Roswell, Las Cruces, NM – Sep 2022

So the last three weeks have wrapped up my visit to New Mexico.  It sure was fun visiting with old friends, and seeing many sights for the first time here in the land of enchantment.  There truly is a lot to see and do here, and lots to be thankful for.  However, cool late summer/early fall weather is not one of them.  Most of the past several weeks have been in the high 80s to mid 90s most days.  Definitely too hot for my liking!  But at least it’s a much dryer heat – free from the oppressive summer humidity that is found elsewhere (e.g. Florida).  So I guess I’ll take it.  Pictured above are a collection of missiles from the White Sands Missile Range featured in their missile park, with the beautiful towering rough rocky spires of the Organ Mountains in the background.  What a beautiful area!

Roswell, NM

Well, it became pretty clear rather quickly that I am not up on my alien knowledge.  When I made my travel plans and  itinerary back last winter, I had listed a visit to Area 51 as one of the highlights of my stay here in Roswell.  Little did I know then that Area 51 is actually in Nevada, not in Roswell, NM.  Oops – I got that wrong!  But I knew Roswell was a town known for its affinity with aliens – so if not Area 51, where does it come from?  It all started in 1947 with the recovery of supposed balloon debris from a ranch some 75 miles north of Roswell by the US Army from Roswell Army Air Field.  And so began the conspiracy theories that the debris was actually from a crashed alien flying saucer, and its existence was being covered up by the US government.  It became known as the Roswell Incident, and the conspiracy beliefs continue to this day.  And there’s no place better than the International UFO Museum in downtown Roswell to get a full picture of the depth and breadth of those beliefs.  Filled with historical accounts of the incident, coupled with perhaps some at liberty recreations of the crash landing and perceived subsequent alien autopsies, the museum does a great job of providing some level of doubt as to what actually happened on that warm summer day in July of 1947.  It didn’t help that the Army initially released a press article stating they had recovered a flying disc, then quickly retracted it and said it was a conventional weather balloon.  That seemed to quell the controversy, at least until 1970 when then retired Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Marcel stated in an interview that he believed the debris he retrieved was extraterrestrial.  And so it began!  Today, virtually the entire town participates in some form of alien culture, and has evolved to an entire tourism industry built around it.  Gift shops galore appear at almost every corner of downtown, selling their alien themed t-shirts, mugs, hats, and the like.  Sadly for Roswell, I resisted any temptation to participate in the purchase of any of their tchotchkes.  Better luck with some other tourist!

As a first time visitor to Roswell, I did find the ever present alien theme rather charming and fun.  The outside of many downtown stores had all kinds of alien creatures welcoming their visitors.  A pair of wooden tree stumps carved as pink and yellow aliens adorned the front of a scrapbooking store, while an alien themed restaurant and other decor were notably present at a local alien amusement place. They even have an alien riding a road runner (which is the state bird by the way).  While I enjoyed their ever presence, I would imagine though that the locals must tire of it after a while.  Even many of the big chains participate in this alien foolery.  I found alien presence at the local Domino’s pizza, the local Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins, and even the Super 8 motel had an alien welcome at their entrance.  No less, coffee shops and local barbers put their alien spin on their store decor.  It seems you just can’t get away from it in this little town.

If this is not proof enough, even the ever present McDonalds participates in the local alien flair.  A one of a kind custom built McDonalds, complete with flying saucer shaped play area can be found in downtown Rowell.  I have to admit, their take on the local theme was truly inspiring.  From flying fries to astronaut milkshakes, to the various aliens scattered throughout, this place would put a smile on any kids face.  It truly was a fun place to visit and walk around and check out.  Well done McDs!

Besides aliens, flying saucers are everywhere in Roswell.  Some were home built and exist on an individuals personal property (at right, top right), while others can be found having landed in a nearby motel.  They even adorn the tops of things like gift shops and town welcome signs.  You don’t have to drive far within the downtown area of Roswell without seeing something extraterrestrial in nature.  It’s just baked into the town’s character.  Lots of various murals exist all over town too.  The one featured here (at right, bottom right) was done by local resident artist Matt Barinholtz, with the help of some enthusiastic teens.  Titled “Printing Aliens”, this mural was painted on the side of Hall-Poorbaugh Press – an 80+ year printing business in Roswell.  It features a bunch of extraterrestrials and their robot pals cranking out a UFO newsletter.  A nicely done mural capturing the alien spirit of this town.

As you might imagine, Roadside America had lots and lots of entries for alien themed attractions in downtown Roswell.  Many of the pictures featured above were from Roadside recommendations.  Another example they featured would be these alien themed light posts that line downtown Main Street.  The globes, featuring painted alien eyes, actually glow green at night – further demonstrating the extraterrestrial commitment of this small town.  However, while the lamps glowed green forever, it was not the city that added the alien eyes.  It was the doing of Larry and Sharon Welz – creators of a now defunct attraction known as the Spacewalk at Roswell Space Center.  They tried to get the city to either add the eyes themselves, or give them permission to do so.  Having achieved neither, they and some friends took it upon themselves to run up and down the streets one night, clandestinely adding the bug eyes to each of the lamps.  While this was not officially sanctioned by the city, they have taken the position of allowing them to remain since the 2001 nighttime caper.  Certainly adds a nice touch to the downtown streetscape.  The first non-alien attraction I visited was this Tree of Knowledge.  Created by artist Sue Wink and standing 17 feet tall and made of metal, it lives at the entrance to the Roswell library.  It’s trunk features quips of the titles of popular books, and many famous words and phrases that are contained within them.  A really interesting work of art that encourages the value of reading and education.  Nicely done!

There were several other non-alien themed items of interest within Roswell.  Not the least of which was a statue and rocket launcher dedicated to rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard (and for whom the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD was named in his honor). Goddard was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the worlds first liquid-fueled rocket.  Though he was born and educated in Massachusetts, he relocated to Roswell in 1930 to continue his work with rocketry.  With few inhabitants and modest climate, the area was ideally suited to his research.  In addition to working with liquid-fueled multi-state engines, he also dabbled with gyroscopic guidance systems.  He truly was a pioneer of the future of space flight, and is well recognized here in Roswell.  Lastly, I payed a visit to a small POW/MIA park.  There I found a small piece of the Berlin Wall that was donated to Roswell by the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) for hospitality and goodwill it experienced during military maneuvers.  It features a clean side (eastern side), and a side that has graffiti (western, democratic side).  Also featured in the park was an iron cross composed of various sized stones.  This was made in 1943 by POWs held nearby in an Afrikacorps camp, as they performed various infrastructure projects including the building of the riverbank stone flood wall.  It was reported that the locals were unhappy with the piece, and covered it up with five yards of concrete.  In the 1980s, a crew cleaning the river bed cleared off the concrete and again revealed the cross once more.  The small park was then known as Iron Cross Park, then later renamed POW/MIA Park in 1996.  A very interesting little park to visit.

Las Cruces, NM

Next, and last on my list of NM towns to visit is Las Cruces.  Back when I worked for General Dynamics, I visited Las Cruces often as it was home to one of the many offices I managed at the time.  So, there will be some places I visit while I’m here that I’ve actually been to before (e.g. White Sands NP, Missile Range, etc).  But, there’s also lots of other places to explore that I’ve not been to before.  Once such place is SpacePort America.  Located 45 miles north of Las Cruces, this 18,000 acre facility is the worlds first purpose built commercial spaceport, designed and constructed specifically for commercial customers.  The facility supports both vertical and horizontal launch of aerospace vehicles.  SpacePort is not open to the general public, but a single private touring company (Final Frontier Tours) has access to provide a small group of 10 or less an inside look on a weekly basis on Fridays.  So soon after I arrived in town, I contacted them to see if they had room for one more for their next Friday tour.  As luck would have it, they did.  So, off I went in their comfortable van for a trip to SpacePort.  Upon arrival to the area, the first thing we saw was a structure known as a suborbital accelerator (pictured at left, bottom).  Never heard of one of those?  Well, that’s ok, as neither had I.  One of the tenants of SpacePort is a company called SpinLaunch.  Imagine a couple of young guys with engineering degrees sitting in a bar having a few beers, and on a napkin they envision and design a device that can be used to fling objects into space using kinetic energy.  Thus was born SpinLaunch. Even though I was still 6 miles from this thing, and even with full zoom on my camera, I was able to garner a glimpse of this massive accelerator.  Standing as tall as the Statue of Liberty, and  wide enough to fill a football field, this giant centrifuge is used to spin a rocket around at speeds approaching 5,000 MPH, then release it to travel up to suborbital space, where a much smaller engine and fuel source would fire up and take the payload to its intended orbit.  The concept is to eliminate all of the fuel necessary (traditionally 90+ percent) that is required to get the rocket off the ground and into space.  I found this so amazing and interesting! I really can’t fully do justice to what this thing is, so here are a few videos that will provide some wonderful overviews of this technology.

Simulated Overview

Actual Test Shot

Detailed/Geek Version

The arc shown in the picture above is known as Genesis – a 40 foot long, 5 feet deep, 11,000 pound, $200,000 art piece featured in a roundabout at the entrance to SpacePort.  The creator was sculptor Otto Rigan, who beat out 221 other artists who submitted proposals for an entrance art project.  Inlayed in the top of the steel throughout the arc are round glass pieces with imbedded mirrors, which are meant to represent the stars.  It is said that they often glow in the evening from the light of the moon.  Pretty cool!

The tour of SpacePort included lots of stops including the replica of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two, which is billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space ride venture.  For a mere $1M, you too can get a quick ride into space some 60KM above earth.  But, there’s already a long prepaid waiting list, so it might be a few years before you get your ride in.  The large building pictured here is the GTS (Gateway to Space) Hanger, and anchor tenant Virgin Galactic’s home base.  The SpaceShip Two, which is flown into low orbit by the Mothership airplane, are all stored in the lower section of the hanger.  Upper sections consist of astronaut training areas, visitor view sections, and other corporate use spaces. If you are interested in seeing how this space ride process works, here is a little video I found on YouTube which shows the Unity Flight that happened just over a year ago (HERE).  Also, while we were there, a Learjet flew in with who knows what muckety-mucks onboard.  It was there for less than an hour before it taxied back out to the runway and took off.

We also visited the SOC – SpacePort Operations Center.  It contains various engineering and operations offices, as well as the command and control center for all SpacePort Operations.  It was significantly less impressive as say a NASA Flight Operations Center, but it did provide a nice view of the runway.  It is only operational when there are horizontal launches or landings going on.

I was frankly torn about sharing these pictures with everyone, but the geek in me decided it was necessary.  In what I would assume to be a fairly high end, technically sophisticated facility, I saw a couple of rookie mistakes that any 1st year IT professional would quickly identify and poke fun at.  First up, the welcome station at the entrance of the SOC (which was unmanned when we visited) had a SpacePort America computer workstation (pictured at right, top).  If you take a closer look at the screen, you will see that this workstation is running Windows 7 Professional.  Mainstream support for Win 7 ended on Jan 13, 2015, while full support, including updates and security fixes, ended on Jan 14 2020.  So there have  been no security updates to this PC for over two and a half years.  That’s just unthinkable for any corporate entity – especially so for one that purports to be high tech and state of the art.  My second IT Poke of Fun was on the center workstation in the operational area of the SOC.  So this workstation is presumably used to provide command and control for launches and landings of very sophisticated and expensive aerospace vehicles.  Located on the lower left corner of the screen, and again on the main PC box, was a sticker with a UserID and Password – which I assume provides credentialed access to the workstation.  Besides being a rookie IT mistake, it’s also a significant no-no from an IT security perspective.  It’s clear to me that this facility has not been through an IT Security Audit in a very long time, as these audit failure issues would have been identified and immediately corrected.  Oh well, I guess having spent much of my IT career combatting and preventing such security failures has tainted me.  But come one guys – really?

Some other things we got to see at SpacePort was the inside of the GST, and the amazing runway (at left, top right).  The runway was pretty interesting – it’s 200 feet wide, 12,000 feet long (2.27 miles), and an incredible 43 inches thick with steel and concrete.  It supposedly can handle any and all type of aircraft or spacecraft formerly or currently in existence (including the Space Shuttle).  For a bit of fun, the tour bus driver took us for a quick spin down the runway.  Though we didn’t reach Mach 3 speeds, it was a quick/fun ride.  Lastly, we visited the inside of the GST Hanger visitor area, going in the same way that SpaceShip Two astronaut candidates would also go.  From there we got an obstructed view (through frosted glass that also prohibited photos) of the actual SpaceShip Two aircraft.  From what I could see, it was kinda cool.  In the visitor center they also had a spinning machine (or as I call it, the spin and puke) that is designed to test your suitability to space travel.  Folks on the tour were offered the opportunity to take a ride on this thing.  While several of them took up the offer, I already had no doubt about my lack of suitability to being an astronaut and politely declined.  But it was fun to watch others being flung around on this thing.

Our last stop on the tour was to the Fire/EMT operations area to see the specialized fire fighting equipment and to meet some of the firefighters.  They gave us a tour of a specialized fire truck, which is more commonly found at airports and such.  It not only contains water, but various types of foam and other specialized fire combatant materials.  It was interesting to see.

Well, overall I have mixed thoughts about SpacePort.  One the one hand, it’s a fascinating place with several tenants doing lots of interesting space things.  Besides SpinLaunch and Virgin Galactic, Boing Space and HAPSMobile are current tenants.  The latter is also an interesting company that provides voice and data services by flying large electric drones in the air.  The drones are solar powered and can reportedly stay aloft in flight for several months at a time.  Intro video HERE. Very interesting!  On the other hand, what I also witnessed during the tour was a virtually empty place, and as noted above, certainly lacking in oversight in some key areas.  With the limited number of tenants and limited activity, there are some questions about its long term financial viability – especially since it is partially funded by county taxpayers.  The guards and EMT/Firefighters cost millions to maintain, while most of the time they are under utilized due to lack of activity.  There is also lots of controversy about the viability of SpinLaunch.  I found lots of YouTube videos debunking the technology, suggesting it will never work.  So, while all of the work being done at the SpacePort is interesting and mostly cutting edge, only time will tell if we can fling rockets into orbit, or whether we will have a sustainable commercial space ride venue.  While I’ll never be a customer, the geek in me does hope they will be successful.  Maybe one day one of my kids or grandkids will take a ride into space from SapcePort – maybe even to a moon base or perhaps even Mars.  Who knows?

Later in the week I took a trip to a couple small towns – Truth or Consequences and Hatch. T or C, as it’s referred to by the locals, was formerly known as Hot Springs. They changed their name to Truth or Consequences after being selected among several other towns who responded to a publicity campaign by Ralph Edwards who hosted a radio show of the same name. They were approaching their 10 year broadcast anniversary and were looking for a town to change its name. In exchange, their anniversary show would be broadcast in the town, with lots of professional national publicity. After submitting their application for consideration, and after being selected, the town’s residents ratified the change when a formal vote took place on Mar 31, 1950. Residents voted 1,294 for, and 295 against. The very next day on Apr 1, 1950, the first Truth or Consequences Fiesta took place. 10,000 people showed up, and a large parade was held. From there, Edwards and the town would form a relationship that would span the next 50 years. Edwards and his friends would return to T or C annually to celebrate Fiesta. Ralph Edwards is no longer with us, but the town continues to celebrate Fiesta each year on the first weekend in May.  A truly special story.

There were a couple of interesting stops to make in T or C. The first was the Geronimo Springs Museum. This small regional museum features artifacts that are representative of Sierra County. This includes locally found fossils and stones, a huge pottery collection dating back to 200 AD, and even an old mining cabin that was relocated from nearby Black Range mountains. It also contains a wax replica of Geronimo and other Apache themed items. Lastly, a room dedicated to Ralph Edwards is also present in the museum.  A radio in the corner plays old episodes of the Truth or Consequences show, along with lots of Edwards pictures and other memorabilia.

The other really interesting stop in T or C was the Veterans Memorial Park.  A prime focus element of the park is the half scale traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The wall had been retired here in 2003 after having traveled throughout the nation, making over 200 stops in the US, as well as visiting four Provinces of Ireland. The actual replica had seen lots of wear over the years, and was replaced in 2018 by this new weatherproof granite replica. Known as The Wall That Heals, it includes the names of all 58,420 men and women whose lives were lost or who remain missing as a result of their service in Vietnam.  I’ve not been to the full size memorial in Washington DC, but believe this to be equally inspiring. Also featured  were various monuments along a path shaped like the congressional Medal of Honor, and provides info on every conflict the US has been involved in since 1775, up to and including Afghanistan and Iraq. I’ve visited many veteran memorial parks in my travels, many in small towns such as this, and this one definitely tops the list. Very well done!

Not far from T or C is Elephant Butte Lake and Dam.  Sadly, like many other reservoirs, like Lake Meade and Lake Powell that sit along the Colorado River, here in New Mexico Elephant Butte Lake, which sits along the Rio Grande and is New Mexico’s largest reservoir, is showing water levels at all time lows.  At maximum capacity, this reservoir can hold more than 2 million acre-feet of water.  Thanks to severe drought and significantly reduced winter snow runoff, the reservoir is currently holding only 74,000 acre-feet – less than 5% of total capacity.  Ever expanding exposed shorelines and and stark rings or mineral lines that clearly show where water levels once were, are all sad reminders of the current situation.  Hopefully, this can turn around in the near future.  Also present at the lake was a memorial that pays homage to 4 Boy Scouts that lost their lives here.  In 1943, five unsupervised scouts who were camping in the area found a boat and decided to take it out into the lake.  Sadly, four of the boys drowned, while the fifth boy was eventually rescued and survived.  What a sad story!

Next, I visited the town of Hatch, NM.  With a population of just over 1,500 as of 2020, this small town is known as the Chile Capital of the World.  They grow a variety of peppers, particularly ones that are a staple to New Mexican cuisine.  It wasn’t the Chile that attracted me to this town, but rather its collection of big roadside fiberglass statues.  It all started when Taeko Nunn, the owner of an RV dealership in Hatch, purchased a large muffler man from eBay in 2006, added a small RV in its hand, then placed it in front of his dealership.  Soon after, Taeko opened a restaurant called Sparky’s.  Within a few months of opening, he added an A&W Burger Family on its roof, then a giant pig and chicken in the parking lot, fiberglass replicas of Colonel Sanders and Ronald McDonald on the sidewalk, and a towering 30 foot Uncle Sam along the side.  Across the street, other statues and replicas have been added, making this area quite a tourist attraction.  The restaurants New Mexican green chili cheeseburgers are well known and respected, and I was looking forward to having one.  Sadly, I neglected to do my research, and showed up in town on a day that the restaurant is closed.  Damn!

The town of Organ, NM and the Space Murals Museum would be my next stop.  It simply started out as a mural painted by space fan Lou Gariano, and chronicles the history of the U.S. space program from the 1950s, through the 1986 Challenger explosion.  This mural led to many folks asking Lou to contstruct a building, and they would donate artifacts to fill it.  So, much of the museum contains a rag tag collection of NASA stuff that previously lived in former employees and other collectors basements.  The entire museum is populated strictly from donations.  While the museum may not hold priceless artifacts, it rather has items that would perhaps otherwise be forgotten in other museums.  It included a piece of heat shield tile from a shuttle, a scale model of Space Station Freedom, a home built replica of a Mercury capsule, and lots and lots of photos.  There was even a really nice collection of USPS first day covers, with cancellation marks on the actual day of their respective launches.  A really cool place to visit to see many NASA related items you’d not see elsewhere.

I took a drive out to White Sands Missile Range, hoping to visit their museum.  Sadly, the museum was closed for renovations, and is not scheduled to reopen until later this year.  So, my only option was to walk through the Missile Park which is located just past the front gate.  So, I checked in, gave my drivers license and SSN, had my picture taken, and was given a pass to walk onto the facility and over to the park.  There I would find an impressive collection of rockets and missiles, many of the ballistic variety.  A Scud Buster Patriot missile launcher (at right, lower right) was an interesting piece, complete with “If It Flies, It Dies” stenciled on its side.  Also, a Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Vehicle (pictured right, top right), was a flying saucer shaped vehicle that was used to simulate the Viking Mars Lander, and used to test various deceleration techniques.  Pretty cool!  Also, I was told, and was careful to obey, the restriction of no video, and definitely no photography at all when facing the front gate.  This is a highly secure complex, and they don’t want their gate protocols exposed.  Not a problem – I’ll keep the phone pointed away!

My next day trip would take me 40 miles south to the border town of El Paso, TX for a visit to the US Border Patrol Museum.  First opened in 1985, it built this new 10,000 sq/ft building and moved in in 1994.  This is the only museum representing the Border Patrol, and has artifacts ranging from the agency’s entire history.  The exhibits includes weapons and several vehicles which are used by agents in their daily mission.  It also includes various artifacts that are used by would-be individuals in their attempt to get across the border.  This included a make-shift boat used to cross the Rio Grande, and even sandals with attached wooden blocks to simulate animal tracks.  There was even a 1931 Ford Model A Coup that had been seized from an alien smuggling group that had been operating in El Paso sector.  Overall a very interesting museum honoring those hard working and often thankless job of protecting our southern border.  Nice job!

The other day, I took a day trip out to White Sands National Park – which checks off yet another park visit for this year.   The last time I was here, it was a National Monument having been so designated in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover.  Today it is a National Park thanks to President Trump who made it so in Dec 2019.  The park consists of over 245,000 acres, including the southern 41% of which is a field of white sand dunes of gypsum crystals.  Strong winds in the area is what brings the gypsum crystals easterly, and what eventually forms these dunes.  You can see from the road maintenance that the sand has to be plowed regularly, much in the same way as you would plow snow.  In fact, the area is so white and bright, your eyes will adjust to lesson the pure whiteness of the surrounding.  Besides driving through the park loop, hiking along the many trails is a popular activity, as is also dune sledding.  I caught several families enjoying an afternoon of sledding down the dunes.  The one thing that I did not understand was this crazy sign that was present at several points along the park’s loop road.  It states Dogs on Leash, no Collecting, and No Driving Off Road – which all make sense.  But, it also states No Alcohol, but further restricts that rule to February 1 – May 31.  So what about the rest of the year?  Jun through Jan you can Party Hardy?  I’ve got to admit, this one has me stumped.

Like several of the other New Mexico towns I visited, this area also has a central plaza.  Known as Mesilla Plaza, it has a central church, a park with gazebo, and is surrounded by shops and restaurants – much like those found in Santa Fe and ABQ.  There were a couple of buildings of particular interest.  First up was the oldest documented brick building in New Mexico.  Today known as the Thunderbird de la Mesilla, construction began in 1860 by Augustine Maurin, using brick made from his own kiln.  Also within the plaza was historical Billy the Kid references.  It was here where a courthouse once existed (now a restaurant) that Billy was sentenced to death for his crimes.  The jail he was held in across the street, is now a gift shop.  So, there is that.

Last up in my tour of Las Cruces are a few additional Roadside America finds.  One of which is yet another carving by famed Peter Toth in his Trail of the Whispering Giants series.  I think I’ll be seeing one or two more of these as I make my return to Florida.  Then, while I’m in Florida, I plan to visit his Florida studio, and hopefully get a chance to meet him as well.  This particular sculpture was dedicated in August 1986 here in Apodaca Park, and is in really nice condition.  Located in a rest stop along I-10 is this recycled road runner.  The road runner is the state bird of New Mexico, and this 20 foot tall, 40 foot long beauty was built in 1993 by artist Olin Calk and stands tall on a rock overlooking the interstate.  Lastly, I visited the largest Chile Pepper in the world.  This 47 foot long behemoth was built using 5,000 lbs of concrete.  It lays in the front of a motel aptly named the Big Chile Inn.

Friends & Family

No trip to Las Cruces would be complete without spending some time with one of my former coworkers from GDIT.  Allen provided IT support for our Las Cruces offices, and has since continued his career advancement by managing all sites and staff including and west of NM, CO, WY, and MT.  Allen invited me to join him and family member Leo to a local firing range to get in some shooting practice.  It had actually been quite a while since I’ve been shooting (which was clearly evident by the lack of any groupings on my paper targets), so I went along.  It was a lot of fun, and definitely pointed out my need for continued practice.  Then, I was invited over to Allen’s house to partake in what can only be considered a true fiesta!  Earlier in the day, he smoked ribs and mac-cheese, then added brats, homemade potato salad, rolls, and an host of other goodies.  What an absolute feast!  It was really wonderful spending time with him and his wife Sarah again, and also having the opportunity to meet his extended family.  Thanks Allen and crew for an absolutely wonderful day and evening.

Final Thoughts

Well, my 2022 RV adventure is winding down, and I’ve only got less than 5 weeks remaining before I get back to my home base in Florida.  I have two future extended stops that will be a two week visit in TX, and one week visit in MS.  Both of these stops have folks I look forward to catching up with, and will likely also include some area sightseeing.  Otherwise,  most of my remaining stays as I migrate back towards the east will be just 2 or 3 day quick stops with limited tourist activities.  So, definitely approaching the end of this journey.  But, I look forward to getting back to the home base, catching up on some RV and truck maintenance, spending time with my brothers, and working on laying out the 2023 travel adventure.  It’s been an adventurous journey so far this year, and I hope for continued safe and uneventful travels.  And for all my family, friends, and neighbors in Florida, I wish you safe passage through the upcoming Hurricane Ian.  I hope this little tip shown at right will be helpful!  Till next time, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!