A Touch Of Nostalgia (GA3)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

---

The motorhome is parked at the Paradise Casino in Yuma, Arizona. I’m planning to depart here February 12th.

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

 

In 2012-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

 

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

 

This entry was posted January 28, 2012…

 

 

Yesterday Mary and I drove the about 65 miles from Painted Rocks Historic Park to Ajo, Arizona. Along the  way we passed through Gila Bend, Arizona where we started south on Arizona highway 85 towards Mexico.

 

It was the first time I’ve driven this highway since January 2, 2004…the first day of my 343 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and Central America. Gila Bend, Arizona was our meeting-up and kick-off point…

 

 

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…

 

 

 

 

 

That’s me in the blue vest and white hat just to the right of center. 17 people in 11 rigs started the trip. Only two people in separate rigs went the full pre-planned route. Myself and Bud Kuball (then new friend and now good friend) fourth from left.

 

 

 

 

 

As I drove south on Route 85 it was fun to reminisce those days of a little more than eight years ago. We had not a clue of what we would see and experience. It turned out to be much better than my best pre-trip imaginations. A true life experience!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are three photos from yesterday’s trip on Highway 85…

 

 

 

 

A Border Patrol check point…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To help celebrate my nostalgia… (remember these photos were taken with a film camera and developed along the way…)

 

 

If you’ve got the courage and the time…

You can see 468 photos from the Mexico portion of the trip by clicking this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Mexico2004

And 60 photos from Belize…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Belize2004

And 208 photos from Guatemala…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Guatemala2004

And 97 photos from Honduras…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Honduras2004

And 117 photos from Nicaragua…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Nicaragua2004

And 41 photos from Costa Rica…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/CostaRica2004

And 4 photos from El Salvador…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/ElSalvador2004

And 136 photos from Panama…

https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Panama2004

 

 

We’re parked at VFW Post #3570 and just in time for the chili cook-off today!

 

 

 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

 Yesterday was partly sunny and 80 degrees. Forecast for today is partly sunny and 84 degrees.

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

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Arizona. 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

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

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 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

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 works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017

TOWER CAFE SACRAMENTO

I went to see a cardiologist, but, while in Sacramento, I had lunch with two friends at the Tower Cafe. It is part of the old Tower Theatre complex, now restored and showing current and old movies. For the week of Halloween Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is playing. If you visit Sacramento, it isn’t far from the airport and mid-week  lunch, you can avoid the lines to get into the cafe. They have a huge parking lot out back.

The Tower is located at 16th and Broadway and when you approach you think omigosh, there is an oasis in the middle of the city! You can kind of get lost in among the plants and pots, and benches, on meandering garden paths where many diners choose to sit outside.

The inside is no different. You kind of wade through the stuff to find the bar, or the restrooms. It is funky and fun.

The walls, the ceilings, floors, posts, everything is covered with something to tease the eye and make you smile.

It is the type of place that if you visited it every week, you’d see something you missed the week before. You can hardly take it all in.

Food here is to brag about. You must come and try it for yourself. Marilyn, Galen and I got the waitress to take our picture.

Then we drove out to see a house that Galen has put a bid on, in the Natomas area of Sacramento.

I don’t see Sacramento friends very often, so we spent an hour at the Crawdad Cafe and enjoyed a beer while watching the restful Sacramento River flow by.

Crawdad’s is a floating restaurant, that rises with the river. Kind of interesting that the lowest parking area is underwater during wet years, but it doesn’t matter. I needed a fun, relaxing day.

The cardiologist, Dr. Denh, was a terrific doctor, but his artwork left a lot to be desired.
Surgery of any kind would be so much more pleasant at the Tower Cafe, don’t you think?

And, when I got home, I had a new heart in the mail from my friend Jan, in Sand Point, Idaho.

Unfortunately, it was made of candy.

Route 66 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (Post 1936)

Our motorhome is still parked at VFW Post #401 here in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Yesterday Mary and I took the Bronco and wandered along Route 66 that passes right through the middle of Albuquerque…and is also known as Central Avenue. This portion of Route 66 was developed in 1937 after realignment of the old Route 66 reduced the mileage through New Mexico by more than 100 miles.

To read about the history of Route 66 in Albuquerque, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66_%28New_Mexico%29

Today the current Route 66 is still lined with a number of old motels and shops built in the 1930,s and 1940’s. Sometimes the buildings are gone…but the signs remain. Here are some of the 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...

To see the other 30 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/Route66AlbuquerqueNewMexicoPost1936

Despite the blazing sun and searing 85 degrees it was still fun taking the nostalgic trip on Route 66.

Visiting old historic roadways is another joy of the full-time 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

THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

I get “fun” emails about the differences in today and yesteryear. Yesteryear is always portrayed as the idyllic life compared to today. To be sure, the past has much good stuff to remember, but check out these punishments for school kids. The graphics are marvelous, the punishments suggest kids were to be seen not heard. Obviously no one taught them much about socializing properly. It doesn’t say what they used as a lash. Not that it matters, they probably got treated more harshly at home.

Teachers were also expected to toe the line by rigid societal standards. Marriage for female teachers was unseemly conduct but not for men, of course. If you married, you had to quit your job. Not so long ago, either. I interviewed an “old maid” school teacher from Angels Camp, Bessie McGuiness,  in the 1980’s. She affirmed that it was so, you could not marry, nor even be caught courting if you were a school teacher. The phrase “old maid school teacher” was the rule of the day.

And, a man’s honesty could be questioned if he got shaved in a barber shop. Must be where all the  politicians hung out. You wouldn’t want your teacher to be tainted. And people are against unions?  A 25 cent raise after five years of employment? Could any of us have made economic progress under such authoritarian rules?

And a hundred years ago animal control in Oakland, California, was pretty simple. Boys (not girls) got 25 cents for each cat skin, and 50 cents for each dog skin, they brought in to the back door of the city hall. Gross!

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, came this report from a local newspaper:  “We have just learned that one of our mountaineers last winter, while fishing through a hole in the ice, caught a trout so large it could not be brought through the orifice. The fisherman gently played with his fish and with one hand, took out his Bowie knife and chopped ice with the other and enlarged the hole. Then, with a skillful jerk, he brought out a dead cat with a brick tied to its neck.” 

It was meant to be humorous and it was.  Just another common form of animal control.

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”   Horace Walpole,  (1717-1797)  A truer reflection of the past than the nostalgic emails I get.  History is fascinating, and often a brutal read.

 

 

CHRISTMAS PAST

My gang arrives today. Nostalgia for Christmases past and simpler times come to mind as I sort through old cards, but I know, Christmases past are best remembered and not relived.  I wonder how different my kids remembrances of Christmas will be as they get older and look back. The beautiful lettering on this card, along with the clothing says “old-fashioned”.

Children cry when meeting a scary department store Santa. What would it be like to see this Father Christmas at the door? Smithsonian Magazine’s website asked people to vote for the scariest Santa from about twenty pictures. There were some doozies.

Quaint language tickles my fancy since I love poetry and doggerel, both :

When Christmas comes to your abode,

May care be laid aside,

That naught but cheer, good will and mirth,

And joy and peace abide.

or:

We wish you a glad, merry Christmas

Surrounded by dear ones and friends;

We wish you a sweet, pleasant pathway,

For New Year, wher’er it wends.

And from 1931 :

We hope you’ll have a drumstick that is eatable,

Potatoes mashed , and gravy of the best,

A slab of mince or pumpkin pie unbeatable,

And-it doesn’t  matter much about the rest.

.Today, I’ll finish any cooking to be done ahead of time, clean out the ashes in the stove, stack in some wood, turn on the music and wait for the best part of Christmas-the family’s arrival.

 

 

POST OFFICE CLOSINGS

Obviously,  some post offices must be closed. The US Postal Service is bleeding money while most of us communicate through our computers, fax machines or private delivery services. Consolidating is a hard decision when it affects postal employees during already hard times. I’ve heard neighbors grumble  why not cut down the number of days the mail is delivered? For rural folks like us, the Post Office is regarded as a necessity. House to house delivery was just a wish when I first moved to Calaveras County. In some remote areas it is yet the case and continues to serve as  a friendly neighborhood meeting place. You can’t just shout  “Howdy” to your neighbor as you drive by when neighbor’s driveway might be a half mile long on two dirt ruts. It is the place for a community bulletin board when you inform your neighbors there has been a death in the family, or you impart other less important information.  Giving up such a chunk of history will be hard.

From a purely selfish point of view, I’m hating the idea of closing post offices because I’m a stamp collector. It was a lesson in history growing up, inexpensive, and engaging at one time.  The above two post marks reflect local history from two different communities that most people could care less about. But, what’s in a stamp?  The small towns of Centerville, Irvington, Niles, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs became Fremont in 1956. The post mark reflects the change from each community.  I wish I’d gotten a transfer mark from each town. The Calcopex post mark honors the former community of White Pines which consolidated with Arnold many years earlier. Local folks identify themselves as being from White Pines and wanted their heritage honored and remembered. They applied to the U.S. Postal Service and permission was granted.

I started my collection in 1946. And it was a thrill if a neighbor gave me a post mark from far away places, like Norwich, Connecticut, or Tuscumbia, Alabama. It was enough to make me dream of faraway places. Along with the  stamps I collected history on post marks.  (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) You notice abbreviations were CONN. and CALIF.  No zip codes. Stamps are pretty boring to young people who have the world at their fingers in their computers.  I still like to send away for Christmas Post Marks in exoticaly named places like Bethlehem, IN, Antler, ND,Chestnut,Ill, Snow,OK, and Angels Camp, CA. Yipes!  Just 9 miles down the road. I don’t oppose the closings, but I will miss the post marks. I’m saddened to watch this small part of history disappear.