Friday, July 6, 2012

July 6, 2012 – From El Paso, TX to Root 66 RV Park…

We celebrated 4th of July at the American RV Park in Anthony, TX,   located up the hill from Camping World at Exit 2 on I-10.  The $25 price is a bit high for us, but the park location is convenient to travelers.  We were delighted to see the park now has bathrooms with showers, a laundry area, and free Wife.  One special benefit is we don’t need reservations—it has LOTS of spaces—wide spaces with 3 different sewer hook-ups for each site.  It was developed originally to be a RV club rally destination park—with accommodations for several hundred RVs.

A bit of extra spice was looking out the camper windows and seeing the beautiful display of fireworks lighting up the sky almost directly across I-10. It was a nice finish to a safe day of driving west.

We were up early and headed through Los Cruses, NM, to head up I-25 to get through Albuquerque before the rush hour.  We had reservations at Enchanted Trails RV park just west of town.  It offers a Passport America rate of $16.

If you are interested in the history of Route 66, this park is the place to visit.  They pride themselves on the memorabilia from the 50s and 60s along Route 66.

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The park has a beautiful pool, welcome on the hot desert days, laundry facilities, a meeting room, pool table room, laundry room and clean rest rooms.   Larry loved the speedy free Wi-Fi.   But, the best part—several wonderful restored trailers from the Route 66 days.  Long for the good “ole days?” Enchanted Trails can scratch the itch.  You can stay in a restored vintage trailer that probably saw Route 66 a time or two.

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This is a 1974 Silver Streak.  Next to it is a 1963  Winnebago “Dot.”

IMG_2524  Isn’t that the cutest thing you have ever seen?  This next one  woke some “forgotten memories for me—I knew this trailer.

IMG_2526 It is a 1956 Yellowstone. 

I came to the RVing lifestyle early—back when I was 19 years old.  Another gal and I rented a small trailer in Woods Trailer Park in Sparks, NV just like the 1956 Yellowstone above.  We had moved to Reno, NV, for a few months so she could get a divorce and she didn’t want to go alone.  Apartment rents were expensive, but we found the little trailer for rent for just $15 a week—affordable to two young ladies living in the big city—for the six weeks needed for her divorce.

It was better than any apartment because it came with a small, private yard—grass and all, next to it.  We could sit outside and BBQ on nice days.

And this long silver trailer home was a blast from the past too.

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She returned to CA at the end of the six weeks, but I stayed and a year or so later married a young man who’s parents lived close by in the same park in a trailer just like the big silver one above.  It was funny looking back at my long-lost memories this morning!

So, if Route 66 is your passion, be sure to stop by Enchanted Trails and be enchanted by the 50s and 60s.  Plus plan on exploring Albuquerque, NM, from this great vantage spot.

We headed west on I-40 for Holbrook, AZ, for a small Passport America discount park, Root 66 RV Park—full hook-ups for $16.50.  The park is about 20 miles west of the Petrified National Forest.  For rock hounds, the park has lots of petrified wood for sale by the pound…much better than getting arrested for collecting it in the National Park.  The NPS doesn’t have a sense of humor about rock hounds collecting THEIR rocks.

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We stopped early this afternoon because the elevation is 5050 feet.  We are trying to minimize Larry’s time above 5,000 ft. Tomorrow we climb up again with the cooler weather on the plateau before descending to 3,000 ft. and much higher temperatures at Kingman, AZ.  We will enjoy today’s 80 degree weather—something to remember when the temperature gauges zing back above 100 degrees!

Next posting, I will tell about the rain—and more rain…..and cleaning the car and truck.

1 comment:

  1. Love those vintage trailers, and especially with your personal history with them. Hope you make it through the hot areas safely.

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