Espanola, New Mexico – Day 1

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is now parked at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Airee #3695 in Espanola about 25 miles north of Santa Fe. I expect to be here for several days.

Yesterday I drove the motorhome about 50 miles from Los Alamos to Espanola dropping down from about 7,200 to about 5,600 feet of elevation.

I went into the bar for happy hour and got acquainted with about a dozen very friendly people. My host had suggested I park near the picnic shed where there is electricity available. My tester says there is something wrong with their electrical circuit, so I’m running strictly on the solar panels. So long as there is lots of sunshine, I’ll have plenty of electricity.

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 always like to show the view from my dinette window. While this one is not particularly exciting, the price is right! The Bronco is parked in the shade of the picnic shed.

I’ll begin my explorations of the local area today.

Enjoying historical locations is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!

 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 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Taos, New Mexico – Day 2

The motorhome is currently parked at the Fraternal Order Of Eagles Airee #3849. I expect to be here for several days.

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 the view from my dinette window. It’s not truly spectacular, but the price is right…

My first pre-sunrise was not as spectacular as Lake Heron…

Speaking of Lake Heron…here are the final photos from there…

On September 5th at about 7:00 AM, I was working with my computer and looked out of the dinette window and…THERE IS WAS! I rushed to grab my camera and within 30 seconds it was gone!

Enjoying beautiful sunrise rainbows is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

In other news…

Yesterday was 111 days since the accident and it was my best day since that event. I’m not sure if it is more psychological with being back on the road again and new scenery…but I definitely felt better. I’m still wearing my elastic chest bandage, taking my ibuprofen and icing my chest twice a day. My right rib cage remains slightly swollen and still a little tender to the touch…BUT…the pain is starting to diminish noticeably.  I’m feeling so much better that I’ve decided to remove the recovery status page from the header. Unless I have a strong relapse I’m also going to stop talking about my recovery process as well.

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

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

Fort Craig, New Mexico

Two days ago I visited the site of this old fort located about 40 miles north of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

Even in today’s world it seemed very isolated to me…and I wondered how the soldiers felt about being stationed here 150 years ago. It once was the largest fort in the Southwest with over 2,000 soldiers. The only major battle in the Civil War fought in the Southwest…the Battle of Valverde occurred only a few miles from this fort site. To read about that battle, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valverde

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...

These two Google Earth images will give you the big picture…

The outline of the fort is clearly visible from an altitude of 6,449 feet…

From an altitude of 38,445 feet you can see the five-mile road from New Mexico Highway 1 to the fort’s location adjacent to the Rio Grande River…

The beginning of the five-mile road…

The road was quite rough and very dusty. 20 minutes later the green trees along the Rio Grande River come into view…

According to the legend the soldiers put logs on the ramparts to make the enemy believe they had more cannons than they really had…

A small portion of the rock walls remain…

The Commanding General’s headquarters are the most visible remains…

Another view with the flag pole in the background…

The supplies storage area…

From these ramparts the soldiers fought off the Apache Indians…

A 180 degree panorama photo of the fort looking from North to East to South…

Finally a photo  taken off the sign in front of the corral area…

To see the other 20 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/FortCraigNewMexico

Here’s the official government website link…
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/socorro/fort_craig.html

And a Wikipedia informational link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Craig

Visiting old military installations is one of my favorite things to do as a full-time RVer!

Yesterday I drove the motorhome to Socorro, New Mexico where I’m parked at the Fraternal order Of Eagles Airee #4017.

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

Everett, Washington

Yesterday Mary and I drove the about 13 miles from Tulalip to South Everett, Washington. We had planned to spend a couple of nights in the Wal-Mart parking lot while Mary looked at real estate investment properties (condos). I immediately had suspicions of a problem when I saw the no overnight parking signs. A phone call to the store manager confirmed he had no problems with us parking there, but a City of Everett ordinance was the problem. He assured us that during the middle of the night the police would be banging on our door telling is we had to move on. Not such a good deal!

So while Mary went looking at condos with a real estate agent, I got on the Internet and made arrangements for us to stay in the Fraternal Order Of Eagles #13 (my lucky number) parking lot only a couple of miles from downtown Everett. I doubled back north about nine miles to get the motorhome set up while Mary went property shopping….

Mary returned about 4:45 PM and we went into the Eagles Club to find some very friendly people. We also enjoyed a very tasty meal of fish and chips. We are scheduled to be here for two nights while Mary looks at more condos today.

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