2023 Page 45

December 27…well it’s a few days before 2023…After 5 months with family and friends in Florida I’m on the road again…on the way out I stopped by a nice little lake for lunch…nobody here but me and my sandwich.

Staying the night at the Tallahassee Cracker Barrel…I stay here every time I come though the area…using my new yellow wedge leveling blocks under the wheels for the first time…they work very well…Christmas was really nice…all gathered at my sister’s house for the gifts and vittles.

Tomorrow I’m just gonna drone along on I-10 until I get to the Texas border…then it’s backroads to bypass Houston…I hate Houston traffic…may stop by a buddies place in Texas…we will see.

28 December…nice quiet night in Tallahassee last night…don’t know how far I drove today but I’m at the Cracker Barrel in Baton Rouge Louisiana…uneventful on I-10…I’ll be in Texas tomorrow…hamburger sliders tonight…took a couple of frozen patties out of the fridge when I stopped for lunch…so good being on the road again…me and my tiny home do quiet well…we be like peas and carrots 🙂

Topped off my DEF…I use the Blue DEF Platinum stuff…it’s up to $28 for 2.5 gallons now…geez…thanks to all you spawn of the devil politicians…I feel much better now that I’ve given up all hope that there is a single political left that’s not corrupt.

30 December…I’m in Fort Stockton TX (famous for the Buffalo Soldiers)…LONG drive over from La Grange…tomorrow I’m starting what I came out here for…heading through the cowboy country of west Texas…up to UFO county around Roswell, then over to Lincoln NM…ground zero of the Lincoln Country Wars of the late 1880’s…google is your friend…then to White Sands National Monument (lots of rockets and things that blow up)…gotta get some more neat stickers for the van and take some more photos of “Trouble’s Traveling Cup” 🙂

Fort Stockton

Here’s the actual photo of the UFO that crashed outside Roswell in 1947

Called White Sands Missile Range and reserved a rocket with a medium warhead…

31 December….Merry New Year’s Eve….decided to hang out tonight at the Sam’s Club in Roswell NM…not gonna ring in the new year until tomorrow morning cause I’ll be asleep by 9…changed the air filter in the van, gave her a nice wax job after stopping by a great carwash down the street…towels are drying in the sun and life is good…veggie lasagna for lunch…took 3 hours to wash the cheese off my fork…geez…tasted good though…parking lot next door at Walmart is starting to fill with RV’s…temp is around 60, clear skies…morning should be around 40.

Got a nice photo of my niece’s TravelingCcup at the Pecos Fairgrounds sign…and of coarse one of Petunia.

During a routine inspection of things this morning I discovered the bracket holding the cell booster antenna had failed after 4 years…no problem…a couple of small steel 90 degree shelf brackets and all is well…forgot to take a photo of the repair but the antenna hasn’t blowoff so it’s good to go.

1 January 2023…Merry New Year homies…I parked last night in the Sam’s Club parking lot next door to the Walmart in Roswell…I had the whole lot to myself after they closed…lots of RV’s in the Walmart lot but NONE in mine…nice…super quiet also.

I love Old West history…this trip I’ll be visiting lots of places where outlaws and lawmen roamed the streets and killed each other.

Lincoln NM is a neat place…on the National Historic Register of historic places…the whole town has been kept or restored as it looked in the late 1800’s (of coarse Main Street is paved now)…the citizens are proud of their heritage and importance of the town in old west history. Famous figures like Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett walked the streets. Google the Lincoln Country War and you’ll be amazed at what went on here. Here are a few photos…being a holiday everything was closed…it was a privilege walking the sidewalks in the foosteps of history.

Old Lincoln Courthouse where Billy the Kid was held prisoner, escaped, recaptured, killed two of his jailers, and escaped again.

Inside the store

Lots of funeral services were held here for outlaws and lawmen

James Dolan was the main bad guy, he was responsible for many murders during the Lincoln County War.

Nobody knows exactly where Alex McSween and John Tunstile are buried but many think it’s near where the graves are thought to be.

Here’s a pretty good video that explains what went on during the war. There are many documentaries on Youtube about the war.

After seeing Lincoln (again) I headed 7 miles down the road to one of my favorite campgrounds…Rob Jaggers Campground in the Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area…beautiful…$10 a night with my senior pass…hardly anyone here…perfect…may stay again tomorrow to have a day off from traveling…gonna explore the area on my eBike…that’s what I bought the thing for 🙂

The Chulux coffee thing I bought is now officially a piece of shit…thing blew up today…I threw it over a cliff into a ravine…luckily being the super intelligent guy I am my former pour over coffee system is back online…I think of everything 🙂

2 Jan…super quiet but rockin night last night…only a couple of other campers here and they’re at least a quarter mile away…rockin cause the wind was howling…this morning I woke to a winter wonderland…then an hour later I’m socked in with a snow storm…I love this stuff…so comfortable in the van during these times…I’m sitting in the lounge area with the Espar diesel furnace blowing warm gentle air on me…the cup of coffee is warming my hands…life is certainly good.

0730

0830

The set up

It’s times like these I love the way I built the van…completely self contained…I’m stocked with water, food, fuel…I have entertainment, solar power, a generator, a nice crapper…the only limitations to camping are having to restock food and water…I’m usually good for at least two weeks at a time.

Gonna stay here another night to let the weather move out…then will head on over to Quartzsite…was going to stop by my good friend Len’s casa in Silver City but the weather is not that good now…will see him later.

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