theboondork's RV blog

a visit to the palace of Governors

5/10/2018

I said yesterday that the governor's palace doesn't look like a palace at all, it looks more like a tourist motel from the 1930s. But the place is really old being built in the 1600s so I guess in those days people living in the wilderness of The New World were happy just to have a roof over their head even if they were the Governor. You notice all the people sitting in the walkway, and if you were in a big city you would figure they were all panhandlers. But here there Native Americans selling their wares.

this is the other end of the governor's palace, my lens wasn't wide enough to take in the whole thing in one shot. If I were the governor I'd rather live in the nice building across the street it looks more like a palace to me

These are the Native Americans selling their stuff at the Governor's Palace. There's a lot of tourists around so they probably do quite well.

Plaza at the governor's palace Santa Fe New Mexico

this is the Plaza in the middle of the Governor's Palace. the palace is built around this little Park

Room in the governor's palace Santa Fe New Mexico

Inside the palace is a Museum. There's a couple of rooms fixed up like they would've been in the old days and the other rooms have displays of various Spanish artifacts. The palace has a very interesting history which would be worth looking up on the Internet. If you remember the old Spanish mission I visited the other day and said it was destroyed during an Indian revolt, well the same tribes partially destroyed the governor's palace and actually moved in and lived here for a while after they ran off or killed all the Spanish.

Religious artifacts in the governor's palace Santa Fe New Mexico

A display of Spanish religious artifacts. To give you an idea of the size, the statue of Jesus in the white robes on the left is life-size. Speaking of religious artifacts, tomorrow I'm going to show the pictures I took of one of the Catholic churches just down the street from the palace.

10 Comments

Barney Ward

5/10/2018 07:45:43 pm

I remember that old building. It is where I was introduced to the FBI. The vendor explained that is the Initials for the "Flat Broke Indians". I had a good time visiting with the folks on the veranda.

Tom

5/10/2018 08:54:18 pm

That sounds like you had a more relaxing time in Santa Fe than I did. By the time I got to the palace I had already been on my feet for about three hours so standing around and talking was not in the cards.

I think next time I take a day trip I won't try to go so many places and do so many things, but there's so many things to see in Santa Fe I should've taken two relaxing days instead of one hectic day.

Tom. Still resting up from having toooo much fun.

Tim

5/11/2018 01:29:33 pm

Looks like a great place to visit. Looking forward to seeing Santa Fe.

BTW, still looking at trucks and am starting to think it might be a GMC, for many different reasons. Although don't know if you've heard, but there was a fire at a truck part manufacturer that is supposed to affect US trucks; the first to be hit is Ford, but the other companies aren't far behind. After the current supplies of Fords are gone (I think there's something like a 80-85 day supply, but not sure about the others), there won't be anymore until they fix the supply problem. So, looks like right when I need to buy a truck, there will be a limited supply, plus gas prices keep going up. Yep, sounds about right for me.

I'm tempted to buy a truck now, but haven't made any decisions yet.

5/11/2018 02:08:54 pm

Yeah I heard about that fire apparently they made magnesium parts so it must've been a pretty difficult fire to put out. I'm not sure what if any effect it will have on the General Motors trucks and is probably too soon to tell. but you definitely don't want to be out looking for trucks if there's a truck shortage going on.

On the other hand I can remember when I finally had a date set to go fulltime. I was so gung ho there was nothing on earth including a truck shortage that would've caused me to extend that date.

I've been a fan of General Motors trucks for a long time and the one I'm driving now which is a 2007 Duramax hasn't given me any reason to change.

From what I've heard the General Motors trucks are supposed to be substantially changed for 2019. My experience has been that when they do that the previous year model becomes instantly old so the unsold 2018s will go for a substantial discount, even more than just the normal year end discount. So this might be a good time to pick up a new 2018 at a decent price.

I can relate to the difficulty of making a decision on what to buy especially for something as costly as a new truck. I was very lucky in that respect because I always bought exactly the same thing, every three years I bought a new, black, Duramax, extended cab or crew cab, General Motors truck. They were so identical the neighbors never even knew I had a new vehicle.

But when it comes to making up my mind on something new I want to buy I have a tendency to research it to death until I reach a state of total confusion and indecision. But like I've said in the past, the modern trucks are all built pretty well, and I see all three major brands pulling trailers around, so I don't think you can go too far wrong picking either one of them.

Tom

5/11/2018 03:14:29 pm

I found a GMC 3500 about an hour away from me at a really good price. It has everything I want and a color I like (it's white - I tend to like lighter vehicles for some reason) and is set up for fifth wheel towing - the only caveat is that it's a long bed. I haven't ruled out long beds, but you made some good points for a short bed. I have a feeling this dealership is having trouble moving the long bed in the white color. Part of me wants to go ahead and get it to be done with this phase, since I'm similar to you and will research it to death if I drag it out.

BTW, the dealership that I bought my 27-5L sold all of their units they had on hand. I'm glad now that I went ahead and locked it down because I might have trouble later in the year. Probably should be thinking along those lines for the truck; plus, my 15 year old SUV is starting to make some weird sounds, which is usually the cue for me to drop another $1,000 on it.

If worse comes to worse with the truck shortage, I'll pay to have it towed here and set it up in a park somewhere until I can buy a truck.

5/11/2018 03:48:56 pm

Is that GMC a SWR or a Dooley? And is it fully equipped? The reason I asked that is contractors like to buy white trucks, I'm not sure why, but they do. But they don't buy them loaded with all the goodies, they just get the basics, and trucks with just the basics are not very popular and don't sell for very much.

Since I try to stay in warm sunny places year-round a light colored truck would make a lot more sense for me, and if I ever got another one it definitely wouldn't be black.

A long bed is a little more difficult to deal with especially if it's a Dooley, but is not the end of the world, I see people driving them all the time. The good thing is its got a bigger fuel tank and more room to carry more stuff. But a long bed Dooley would've made my life a lot more difficult driving around Santa Fe trying to find a place to park, not impossible, just more difficult.

It sounds to me like with your SUV as old as it is that buying a new reliable vehicle is a good move to make whether you're going full time or not, after all you need a reliable vehicle no matter what you're going to do with the rest of your life. And going to the expense of having the trailer towed to you and then putting it up in an RV Park could get rather expensive.

Some RV parks have a storage area where you can pay 30 or 40 bucks a month to keep your RV. And there are some RV parks that have a rule against bringing a trailer there if you don't have a tow vehicle, I know it sounds weird but they don't want to get stuck with your trailer if you don't have the ability to move it.

Tom

5/11/2018 06:31:58 pm

It's the diesel Denali version in SWR, with sunroof, 4X4, etc. So, I wouldn't call it "cheap", but it's a decent starting price compared to other's I've seen.

I'm being somewhat facetious about having the 27-5L delivered here; surely the truck situation won't get that bad. I love my SUV, but I hate to put any more money into it at this point and I have a feeling that may happen soon if I keep it much longer.

The other upside to getting a long bed is that I think I can get everything I want to take in it for the trip to the RV; might have to get a trailer if I get the short bed. However, I'm assuming that there is a greater chance of getting "high centered" with the long bed as well if I'm off the road at all.

I'm going to give it some thought, but am not in a big rush, but need to make a decision in the next couple of months at the latest.

Thanks for giving me input on these issues - it really helps!

5/11/2018 07:25:25 pm

Wow that sounds like a great truck, of course I'm biased because I love GM trucks, I hope one day you don't regret that you passed that up.

Having driven numerous trucks off road while hunting or just running around in the mountains, I think I can safely say that any road you could get a pickup truck high centered on is no place you should be without tires tall enough to keep your differentials from dragging. And you should never be anywhere near a road like that while pulling a trailer. So don't worry about that being a problem with the long bed, it's more of a parking annoyance when you're in town than anything else.

Tom

5/12/2018 06:47:29 pm

I'll be out of town this next week on business, but while I'm gone I'm going to consider going ahead and making an offer on that truck. It really has everything I'm looking for - I just have to weigh the long bed issue and see what I think. It'll probably be a little clearer when I actually see the truck and test drive it. September is coming up fast (can't believe it's already the middle of May), so this would be one big item I can check off.

5/12/2018 07:47:51 pm

Well congratulations for being on the cusp of another big decision. Like I've said before, the truck and the trailer are the big expensive decisions, and once their out of the way the rest of its kinda fun.

I'm assuming you have no fear of the dealer selling the truck before you've made a decision. Or you're not in love with the truck and if that deal doesn't work you'll find something else. I've always believed in not falling in love with vehicles because car dealers can instantly tell when you're in love, they can smell it like a dog smells fear, and you'll never get a good deal that way.

Sometimes I wish I had a long bed, but while trying to find a place to park in Santa Fe I was glad I didn't. Due to the lifestyle I live, which is boondocking, shopping at Walmart with their big parking lots, and avoiding cities as much as possible, I think having a long bed truck wouldn't be a problem very often.

Now if you like to spend time in downtown areas where parking spots are rather small, and you may even have to, perish the thought, parallel Park, the long bed truck will be a handicap.

But take my lifestyle for instance, I'm usually in small towns where parking is not much of a problem, parking and shopping at Walmart probably 95% of the time, and living in parks, National Forests, and BLM land where it really doesn't matter what size vehicle I have, I think in the end it comes down to personal preference. There's good and bad about both bed sizes, there's not a right or wrong choice, so it really doesn't matter which size you end up with as long as you're happy with it.

Good luck on your business trip, although I don't see how you will be able to concentrate on business when you have a whole new life waiting for you just around the corner, and a whole bunch of real, honest to goodness, life-changing decisions to be made before you can bug out.

Tom

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a visit to the palace of Governors

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