It’s A New Day….

We awoke to a beautiful day, here at Cherry Creek State Park, in Aurora, CO. Linda and I took our morning coffee outside to enjoy in the cool temps. Our site is very nice, siting on top of Good Rush Loop, where we can overlook many of the sites that sit lower in the loop. Boomer has been enjoying being outside, hanging out on the patio or laying in the gravel. He’s such a mellow dog and that is probably due to him being 14, although you wouldn’t know he’s that old except for the gray on his face. There are two big, black and white birds that must have a nest in the tree next to our site and they must view Boomer as a threat to their babies. He’s trying to be a good neighbor but one will sneak up behind him and peck his tail, when he’s laying outside the rig. Once the bird has done that, Boomer will take a little hop toward the bird and it will retreat. This bird will do that even when we are sitting out there within 6’ of this bird. It’s kind of funny to watch but I think Boomer is growing weary of it. Maybe the bird thinks that Boomer is his big brother (they do have the same coloring) and just wants to play.
We were able to check in here yesterday, around mid-day, after spending Saturday night at the Flying J, just down the road from here. We were actually parked next to another couple, who is a few sites from us here, who were also waiting to come to Cherry Creek. Our reservations have us leaving on Friday morning but since my surgery is Friday, the campground manager has agreed to let us move to an overflow spot on Friday. We’ll have to check out on Saturday and I’m hoping that I feel well enough to travel so that we can start the drive back home. If we have to hang around for a few more days, for post-op, we’ll have to find another campground in the area. We’ll see what Friday’s surgery entails and go from there.
I’m trying to stay positive and upbeat for my surgery but we had some terrible news yesterday and it’s been really hard to deal with. My daughter and son have been taking turns, going to be with their dad, who had triple bypass surgery back in PA. Becky spent the initial week with Joel during his surgery and hospital stay. Jay spent this past week with his dad and early Sunday morning Joel had to go back to the hospital and something went horribly wrong and they couldn’t stop or reverse it. Jay called me around 3 a.m. to say that his dad had passed away. It was a horrible shock when he seemed to be well on his way to recovery. Jay and his older sister Liz (from Joel’s previous marriage) got to be with Joel when he passed. He was so loved by all five of his kids as they have traveled to spend time with him during this whole ordeal. Joel adored all of his kids and his grandkids and has left a really big void in their lives with his passing.
Joel was very involved in the Sayre/Waverly business community, serving on many boards and felt very strongly about giving back and helping others. Joel spent his life in TV and radio and retirement did not slow him down at all with all of the charitable work that he did. Here is one of this morning’s front page articles that appeared in a paper back home, that goes into more detail about his work with the community. Joel played Santa for many years in Sayre, with his natural white beard and jovial manner. Joel and I  have been good friends over the years, since our divorce, and Joel has always been a part of our family’s holiday functions. I feel very conflicted about being so far from home during this tough time in my kids’ life but they have told me that I need to focus on my health as well and that I need to take care of myself. I know they will get through this but it’s tough for all of us nevertheless. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this really tough time. I know he is still very much with us in spirit and always will be. Rest in peace Joel….you were loved and will be missed.

Great Day with an Old Friend

Another chilly start to our day today. I had opened up the curtain around the front window and we were sitting around having breakfast. Boomer starts barking and is looking out the front window. Here stands this little black goat, looking at the rig, and around his neck, he’s got a red collar with a big cowbell on it. He stands there and looks at Boomer while he’s barking at him…Then he trots up the road. There’s hardly anyone here in the campground so I’m not sure where he came from or who he belongs to. Guess he was just out for his morning stroll. How cute…
I got the flat tire plugged and filled with air, ready to go back on the car. Got cleaned up as we needed to go to Winston Salem. We had made a date with our friend, Ted to have lunch with him. Ted is a resident at the retirement community we managed and Linda would make his day when she’d give him a hug AFTER he’d say, at breakfast: “It’s a wonderful day at the old folks home.” We’ve been chatting with him, each month, since we left there and he’s so dear to us. Ted retired from the Air Force, after having spent 20+ years in Colorado. He loved hearing about all the areas we’d visit while we were out there in his home state. He came back to Winston because his daughter lives here. We’re going to get together again with him before we leave at the end of the month.
After lunch with Ted, we decided that we’d better get new tires on the car since I’ve plugged them at least three times now. They are pretty worn out ( my car has 214,000 miles on it), although not all of these miles on this set of tires. Ended up getting them at Discount Tire, after missing out on a set at Sam’s Club. I ran into Sam’s right before we needed to meet Ted for lunch and they only had four tires in stock to fit our car. By the time we left the restaurant and got back there, they had sold two of the four tires. So we went down the street to Discount Tire….only cost us $12 more than it would have at Sam’s but man, talk about a quick way to blow $500. They replaced our spare tire (the one that had never been used), with the best tire of the ones that came off the car since the spare was starting to show dry rot. Discount Tire is in quite a few of the states that we work around the country so we can get free tire rotations at any of their locations.
Bought a few of the “helper” shelves to help finish up our organization project in our cupboards. Everything is laid out nicely now…easy to get to and broken up into “food areas” and “work supplies”. Tomorrow I need to tidy up the garage a little bit. Things are getting a little out of hand there. Here’s some of the pictures I promised.

Windmill Generator (Not an Alien Pod)

For those of you who follow Linda on Facebook, we posted this picture last week as we were traveling up from Colorado. For three consecutive days, we saw this on the road. On the second day that we saw it, it was parked at a rest stop. We got to chat with the guy driving the escort vehicle and contrary to us thinking this might be an alien pod, it turned out to be a generator that goes on a windmill. It weighs 240,000 pounds…holy cow ! It was picked up in Brighton, Colorado and is going to Pocatello, Idaho. The tractor pulling it started to leak oil so he unhooked and left it parked at the rest stop until another tractor could come the next day.
At first we couldn’t figure out where this generator would go….on the ground ? But then we came to a whole ridge of windmills in Wyoming. Upon closer inspection it looks like this is located on the backside of the blades. Look at his picture….it’s the button-like thing on top behind the blades. Mystery solved…..no aliens….just mother nature at work with pure energy..

Wyoming….

  We’re enjoying our time in Wyoming. What a nice drive up here, from Colorado. There was record snowfall this winter, so it hasn’t been until the last three weeks that this area has experienced any warm up in temps. There is still snow in the mountains all around the park.
This is horse country..even as you drive into town there are horse pastures all along the road, right up to the town limits. We arrived Thursday afternoon and got set up. Had our meeting with the campground owner and then started selling on Friday. We’ve had pop-up thunderstorms every afternoon. The area has had a great deal of rainfall, since June, and many areas have experienced flooding. All the rain has made for lush pastures and gorgeous flowers.
We spent Friday morning selling in Afton….a really cute town down the road from Thayne. They have the world’s largest Elk horn arch over the street in the center of town. Quite a site to see. We were parked, in downtown Afton, along the curb and could hear some dogs barking. I looked up and saw these cute little guys, watching us from their perch at a second story window. How cute !
The park here is very large…806 sites. They have a golf course, which is extremely busy, and several other amenities. It is surrounded by the beautiful mountains and Linda and I don’t seem to be bothered as much by the elevation. No shortness of breath, like in Colorado. Maybe we’re finally getting used to being in the mountains. Going to be in Thayne for a total of ten days and then we move on to Jackson for ten days there. Looking forward to our time in Wyoming…

Wolf Creek Pass

Yesterday Bobbie took us to Pagosa Springs so we could see the town and mail off our last job. From here we had to go over Wolf Creek Pass, which is something to see. A nine mile climb with a 7% grade on one side and 6% grade on the other side. Bobbie drove the jeep which is pretty nimble but it still requires downshifting for the climb up and for the descent. We stopped at Treasure Falls on the way back home.
We wanted to experience Wolf Creek Pass, with it’s 10,000+ elevation, because we might have to go over it on the way back from some assignments in western Colorado. Since we haven’t done any mountain driving, this was our real life lesson. Pagosa Springs is much bigger than I thought is would be. We’ll be coming there in about a month to do a park in town, as well as two in Bayfield and two in Durango.
There is still snow in the high elevations. We stopped at the Continental Divide…Linda stood on one side and I on the other. As the sign says behind us, “Every drop has a destiny”…depending what side of the Divide it falls on. That was fun ! Our trek over the mountain to see what was on the other side was a fun adventure. I think Linda is going out on Sunday for more “mountain driving” training. The remaining days of our vacation are flying by. Leaving on Tuesday for Wyoming…..wringing the last bit of fun out of this weekend. Hope everyone has a great 4th !

Colorado

We left Oklahoma City Saturday morning and started out for Johnstown, CO. Gorgeous weather on Saturday. Beautiful blue skies and warm temps. Spent the night in Salina, KS area. Today we started out about 10 and we've stopped for the night in Limon, CO. Today was sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy...and by the time we arrived here (4:00 mountain time), it was downright cold. 44 degrees and calling for 21 overnight. Yuck! Denver is supposed to get snow showers tonight. We are going to try and get into a truck center tomorrow to get our rig and truck aligned. Want to make sure that everything is A-OK with the Mor-Ryde suspension...tires looked a little odd when we stopped at a rest area. We had them aligned about two years ago in Florida and that's when the Mor-Ryde was really messed up and we had to wait a couple days for parts to arrive. Hoping it's not the same thing but before it ruins $900 worth of tires, gonna get it checked.

Our oil filled radiator, that we use on chilly nights, crapped out on us....started leaking oil so we had to throw it out in OKC. We've ordered a little electric one which should arrive in Johnstown by Wednesday but sure wishing we had it now as I'm freezing. Got the furnace running and the heated mattress pad will sure be fired up tonight if it's gonna get down to 21.

We arrive at the new park on Tuesday. Will keep everyone posted on what we see and do.