Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 6

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is currently parked at Santa Rosa Lake State Park, about 125 miles east of Albuquerque. I expect to leave here tomorrow.

Monday I took the Bronco into Santa Rosa to do laundry. I took some photos 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 what the view from the top of the dam looks like…

Santa Rosa is on Historic Route 66. In 1937 it was re-aligned…meaning the route was changed. Santa Rosa remains as the original Route 66. This sign verifies that fact…

Here’s a photo of a very famous railroad bridge as seen looking north on the Pecos River from the Route 66 roadway bridge. If you saw the movie The Grapes of Wrath…Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) looks at this bridge as the train crosses over inspiring him to head West.

I took the opportunity to re-watch The Grapes of Wrath last night. Immediately after the train scene, there are scenes in a gas station and a diner which according to the Internet were also shot in Santa Rosa, but not identified as such, Whereas the train scene actually shows the sign for the Pecos River as it crosses the Route 66 roadway bridge…

The Pecos River looking south from the Route 66 roadway bridge…

Other views from around town…

You can read all about Santa Rosa by clicking this Wikipedia informational link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa,_New_Mexico

Enjoying interesting historic places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

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

JUDGE ROY BEAN, LANGTRY TEXAS

Hanging in my memory are vague stories I read about Judge Roy Bean, the Hanging Judge of Texas. As we pulled the motor home into Langtry, Texas, (iffen ya all don’t know,) that’s Bean country. Jim remarked, “Now if ole’ Roy was alive, we wouldn’t even be allowed to enter this town.”

Langtry is just a fallen down spot along the highway, except for the legend of Roy Bean. Larger than life, he has kept this place going long after his death in 1903. A beautiful new building, his preserved house and saloon, a botanical garden and windmill pull in such as we to enjoy one of the wild west’s enduring characters. Roy was actually a Justice of the Peace in this lawless area. An ad writer from San Antonio sensationalized the job for his readers even then. Roy was the law by fear as much as anything else. He often threatened to hang people, but never did. The old hanging tree in the middle of town, dead now, was really the spot where the law breaker was tied up.

Bean proclaimed himself the only law West of the Pecos and he was for many miles around.
He held court in this saloon. If enough men were around, the fine might include a round of drinks for all present. Since there was no jail in Langtry, which Bean claimed he named after the famous English singing beauty Lillie Langtry, all culprits were tied to a tree until their “trial”. All miscreants were fined since he couldn’t sentence them to jail.

By dint of his personality, he kept a semblance of control over a lawless area during the building of the railroads at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers. And his control wasn’t exactly the type written in the law books, though he patted down an old law book now and again and claimed it would make a good fire starter.
One dead man was brought to him after being shot. Bean emptied his pockets of a knife and $41 dollars and proclaimed, that his crime was carrying a concealed weapon and he fined him $41. He confiscated the knife and the money on the spot.
A ranger brought him a couple of guys for stealing. Bean ordered him to let them go proclaiming they’re both broke and no good to us anyway.
In another instance, a man sat before Bean with a lawyer. He said, “In a minute I’m going to find this man guilty and have him hung.” He turned to his bartender and said, “If I order you to hang this man would you do it?” The bartender said he would. Then, he asked, “If I order you to hang his lawyer too, would you do it?” The bartender agreed he would. “Now, lets get on with this case.” They left town as fast as they could.
He often ignored the law because it was impossible to enforce it in the wilds of Texas.
His love for Lillie Langtry was another story. Guess ya all gotta visit the Texas Visitors Center at Langtry. Its well worth the stop.

Mary Is Finally Satisfied!

Here’s the story…

Ever since Mary re-joined up with me in Tucson, AZ on January 9th, she has been craving really good Mexican food. Prior to today we have tried three times only to be disappointed. Today, she is finally satisfied!

It happened at the Genesis Restaurant in Del Rio Texas. Let me tell you how we happened upon this place…

We left Sanderson, Texas at 9:30 AM and arrived in Langtry, Texas…Home of Judge Roy Bean. We enjoyed a 1.5 hour visit, seeing and reading about the Judge who was famous for maintaining Law and Order…West of the Pecos River in the 1880’s period. FYI, the Pecos River is about 10 miles East of Langtry, Texas.

Judge Roy Bean really made folks behave themselves. Even in his saloon.

To see the other eight pictures I took…click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/JudgeRoyBean2010#

Here’s a Wikipedia link about Judge Roy Bean…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Bean

60 Miles later we arrived in Del Rio, Texas…once again along the Rio Grade River. The time had arrived for us to have and oil change and lube, both on the motorhome and our towed Bronco II. I fired up Google Earth looking to identify a lube place in Del Rio. I lucked out…the first place I called was run by Mexicans who gave me a great price quote for the job. Five minutes later we were there and they did a great job! When they were done, Mary asked them if they knew where we could get some good Mexican food and they recommended the Genesis Restaurant only a couple of blocks away. When we arrived at 3:55 PM, they told us they closed at 3:00 PM. After a little bit of chatting, they agreed to cook us up some Mexican food. And that my friends…is why Mary is finally satisfied! The food was great and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

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