July 10, 2000, Monday- two different ways. Susan picked up the Porsche from Debi's last night, and this morning went to pick up Hobbes from the kennel, and did a few other in-town stops. Meanwhile, I drove the jeep up to Longmont to pickup the coach. After hooking up the car, I headed up the hills, and met, by chance, Susan going up I-70. Together we arrived at Tiger Run and tried to get our operations back in order. Between laundry, food shopping, and a few other miscellaneous items, the day flew by. Dinner was with Art and Anna, and Phil and Karen, and with six of us chatting away, the evening went too fast.

July 11, 2000, Tuesday- Phil and Karen came over at noon for a bike ride, which seemed so strange to me- not having ridden since March (except for a few 10 minute rides during rehab in Florida). Into Breckenridge we rode for a patio lunch, followed with a tour of the golf course, and then out on the dirt roads toward Muggins Gluch where Jim and Mad's wedding will be in 10 days. During the 20 plus mile ride we explored the old Tiger mine area for which the RV resort, Tiger Run, is named. We've always heard of the dredger's that left the large rock piles alongside the streams, but had never seen the "boats" at 10,000 foot elevations, or understood how they operate. About five miles back from the park is the skeleton of a 500 ton dredger, sitting in a lake surrounding the boat. These dredgers went down 50 feet, and mined the steam rocks in paths as wide as 200 feet, piling the rocks on the side, keeping the gold that settled to the bottom of the dredger, and floating in the pond that the boat dredged. It was a massive operation for the turn of the last century.

 

DREDGERS OPERATED FROM 1898 TO 1942!

July 12, 2000, Wednesday- time for the dentist- we both received a cleaning and a clean bill of health. Yeah! Susan proceeded to the golf course for lunch with Karen, Carol and other friends, while I retired to Phil's and worked on the photos and web page for the Alaskan Adventure…quite a project. Dinner with P&K, just like old times.

July 13, 2000, Thursday- down to Denver we drove the little blue car and met Debi and friends for the Dralion presentation of Cirque Du Soleil. What an incredible performance of about 70 people! With respect to strength, timing, costuming, dance and comedy, they were second to none. It was set up in a tent alongside the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver, and there were no bad seats. While Steve was winging his way towards Egypt last night, on the Detroit to Amsterdam leg, his home provided a cool place to stay and meant that we didn't have to head up the hill at night.

Speaking of temperatures, today was the 15th straight day above 90 in Denver. The record will be tied at 17 on Saturday, and if the forecasts hold, Sunday may set a new record of 90 plus days. Fortunately the mountains are comfortable and cool with temperatures in the mid 40's during the night. Blankets are always better then air conditioning.

July 14, 2000, Friday- we were calmly sitting in the living room planning our month of August when I noticed that the rear end of the coach was swimming. The shower stall was overflowing with gray water, and it was on the tile floor and back into the bedroom. I ran outside to shut off the water while Susan shut off the washing machine. Water was running out everywhere under the coach and from several basement compartments. We may have neglected to check the holding tank closely because the washer area was totally dry, but the holding tank was full. Next, out the dozens of towels mopping up the carpet and basement. It looks like everything will survive, but we won't be sure until tomorrow when it should all be dry. Fortunately were in Colorado with no humidity, instead of Florida, Texas or Decatur, where things would never dry out. I even had to take off the heater floor vents, tilt the coach with the nose end up, and sponge out tons of water. Afterwards we ran the heater for an hour to get the moisture out of the vents.

July 15, 2000- Saturday- we continued the drying out of the bedroom today with the obtaining of two twenty-four inch fans from Wal-Mart. For dinner we had the pleasure of going to Fran and Allan's home, along with Phil and Karen and Fran and Allan's son's mother-in-lay, Eileen from Houston. They outdid themselves with food and drink and wonderful company. It was celebration time with Karen and Phil, their seventh wedding anniversary. Mazel Tov!

July 16, 2000, Sunday- we first hit a bag of range balls at the Breckenridge Golf Course, just a mile down the road. It was the first time I picked up a club since Decatur. Too long! Then Debi came over to deliver an early birthday present to me, as she was heading from Vail back to Denver. I now have a great vest to go with my tuxedo, which has gotten a few wearings recently, and more to go.

The motor home park in Breckenridge has many display coaches of the Prevost bus conversion class. Since Debi has never seen one, we toured an entry level one by Royal Coach. Since this one didn't have any room slides, (some now have three slides), it was priced at only $973,000. Chump change!

Lunch was an invitation by Sally and Allan to their home, and we were joined by Marty and Helen, and Gilda and Werner. Reminiscing over the last twenty plus year's of Vail and B'nai Vail, filled the afternoon.

Whew, it's not over yet. We met Phil and Karen and Dr. Bill for the Bravo concert held at the Ford Amphitheater. They rain was nice enough to hold all afternoon until six in the evening. Naturally the concert was starting at six. After listening to the first presentation by the Dallas Symphony in the pouring rain, we headed for higher ground at P&K's house where the five of us did desert.

July 17, 2000, Monday- we started out at the Breckenridge Golf Course with Karen for 18 holes. It was a beautiful morning and the course was in great shape. By the 8th hole, the rain started, and by the time we finished the 9th, it was time to bail. So, into the clubhouse for lunch, and then some rain checks.

We all returned to our coach, and the rain stopped, but the temperatures also dropped. So, we toured one of the display Pevost coaches, this one converted by Marathon Coach. It was a magnificent display of what $980,000 can buy. In fact, we missed out because the coach was sold this morning, but we still could tour the interior. It was the most tasteful and luxurious coach, with fine details and appointments on a livable scale. Too many of these coaches are very glitzy, but this was first class. A 42" flat screened plasma TV that dropped down from the ceiling and hinged against the front windows, was a great $20,000 option.

Some of these coaches have storage bays so large, that you can drive your golf cart inside the bay.

Small world continued as we all walked down the row of fancy coaches, a gentleman comes up and asked if we were in Silver Lakes RV Park in Naples, FL. He remembered Hobbes from a year and a half ago.

While doing "stuff" in the coach we noticed that the washer was taking a long time filling, again, just like last week. This time we were prepared and stopped it before it overflowed. It was filling and never getting full enough to trip the start for the next cycle. So, a call to the washer distributor who stated that we must have a siphon situation where the drain line was inserted too low into the stand pipe, and as the water reached the level of the drain pipe, it was siphoning, and never reaching the full button. We pulled the drain line and found the waste line inserted 10 inches instead of six inches. So, we repositioned the line and restarted, and everything worked fine. Again, Susan knows best.

July 18, 2000-Tuesday- lots of stops and too little time. Down the hill from Breck to the eye doctor for a 10:30 appointment, then to Steve's to leave Hobbes for the day (it was in the upper 90's and too hot for the car). After Susan went to the dry cleaners by Steve's to pick up last week's drop off, she found out that the long skirt hadn't come back from the central plant. They agreed to UPS it up. Since that's part of Saturday's outfit, let's hope it arrives. A quick lunch and off to DIA to pickup Mom. Fortunately she was on time, and less then 30 minutes from her arrival, we were heading out of the complex. Next, to the orthopod for my last ankle checkup. If he wasn't a friend of Phil's, I would have given him a piece of my mind. After waiting for an hour past my appointment time, he came in and didn't have the courtesy to say that he was sorry for running late. Just be a mench. That didn't happen. Oh well, back to pick up Hobbes, then to the tux place to exchange a vest that the kids got me for my birthday, and then to Karen's mom, Lu's, for a BBQ for the prewedding crew of 30. Lots of fun, but it was midnight before we rolled back into Breckenridge.

July 19, 2000, Wednesday- Happy Birthday to me…double nickel. Lots of kinds phone calls and e-mail wishes from family and friends. Even got a phone call from Steve as he was changing planes in JFK after his flight from Egypt. He sounded tired but enjoyed his trip. Speaking of Steve, we got an e-mail from Becky a few days ago that goes like this: "Speaking of which, I just spoke to Steve who tonight in Egypt had a guide take them to the pyramids...the pyramids were closed by the time they got there, though, so the guide took them to this place where they rented camels and horses and rode to the pyramids (paying guys off to lead the horses, and let them through closed areas). They bribed the cops to let them in, and then they climbed a pyramid. The experience sounds absolutely incredible, but so much for Steve trying to remain inconspicuous :)."

That says it all!!

We had a lovely lunch with Mom in Frisco and a great BD dinner at P&K's. They, again, outdid themselves with food, drink and company.

I called Fleetwood about the washer, and they were pleased to hear about the problem and were going to pass the information directly to the factory. They also agreed to repair some damaged woodwork and carpeting on our trip to Anaheim scheduled for September.

July 20, 2000, Thursday- two different directions today. Susan had slept over at P&K's so that she could save two hours of driving between last night and this morning. She picked up Fran and arrived at Maureens for "the Thursday Ladies Hiking Group". She was in seventh heaven. After not having hiked with the ladies for three or more years, it was one of her finest hours. Twenty one ladies were on the hike, and based on the stories, enjoyed each one's company.

On the other hand, Mom and I took a trip down to Blackhawk and enjoyed the gambling atmosphere for a few hours. Although we gave a donation, we enjoyed a few hours of pushing the buttons waiting for our turn at the big bucks.

We were chatting with a couple of ladies in their fancy Prevost coaches who were talking about a woman who had a Prevost coach that had a fire onboard. The insurance company had a hard time believing that she had 163 St. Johns outfits, not counting the Escada and other fancy label designer pieces. Obviously she didn't want to be caught as poor white trash. When they chatted a little more, we found out that she was the wife of Formby waxes, from Titusville, FL, that we heard had a coach costing in excess of $1.5 million.

In going through my notes I found the following poem writtem by Stehpen during our Alaskan trip. Sorry that it wasn't in that section of the web, but here it is:

"There was a raven on the shore, this dark and dreary morning, and as we went by, the raven said "Hi!". " Needless to say, there were laughs all week.

 

LU, SUSAN, RUTH AND MOM	DEBI & STEVE AT THE REHEARSAL DINNER

July 21, 2000, Friday- today a delightful lunch was the first order of the day. Art and Anna invited us to join them for a birthday lunch, in my honor, so over the hill we drove from Breckenridge to Avon. A lovely patio setting at the Bristol Restaurant in Arrowhead provided a perfect setting for our dining and catching up on a diversity of topics.

This evening it was the Phil & Karen's hosting of the rehearsal dinner for Jim and Mad, and it couldn't have been lovelier. The Swan Mountain Inn restaurant provided the country inn setting for some 50 people, and the guests completed a wonderful evening for all in attendance. Phil, true to spirit, kept asking how much our rehearsal dinner was last year, because he had to be at least a dollar under us. With filet minion with all the trimmings….who knows.

 

MAD & JIM TYING THE KNOT!	CHOCOLATE CAKE, YUM!

July 22, 2000, Saturday- The wedding day for J&M finally came. Festivities were at Muggins Inn, about 5 miles outside of town in a country setting. One could not have ordered a more beautiful sunny day. The knot was tied at 3 PM with fields of flowers in the background. Jim looked relaxed and Mad looked gorgeous. After the vows were completed everyone enjoyed the passed trays, drinks and food for the next few hours. Although we hadn't met many of the people prior, we did get to spend some time with several that we hadn't seen in years. Chuck and Lucy looked well, and chatting with Walt brought us up to date on his life.

 

ANNA, ART, STEVE, MOM, SUSAN, LARRY, DEBI & BEN

This evening Stephen came over with his Egyptian photos and gave us a blow by blow description of his travels. Exciting to say the least!

 

SUSAN & LARRY

July 23, 2000, Sunday- and the beat goes on for the wedding affairs, with Jim's Dad Pat hosting a great brunch at the Hearthstone Restaurant in Breckenridge. It wasn't steam table food by any stretch. Apple stuffed French Toast, duck filled casidias, buffalo steaks and an omelet station. Makes me hungry to think about it.

In the afternoon Chuck and Lucy came over and spent a few hours catching up on things. We took their RV knowledge a few steps further. After they were impressed with our coach, we all toured some of the million dollar Prevost coaches converted by Royal, Vantarie and Marathon. Another world!

Steve, meanwhile, hiked by himself to the top of Peak 8 in Breckenridge, and then crossed the saddle to Peak 7, when he called on his cell phone to tell us about his four-hour climb.

Steve, Mom, Susan and I headed down to Evergreen to Becky's home for a family dinner. It was a 22-person affair with Becky's sister, brother, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and parents and neighbors. A more relaxed evening couldn't have been planned, with the conversations flowing, excellent food chowed down, and Mother Nature cooperating to permit mild temperatures for patio dining.

 

WILD TURKEYS AT THE BUNN'S HOME

Midnight came before we returned to the coach. A great day!

July 24, 2000, Monday- challenges to start the day with a clogged impeller on our waste water pump, a computer that kept failing to properly read a CD-ROM, a dog that needed some rear end spot washing, all of this before breakfast!

After breakfast we tackled the above bumps in the road, enjoyed a patio lunch in Breckenridge with Mom, and got our RV space tidied up before the afternoon showers came.

For dinner we traveled back towards Vail, Edwards actually, to the Bristol Restaurant to meet Rose and Howard, Fran and Allan and Cynthia and Bill. Three decided to get sick, Rose, Fran and Allan. Dinner was now a comfortable six, and the food was marvelous. Small world again, since Cynthia and Bill just came off the Galaxy, having done the same trip as us, but two weeks later. They, however, had to change the plans due to rain on some of their activity days.

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