Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico Day 1 (GA269)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,500+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 23rd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at American Legion Post #19 in Yuma, Arizona. I expect to be here for a while.

 

 

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 2011-2013, 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 October 19, 2012…

 

 

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

 

 

Yesterday I drove the motorhome on Historic Route 66 about 125 miles from Albuquerque to Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico. I expect to be here through the weekend.

 

 

If you are a regular follower of my Blog, you may recall that I’m in the process of a two-year circumnavigation of the United States…my sixth. Whenever possible I try to drive on roads I’ve not driven before. I also like to drive historic roadways whenever they are on my way. Yesterday I drove in an easterly direction from Albuquerque. The only downside when driving east with an early morning departure is you are looking directly into the sun…

 

 

 

 

 

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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The traffic on Route 66 was light because Interstate Highway 40 closely parallels it to the North…left in the next photo. I could see it, but it doesn’t show well because of the brilliant sun. If you look just left of Route 66 at the horizon you can see it…

 

 

 

 

 

I arrived safely at Santa Rosa Lake State Park after 3 hours and 15 minutes of driving…

 

 

 

 

 

I always like to show the view from the dinette window wherever I park overnight. Here it’s not terribly inspiring…just the top of a bush and an RV across the road…

 

 

 

 

 

Standing in the doorway of the motorhome I have a peek-a-boo view of the lake about one-half mile away…

 

 

It doesn’t matter because after being in the noise of Albuquerque for the last few days, I’m here for the peace and quiet that all New Mexico State Parks seem to offer.

 

 

I expect to be entering West Texas in about 10 days and spend the colder weeks of this coming Winter season deep in South Texas hiding out from the cold weather. I’ll use some of my time here to do research, using maps, books and the Internet, to identity likely prospective routes and things/places not too be missed along the way. As I tell folks…It’s a lousy job, but someones got to do it!  🙂

 

 

Enjoying historic highways 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/

 

 

 

 TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW.

Mary did not post on this date.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 80 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 at Rogue River, Oregon, October, 2017…

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 -2018

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

Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 5

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 depart here on Thursday.

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The Great Adventure Dinette Window Photos…Update #2…

Back on November 29, 2011, I began what is my 6th circumnavigation of the United States. It will be Mary’s 2nd.

I’m calling it The Great Adventure, because it’s different from my other five circumnavigations…in which the routes were kinda-sorta preplanned. This time…with the exceptions of attending my oldest grand-daughter’s high school graduation in June 2013 in southeastern Connecticut…I don’t know where were will be going or when we will be there! Hence…The Great Adventure.

The only plan is to live a day-to-day lifestyle and let the wind blow us where it may!

Another thing different about this circumnavigation…in addition to our daily Blog entries documenting our experiences…is in every overnight parking spot I’ve decided to take a photo out of our dinette window.

For instance here’s the view out of our dinette window when we parked at the Dancing Eagle Casino RV Park, Casa Blanca, New Mexico…

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...

During the course of this two-year circumnavigation I’m expecting that we will park overnight in somewhere between 250 and 500 locations. In addition you need to know that when I park the motorhome…I do not say to myself…where’s the best view? It is strictly by chance what view ends up outside of our window.

You need also to remember that we overnight a lot at free locations such as Eagles and Moose Clubs, the American Legion and VFW. Free is good but the views are not always spectacular…but usually somewhat interesting.

Finally I started taking these photos once we departed Yuma, Arizona. Prior to that time all the previous overnight parking locations are repeats from previous times since I travel those routes somewhat regularly.

With that said, I’ve got 47 out-of-the-dinette-windows collected so far. You can see them all by clicking the below link. Once there, click the slide show button…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/GreatAdventureDinetteWindowPhotos#

After viewing the 47 photos I think you’ll agree that the full-time RVing lifestyle exemplifies the saying of “Variety Is The Spice Of Life”! The constant changing of scenery, people, local foods and music is most stimulating. I never tire of it!

I intend to post this Blog entry periodically as The Great Adventure rolls along..

It will be fun to look at the 250 to 500 photos that will finally end up in this collection when the circumnavigation has been completed!

Enjoying a variety of people, places and experiences 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

Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 3

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.

Yesterday morning started with a crystal clear pre-sunrise…as seen through the somewhat dirty windshield of the motorhome…

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…

The auto-focus feature of my camera changed the colors when I angled own to catch the reflection on the roof of the Bronco…

Also yesterday, I started working on my route which I’ll take to south Texas to hide from the cold weather in the coming weeks. I’m an ex-engineer and just cannot help myself…plan and do. I do this because I would hate to drive nearby a place I would have enjoyed only to have missed it because I failed to do a little homework. My destination lies approximately 775 miles southeast of my current location as shown by this Google Earth image…

Researching potential routes involves the use of maps, books and the Internet…

The results of identifying the one of several potential routes which might be taken is then transferred to the map…

It’s a somewhat time-consuming process…but all I have is time. The results shown in the above photo took about two hours of research. I’ll decode it for you…

I’ll be crossing into Texas just east of Clovis, New Mexico. The circled numbers indicate the page number of the Texas Visitors Guidebook on which detailed information about that location can be found. The circled C indicates some form of camping is available there. The circled A means an American Legion and the circled E means an Eagles Club. Other code letters in the future will be V for a VFW Post, M for a Moose Club, etc… Pretty simple yet it works, And all this time you thought I just stumbled upon all the nice places and things I get to visit. Well, now you know my secret.

In addition to that, the other element I need to pay close attention too is the elevation of potential places I plan to visit.

Going too fast too soon means excessive elevation drop means hotter temperatures. Santa Rosa Lake elevation is 4,800 feet and yesterday’s temperature was 86 degrees…getting kind of warm again! My planned stop in Lubbock, Texas which is only 200 miles ahead was 92 yesterday. That’s why a traveler needs to pay attention to elevation.

So I need to slow my forward pace a bit. I was planning to leave here on Monday but will most likely now leave on Wednesday. As I tell folks…It’s a lousy job, but someones got to do it!  🙂

Enjoying beautiful lakes 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

Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 2

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

Yesterday I took about a two-mile hike to see a little of the lake. In the below Google Earth image I show my hiking route in yellow so that you can see that I only saw a little of this usually shaped lake…

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 are some of the photos that I took…

I expect to be entering West Texas in about 10 days and spend the colder weeks of this coming Winter season deep in South Texas hiding out from the cold weather. I’ll use some of my time here to do research, using maps, books and the Internet, to identity likely prospective routes and things/places not too be missed along the way. As I tell folks…It’s a lousy job, but someones got to do it!  🙂

Enjoying beautiful lakes 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

Albuquerque, New Mexico – Day 5

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

I’m still in Albuquerque. Yesterday morning I departed the Wal-Mart parking lot where I had spent the previous night. After some more grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I drove the motorhome the about three miles to Advantage Automotive, the Workhorse Chassis dealer, to have the ABS light reprogrammed. In addition I had lost the rear running lights to a blown fuse which also got repaired. James runs the cleanest garage I’ve ever seen. You could eat off of the floor…

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…

James, the owner, was missing two people so I waited over three hours for my service. By time he was done, it was after 3:00 PM so I decided to delay my departure from Albuquerque until this morning.

I always like to show the view out of the dinette window where I park for a night. Here’s last night’s view on Paisano Street…

Paisano Street is a dead-end so I had a nice quiet night despite being somewhat close to Interstate Highway 40…

Later this morning I’ll depart for Santa Rosa Lake State Park about 100 miles east of Albuquerque.

Enjoying the freedom to decide when to get back on the road 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