Monument, Colorado (Week 1)

The week here at the Colorado Heights Resort  in Monument has been nice. It's been in the 70s most of the week. It rained only one night. Didn't realize it, but we are at 7,543 feet above sea level. For me, this is the sixth day and the first day that I didn't wake up with a headache. It takes a bit to get adjusted to living at this height.

I asked a guy in the laundry room the other day how this works out for football athletes who come here to play the Denver Broncos. He said that they come here at least a week ahead of the game, and sometimes come and go for three or four times during the month before the game just to get acclimated to the thinner air.

 Driving into Monument, Colorado

Colorado Heights Resort

Snow on Pikes Peak as seen from the RV Park

the morning after the rain

Pikes Peak is 14,110 feet high. There is a cog railway that takes people up to the top. We haven't done that yet, and I am not sure that I want to do it. Again, the guy in the laundry room said that if you are not acclimated to the height in this area, you will get sick going up there. By "sick" he means that you can get dizzy, light-headed, weak, nauseated, and feel as if you are sea-sick. Not only that, you may feel as if you have a hang-over for a day or two after you get back down. The trick is to drink lots of water.

We went to the Garden of the Gods the other day. What a great way to spend the day. Especially since the weather was also so nice.

Entrance sign to the Garden of the Gods

Pikes Peak as seen inside the Garden of the Gods

Balanced rock

Rock formations inside the Garden

Walking paths throughout the Garden

Another site that we took in was the Air Force Academy. It has been 50 years since I first visited this place.

United States Air Force Academy

Air Force Academy Chapel

Inside the Chapel as seen from the back

Turning around, you see the huge organ 

in the balcony

A closer view of the windows from the inside

Smaller chapel in the basement for Catholics

Flying out to Atlanta tomorrow to attend Stu's memorial and will be back on Sunday. Jerry and Chanti will be holding down the fort. Then, John and Marijean arrive to join us next Tuesday.

Live the life you love!

Monument, Colorado

This basically was a week of travel -- getting from Iowa to Colorado, covering a distance of 750 miles. We actually stayed another three days in Des Moines waiting for a thunderstorm to pass before we moved out. Starting our trek on Monday, September 16, we went first to West Omaha, Nebraska, for one night, and then on to Gothenburg, Nebraska, where we spent two nights.

While we were in Gothenburg, we stayed at a KOA park right along the North Platte River. Listening to the local news, we heard about the concern of the folks in the area that the Colorado flood waters would be making its way along the North Platte River into Nebraska which was expected to flood its banks in the coming four or five days. Since we were parked right along the river, we made sure that we didn't stay too long. In fact, the local weather service forecast was for this park to expect flooding.

Parked at the KOA in Gothenburg, Nebraska

(North Platte River is to the left of us.)

 Gothenburg is a very small town, but it is home to the two Pony Express stations. The Pony Express station in town operated from 1860-1861, a period of only 18 months. The Pony Express was discontinued because of the Civil War and the emergence of the telegraph. To get a letter from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA took nearly 10 days using 183 riders. It was dangerous work and some riders were as young as 11 years old.

Plaque in front of the Pony Express station.

Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, Nebaska

On Thursday, we continued our trip and entered Colorado. We signed up with the Colorado Department of Transportation to receive constant text updates as to which roads were blocked because of the recent rains and flooding.  We stopped the first night in Sterling, Colorado.

Road into Sterling, Colorado,

was closed due to flooding. Luckily,

we didn't need to drive through the

the town to get to the RV park.

Then on Friday, we moved on to Colorado Springs where we stayed at another KOA park. 

Parked at the KOA in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Right across the road from where we were parked was a river that 

over-flowed its boundaries the previous week.

The waters of this river came across the road.

A dam is located a few hundred feet up the river.

We could hear the rushing waters as we slept at night.

Close-up of the dam.

Yesterday, we hit the road again and traveled just a few miles to Monument, Colorado, where we will hang out for two weeks. Monument is about 30 miles from Denver. 

A very close family friend (Stu) passed away suddenly last week. So on Friday, I will take a flight out of Denver, join up with Tom, my son, flying in from LA, to attend the memorial service on Saturday in Cumming, Georgia, about 35 miles from Atlanta. Stu will be terribly missed by all who knew him. He was one of a kind -- in a very good way.

Until next time, enjoy the life you love -- especially 

since it can turn on a dime.

Forest City, Iowa

RVers who have to go back to their factory to have work done on their coach can appreciate our experience these past two weeks. Yes, we have spent two weeks in Forest City, Iowa, home of Winnebago. For the first week, they needed to keep the coach overnight for three days. So we checked into the Knights Inn Resort. Nothing like hanging out in a room for three days. Got a lot of reading done and Jerry spent his time working on his blog videos.

The Resort is situated in a beautiful country-side setting adjacent to the longest golf course in Iowa. We were able to take long walks along the pathways in the area and in the local park.

Thomas Bearse Park 

Swinging bridge in the Park

Close-up of the swinging bridge

We made a  couple of trips into Mason City during this time. Mason City is about 30 miles from Forest City and is the largest city around this area. On the way, we also checked out Clear Lake.

Clear Lake, Iowa

Clear Lake, Iowa

We left Winnebago yesterday and traveled to Altoona which is right outside of  Des Moines, Iowa, where Jerry is adding a bit of chrome to the outside of the coach. At that point, we are finished up-grading the RV. And, we love the changes that we have made to it. In another blog, I will post pictures of the coach.

We will leave here on Friday and continue our slow trek back to California. We will be spending some time in Colorado and meeting up again with our friends, John and Marijean. That will be the third time we have met up with them on this two-year trip.

This will be a short up-date as we really did not take many pictures these past two week.

Continue to live the life you love.

Cold Spring, Minnesota

Spending two more weeks in my home town where four of my siblings still live with their spouses called for a LOT of get-togethers. I counted nine separate eating events that I attended, which included the meals Jerry prepared for individual couples. Needless to say, we enjoyed every minute of it. We didn't take many family pictures this time around, however. And, we didn't take the time to update the blog either until now.

Jerry continued to upgrade our coach. Installing the 40-inch HDTV created a slight problem. Seems that our Winegard Dome Satellite dish, though "high-definition ready," did not bring in high definition viewing. That's because, we found out, DirecTv switched all of its high definition stations to different transponders. Long story short, we had to install a new satellite dish on top of our coach. This thing weighed 56 pounds. Jerry was able to get it up on our roof with the help of a volunteer. But, before he found the guy to help him, he tried to do it himself.

Jerry trying to get the satellite dish hoisted up 

to the roof of the motorhome.

So far, in addition to the new HDTV and satellite dish, we now have new fixtures over the long counter, a new smaller television to replace the old one that was on the counter (because the people were now squashed down and all looked fat on the old one which was not HD), new energy efficient blinds, LED light bulbs, an over-the-bed fan in the bedroom, two new Fan-Tastic air vents that have a rain sensor on them which causes the open vent to automatically shut down when it rains, and other new miscellaneous smaller items. We are not done yet and are headed back down to Winnebago in Iowa to finish the work.

Here are a few of the pictures that we took at some of the gatherings.

Jan's caramel rolls (to die for)

The gang at Tim and Jan's place for brunch. (Jerry, me,

Ann, Dorothy, Dave, Tim, Jan, Dan and Kasi)

Dorothy dancing with her granddaughter, Sophia,

with her daughter, Laurie, in the background.

Fish fry at Dave and Dorothy's place.

Dave, his brother, and Tim caught the fish for the fish fry.

Brother, Tim, enjoying the High Life of retirement

at the fish fry.

We all went out one more time yesterday (Sunday) for a very nice brunch at the Coyote Moon Restaurant next to a golf course in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Today, we moved on and are currently staying at Camping World in Rogers, Minnesota, where we will have the braking system installed on the Chevrolet Equinox before we attempt to go over the Rocky Mountains to get back to California later this year.

It is absolutely miserable here with the temperature registering 98 degrees a few hours ago. Can't wait for this heat stream to break. 

Tomorrow or Wednesday, we will be on our way back to Forest City, Iowa, to the Winnebago facility.

As always, continue to live the life you love!

Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Well, it was really a fun week here in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. The Forest Hills Golf & RV Resort is huge, clean and well kept. Obviously, there is a golf course surrounding the Resort on all sides. Some long-term residents have put up wire mesh to keep the golf balls from hitting their RV or cabin. We actually found a golf ball next to our hook-up one day, and know that it must have hit our motor home before landing there.

Parked at the Forest Hills Golf & RV Resort.

Because we are members of Coast-to-Coast, we only paid $10.00 a night. Normal rates are $75.00 a night. Love all the greenery around here.

Behind our motor home and in the distance, there is a lovely church on a hill that really stands out.

Church on Forest Hill

We spent a couple of days at the lakes with Sean and Rachelle and family. One day we went on a long pontoon ride around Pelican Lake and the next day, we took a shorter ride around the lake. Of course, there was plenty of food and BBQ.

Danica and Sean on the pontoon 

Jerry and Chanti enjoying the ride, with Donovan trying to catch some sun

Just a cabin on the lake worth $48 million dollars. Sean

says that Pelican Lake is the second most expensive lake

in Minnesota.

An absolutely beautiful day on the lake.

Angela and Danica

Angela and Danica, again

Sean, being Sean, and tossing Donovan into the

water with Rachelle and Danica looking on.

Later, we sat around the fire as the sun was setting

Then, yesterday (Saturday), Sean and Rachelle asked us to join them at a large campsite with their friends. Since we did not have clear directions on exactly where this campsite was located, we drove a few miles too far and stumbled across a farmer's market in Battle Lake, Minnesota. Jerry and I always stop at these and we usually find them quite interesting. This one was one of the best with many very unique items.

Farmer's market at Battle Lake, Minnesota

Tonight (Sunday), Sean and Rachelle joined us here on the coach for dinner. They were beat from a week-end of camping with their friends. Jerry made a great dinner and then they were headed home after we said our good-byes.  All-in-all, it was a great week. And the weather was perfect (in the 70s). The only regret we have is that we were not able to connect with Daniel.

Tomorrow (Monday), we will travel back to Rockville where we will stay for the next couple of weeks. We are continuing to up-grade our motor home and have a number of items showing up at Dave and Dorothy's house this week which Jerry will have to install. He has his work cut out for him.

Stay healthy and continue to live the life you love!

Cold Spring, Minnesota

Had a great week spending time with my brothers and sisters and their spouses in Cold Spring, Minnesota. Again, the weather was really perfect. We understand that, normally at this time of the year, the weather is humid, hot and with lots of mosquitoes. Not last week -- more like in the 70s with hardly any mosquitoes.

Parked in front of Dave and Dorothy's 

garage in Rockville, Minnesota (four

miles from Cold Spring). 

Within walking distance of where we were parked

there is a new park called Eagle Park. 

Jerry ran around it a number of times. 

Eagle Park Sign

Granite seating areas are throughout the Park

Walking path in the Park

Cows near Park (after all, this is Minnesota)

More pictures taken from the Park

Bridge one-half block from where we were parked.

Eagle Park is just on the left hand side of this bridge.

And, here are a few family pictures.

Ann, Dorothy and I spent three hours in this coffee shop.

My brother Danny and I

Jerry took this group picture of the gang.

Starting at the left, there is Ann, Mike, Jan, Me, 

Danny, Tim, Dave and Dorothy. It was a fun evening.

Jerry removed our 100-pound Sony TV box and replaced it with a 30-pound 40-inch flat screen HDTV. He also installed new sconces and a new hanging light over the long counter. More updates to come.

Today, we drove 163 miles north to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota where we will spend a week at the Forest Hills Golf and RV Resort. This is a first class facility. From here, we will drive to see Sean and his family a few times, joining them at their lake cottage and at other events that they are attending. It should prove to be a fun week.

Stay healthy and continue to

live the life you love.