May 20, 2002, Monday- good-bye Pelican….at 8:30 we were heading down the road. Coming through northern Florida we hit two different areas that were heavily treed and we were bombarded with Love Bugs. It was splat, splat, splat on the windshield and coach front end. We looked like we had been through a powder puff war zone. Arriving in Perry, GA, 500 miles from our starting point, we finished an easy day of driving at 5 PM. Nice park called Twin Oaks to spend the night. At 8:40 the owner came around and called all of the overnight residents over to the office flower garden. Here were "spinning primrose" flowers that open at 8:45 each night and stay open until 10 am the following morning. Now when we say open at 8:45 we aren't kidding. In about 15 seconds the flowers go from closed to fully open, often with a pop. Now that's mother nature hard at work.
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May 21, 2002, Tuesday- brrrr. Time to take out the long pants for the first time since our arrival in Florida. It was 51 this morning outside. Up and at-em. Walked Hobbes and noticed something strange- the 4 way flashers were going off on the Jeep. Why? Unlocked the door and noticed that the button was extended on the flasher. Click, it's off. Crank and we had just enough juice to get the engine going. Charged it for 30 minutes, and then, on to Nashville, 360 miles down the road. Beautiful country in northwestern GA and TN. Rolling hills, real trees, green grass. Pretty!
Arrived at the Grand Old Opry area at 2 PM and by 3 we were cruising through the Grand Old Opry Hotel. What a landmark this facility is. More greenhouses here then in the Whitehouse. Fantastic gardens, ponds, and vegetation in general.
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Then, over to the Opry Land Museum where the displays were both informative as well as music to the ears. Drove over to downtown for a few minutes. The skyline is dominated by the Bell South Building, a combination of both modern as well as classical.
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Evening activity, dinner and a show at the Nashville Palace. Tonight was amateur night. An OK house band and some good acts. A pleasant change of pace, but I don't think I'm fully converted to this music yet!
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May 22, 2002, Wednesday- up with the roosters this morning at 6:10. At least there weren't any trains next door.
Up towards St. Louis and westward, clearing the metro area at 2:30 without any traffic delays. The only problem was that in Illinois the big vehicle speed limit is only 55 MPH, while the cars blow by at 65. It's too great a speed difference to be safe, but we arrived unscratched in Columbia, MO., 400 miles closer to Denver. Now just 750 left to go. Highly rated park, Cottonwood, and the first thing we notice, that adjacent to the property is the county fairgrounds. Three buildings, not 100 feet from the campground, were destroyed 2 weeks ago by a tornado. Scary! In the park, one 5th wheel was turned over, and a pop-up trailer went inverted. Good news, no injuries.
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Small world again….as we parked a couple came over and remembered meeting us in Titusville, FL in January 1999. Again, Hobbes was the key. Their memory was great, even remembering that we were leaving Florida to go north for Robert's wedding. They even followed us on our web site until it changed location in April of 2000.
May 23, 2002, Thursday, departed Columbia, MO, and cruised 530 miles to Goodland, KS. Easy ride until we heard the big awning start to unfurl while doing 70 MPH going down I-70. The last time that happened, also in Kansas, the awning was destroyed and some paint damage also was incurred. Lucky today, the lock must have slipping into a neutral position and the wind got into the awning, opening it slightly, and then it closed promptly. Whew! Pulled over to the side of the road and refastened the various locks that had come undone.
We're now back into the Mountain Time Zone….almost like being home.
May 24, 2002, Friday- it started raining at 3:30 in the morning. We felt sorry for those folks in tents. Temps were in the mid 30's by morning. Headed the 211 miles toward Golden, CO and the temps continued low and the moisture picked up. By the time we got to Dakota Ridge the snow was everywhere. Golden got 9 inches today.
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On the positive side, we got to see Debi, check out her condo for some quick decorating ideas, and dinner at Potage.
May 25, 2002, Saturday- after a much needed good night's sleep, Susan walked Hobbes and I washed the coach and car, removing a few hundred miles of wet travel yesterday. Surprise, we still had some paint colors under the dirt.
Afterwards, we met Debi, Steve and Becky at Cherry Creek for a brunch, and then ran with Debi to find the right colors to add some color and texture to some of her condo walls. After checking out the Great Indoors, Lowe's and Home Depot, we selected some Ralph Lauren suede colors at Home Depot. It should be an interesting project for us over the next week.
May 26, 2002, Sunday- Susan headed up to Vail for a quick search at Art's house for some family photos. Dinner tonight is with Cami and she has to have all of the photos at the videographer's on Tuesday. By 11 she was back and Steve led us on a 90 minute hike on Lookout Mountain. It sure gave the legs, back and lungs a workout from the altitude and from lack of use the last few weeks.
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We brought the dinner to Paul and Cami's and decided to tryout the selections planned for the wedding weekend BBQ. So, over to the club (Costco) for a quick late lunch, and then cruise trying to get salmon burgers, boca burgers, sirloin burgers and some Johnson sausage.
Dinner was great, the wedding details covered, and progress made on Cami's ambitious photo projects (both the videos and a family photo board). After 11 by the time we rolled in.
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May 27, 2002, Monday- we drove up to Vail and lunched with Bill, Lani and Molly, and Werner and Gilda. Great picnic lunch by their Intermountain condo. Molly continues to exude looks and charm and personality.
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Next, over to Fran and Allan's for 2 quick hands of Euchre where the ladies were gracious enough to let the men come in first. Phil invited us all to see his new home only a block away from Allan and Fran's place. It's new and clean and spiffy. We wish him well. Phil then joined us for an exquisite dinner of Costco New Zealand lamb chops. Outstanding! By the time the evening was over, it was crash and burn time.
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May 28, 2002, Tuesday- I volunteered to help Phil bring his motor home from Moab, UT back to Eagle County. Allan, the gentleman that he always is, prepared his wonderful Peet's coffee on "Program" so that when I headed out of the house at 6 AM (UGG!), the fresh perk was ready to travel with us. The total trip gave me a chance to catch-up with Phil for 10 uninterrupted hours. We reached Moab by 11 and got the coach up and running. A small electrical problem between the coach and car lighting was quickly fixed by Phil's friend Bruce, and before you knew it we were heading back east. After a quick lunch in Grand Junction and a stop at the Home Depot for some garage shelves, we rolled into Eagle, parked the coach at a friend's house, and were back in Singletree by 5. Listening to Phil's stories, especially about his recent ship doctoring, brought lots of laughs.
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Art and Anna returned from Bonaire yesterday evening, and dinner at their house gave us time to catch-up on their adventures in dive world.
By 10 we rolled back into our coach in Golden. A long day.
May 29, 2002, Wednesday- arrived at Debi's condo to start painting an entry wall and guest bathroom. All of her walls are stark white, and Debi and Susan wanted to add some color. Ralph Lauren Suede is the winner with a dark gray for the entry wall, and terracotta for the powder room. It took 4 hours to remove light fixtures, toilet tank, light switch and outlet covers, and to tape hinges, floors and ceilings.
After lunch a primer coat was applied to the appropriate areas, and by 4 I was finished. Debi joined us at the coach for dinner and to relax.
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On the way back to the coach, on Colfax Avenue we passed, shall we say, a homeless man. His sweatshirt said "Change is good…but dollars are better".
May 30, 2002, Thursday- Debi's place is looking good. I arrived at 8 to start the suede color coats. Working in 18" x 18" squares, using the famous Ralph Lauren 4" and 9" specially textured rollers, after finishing a column of squares, finished the first coat with a full vertical roll. Four hours later the second coat is done with a 4" brush using an overlapping "x" pattern. As it all dried, it looked great, just like suede.
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Bill and Lani invited us to a fund raiser at the Denver Botanical Garden for an Israeli hospital. It was like old home week seeing many friends that we haven't been with in many years. Werner and Gilda, Bernie and Marsha, Nancy, Ed and Caroline. Susan even met a lady that grew up a few blocks from Susan's home in Perth Amboy, NJ.
May 31, 2002, Friday- finishing day at Debi's. I applied a matte finish clear coat to make the suede finish more durable. Then, cleanup and return the home to normalcy, reattach the towel bars, toilet tank, light fixtures, etc.
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While I had my fun with the painting, Susan went to get her hair colored, always, with our traveling, a major decision as to location, dyes and color. Fortunately it came out great.
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A 45 minute walk around Steve's neighborhood, and then dinner at Steve's, a few burgers and veggies, and a few laughs. Too bad he is suffering lately from gout. He visited a physician today and hopefully will get some meds to help him out of his pain.
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