Kids Stop

  Since our trip from Lenexa, Kansas to Silt, Colorado would take us right past Denver, Betty and I had to take the opportunity to stop and see our son, Adam, and daughter-in-law, Melissa.  We had booked an RV spot in Bear Creek Lake City Park in Lakewood, Colorado which turned out to be one of the nicest campgrounds we stayed in during our two years of RV travel.

 Unfortunately we got to stay for only one night instead of three due to two late-April snow storms. The first storm came rolling in just as we were approaching the Kansas / Colorado border with the potential for six inches of snow. We made campground reservations on the fly, advised Bear Creek we would be arriving later than planned, and hunkered down for two nights. 

We arrived in Lakewood mid-day and liked the campground so much that we booked a second night - but never got to use it . 

Adam drove out to the campground to see our home-on-wheels then we went back to his place for dinner with him, Melissa, and out grand-kitties.  We made plans for a longer visit the next day.On the drive back to our RV the weather service started calling for temperatures to drop from seventy-two degrees to seventeen degrees.

We woke in the morning to sunshine and thought the weather service had messed up. But while we were eating breakfast, the mountain that filled the view out of our window - disappeared. Fog literally poured down from the higher elevations as the air cooled at an astonishing rate. And now there was snow in the forecast again. Potentially a great deal of it.

We were learning that living in an RV came with many variables and the ability to handle spur-of-the-moment changes in plans. 

 We quickly closed up the RV, hooked up to the truck, and hurried out of town.

It was the first - and only - time we left a campground with less than a full tank of fuel.

 You'll find out why in the next installment.

Westward Sprint

 



In April of 2021, having sold everything we owned except what would fit in our RV and pickup truck, Betty and I hit the road in a mad sprint from Delaware to Colorado. 

We were in a hurry because we had Betty's 87 year old mother, Marie, with us and we just couldn't see tying her to the roof like Aunt Edna in National Lampoon"s Vacation. I kid of course. 

The actuality was we had a firm start date for a work camping gig in Colorado. Marie was traveling with us because she was leaving Delaware to live with another of her daughters in Lenexa, Kansas and was curious what living in an RV was going to be like for Betty and I. 

I suspect that Marie probably wishes she had left that particular bit of curiosity unexplored. Marie has an internal body temperature of slightly above 0 degrees Celsius. During the day she sat in the back seat of the truck wrapped in a blanket from ankles to chin. In the evening she sat on the couch wrapped in a different blanket, and at night lay in bed under multiple blankets. She could ill afford to lose any weight but I'm pretty sure she must have burned seven pounds with all the shivering.

We drove full days, set up the RV for the night, woke for a quick breakfast, packed everything away and drove again. It was a tiring pace. I was glad that we had allowed for a couple of two night stays as it proved to be needed recuperation time.

At one point our RV--specific GPS led us astray and I got to figure out how to do a three-point turn with a combined fifty-three foot vehicle in the driveway to a school. I have always said that I learn better by doing rather than reading, but that was one time I would have preferred to stick to the books. It was actually more like a twenty-three point turn but by golly if I didn't get turned around

Finally we arrived in Lenexa to discover that our "campground" was actually a parking lot IN Lenexa. No pressure at all navigating that same fifty-three foot vehicle through city streets and turning into a driveway roughly wide enough for a bread truck.

We were relieved to transfer ownership of Betty's mother to Betty's sister, and after a few brief visits with extended family we were back on the road with our eyes on Colorado.

Passing Time and Places

 Tempus fugit. It's the Latin phrase that rolls easily off our tongues when a relaxing day has slipped away, engaging conversation has settled into silence, or a series of years is reflected upon. Arguably, there is no better way to express the value we place on enjoyment of self, friends, and places.

But what about when we pass through unique and beautiful places so swiftly that the road behind us is but a blur.

I'm not sure whether such a sustained, rapid pace of travel should be communicated as memories made or memories lost.

My wife and I spent two years traveling the United States in an RV. Sometimes we spent a few months in a place, but more frequently just a few days. We enjoyed breathtaking views of nature and architecturally unique communities. We saw, in two years, more of the country that many people will see in a lifetime. 

How much of it do I remember? Very little. 

I can tell you all about the times we set up and packed up at campsite after campsite - the logistics of converting a trailer into a home and a home into a trailer because it happened time and time again...and again...and again.

But those awe inspiring vistas and unique architectures?  With little exception they are lost in a blur.

I am reminded of a toy top I had as a toddler. Two pieces of cupped metal joined at a seam that would have inspired thoughts of UFO's had they been painted silver. The toy top was covered with colorful pictures of circus animals, numbered building blocks, ABC's. The colors included every shade of blue, red, yellow, green, to be found in a box of 32 crayons. 

Until... 

I pulled upward on the wooden handle atop the not-very-silvery UFO to reveal a twisted metal rod.

And then...

I pushed down on the wooden handle caused the wormed metal rod to engage a metal gear deep within the top, which started the top on a slow spin. Pulling up on the handle and rod, pushing down, pulling up, pushing down, over and over again until the top spun at such a speed that the dozens of colored images blurred into just half-a- dozen solid stripes.

That's what has happened to my memories of the dozens upon dozens of places my wife and I visited.

Of course, once the top stopped, all of the individual pictures and colors were identifiable again.

So what I hope to do over many subsequent blog posts is pull individual experiences out of the blur and make them unique again by sharing pictures and memories.

You are welcome to come along for the second time around if you are so inclined.