The First Day Of Winter…

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 21st year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort…about 20 miles east of Palm Springs, California. I’ll depart here later this morning.

 

 

Todays subject… The first day of winter…

 

Winter began this morning at 2:44 AM, Pacific Standard Time.

 

This past week a good portion of the nation was dealing with lots of snow, ice and record low temperatures.

 

Meanwhile, The forecast for me today is sunny and 69 degrees!

 

Today I’ll drive 150 miles to the southeast and Yuma, Arizona…the sunniest place on earth!

 

 

It’s why the snowbirds come here…

 

 

Sun character courtesy of…
http://vectips.com/tutorials/create-a-happy-sun-character/

 

 

According to the Guinness Book of Records, Yuma. AZ is the sunniest place on earth!
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/sunniest-places-countries-world.php

 

 

 

It’s a lousy job….but someone’s got to do it!

 

 I hope you enjoyed the sun.

 Yesterday was sunny and 73 degrees. Forecast for today is sunny and 69 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 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 -2016

Bakersfield To Palm Desert, California

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 21st year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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Yesterday I drove the motorhome 230 miles from Bakersfield to Palm Desert, California.

 

My route takes me across the Tehachapi Mountains, elevation 4,067 feet. Near Tehachapi summit there are hundreds of wind generators. This area is famous for strong winds. In 2011, Mary and I saw three 18-wheelers on their sides within a range of one-half mile. You can read about that experience by clicking this link… http://wp.me/pDCku-1hV

 

Fortunately there were no strong winds yesterday…

 

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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing on the narrow roads across the high desert requires strong concentration…

 

 

 

 

After crossing Mountain Top Pass at 4,804 feet of elevation I began the steep decline into the Los Angeles Basin. Part of it is a steep decline on Interstate Highways 15/215/210/10…

 

 

 

 

I finally arrived at Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort about 20 miles east of Palm Springs…

 

 

 

 

The usual dinette window view photo…

 

 

 

 

Here’s a Google Earth view of the 397 site park with my location marked by the X…

 

 

It has 805 tall date trees and is set on 25 acres. You can read about this place by clicking this link… http://www.thousandtrails.com/california/palm-springs-rv-resort/

I’m planning to depart from here on December 21st.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Yesterday was a sunny day at 68 degrees.  Forecast for today is partly sunny and 68 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 -2016

Why I Am Where I Am…

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.

---

The motorhome is parked at Shady Acres Mobile Home and RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. I expect to be here a while hiding out from the cold, wet weather. Average temperatures in January are high 69.6, low 47.6. In February, high 73.8, low 50.1. As nice as Yuma is, I wouldn’t want to be here in August.  🙂

 

The one word response to the title is…WEATHER!

While a good portion of the nation deals with cold, wet, rainy and snowy weather…here I am…with the next two-week weather forecast…

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 below photo was taken in 2015…nothing has changed except my location…about a two-mile difference.

Here I am at 2:00 PM in my uniform of the day…shorts, cut-off t-shirt and cap…

 

 

 

As I have indicated a number of times in the past…it’s a lousy job but someone has to do it!   🙂

 

Recently I’ve been running blogs about my 2004 Central America trip. While here I’m intending to continue those postings while also alternating with Yuma area blogs.

I hope you enjoyed the photo.

 Yesterday was sunny and 74 degrees. Forecast for today is sunny and 75 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 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 -2016

Corpus Christi, Texas – Day 4

The motorhome is parked at the Eagles Club #2249. We expect to depart here later this morning.

Yesterday was a laundry, do repairs and odds and ends day. The cold windy weather we’ve been experiencing for the last several days is finally starting to break. We actually saw the sun for a while yesterday and the long-range forecast is for sun and moderate temperatures. At Last!

Since I knew I wouldn’t have any photos for today, I saved three photos of the USS Lexington that I took from Ocean Drive the day before yesterday. In these photos, I think she resembles her nickname…The Blue Ghost. She got that nickname because the Japanese referred to Lexington as a “ghost” ship for her tendency to reappear after reportedly being sunk. This, coupled with the ship’s dark blue camouflage scheme, led the crew to refer to her as “The Blue Ghost”.

What do you think???

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…

Enjoying old naval warships is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!!!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…(look closely on the Texas coast…)

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures 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

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 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

An Unusual Four-Day Weather Event Is Coming To An End…

I’d say roughly 90% of the time I manage to stay in delightful sunny 65-75 degree weather all year-long. Pretty nice! Not so the last four days.

Here’s the current setting…

The motorhome is parked on the slope of the Little Florida Mountains in Rockhound State Park about 15 miles southeast of Deming, New Mexico at about 4,550 feet elevation…

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…

I have a magnificent south-southwest unencumbered view of 20+ miles…

As part of my daily activities I monitor local weather at accuweather.com…looking for any potential negative weather systems. About one week ago I found one warning of a four-day high-wind, cold-temperatures system heading my way. Being on the road with a high-profile vehicle during high winds is not a good idea. Here’s a past Blog entry where three 18-wheelers were on their sides with one-half mile in 75 mile per hour winds…
http://wp.me/pDCku-1hV

I was ready to move along at that time, but being safe and secure in my current location, plus heading for a new location to which I’ve not been before at about 1,000 feet higher in elevation…I decided to stay put and wait until the storm passed through. In my full-time RVing lifestyle, I’ve learned to always err on the side of safety.

So here’s what happened.

Saturday started  as a beautiful sunny day with temps forecasted in the low 80’s. Winds started to come up about 10:00 AM. During the day they were 35-45 miles per hour sustained with gusts of 50+ miles per hour increasing in strength as the night came upon us. When I went to bed, the temperature was 82 degrees.

Sunday started as another sunny day.  During the day the winds increased to 40-50 miles per hour sustained with lots of 75+ mile per hour gusts raising sand and dust and obscuring my beautiful view…

In this unique sunset photo you can see the two distinct weather fronts…the warmth departing on the lower level and the cold front on the upper level. When I went to bed Sunday evening the temperature was 57 degrees a drop of 25 degrees in 24 hours…

It was a real rock and roll night with lots of disturbed sleep.

Monday morning it was still huffing and puffing. Several various weather fronts came through during the day…

including a ferocious five-minute sleet-storm…

According to accuweather.com the afternoon high temperature was only 38 degrees with a wind-chill factor of 25 degrees. It was so cold I kept my ceramic heater running all day long…something I’ve rarely ever done. As the night came on it started to get colder…fortunately the winds started decreasing.

During the evening I watched the movie Rio Bravo starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan which was filmed entirely at the Old Tucson Film Studio which we visited in January of 2010. Here’s the link to that Blog entry…
http://wp.me/pDCku-8D

When I went to bed the interior temperature was 52 degrees…I like it cooler when I sleep. The ceramic heater was on high setting.

When I woke at midnight to pee….it was now 42 degrees…I don’t like it that cold! Since I normally sleep in my birthday suit…sorry, this is a G-rated Blog…you do not get to see that photo  :)… I put on my sweats and slippers, turned on the gas furnace set to its minimum temperature setting 55 degrees, opened the interior under-cabinet doors so that the water lines wouldn’t freeze and went back to bed. That’s something I’ve never done before in all years of RVing,

When I awoke it was 42 degrees inside the motorhome despite the gas furnace. Accuweather.com stated the outside temperature was 25 degrees with a wind-chill factor of 21 degrees. Modern-day RV walls are made of a pressed laminate on an aluminum frame with a little foam insulation. Wall thickness is only somewhere between 1-2 inches thick.

As I finish up this Blog entry at about 7:30 Tuesday morning…it’s still very cold. The Bronco has a very distinct coating of frost on it this morning…

The forecast for today is partly sunny, windy and 53 degrees. Tonight is supposed to be cold once again…but not quite as cold as last night.

Tomorrow’s forecast is sunny and 60 degrees. By Saturday it’s supposed to be sunny and 81 degrees. If the forecast holds true…tomorrow I’ll start rolling along once again. Brrrr!!!!

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