The Gadsden Hotel – Douglas, Arizona

The motorhome is parked in Mary’s yard at her home at Murphys, California. My departure date to head South is now set for next Monday. About one month later Mary will fly to meet me in Yuma, Arizona.

The cleaning  and minor work on the Bronco is now completed. After our 682 day journey, they were both ready for some attention. Both are now in near-showroom condition. The only thing awaiting my attention is re-stocking the motorhome and assisting Mary with some of her house chores.

Yesterday was a mostly sunny day at 64 degrees.  Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 64 degrees. Mary and I enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with her family at her oldest son’s home.

A CHANGE…

I’ve decided that my current daily activity (preparing the motorhome for my December 2nd departure) is not really all that exciting to read or see. I’ve further decided to share with you some of the photos from our 2011-2013, 682 days of circumnavigating the United States.

To read about today’s photo album location, click this link… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Hotel

CLICK ON THE BELOW PHOTO. ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE PHOTO ALBUM, SIMPLY CLICK “SLIDESHOW” AND ENJOY!

The Gadsden Hotel, Douglas, Arizona

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS. UNLESS I DID SOMETHING UNIQUE OR UNUSUAL YESTERDAY, THE PHOTO ALBUM WILL CHANGE DAILY.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity 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

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrvzqm8-IKGdA

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

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

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013

Dougles, Arizona (five Blogs for the price of one!)

Our motorhome home is still parked at Belle Starr’s Silverado Ranch…13 miles west of Douglas, Arizona.

Yesterday was a busy  day for us. So today you get five Blog entries for the price of one!

Blog #1 – John Slaughter Ranch

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a cattle baron in Arizona in the late 1800’s? We did…so we went to find out.

To  read all about the Slaughter Ranch, click this link…
http://www.slaughterranch.com

First we drove the 13 miles to Douglas, Arizona. Then we continued on this dirt road for another 16 miles. Since we were so close to the Mexico Border…we saw a  Border Patrol vehicle about every one mile along the way…

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 ranch house area where we visited.The Mexican Border is only 600 feet away…

Here are five other photos. Whenever you can see a brown-poled fence…that’s the Mexico Border…

To see the other 43 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/JohnSlaughterRanch

We spent a very enjoyable 2.5 hours wandering the grounds.

Then we once again drove the 16 dusty miles back to Douglas, Arizona for…

Blog #2 – The Gadsden Hotel

To read about the Gadsden Hotel, click this link…
http://hotelgadsden.com/

Here are some photos that I took….

To see the other 22 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/TheGadsdenHotelDouglasArizona

We spent an enjoyable hour wandering the hotel and eating lunch in their fancy dining room.

Then a few blocks away to

Blog #3 – It’s The Only Place In The World That You Will See this!

At least according to the visitors brochure for Douglas, Arizona. Church Square is the only block in the World that has a church on each corner! Here’s a Google Earth view…

E is for Episcopalian……

B is for Baptist…

M is for Methodist…

P is for Presbyterian…

It’s always fun to see a one in the world thing!

Then a few blocks to…

Blog #4 – The Big Disappointment…

In 2004, at the end on my 16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America…we re-entered the United States at Douglas, Arizona. We went to the local Safeway to shop for groceries and quite by accident parked under the Safeway sign which we took as a blessing that we had managed such a long journey without any major mishaps and returned safely to the United States. We asked a passing woman to take our photo…

Since we plan to depart Douglas tomorrow morning…I thought it would be fun to park our current motorhome under the Safeway sign and take a similar photo. But surprise…the sign and Safeway are gone! Something that was not there in 2004, across the street,  A WalMart SuperCemter, has apparently run them out of business. So much for nostalgia!.

Here’s an interesting aside. The way the crow flies…presumably in a straight line…it’s a little more than 2,500 miles to Portebello, Panama…the furthest southern point reached during our journey. By road the most direct route…add about another 1,000 miles. Here’s a Google Earth image to give you some perspective…

Then just five blocks away to…

Blog #5 – Agua Prienta, Sonora, Mexico...

Mary wanted to add to her list of border crossings into Mexico. So we walked across the border and down a few blocks of the main drag and we were back in the United States in 25 minutes. Not much going on a Sunday afternoon in this rather lackluster border town. Here are some photos that I took…

Another full and fun day in the RVing lifestyle!

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