Roswell, New Mexico

January 12 was the day we decided to visit the UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell New Mexico. When in Roswell, it's the thing to do! There was a lot I didn't know about "the incident" which happened in July 1947. Before we get into that, I have to share the McDonald's sign we drove past in Roswell... I thought it was pretty cute.

Upon entering the museum, we began reading all the information they had on the walls, which was displayed in a timeline. It would take ALL DAY to read all the info they had, so I'll just share a few snippets of it.  In a nutshell, a rancher who was out checking his livestock, came across some strange debris in the field. 

He then went and told the county sheriff about it.

Here's the report of it in the local paper, dated July 8, 1947.

q

The US government got involved since there was an Army Air Base near Roswell at the time. As the story goes, the government was successfully able to cover this incident up by saying it was a weather balloon that crashed into the farmer's field.  Here's an account from one of the men stationed at the base.  There actually were a lot of signed affidavits by people that were involved in this "incident" and all said that there was a government cover up. Some people swore they saw a "flying disc" and others reported that they saw the debris from the crash and alien-looking small bodies.  I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

This next picture we call "Spot the Alien"!  

These were props from a movie entitled "Roswell" that came out in the 1990's.

After the UFO museum (which also included an interesting exhibit on Area 51 in Nevada), we came back down to earth and visited a historical home in town.  We didn't get any photos, but it was restored to it's original condition, circa 1912.  I know this doesn't sound too old to many folks... but New Mexico wasn't even declared a state until 1912, so this was in the "babyhood" of New Mexico.

While we were out an about in Roswell, we stopped at no less than three hardware stores, trying to find parts to repair the leaking shower.  John was unable to find the exact things he needed, but the resourceful fellow that he is, he managed to get some bits and pieces that he felt might work. Here he is working AGAIN on the shower.  

Here are some of the tools that were critical in the shower repair. 

I should have included in the previous "tool" photo, a golf club.  Yes, a golf club.  At one point, when an essential piece of pipe dropped behind the shower wall, a golf club was needed to get it out!! I am happy to report that after four days, several trips to hardware stores, blood, sweat, and tears (on my part, at the thought of having to shower in campground showers for the rest of this trip), John was successful!  Our shower is up and running again!!! YAHOOOOO!  I have to give kudos to my persistent and determined husband, and not once did I hear any bad words during the struggle.  He never ceases to amaze me :-)

As far as Jinx the RV cat, well.... we have given him one treatment of the lime/sulphur "horse dip". He didn't mind a bit, but OMG, that stuff reeks to high heavens! We were told to treat him twice a week for 8 weeks. So far, he is still occasionally scratching, but I don't think that any additional fur has fallen out.  We'll keep the kitty updates coming! 

In our next post we'll see where the "White Knight" ends up next!!  As a hint: He likes National Parks :)

California to Arizona

Hello from sunny Arizona!  We decided it might be fun to chronicle our RV trip across the southern half of the USA for friends, family, and interested folks.... so here we are!  

As a quick introduction, we are John & Suz, a happily married couple :)  accompanied by our faithful kitty, Jinx the cat (also know as JTC).  Jinx has been on several RV trips with us, but none of us has ever embarked on a trip clear across the country!  We left our home in Washington State back in October and took a few days enjoying the ride to California. On December 31, we packed up our southern home in the Palm Springs CA area and loaded all the necessities into our Winnebago Journey.  She's a 36 foot motor home that we've had a for a few years, but haven't really utilized to the greatest potential.  Part of the reason is because we were busy working, but those days are over (for now, at least).   One of John's bucket list items was to do a long motor home trip and see parts of the US that were new to us.  So, off we go!

Our first day found us driving a relatively short distance of 150 miles, to Yuma Arizona. Neither of us had ever been to Yuma before so we weren't sure what we were in for. Here's what we found out:  Yuma is a nice little town.  Oodles and oodles of RV dealerships, RV repair and parts places, and RV parks.  Yes, LOTS of folks come down here to escape the harsh winters up north. Lots of people come here to ride their ATV's in the sand dunes, too! They have plenty of shopping opportunities (Target, WalMart, etc) and restaurants too.  We stayed at Westwind Golf and RV resort which was a very quiet and pleasant place for folks 55 and above.  The golf course is a little 9 hole Par 3, and costs $11.  We spent four nights here - which was wonderful as we had major housekeeping to do... well, organizing all our stuff as well as cleaning the RV which had been stored for a couple months.  When that was done, we took a day for sightseeing.  Here is a view of the Colorado River and the mountains outside of Yuma.

This picture was taken from the guard house at the Yuma Territorial Prison.  Apparently the prison is the number one tourist attraction in Yuma, so of course we'd have to check it out.

Built in 1875, it housed all sorts of bandits, burglars, and bad guys.... like this person:

Ahh yes, the obligatory "I'm in jail" photo.  Oh well :-)

Here's a shot of the prison barber shop.  We decided to NOT try that chair out.

The next pic shows John beside the motor home, but please do note the little figure on the left of the photo... that's the WHITE KNIGHT.  He was given to us by our dear neighbor Susan Banton... and will be seen here and there along our trip, taking in the scenery with us! Remember you can click on any photo to enlarge it.

After four days in Yuma, we headed east on I-8 towards Tucson... but since we are in no hurry, we stopped for a couple nights in Eloy, AZ (near Casa Grande).  Here we stayed at Desert Valley RV Resort.  Also a very nice park with all the amenities we needed. However, the word resort may be a bit of a stretch.  Anyway, other than the constant trains at night and the noise from I-10, it's a fine place to stay.  Honestly, the noise factor wasn't really an issue at all.  Here's a sunset pic from last night:

Today John took Jinx the RV cat on a short walk.  You'll note that the park is mostly gravel. That seems to be the case in all RV parks in the southwest.  Jinx didn't seem to mind.  He enjoyed watching the covey of quail that were literally running around the park.  Jinx has a very secure "walking jacket" that we picked up for him at Walmart. Don't tell him it has a dog bone embroidered on it, OR that it's pink!  Obviously the harness was made for a female dog, not a male cat -- but he doesn't know that. :)

Tomorrow we're on the road again.  Sometimes internet access is great, sometimes it's spotty, and sometimes it's pretty much non-existent, but we will try and update the blog as often as we can. We hope you'll follow along with us as we take our big southern  RV adventure!

John, Suz, and Jinx