Top 10 Historical Sites

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Alcatraz Island inmates

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Top 10 National Parks

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Big Horn Sheep at Yellowstone

First year in review

It has been awhile since I, Sunset the Snake gave one of my reports from the road. So since I do not have as much to do I thought I could report on the first year the Martin family has spent on the road. Yes a snake has put together a video, made the map and compiled the stats! If you do not believe this then you're imagination is seriously lacking and I am afraid you may suffer from serpent prejudice! Sorry about the lack of sound on the video, youtube has been having fits accepting the music, but we are trying to replace the sound with an audio swap but youtube is also having fits with that!

So here is the adventure by the numbers:

• We started in Cambridge, IL and ended the year in Pittsburgh, PA.
• We traveled over 35,000 miles between the RV and the vans.
• We visited 22 states
• Over 100 Walmarts and 1 Target
• We replaced eight tires.
• We visited 17 Zoos/Aquariums.
• We lost a total of 7 teeth.
• We explored 49 National Parks.
• We soaked up the sun on 10 different beaches.
• We ate at over 70 unique eateries and 25 different McDonalds and 95 other national or regional restaurant chains! 
• We saw at least 277 different species of animals.
• We toured 27 workplaces.
• We went to 6 different amusement parks.
• We spent time in two different countries.
• We traversed through 42 state parks.
• We stayed at over 120 campgrounds!
• Celebrated 7 birthdays.
• Expanded our horizons in over 40 museums.
• All in 372 days (this is from 9/23/10 - 10/1/11)

more...

Check out the basic path we took on our trip in the first year!

Four Corners

We are sorry, but we have removed this post because it is a part of our new book entitled Napkin Dreams.

 

 

Campground Review - Coronado RV Park

We visited some friends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and stayed a a night at Coronado RV Park in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Nearby attractions - 8 - On the north side of Albuquerque. Plenty of fun things to do around here.

Staff - 8 - Talked to one staff member who was very helpful and nice.

Natural surroundings - 9 - Close to Highway 550, but you feel like you are far away from the city. Our site overlooked the Rio Grande River. We had a road runner stop by our campsite and say hi!

Value - 9 - We paid $18 for one night for a back-in site with only electricity.

Bathrooms - 7 - Bathrooms were clean but the shower was small and only one per bathroom.

Roominess - 8 - Plenty of room length wise and decent width. Several of the full hook-up sites have a really nice shelter on the sites as well.

Facility fun - 6 - Very nice playground and walking paths on site.

Cleanliness - 7 - Nice and clean, but some of the sites had pretty permanent residents with a bit of junk on them.

Facility usefulness - 5 - Dump site and dog run.

Overall - 8 - Cheap and clean and quiet.

Faith Comes by Hearing

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14

While we were in Albuquerque we were advised to visit and take the tour of a para-church ministry called Faith Comes by Hearing which is headquartered there. Faith Comes by Hearing started off as a cassette tape ministry that produced audio Bibles and other Christian tapes in the 1970s by Jerry and Annette Jackson, who also traveled around the country in an RV!

Today Faith Comes By Hearing is committed to reaching the nations with the Word of God in

audio, offering the Bible in a format that will connect with the world's 50% illiterate population. To accomplish this enormous task, the Lord has assembled a group of committed leaders and dedicated servants of His Word to develop into a reality the vision of bringing His church together and making disciples.

Currently, Faith Comes By Hearing offers 546 languages reaching over 5 billion people in 185 countries. Faith Comes By Hearing is rising to meet the biblical needs of a complex world through modern technology. MP3 Bible, BibleSticks for all ages, and third-world culturally adapted playback units,Proclaimer, are just a taste of the technology that God is using to spread His Word throughout the world with Faith Comes By Hearing programs. And, the plans include offering this technology in every language or tongue…

We purchased the Kid's Bible Stick, which contains the New Testament for kids and songs on the memory stick. Our kids have already listened to quite a bit of it. Chase was listening the other day and said "Hey Mom, I heard Jesus!"

The Military BibleStick is a digital audio player that is pre-loaded with a dramatized recording of the entire New Testament. Chaplains from every branch of the military are flooding Faith Comes By Hearing with requests. Over 107,000 of these Audio Bibles are now in the field. Over 700 chaplains use Military BibleSticks in pre-deployment briefings, counseling sessions, Bible studies, weekly chapels and other spiritual services.

About 3.5 inches long and less than an inch thick, these pocket-sized Audio Bibles are field-friendly with a low-key design which reduces visibility for use in low-light situations.

They also offer free audio Bible downloads in many languages and have a free app for iphone and other phones called Bible.is They have any incredible way to track how many audio Bibles have been downloaded or streamed live using this app and the website. We got to see the huge live map of audio Bibles being listened to across the world, even in the middle of the ocean (aboard Navy ships). Our brother-in-law Joe's brother Jeremiah works for this top notch organization. Be sure to check them out and consider how you or your church could partner with them.

Petroglyph National Monument

We visited what I believe to be our 22nd National Park/Monument when we stopped by Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is a great little stop because there are tons of Petroglyphs to see. A Petroglyph is an ancient native rock carving or drawing.

Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources including volcanoes, archeological sites and an estimated 24,000 carved images. Many of the images are recognizable as animals, people, brands and crosses; others are more complex. We have seen Petroglyphs a couple of times before, but not in these numbers. There were tons of them.

We went on a couple of different hikes and the boys enjoyed hunting for them and trying to decipher them. Of course we saw some more modern Petroglyphs, like peace signs and Johnny loves Suzy, which are strictly forbidden and pretty classless in our opinion.

The junior ranger program at this park is one of funnest we have done and the boys got a badge and a patch! Definitely a place to stop if you find yourself in the area!

Campground Review - Santa Fe Skies RV Park

We visited some friends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and stayed a couple of nights at Santa Fe Skies RV Park in Santa Fe.

Nearby attractions - 8 - On the edge of Santa Fe. Lots of things to do around this area.

Staff - 6 - Talked to two staff members, both friendly but not exceptionally so.

Natural surroundings - 6 - Some trees scattered around the park.

Value - 5 - We paid $35 for one night for a pull-through site with full hook-ups cable.

Bathrooms - 8 - Nice and clean bathrooms. Lots of showers and they were nice and hot.

Roominess - 8 - Plenty of room length wise and decent width. Picnic table at each site.

Facility fun - 3 - Walking path close by.

Cleanliness - 8 - Nice and clean.

Facility usefulness - 9 - Laundry facility, camp store, free wifi, small lending library dog run.

Overall - 8 - Probably the best choice in Santa Fe.

Los Alamos

Every kid should know where and how the government of the United States engineered the nuclear bomb! I had heard of the mysterious Los Alamos laboratory where Robert Oppenheimer led a team of scientists from all over the world in a race to beat the Germans in developing the world's first Atom bomb. As it turned out it was the Japanese who the US would feel forced to use the most famous bombs in history against.

The two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were named Fat Man and Little Boy. Fat Man was a very round bomb and was named after Winston Churchill. There are exact replica of these two bombs at the Los Alamos Bradbury Museum, minus the radioactive material! There are lots of interactive displays at this free museum for kids and adult alike. They also have a couple of films, one which tells the history of the laboratory, the people that have lived there and the making of the nuclear bomb. The laboratory continues to oversee the safeguarding and disposal of the nation's nuclear armament as well as work on the new, top-secret government type things. Probably dissecting aliens and cloning the President.

After letting the boys play around in the puzzle room, we headed over to a restaurant that our friends from Santa Fe, Daryl and Christina Breeze, had told us we had to try. Hill Diner in Los Alamos. We didn't stop here for dinner, but rather for the gigantic pieces of banana cream pie. It was a truly atomic experience!

Aztec Ruins National Monument

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Campground review - Desert Rose RV Resort

On our way from Moab, Utah to Albuquerque at the Desert Rose RV Park in Farmington, New Mexico.

Nearby attractions - 6 - Close to Aztec Ruins National Monument. Within half day of Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Los Alamos, and Albuquerque.

Staff - 8 - Talked to three staff members, all who were friendly and helpful.

Natural surroundings - 6 - Some trees scattered around the park.

Value - 7 - We paid $31.50 for one night using our Escapees discount. Pull-through site with full hook-ups cable.

Bathrooms - 8 - Nice and clean bathrooms. Three showers and they were big and hot.

Roominess - 8 - Plenty of room length wise and decent width. Picnic table at each site.

Facility fun - 8 - Decent playground, small game room. Pool and hot tub, but they do not open until after Memorial Day.

Cleanliness - 8 - Former KOA Park, has that same feel. Pretty clean.

Facility usefulness - 9 - Laundry facility, camp store, propane Free wifi. Nice dog run.

Overall - 7 - One of many choices in Moab.

Get your kicks on Route 66

 

 

Sorry, this mpost has been taken down because it is in our book detailing our trip across America!

 

 

Campground review - Road Runner Park

After leaving El Rancho Lobo with our pesky kids, we found several RV parks in and around Deming. We settled on the Road Runner RV Park because it said it had a heated pool and hot tub. We found out the pool was no more. We had to wait for a UPS package to catch us, so we ended up here three nights. Very glad to move on to warmer Arizona at the end of the stay.

Nearby attractions - 6 - Not much in nearby Deming. Las Cruces is about 60 minutes away. City of Rocks State Park and a couple of other State Parks nearby. Some ghost towns also close-by.

Staff - 6 - Two staff were great, one was whateva and one was a bit rude. I asked him a question and he said look in the bleeping brochure I gave you when you checked in.

Natural surroundings - 7 - Great view mountains and stars at night.

Value - 6 - We paid $29 a night for three nights.

Bathrooms - 7 - We liked the bathrooms, although a couple of them didn't seem to get warm enough.

Roominess - 6 - It was OK, Barely enough room for our rig and tow dolly and van.

Facility fun - 4 - Pool is dead, hot tub is still going. Not much else to do here.


Cleanliness - 6 - An older park that is seeing some wear.

Facility usefulness -7 - Laundry facility was small but moderately priced. Wifi was slow most of the time except the middle of the day. Very small lending library. They sell propane, small camp store.

Overall - 7 - About as good as it gets in Deming, New Mexico.

Totally Awesome Hide and Seek

By Patsy

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Campground review - El Rancho Lobo RV Park

We wanted a place to stay a couple of days to make some small repairs, do laundry, shop and wait for a package. El Rancho Lobo RV Park in Deming, New Mexico seemed like a nice place, but since they were hesitant about our kids, we moved on after one night there. It does seem there are more 55+ parks here in the southwest!

Nearby attractions - 6 - Not much in nearby Deming. Las Cruces is about 60 minutes away. City of Rocks State Park and a couple of other State Parks nearby. Some ghost towns also close-by.

Staff - 5 - Helpful staff, but they are bit scared of kids!

Natural surroundings - 7 - Great view mountains and stars at night.

Value - 7 - We paid 19.50 a night for with our Passport America card, $5 more than advertised because of our kids.

Bathrooms - 8 - Decent bathrooms but only one.

Roominess - 6 - OK, but for being out in the middle of nowhere I thought the sites could have been bigger.

Facility fun - 1 - Not much to do plus they wanted us to keep our kids inside the RV.

Cleanliness - 7 - This park is out in the country, and it has a clean country feel.

Facility usefulness -6 - Laundry facility was decent, but only one bathroom to share for everyone. No propane. They do let you receive mail and packages here.

Overall - 5 - Stay away if you have kids!!

White Sands National Monument

We had some of the most fun we have had on our entire trip at White Sands National Monument. While we didn't know about the sleds until it was too late, we had a blast anyway just rolling, bouncing, body surfing and tumbling down the huge dunes created from gypsum. Even mom got in on the fun (watch the video!). We also enjoyed searching for animal tracks and the younger boys did the junior ranger program, their fifth so far on this trip. Lots of badges and patches!

Confidence building

Parenting is tricky. Parenting teenagers is downright perilous. A big part of our motivation for taking our "Big Trip" was to get in some true bonding time with our kids. We recently stayed and Oliver Lee State Park in New Mexico, near Alamogordo. State Parks are great places to camp because they are more roomy and not as crowded with snowbirds, even if they don't always have all the amenities.When we pulled into the park, which sets in the shadow of a mountain range, we noticed a door shaped cave part of the way up one of the mountains. We took a look at the cave with the binoculars and saw it was just a small cave, but Blake and I decided we wanted to climb up to see it the next day. It looked like there was even a path hewn into the side of the mountain meandering up to the opening.

Once we got under the mountain it was hard to spot the cave. We thought we spotted it, but without a path, so began the arduous task of climbing up the side of a mountain covered with loose rocks and tons of cacti! Both Blake and and I made it to a ledge with several cactus scars on our hands. From here we saw the path to the cave, which was over about 100 yards from where we were.

We made our way over there and began climbing up the rough path. The air was thinning fast and dad was sucking it in deeply. Blake kept encouraging me to continue on. I thought the view was pretty good from where we were, but I was not going to let my 13 year old son see his dad give up, so on we went. We finally reached the cave on a ledge. Blake was pumped.

"I can feel the adrenaline rush" he screamed.

He was so proud of himself and could not wait to tell his mom and brothers about our experience.

There was a bit of a high we both felt was we looked out over the valley and could spot Howard down below. The cave was pretty small, but it was the prize we had set out after, so we both felt like winners. Not only was this a good memory we both have shared now, but it was a much needed confidence builder in a young teenager's heart. I would love to hear some of the adventures you have shared with your teenage son to help them discover their untamed heart God put inside us!

Eagle Ranch Pistachio Farm

Our family may seem like a bunch of nuts, but really we are mostly nuts about a certain nut. For many families the peanut reigns supreme on the top of the nut list. We do peanuts, mostly in the creamy form mixed with chocolate. However the nut that is the top nut in our family is the pistachio.

I had read that one of the crops grows well in New Mexico is the pistachio tree, and that a couple of farms gave tours of their operations. Well one nut plus another equals two nuts, so we found a farm, Eagle Ranch, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, that not only gave tours, but also sold some uniquely flavored pistachios like chile and roasted garlic along with pistachio cookies, biscotti and ice-cream. Sounded good to the nut-loving Martins!!

We had to keep in mind we were visiting in January, so the operations side of things were in slow mode. We did get to see the quality control ladies sort through pistachios and another worker packaging some fresh nuts. We learned how the climate of New Mexico is similar to that of Iran and perfect for growing the pistachio tree. Evidently pistachio trees are native to Iran. We also learned about male and female trees, what grafting is (a good Biblical talk a couple of days later referred back to this lesson) and saw the machines separate the good nuts from the rejects (I was reminded of high school).

The BEST part of the tour was the stop at the store at the end where we bought not only a big bag of our favorite nuts, but also a bag of the red chile pistachios and some biscotti. We all also enjoyed taste testing the various flavors of nuts, candies and cookies. All in all it was a nutty day for a bunch of nuts.

Campground review - Carlsbad RV Park

We found a nice little Passport America RV Park in Carlsbad, New Mexico, The Carlsbad RV Park, so we could see the sites nearby. We also met another full-time family here, they had six kids! It is cool to see our kids making friends with other kids at RV Parks and other places we go.

Nearby attractions - 8 - Besides Carlsbad Caverns and Gaudalupe Mountains National Park, Roswell is close by. There are also a few state parks and Lincoln National Forest, the Sacramento Mountains and lots of other things to see.

Staff - 7 - Helpful staff, but not excellent.

Natural surroundings - 7 - Some trees and the mountains are in view.

Value - 8 - We paid 17.00 a night for two nights with our Passport America card.

Bathrooms - 8 - Decent bathrooms with four showers in each of them. Bathrooms have coded locks.

Roominess - 7 - Average size sites for RV Park.

Facility fun - 9 - They have an indoor pool which was closed for renovation. Nice playground, some ponies for petting and some turtles which were hibernating. Big game room and a free DVD library for borrowing.

Cleanliness - 7 - Average.

Facility usefulness -8 - Laundry facility was decent, but my wife has a story to tell about an impatient camper who took our undies out of the washer! Nice little store. No propane. Pull-through sites, dog run.

Overall - 8 - We would give our recommendation for this RV Park for those visiting the Carlsbad area!

Roswell - the city of abductions

We are sorry, but we have removed this post because it is a part of our new book entitled Napkin Dreams.

 

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