Hello again, welcome back. Our last
chapter concluded on Wednesday, May 6th, with our arrival
in Monument, Colorado, just north of Colorado Springs. We arrived on
a rainy, stormy day, and the forecast for the next four days doesn't
look any more promising. On Thursday we spent most of the day at
home, watching the rain come and go. We had about 20 minutes of
pretty heavy pea sized hail that accumulated on the coach and car and
looked very much like snow. We also saw on the news that further
south in Colorado Springs they had very heavy small hail that closed
the freeway for a while so they had to get the snow plows out.
One storm went right over the top of us
in the early afternoon and there was a lightning strike VERY close.
It was right outside our front window and I would have sworn it hit
inside the RV park, but I talked to one of the workers a little later
and he said they didn't find any evidence that it hit in the park.
We did lose all electric power, however. We did go out during one
break in the action to Walmart and the local Safeway, looking for
coffee since we are running low and are having trouble finding the
Folger's Simply Smooth brand that we use. After we got back to the
park we played cards for a couple of hours since we didn't want to
put too much strain on our batteries by running the TV. We didn't
know how long the power would be out. As it was, the power came back
on about 4:00 and we were up and running again.
The storms continued to come and go
throughout the evening and night. About 1:30 in the morning I woke
up and noticed that the lights that we leave on at night in the
living room were flashing. I also noticed that the monitor panels
for our inverter and power system were flashing and giving weird
indications. I also heard a very loud rattling or clicking noise
coming from outside by the power box. I threw on some pants and
shoes and went outside and found the noise coming from the area of
the power box. It was raining pretty hard, but I shut off the
breakers and the noise stopped. I went back into the coach and the
power was back to normal, although running off of the inverter now
since the shore power was off. I knew we had plenty of battery
capacity to get us through the night, no different than dry camping,
so I shut off all the unnecessary lights and appliances and went back
to bed.
The next morning, Friday, I was up
early and went outside to do some trouble shooting. It didn't take
long to discover that the noise was actually being made by our surge
protector that we use between the RV park power box and the coach.
We bought that surge protector not too long after we bought the
coach, so it is at least nine, maybe close to ten years old and has
been in constant service. I guess it just gave up the ghost. I got
my multi-meter out and checked the voltages in the power box just to
be sure everything was OK, and it was, so I plugged the coach
directly into the power and everything worked perfectly.
Fortunately, the malfunction of the surge protector didn't cause any
damage in the coach.
I was not comfortable not having a
surge protector, especially with all the thunderstorms we have been
having and that are forecast to continue. So I started making some
calls and found that Camping World in Colorado Springs had the one I
need on sale. We had lunch and then got in the car and drove the 30
miles to Camping World and bought a new $400 surge protector. The
drive down on the freeway was kind of wet, with a lot of rain
showers, but the drive back was fairly clear and by 3:00 I had the
new surge protector plugged in and we were protected again. Yea! We
spent the rest of the day in the coach, watching the storms come and
go.
Saturday, May 9th, the
forecast was for another round of storms today, so we decided to just
stay in. We had rain most of the morning and the first part of the
afternoon, but by about 2:00 it turned to snow and we started getting
some good accumulation. Within a couple of hours the satellite TV
went out as the snow built up. At least we can still watch recorded
programs for a few days before the receiver resets and won't work at
all without a signal. I setup my 100 watt light bulb that serves as
my freeze warmer inside the water compartment and filled the water
tank so we could use the internal water and disconnect the hose in
case it freezes. It is supposed to get below freezing tonight, but
not by much, only 29 or 30 in the early morning hours. We spent the
rest of the afternoon and evening watching the snow build up. We
played some cards and watched some TV and just relaxed. At least
once the snow started it was too cold for any thunderstorms, so the
weather died down. There were a couple of tornadoes in Colorado,
maybe fifty miles from us, but nothing that was threatening to us.
Sunday, May 10th, Happy
Mother's Day. Not much of a holiday for us since both are mothers
are gone and Jackie never had kids, but I hope all the other mothers
out there had a great day. We woke up to about four inches of
beautiful snow coating everything, but relatively clear skies. We
took some pictures and enjoyed the beauty, only pretty because we
knew that we didn't have to go anywhere, and it was going to be all
gone when we did have to move. We spent the day in the coach, played
some cards and watched a movie we had recorded on the DVR.
By early afternoon the snow on the sat
dish had melted off and we had TV again. I did make an ugly little
snowman on the picnic table next to the coach. Can't have snow
without a snowman. By sundown most of the snow was gone and we were
back to just wet. The forecast had called for possible showers
today, but nothing materialized and we had the first dry day in a
while. Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly clear and we may be able to
get out for a while.
Monday, May 11th, we finally
awoke to clear skies after a pretty cold night. The forecast calls
for a couple of days without rain. The last of the snow is melting
and it now looks like we never had four inches on the ground. We
left the coach after lunch and went shopping. We ended up at a King
Soopers market, which, based on it's internal styling and the Kroeger
house brand, is Colorado's version of a Fry's market. After our
shopping we did four geocaches, or first caching since arriving in
Monument six days ago. We then headed home and stayed in for the
rest of the day.
Tuesday, May 12th, we left
the coach around noon and drove down to the northern fringe of
Colorado Springs to have lunch with our friends Jim and Pat
Goetzinger. Jim and Pat are fellow full timers, with about 11 years
of travel under their belts, and we met them at a rally about seven
or eight years ago. They are retired school teachers from New
Mexico, but they always spend some time in Colorado Springs because
their two daughters live here. When we were last in the area in 2011
we met Jim and Pat for lunch also.
We met at a place called the Colorado
Mountain Brewery. It was a nice place with an interesting menu.
Lots of bison dishes and some interesting pairings, like bison
poppers and bison chili. I had a bowl of the bison chili and it was
wonderful. I had the prime rib dip with fries, which was also very
good. Jackie had a bison burger and was only able to finish half of
it, taking the other half home. The only down side was that this is
a brewery, featuring it's own craft brews, but when I ordered their
version of a Heisenberg I was told that they were changing kegs. An
hour later they were STILL changing kegs. I ended up getting one of
their blond ales, which was OK. At least they didn't charge me for
it. Later, about the time the food got to the table, they finally
brought me a Heisenberg, also on the house. At least it was a good
beer.
We ate and chatted with the Goetzingers
for about an hour before we left the restaurant and went out to enjoy
the clear weather and do some geocaching. In a couple of hours we
had scored eight new finds, along with one DNF. After caching we
went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday, May 13th, moving
day. At least we woke up to sunshine again with only a 30 percent
chance of showers and minimal chance of thunderstorms. We were
hooked up and on the road by 10:30, and back on Interstate 25, headed
to Westminster, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. It was only a 60 mile
trip, but traffic was bad, there was a lot of construction, and I had
to stop at an urban Pilot truck stop for fuel. Getting in and out of
the truck stop was a bear. We then got to the street I am supposed
to turn on to get to the Westminster Elks Lodge, our destination, and
it was closed for construction. We had to call the lodge to get
alternate directions. I was pretty stressed out when we finally got
to the lodge. They did have a water and electric site available,
which is all we have ever had in the past, and we were in and parked
by about 1:30 or so. They do have some 50 amp full hookup sites
here, but the lodge has no stay limits, and all of the premium spots
are taken by people who come in early and stay all summer. We got
all setup for our five day stay here in the Denver area and relaxed
in the coach for the rest of the day and evening.
Thursday, May 14th, we left
the coach about noon and drove to the south side of Denver to the
Bagel Deli for lunch. We had eaten at this great Jewish deli in 2011
when we were here and the food was outstanding. The place had been
featured on the TV show Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. This time we
both had versions of a pastrami sandwich. We also had an appetizer
of chopped liver and I had a cup of chicken soup. A real Jewish
meal. The food was just as good as last time.
After lunch we went to a laundry to
wash clothes. Once the clothes were done we headed back to the
coach, stopping for one geocache on the way. We had a couple of
brief bouts of rain, nothing serious, but the forecast calls this on
and off afternoon sprinkles for the rest of the weekend. After we
got home we relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Friday, May 15th, Happy
Birthday to my wonderful wife Jackie! And, it's also our baby cat
Benji's birthday. He turned three today. Jackie did not. After
lunch we went out to do some geocaching. We got in three new finds,
including number 7,000, before the rain started again. We decided to
do a couple of Elks Lodge visits, since most are not open on weekends
and we didn't want to cache in the rain. We drove to the Denver
Lodge, Number 17. We had last been in this lodge back in 2008. We
got there right after opening time and were the only one's in the
building besides the bartender. He was actually the Exalted Ruler of
the lodge and was filling in for the bartender who was sick.
The ER's name was Ron and we sat and
chatted with Ron over a couple of Cokes for close to an hour. He
took us on a tour of the lodge and we saw one of the most magnificent
dedicated Lodge rooms we have seen. In their Lodge Room they have
about 3 million dollars worth of 19th century stained
glass from the original downtown Denver lodge building. Ron told us
some interesting stories about his past. He was an Alaskan State
Trooper, a Denver cop, a drug enforcement agent, fire chief and a few
other things.
After the Denver Lodge visit we went to
the nearby Lakewood Elks, another Lodge we had visited in 2008. We
had a cocktail there and visited with the bartender and a couple of
the members. They were unable to get us a lodge pin because they
couldn't get into the display case, no one had the right key. We did
have an old pin on the banner from this lodge, so it was not a big
deal. After visiting Lakewood Lodge we started towards home. We
stopped at a Safeway store for a couple of things and were able to
get another couple of cache finds, bringing the total for the day to
five. The weather in the immediate area was cloudy with sprinkles,
but to the east and north there were some severe storms, including a
couple of small tornadoes. Fortunately, most of the tornadoes in
Colorado don't form until they get a few miles out on the prairie to
the east of the Denver metro area.
After a brief rest at the coach we went
down to the Westminster Lodge, where we are staying, for dinner. We
both had the New York steak entree, which was wonderful. We also
each had a piece of very good cheesecake to celebrate Jackie's
birthday. After dinner we went into the bar for a couple hours for
some drinks and karaoke. They had a very long rotation, so I only
got one song in, but we had a good time listening to the singers and
talking with some of the people at the bar. About 9:00 we left and
went back to the coach for the rest of the night. A very fun day.
Saturday, May 16th, we left
the coach after lunch to do some more exploring and geocaching. We
were only able to go after a couple of caches before the rain started
coming down again. We switched to sightseeing mode and drove
downtown to look around. We thought that the weekend would be better
for driving around downtown, but there was still a lot of traffic and
a lot of construction going on. We had a major driving rainstorm
while we were touring, but after an hour or so it cleared up. We
continued just randomly driving around Denver, looking at
neighborhoods. We did a couple of geocaches, and stopped at a Costco
that we happened to pass. We ended up with only two new finds and
three DNFs for the afternoon. We finally got back home around 5:00
and just stayed in for the rest of the evening.
Sunday, May 17th, we had a
nice Sunday paper and coffee morning and decided to just stay in for
the day. We didn't have any rain, although the skies were cloudy for
much of the day. About 4:00 I decided to take the sun screens off
the windows since they were dry, just in case it rained overnight. I
don't like putting the shades away wet. As it turned out, we had
rain a couple hours later, so, good decision.
Monday, May 18th, we were
packed up and on the road about 10:30, still heading north on
Interstate 25, this time to Cheyenne, Wyoming, about 100 miles to the
north of Denver. The skies were overcast for the whole trip, but we
never got more than a few sprinkles on the trip. We arrived at the
A-B Campground in Cheyenne about 12:30 and were parked and setup by
1:30. We had a quick lunch and went out to do some exploring, since
it still wasn't raining. We spent a couple hours driving around
downtown and the Capital area. We also stopped to get one geocache
since we were not sure how much caching we would get done here. The
weather for our stay is supposed to be cold and wet. After
sightseeing we went to Walmart for some supplies and then back home
for the rest of the night.
Tuesday, May 19th, woke up
to more rain and cold. It's only supposed to be in the low 40's
today and rain on and off all day. Some of the forecasts even call
for snow flurries. I went out after lunch on a mission to find an
electric space heater. Jackie didn't
I stopped at Home Depot, Lowes,
Walmart, Target, and Bed, Bath and Beyond and no one had any heaters.
Everyone had fans and air conditioners, but no heaters. I guess
this is warm for this part of the country. I was able to get some
new wood blocks for our jacks from Lowes. I have been looking for
some new ones since the ones I am now using have gotten wet and are
not very useful anymore. Our jack pads are only about eight inches
around so I use two foot square pieces of three quarter inch plywood
as jack pads to keep them from sinking into soft ground, or hot
asphalt as has happened in the past. After I got home we just stayed
in for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, May 20th, we woke
up to 33 degree cool with cloudy skies, again. We decided that we
needed to get out of the coach no matter what, so we bundled up nice
and warm and left about noon to go out and have lunch. The highly
rated local place we went to was closed until next month, so we ended
up at the local Outback. We had a very nice, filling lunch, and then
went out to do some shopping and caching. We went to the indoor
mall, more to get exercise than anything else, and walked around the
mall for a couple of hours. We did a few geocaches, ending up with
four new finds for the day, and then headed for home. On the way we
passed a pawn shop and decided to stop in just on the chance they
might have a small electric heater. Well, they had a dozen or so.
We ended up with one that still had the box and operating manual and
looked brand new, although the original receipt inside the box said
they bought it in 2005. We got it for $12 and took it home and we
now have a little heat source. It doesn't heat the whole coach, but
it works for the small area we are in during the evening and we don't
have to worry about running out of propane now. We stayed in for the
rest of the evening.
Thursday, May 21st, it was
again cold in the morning, only in the low 40's. The forecast called
for rain again, but all we had in the morning was fog. We went out
after lunch for some last minute caching and such. We were able to
get five new finds, and one DNF, before we decided it was a little
too cold. Unlike earlier cold days, today there was a pretty stiff
breeze the accentuated the cold. After caching we went back to the
mall and we both got haircuts. Jackie gets one about every month or
so, I was about six months since my last trim. After our haircuts we
headed home and stayed in the rest of the night.
Friday was another travel day and we
were closed up and ready to go by about 10:00. It was cold, in the
mid 40's, and raining, which didn't make for a pleasant preparation
time. We were back on I-25 again, heading north and a little west to
Casper, Wyoming. The trip was 168 miles, one of our longer recent
trips, and it rained for nearly the entire time. However, there
wasn't much traffic and the roads were good, so it really wasn't a
bad trip. Except, our older cat Smokey had a bout of motion sickness
near the end and made a bit of mess in several areas of the coach.
Gave us a little something extra to do when we were getting set up.
We arrived at the Fort Caspar
Campground around 2:00 after a stop for fuel and propane just outside
Casper. The campground is located inside a State park, but it is a
private operation. We got a nice full hookup pull through site and
the weather was nice enough to stop the rain for at least as long as
it took me to get us hooked up and settled in. By the time we got
settled in it was nearly 4:00, so we just stayed in the coach the
rest of the day. The decision was helped by the fact that the rain
started again and it was pretty wet.
We are here in Casper for another four
day stay. This is our first time in this town, so we are looking
forward to exploring, doing some caching and enjoying new things.
This is also a good place to publish this chapter, since it has been
just a little over two weeks. Until the next time, remember the
words of author and entrepreneur James Altucher. “Learning to find
happiness with less is true wealth. Ultimately, we are the sum of
our experiences, and not the sum of our belongings.” See ya soon.
