Central America Trip #48

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

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort in Palm Desert, California. I’m scheduled to depart here December 23rd.

I’ve stayed here a number of times in the last 20 years and have blogged most everything of interest in this area. Rather than re-blogging those items again…

I’m taking you back to my…

2004 Central America trip…

This trip ended up being 343 days and 16,000+ miles through the back-country of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. 11 rigs started the trip, within a week we broke into three smaller groups for ease of traveling. Only myself and one other rig went the full, pre-planned route. All the others dropped out for various reasons. All returned safely to the United States. I’m planning to show these photos, more or less, 10 a day, whenever I’m not doing something else deserving a blog entry. FINALLY, it must be remembered these photos are prior to my switching to digital in 2006. The films were developed during our trip and the lack of quality control sometimes is plainly evident.

Today…Panama (south-bound) #7…

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…

 

 

In Casco Viejo (Old Quarters) of Panama City, efforts are being made to keep the old buildings from further deterioration…

 

 

Casco Viejo was  founded in 1673 as a fortified city by the Spanish…

 

 

After the pirate, Henry Morgan, looted and burned the original Panama City to the ground in 1671…

 

 

Casco Viejo is an area of very narrow streets of old Spanish architecture, some beautifully restored and some in the state of disrepair…

 

 

We saw a lot of unusual (to us) trees in Central America…

 

 

A closer view…

 

 

We drove the Panama Colon Expressway (real name) about 50 miles to the eastern (Caribbean Sea) side of Panama. I remember when taking this photo, I wanted to show the thickness of the jungle which people heading for the California gold rush in 1849 had to hack through 25 miles of this jungle to get the Pacific side…

 

Our destination is Portobell0 ( beautiful port) on the Atlantic Ocean side, for what will be for the last time this trip. Portobello will also be the southernmost point that the RV’s will achieve on this entire trip. Portobello was the primary Spanish shipping port for all the gold and silver taken from the Americas for shipping back to Spain. We rented this boat for a harbor tour…

 

 

Protobello harbor (bay) is U-shaped about two miles long by one mile wide. There were seven forts to protect the gold and silver stored in the custom-house from pirates until it was ready to be shipped…

 

 

One of the seven forts…

More Portobello coming up.

 

 

You can read all about Panama by clicking this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama

Here’s my trip website link…http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 Yesterday was partly sunny and 68 degrees. Forecast for today is partly sunny and 64 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 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

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 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

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 -2015

I’ve Come To The End…

Jim says:

of my eastward bound travels across the southern portion of the United States.

Since leaving California on November 30, I driven about 3,200 miles in 143 days. That averages out to a very leisurely pace of 22.3 miles per day!

Yesterday I arrived in Panama City Beach, just west of Panama City, Florida where I spent the night at VFW Post #10555.

VFW Post #10555 in Panama City Beach, Florida

Today I’ll turn northeast and head in the general direction of my next planned scheduled stop to visit friends in Summerton, South Carolina. That’s about 400 miles and I expect to make it there in 3-4 days. I’m in no particular hurry!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

The Sky Roared Yesterday Morning…

Jim says: Just about every Tuesday and Wednesday during the winter season the Blue Angels practice for about an hour starting at 8:30 AM. And they were really going at it! See my Blog entry of 4/08. It’s one thing to see the Blue Angels at the Naval Air Station here in Pensacola, Florida and quite another just wandering around the community and they fly by.

My motorhome is currently parked at the American Legion and the way that the crow flies (supposedly in a straight line), it’s only about two miles to the runway. As part of their practice the sometimes fly at only 50 feet above the ground when over the runway…upside down at 600+ miles per hour. Because sound travels a lot slower than light, by time you hear them, they are gone from sight. I managed to get these two photos standing by my motorhome.

Shortly after-wards I left to do my laundry and failed to bring my camera with me. I had a lot better views at the laundromat than I did at the motorhome. It was like my own private air show.

Anyways, on one particular pass very similar to this U.S. Navy photo…

They flew directly over the Laundromat, but they were a whole lot closer to the ground than this photo. So, on Tuesday and Wednesday Mornings in this area…the sky really roars!

In other news…
In preparation for my departure from my current location on Thursday morning, I spent some time with my maps plotting my route from Panama City, Florida (about 100 miles east of here), where I’ll turn more or less Northeast heading to visit friends in Summerton, South Carolina. I intend to take the back roads through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for the about 500 mile trip.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com