Currently in Roswell NM (Low 53 Breezy with Sunshine Currently 62)
Heading to Albuquerque NM (Currently 54 Partly Sunny and Breezy High 68)
Bottomless Lakes State Park is about 12 miles from Roswell. Getting here is GPS challenged as we mentioned before. Here is a view of Lea Lake and the campground on the best route to the campground.
A closeup view of the campground.
The campground has 6 full hookup sites, some tent sites, and a number of water and electric sites, all with 30amps. The interior roads and sites are gravel. The hookups are convenient. There are some trees but we had a good line of site for our roof mounted satellite dish as seen in this shot of the Lifestyle from the front.
To the right.
To the left.
The park has some of the longest pullthrus we have ever seen. Here is a view from the rear of our Lifestyle at the other end of the pullthru.
Up close from the rear showing our Lifestyle near the patio.
We would stay here again because it is so scenic and we have more to see in Roswell.
We depart today for Albuquerque where we plan to stay a couple of weeks.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Roswell NM (Low 48 Mostly Sunny High 92)
Yesterday we toured the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell New Mexico. We got this photo from the web.
This museum is one that requires a lot of reading and there are a lot of displays.
You are greeted by a re-creation of the alleged 1947 crash site near Roswell.
Then it's a lot of reading. There were some photo opportunities, here is Bob about to be abducted.
A scene recreated from the movie, "Roswell", the alien autopsy.
Bob telling Gort "Klaatu Barada Nikto".
Additionally the streetlights look like alien heads but we never got a good shot of them. We did get a good shot of the flying saucer McDonalds.
It was really neat to see all of the unexplained sightings in one place, if not overwhelming. Bob is like Agent Mulder of "X-Files" who wants to believe. Something happened near Roswell in 1947 and although Bob cannot say for certain it was an alien spacecraft crash, but whatever it was there probably was a coverup and a lot of misinformation as it was originally reported a flying saucer crash. There are a lot of planets in the universe, if only a small percentage supported life, there are a lot of planets that could be ahead of us technology wise. They might be interested in seeing what is going on here. Bob feels there we might have been visited but wishes there was undeniable proof.
Until then,
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Roswell NM (Low 46 Mostly Sunny and Very Warm High 88)
Subtitled: Thank Goodness for Gorilla Tape
After a great stay in Midland Texas we departed yesterday for Roswell New Mexico. We are camping at Bottomless Lakes State Park.
It was approximately 200 miles, this is the route we took. We crossed into Mountain Time during the trip.
Thank goodness for Gorilla Tape. At one of our leg stretching breaks Jo noticed something hanging from the underbelly. The two piece hard shelled underbelly in the holding tanks area had come apart and there was insulation showing. Bob crawled underneath to tape it with Gorilla Tape as a temporary fix. He plans to research it further when we get to Albuquerque.
Bottomless Lakes State Park is in the middle of nowhere but we have fairly good Verizon 4g and phone signals. Here is the view from our rear window.
Neat reflection of Lea Lake.
Our first sunset.
While here we plan to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center. There is no disputing that something happened near Roswell in 1947. What actually happened has been debated since then. We plan to dig into it and report back our findings.
We want to believe!
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Midland TX (Low 46 Mostly Sunny Currently 49)
Heading to Roswell NM (Currently 40 Sunshine: Pleasant and Warmer High 78)
After JFK was assassinated in 1963 there was the idea to create a memorial for him. The response was amazing and overwhelmed the reading room in the library that was its planned location. The material also included other presidential material so it was suggested to honor all of the Presidents and thus the Presidential Archives and Leadership Library was founded and eventually moved into the entire library when a new library was built.
The lobby includes a rug that is a copy of the rug during the Truman administration. They had to get special permission from the White House for the rug weavers.
The guest book that you sign is on a desk used by then-General Dwight David Eisenhower in Paris.
There are displays throughout, the highlights include an 1840 copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1840 that was passed down from family member to family member but almost ending in a burn pile until it was donated. Another highlight is a pin from the George Washington inauguration. Sadly with the lighting our pictures did not turn out.
A collection of dolls throughout wearing replicas of the First Lady gowns
Portraits, for all the Presidents and First Ladies. Here are Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
You know you are in the south when you see the 10 Commandments on display in the lobby.
If we think that today's politicians are horrible, well they are, but they are not unique in time.
The library portion of the museum contains over 5000 books, some rare first editions are included.
Outside of the museum sits the first home that the Bush family lived in Odessa Texas from 1948-1949.
The day before we saw and blogged about the second home for the Bush family in nearby Midland. There were a couple of anecdotes about the Midland house that we forgot to mention in the blog. First, since Jeb was born in Midland that house was home to 2 future governors and 2 future presidents. Also, George W. and Donald Trump are the only Presidents that played Little League baseball.
As we were leaving the museum we saw the Bush home and we could have gone back into the museum and found somebody to open it up but decided it would have been too much of a hassle since the only staff we saw during our tour was a guy when we came in and a custodian cleaning the bathrooms when Bob wanted to use them :-)
We really enjoyed our stay here in the Midland-Odessa area. Great sightseeing, food and weather. We leave today for Roswell New Mexico and if we are not abducted by a UFO we will be there for a short stay and then head to Albuquerque.
We'll end with this cross stitched map of the original colonies/states for Bob's sister.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Midland TX (Low 37 Plenty of Sun High 68)
From 1951 to 1955 George W. Bush and his family lived in this house in Midland Texas. We borrowed this picture from the website, all the other photos are ours because you are allowed to take pictures which is nice.
This was only the second house that George H. W. and Barbara owned and it was the larger of the two. The house was filled with both happiness and sadness as their sons Jeb and Neil were born here but Robin their daughter died of leukemia while they lived here. About his time in Midland George W. said it best, "Our deepest values in life often come from our earliest years...It is here where I learned what it means to be a good neighbor at backyard barbecues or just chatting across the fence. It is here in West Texas where I learned to trust in God." He got some of his earliest lessons from the Roy Rogers Riders Club watching Saturday morning television in what they called the den, the one television in the house.
He would copy as many of the 10 rules as he could during each episode until he had them all. He and his friends then carried these rules with them reminding them how to be good citizens. He joined the Roy Rogers Riders Club and you can see the rules above his bed and the Riders Club shirt on the bed. Interestingly one of George W's boyhood friends assisted in the renovation and read the rules at the dedication ceremony. Here is George W's bedroom.
A closeup of the rules.
Shelves in his bedroom.
They had quite the time restoring this house back to how it was when the Bush family lived there. There were 7 different owners and it seemed like everybody either had to paint and wallpaper over the beautiful wood in George W's bedroom and elsewhere in the house. They painstakingly removed all the paint and wallpaper to reveal the wood you see today.
Other photos from the house - the kitchen.
The phone stand, one phone and a party line to boot.
An original fixture.
One thing there are trying to find or replicate is the washer and dryer like they had in the kitchen. What they have found is the salt and pepper shakers given when the units were bought.
With one television and one channel they had a lot of time for reading. Here is a rolling, spinning bookcase and a bookcase in the hall.
We found this pretty neat, a photo that Barbara took of George W. on his bike in the street.
The interesting thing is that time seemingly has not passed on this street. Notice the gas hookup, the crack in the concrete near the driveway and the garage doors.
We'll end with the 10 Rules of the Roy Rogers Riders Club
1. Be neat and clean
2. Be courteous and polite
3. Always obey your parents
4. Protect the weak and always help them
5. Be brave but never take chances
6. Study hard and learn all you can
7. Be kind to animals and care for them
8. Eat all your food and never waste any
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly
10. Always respect our flag and our country
Wish more people lived by these rules today.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Midland TX (Low 56 Windy with Plenty of Sunshine High 78)
After a short stay in San Angelo we departed yesterday for Midland RV Park in Midland Texas.
It was approximately 120 miles, this is the route we took.
We have some sightseeing to do while in Midland, there is a Curtiss SB2C at the Commemorative Air Force museum. This is the plane that Bob's dad flew off of the aircraft carrier Wasp in WWII. Also in Midland is the George W. Bush boyhood home. Plus there looks like some neat places to eat.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 45 Sunny Currently 55)
Currently in Location (Currently 54 Sunny and Warmer High 81)
We extended our stay in San Angelo Texas one day because of the weather. We had heavy rain but within 50 miles there was dangerous thunderstorms and a tornado or two. It is time to head further west to get out of tornado country.
We didn't do much while here but we did experience Lobsterfest at Red Lobster and Jo got a haircut and color. She went in for a brunette with highlights but came out blonder and more brassy than she wanted. The perils of getting a haircut/color on the road. It wasn't cheap to come out looking like a brassy blonde either. While Jo was getting a haircut Bob got new tires for the truck at Discount Tire. An expensive day for sure. The rest of our stay it rained and Jo was feeling a little under the weather anyway.
GPS took us right to the San Angelo KOA. The interior roads and sites were gravel. We were in a long pullthru and the hookups were convenient with two sewer connections depending on which end of the site you chose. We had a satellite friendly site with a nice patio. Although KOAs are more expensive than most parks we have started staying more and more. Site unseen you can generally count on a KOA as a good park because sometimes we have been fooled by the website and reviews of other parks and haven't enjoyed our stay. We would stay at this KOA again as there is a lot to do in San Angelo if we came back again.
Here is the site from the front.
The patio by the front door was nice.
To the right.
To the left, we were on the end of the big rig pullthru section.
From the rear.
It was a short stay but we would stay here again if we pass this way again.
We leave today for Midland Texas where we hope to do some sightseeing as it looks like the weather will cooperate.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
