tasty tacos for $1 each. I had two.

This morning I expect to be on the road by around 8:00 AM. Destination today is Riverside, California about 175 miles distant. As much as I’m already missing Mary’s company…it feels nice to be back on the road once again.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

1935 RV Is Half Bug And Half Buggy

We are still at Moose Lodge #1598 in Wlisonville, Oregon while Mary looks at potential real estate investment properties. Today should be our last full day here.

In the meantime…here is a short YouTube video about a futuristic RV from a newsreel in 1935. Enjoy…

If the video does not work…click this link…

http://youtu.be/EA2pFtZ0cHg

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

The Bravest RVer I’ve Ever Met…

Okay, I’ll admit it…I’ve never said this to anyone, but…back in 2003, when I studied the possibility of taking an RV trip to the other side of the Panama Canal and then actually doing it in 2004…I thought that was a pretty brave thing to do. The best I could find out back in those days was…no one had spent almost one year wandering around in Mexico and Central America with an RV. In 2004, I did just that with some friends. Only two of us completed the pre-planned 16,000+ miles through eight different countries. I’ve often thought to myself…that was a pretty brave thing to do…like, you know, the TV show Star Trek…”To go where no one has gone before… in an RV!”

Yesterday afternoon Mary and I arrived in Redding, California and parked overnight at Moose Lodge #1006…the friendliest Moose Lodge in the country. I’ve stayed overnight here a number of times. Yesterday while there, I met Mel Jensen…the bravest RVer I’ve ever met!

Okay, he openly admits it was purely by accident. Last year when he was back east exploring around New York City he and his wife accidentally ended up in downtown Manhattan with his 23 foot fifth wheel RV…he even went around Ground Zero. A place I would never venture with an RV! He told me of how the traffic cops were doing double-takes because it was obvious they had never seen an RV in downtown Manhattan!

As a preview to my next part of this story, you need to know that for a number of years I lived within one hour of New York City…so I know the  area fairly well.

In 2007 when I crossed over the Tappan Zee Bridge headed to visit friends and family in New England…I was looking for the Westchester Expressway and somehow missed a sign (that may not have even been there) and before I knew it I was headed for downtown New York City…no place for an RV! Realizing my situation, I reversed direction to the north and found my way into New England.

While I realize Mel did it by accident, it was still interesting to meet someone who has been somewhere with an RV that I have not been.

Now I’m certain other folks have taken an RV to where I’ve not been…but, I’ve not heard of another that has been (even by accident) in downtown Manhattan with an RV and for that Mel Jensen deserves the acknowledgement of his feat!

In other news…

When we arrived in Redding yesterday afternoon, it was a toasty 90 degrees and sunny. Much to the dislike of the Weather Wimp (as my life-partner calles me). What’s happening with the weather???? For the last couple of months it’s been far too cold and in the space of a couple of days it’s too hot. For us, the dramatic temperature differences happened so fast that our bodies haven’t had time to acclimate so the heat hit us really hard. We even fired up the motorhome air conditioner for a couple of hours so we would be able to sleep,  “Double Yuk” says the Weather Wimp!

The weather forecast for Redding today is 88 degrees. After an 8:00 AM motothome oil change and lube appointment, we’ll continue north across Siskiyous Pass to our destination for today of Rogue River, Oregon where the forecast is for sunny and 73 degrees. Mucho bettero!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust