Pima Air & Space Museum

 

The weather forecast for Tucson today is: Partly cloudy. High 77°. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. On this beautiful day, Ginny and I visited the Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the world's largest non-government-funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over 80 acres on a campus occupying 127 acres.

Tucson, Arizona

 

Ginny and I continued our travels today, stopping at the Rincon Country East RV Resort in Tucson, Arizona. We'll stay here for two nights before continuing our journey to Tombstone. While in Tucson, we will visit the Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the world's largest non-government-funded aerospace museums.

Camp Verde, Arizona

 

We left Williams today and started heading south to warmer temperatures. Our next stop was the Verde Ranch RV Resort in Camp Verde, Arizona. We'll spend one night here before heading towards Tucson, Arizona, for a couple of days.

Grand Canyon Deer Farm

 

Today, Ginny and I took a side trip to the Grand Canyon Deer Farm.

Grand Canyon National Park

 

Today, Ginny and I took the Grand Canyon Railway to where millions had walked before us and dined where presidents have dined. The Grand Canyon National Park.

Williams, Arizona

 

Ginny and I continued our journey today to Williams, Arizona, The Gateway to the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park until Monday, November 28th. While there, tomorrow, we will catch the train, where we'll ride in the dome car to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. While at the Grand Canyon, we'll take a bus tour of the South Rim and dine at the El Tovar Dining Room located in the historic El Tovar Hotel, where guests such as Teddy Roosevelt, President Bill Clinton, and Sir Paul McCartney have dined and shared stories within their walls.

Standing on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona

 

Today, Ginny was seen standing on the corner watching all the guys go by in Winslow, Arizona.

Barringer Meteor Crater

 

Today, Ginny and I toured the Barringer Meteor Crater. The Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of 5,640 ft above sea level. It is about 3,900 ft in diameter and some 560 ft deep. The crater was created about 50,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA astronauts trained in the crater to prepare for the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Homolovi Ruins State Park

 

In the high grassland of 14th-century northern Arizona, an ancient people found a home along the Little Colorado River. These people, the Hisat'sinom (known to archaeologists as the Anasazi), paused in their migrations to till the rich flood plain and sandy slopes before continuing north to join people already living on the mesas, people who are today known as the Hopi.

Today, Ginny and I repositioned our RV to this land, two miles northeast of the city of Winslow, Arizona, at the Homolovi Ruins State Park. We will be here until this coming Friday, November 25th. While here, we will explore the Homolovi Ancestral Pueblo and the Meteor Crater. While in Winslow, we will also go look for a man standing on the corner.

 

“Homolovi” is Hopi for “Place of the Little Hills” — the traditional name for Winslow, Arizona.

Petrified Forest National Park

 

Today, Ginny and I explored the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about 346 square miles, encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe and highly eroded and colorful badlands. The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, significantly fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. The park’s earliest human inhabitants arrived at least 8,000 years ago.

The Painted Desert are colorful badlands that meet the Mother Road (Route 66) in Arizona’s high desert. Looking like pastel mounds of Neapolitan ice cream, Northern Arizona’s Painted Desert is a vast, striated badlands that extends some 150 miles from the eastern end of the Grand Canyon into Petrified Forest National Park. A geologist’s other-worldly paradise, the colorful hills, flat-topped mesas, and sculptured buttes of the Painted Desert are primarily made up of the Chinle Formation, mainly river-related deposits dating back some 200 million years. Inhabited by indigenous people for thousands of years, the multi-hued sweep of pigmented rock in the high arid desert. The Painted Desert was named by a Spanish expedition under Francisco Vázquez de Coronado during his 1540 quest to find the Seven Cities of Cibola. Passing through the wonderland of colors, they named the area El Desierto Pintado (“The Painted Desert”).

Holbrook, AZ

 

We were on the road at 9:00 this morning on our way to Holbrook, AZ, where we are staying at the OK RV Park. While here, we will visit the nearby Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.

Chaco Canyon

 

On today's side trip, Ginny and I journeyed to "The Center of an Ancient World" as we visited the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Chaco Canyon was the center of pre-Columbian civilization flourishing in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest a thousand years ago, preserving one of the most important cultural and historical areas in the United States. Chacoans built epic works of public architecture which were without precedent in the prehistoric North American world and which remained unparalleled in size and complexity until historic times. The precise alignment of these buildings with the cardinal directions and with the cyclical positions of the sun and moon, along with an abundance of exotic trade items found within these buildings, indicate that Chaco was an advanced society with deep spiritual connections to the surrounding landscape. This culture emerged around 900 AD, but the Great Houses were abandoned around 1100 to 1200 AD (300-400 years before Christopher Columbus). Drought is frequently cited as the cause of the collapse and migration of this mysterious culture, but now the latest research casts doubt onto this deforestation and drought hypotheses and presents a more gruesome alternative.

The Oldest Continuously Inhabited Settlement in The United States

 

Acoma Pueblo: The Oldest Continuously Inhabited Settlement in The United States

 Set within the vast desert of northern New Mexico, a massive, 357-foot tall mesa stands proud. Known as Acoma Rock, the craggy, flat-topped mountain is home to Acoma, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in what is now the United States.

 

On today’s side trip, Ginny and I journeyed to The Oldest Continuously Inhabited Settlement in The United States, Acoma Pueblo. Acoma Pueblo,  in West Central New Mexico, is believed to have been established in the 12th century or even earlier.

 

Set within the vast desert of northern New Mexico, a massive, 357-foot tall mesa stands proud. Known as Acoma Rock, the craggy, flat-topped mountain is home to Acoma, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in what is now the United States, and, until recently, could only be reached by a near vertical hand-cut staircase carved into the rock face. Acoma Pueblo’s soaring location has earned it the nickname “Sky City” and has impressed everybody who has laid eyes on it—from the first European to the modern visitor.

 

There are several interpretations of origin of the name “Acoma”. Some believe that the name Acoma comes from the Keresan words for the People of the White Rock, with aa'ku meaning white rock, and meh meaning people. Others believe that the word aa'ku actually comes from the word haaku meaning to prepare; a description that would accurately reflect the defensive position of the mesa's inhabitants.

We could not actually visit the pueblo village on top of the mesa because of COVID restrictions, but we were given a virtual tour at the pueblo’s visitor center.

Sky City RV Park, Acoma, NM

 

We repositioned this afternoon after out trip out to the Very Large Arrays, to the Sky City RV Park in Acoma, NM. From here, we will visit the Acoma Pueblo and the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon.

Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA)

 

Today's road trip was out to the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), located ~50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico, where we had tickets to tour the facility. These are the large dish-type antennas that you see in the movie Contact starring Jodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, a SETI scientist who finds evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen to make first contact.

The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes deployed in a Y-shaped array and all the equipment, instrumentation, and computing power to function as an interferometer. Each of the massive telescopes is mounted on double parallel railroad tracks, so the radius and density of the array can be transformed to adjust the balance between its angular resolution and its surface brightness sensitivity. Astronomers using the VLA have made key observations of black holes and protoplanetary disks around young stars, discovered magnetic filaments and traced complex gas motions at the Milky Way's center, probed the Universe's cosmological parameters, and provided new knowledge about the physical mechanisms that produce radio emission.

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

 

Today’s road trip took Ginny and I to the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument outside Mountainair, New Mexico. The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is tucked away in the middle of New Mexico. It’s a complex of three Spanish missions. Its three different sites offer a glimpse into a unique time in history—a time entrenched with cultural borrowing, conflict, and struggles. Construction of the missions began in 1622 and was completed in 1635. These sites continue to stand as reminders of the Spanish and Pueblo peoples’ early encounters and prompt exploration of today’s interactions among different people.

Madrid and the Turquoise Trail

 

Today, Ginny and I traveled the Turquoise Trail and visited the little village of Madrid, New Mexico. It's been six years since I last visited. The village used to be a unique town to visit. A lot of the little shops have closed and now at least a dozen marijuana dispensaries have taken over the town. Once a historic coal mining town and ghost town, Madrid is now a creative community with over 40 shops and galleries, several restaurants, a spa, and a museum. A few miles north is the quaint village of Cerrillos, which includes a state park with hiking paths and horseback riding. If you have ever watched the movie "Wild Hogs" starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy, you would remember Maggie's Dinner. Maggie's Diner was built especially for the movie. Maggie's Diner is now open as a retail store selling various souvenirs.

"The City of Coronado"

 

We were on the road by 7:30 this morning, heading down the mountain toward Santa Fe, then south toward Albuquerque. We took our chance that we would be able to get into the campground that I wanted to stay at, and the chance paid off. We got the last site available in the best-kept secret in the Albuquerque area—the Coronado Campground in the Town of Bernalillo—just 15 miles north of the big mess of Albuquerque. $20* daily gets us a 50 amp/water site with a shelter. There's no sewer hookup at the site, but they do have a dump station. There is a 14-day stay limit but we only plan to stay for four days.
(* $20 daily rate is for members of Passport America)

Winter Weather Advisory

 

We were supposed to stay in Taos until Monday morning, then travel down to Santa Fe for a couple of days. But with a winter storm coming into the high mountain areas, we will head out this morning just to play it safe and go to the Albuquerque, NM, area. We will try to go into a campground a few days early, but since there is no one there to call today, we'll take our chances. I do have a backup plan, though, just in case.

Winter Weather Advisory
Issued: 3:29 AM Nov. 13, 2022 – National Weather Service

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 8 AM MST MONDAY...

* WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 3 and 6 inches across the Tusas Mountains and Upper Rio Grande Valley, and between 4 and 9 inches across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

* WHERE...Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Tusas Mountains Including Chama, and Upper Rio Grande Valley.

* WHEN...From 5 PM this afternoon to 8 AM MST Monday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be difficult. Tire traction will be
reduced. Extend the distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you. The hazardous conditions could impact the Monday morning commute.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Slow down and use caution while traveling. For the latest road
conditions, dial 511 or 1.800.432.4269, or visit http://nmroads.com.

Sightseeing Around Taos

 

Ginny and I had a busy day sightseeing today. First, we went to Taos Pueblo and walked around visiting the few open shops. Taos Pueblo's most prominent architectural feature is a multi-storied residential complex built over 1000 years ago by the Taos-speaking Native American tribe of Puebloan people. The pueblo is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States.

After visiting the pueblo, I took Ginny out to Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. She never realized she was afraid of heights until we started walking across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. At 650 feet above the river, The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge is the second-highest bridge on the U.S. Highway System and the fifth-highest bridge in the United States.

 

After visiting the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, we drove out to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial established in honor of Vietnam War veterans in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Until 2017, it was a New Mexico state park, and it is now under the Department of Veteran Services. Dedicated on May 22, 1971, the memorial was originally known as the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel and had its origins in a battle near Con Thien, South Vietnam, on May 22, 1968, in which 17 men lost their lives. It was the first major memorial created to honor the veterans of the Vietnam War, and inspired the establishment of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which was completed over ten years later, in 1982.

On to the Land of Enchantment

 

It was around 12°F when Ginny and I pulled out of Snowy Peaks RV Park in Buena Vista, Colorado, around 7:30 this morning. But first, my TPMS told me I had a low tire on the trailer after I had checked them all yesterday. So, I pulled out the air compressor and aired it back up. We entered the Land of Enchantment at 10:23 and arrived at Taos Valley RV Park in Taos, New Mexico, just before noon.

Reunion with Buddy

 

Last night Ginny and I went to my granddaughter's house for dinner. While there, Charlie mingled and played with his younger but much larger brother, Buddy. I gave Buddy to my granddaughter last May after my late wife Nancy had passed away. He was just too much for me to care for.

Side trip to Leadville, Colorado

 

Ginny and I took a side trip to Leadville, Colorado, today for lunch. Leadville sits at an elevation of 10,152 feet above sea level. While there, we went out and explored Turquoise Lake.

Snowy Peaks RV Park

 

We are at the Snowy Peaks RV Park in Buena Vista, Colorado. We'll be here until Friday morning, then heading south to Taos, New Mexico.

On the Road to Buena Vista

 

Ginny and I were on the road by 7:30 this morning on our way to Buena Vista, Colorado. After getting into the mountains on US-50 west of Pueblo, I took the scenic route up CO-9. Ginny was like a kid in a Mexican candy store with all the new sights. She had seen the mountains in Kentucky and Tennessee before, but they were nothing compared to the Rocky Mountains.

 

 

Lamar Elks #1319

 

We have made it to Lamar, Colorado, where we are staying at the Lamar Elks Lodge for the night.  Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Buena Vista to visit my granddaughter, Mackenzie.

Onward to Lamar, Colorado

 

Today, Ginny and I continue our journey as we leave the Land of Oz (Liberal, KS), driving 163 miles to Lamar, Colorado, where we will be staying as guests of the Lamar Elks Lodge. RV parking at the lodge is the customary donation of $20 a night for 20/30/50 AMP hookups. Water is available, and it is Big Rig friendly. There is no stay limit at this lodge. RV parking at Elks Lodges is only open to members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

 

We left the old cowtown Dodge City at 9:20 this morning and took the Yellow Brick Road to Liberal, Kansas, to visit Dorothy's House, the Coronado Museum, and the Mid-America Air Museum. We'll be here for two days before getting on the road again, headed toward Lamar, Colorado. We are staying at the Seven Winds RV Park on the southwestern edge of town.

Santa Fe Trail

 

Ginny and I left Junction City a little before 9:00 this morning, following the highway in a southwesterly direction until we hit the Santa Fe Trail that took us into Dodge City, Kansas, where we are held up at the Gunsmoke RV Park. We'll be here for two nights before getting back on the road.

Smoky Hill RV Park, Junction City, Kansas

 

Day 3 of our 7-month RV trip takes us to Smoky Hill RV Park in Junction City, Kansas. I came through here about the same time a year ago with my late wife, Nancy. There's a little nostalgia for me coming back to this place. I lived here back in 1973/74 when it was a mobile home park. I was stationed in the Army just a couple of miles east from here at Fort Riley. My daughter, Evon, was born while living here just before I was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in March 1974. This is not a homecoming for me, though. Other than those mentioned, I have no other ties here. It is a nice laid out new RV park just off Interstate 70.

Tomorrow we'll be back on the road stopping for a couple of days in Dodge City, Kansas.