By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | | No Comments»
Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park
Today we decided to take a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. Most of the park was closed due to snow, but we were able to have a nice drive anyway. Just as I said, “I wish we would see some wildlife,” we looked off to our left and wouldn’t you know it, a large herd of elk! It was more elk than we’ve ever seen at one time. We sat and watched them for a while before moving on.
This photo is a 10 picture panorama stitched together using PTGui.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Day Trips, Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, boondocking, bureau of land management, colorado, day trips, royal gorge, rv living | | No Comments»
We have been in Colorado for two weeks now and have called St. Vrain State Park our home during that time. It’s been a very busy two weeks as I had to put in very long hours at the office I manage in Louisville. Since CO State Parks only allow 14 consecutive days of camping, and we could never get ahold of the park manager to see if we could stay longer, we decided to head out Saturday morning. I wanted to get away from it all and not think about work. Robert wanted to do a little road trip.
We were mighty low on propane, so we woke up early Saturday morning and drove the motor home to Longmont. I followed in the Jeep. We decided to park in the Super Wal-Mart parking lot and do some grocery shopping while we waited for the propane business to open (practically connected to Wal-Mart’s parking lot). Robert invited some Missouri friends who happened to be in the area for breakfast.
By the time we shopped, cooked, ate, visited, and got propane, it was about noon and we had no idea where we were headed next. We got out the Colorado state map to decide where to go and after a few minutes of study and discussion, we were headed south to Canon City to see the Royal Gorge. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid in the mid-80s and it had been more than 10 years for Robert.
We had such a nice drive and arrived in the Royal Gorge area about 4:20 p.m. Wouldn’t you know it…all the campgrounds were closed for the season. We called a couple that might have been open, but didn’t get an answer we assumed they were closed.
We still had a bit of daylight left and wanted to park the motor home, unhook the Jeep and tootle around a bit. The more pressing question was “Where to park?” Thought we’d drive back into Canon City and park overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but when I called them, I was told they no longer allow overnight parking.
As we were driving aimlessly, we ended up making a wrong turn off of Highway 50 and went down Highway 9. By the time we found a good place to turn around, we crossed into public lands. We realized later we were on the Gold Belt Scenic Byway passing through a Bureau of Land Management area. Since dusk was fast approaching, we decided to forego any last minute sightseeing for the day and stay at the roadside turnout for the evening. We unhooked the Jeep and turned the motor home around so that we would be all ready to go in the morning. The turnout was huge and we decided that it was as good as a place as any to boondock.
We decided that we would get up early on Sunday and get to the Royal Gorge Visitor’s Center to park, then we would be free to do the tootling we wanted in the Jeep. In the mean time we thought it was entirely too early to turn in for the evening, but we knew we didn’t want to drive the winding roads after dark. We settled down and watched a movie, slept a bit and ended up having to take the dogs out at about midnight. The sky was amazing. We had never seen so many stars. For too long we had been near cities and hadn’t had a chance to experience the true beauty of the night sky. We just wished it wasn’t freezing, because we couldn’t tolerate the cold outside air too long in our jammies.
Sunday morning we were up before dawn and got ready to go as the sun was rising. What an amazing sunrise. The sky was on fire. We got to the Visitor’s Center at the bottom of the mountain off of Highway 50 and Co Rd 3A at about 7 a.m. The center was closed until mid-March, but they have a huge parking lot, which happened to be empty. We weren’t too sure how the road was up to the Bridge, and we felt better parking the motor home and just driving the Jeep.
Although once we officially arrived to the Royal Gorge Park, we found out there is RV and bus parking available, we were so glad that we didn’t drive our motor home all the way up. We were the second guests to arrive at the park. We were able to take some wonderful pictures with no people before the other attractions opened.
We walked and drove the world’s highest suspension bridge, rode the longest single span tram, and the steepest incline railway. It was a beautiful day and we were glad that we caught the attraction off season and avoided any crowds.
We headed back north at about noon to settle in at Chatfield State Park and get ready for another week of work.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing, Working in RV | Tagged With: alfa seeya, camping, full time rv, rv living, Travel | | 1 Comment»
It was Thursday morning and we needed to hit the road. We really weren’t too anxious as we hadn’t even really started securing things down to have an early departure. The weather forcast was calling for heavy rain in KS and snow in Denver. We studied the map and weather predictions and decided to take a southern route through OK, TX, and NM.
Between doing some things for work and getting the coach ready for travel, we were ready to pull out of Springfield at about 2:30 p.m. We were in need of a dump station and wanted to fill up with fuel before we got too far, so we decided to stop in Joplin, MO. I needed to finish up some loose ends for work, so we hung out at the Flying J for a couple of hours until I could get the immediate tasks complete.
We got back on the road to make our way through OK. We tried to get some sleep on the west side of Tulsa at about 9p.m., but couldn’t sleep so we thought we’d press on. We finally pulled over at a truck stop in El Reno, OK for the night at about midnight. Just after we stopped and let the dogs out, the rain came pouring down.
We had a wonderful night’s rest and left the truck stop Friday morning at about 8. Before we left, we made sure to take a walk around the coach and to make sure everything was fine for travel. It turned out the wind was so swift the night before that the awning above our living room slide out was wrinkled. We extended the slide out to re-roll the awning and nothing seemed damaged.
We made sure to take our time, not speeding and stopping whenever we felt we wanted to. We kept watch of the weather systems on our phones. What wonderful technology. We knew when we we may be hitting any weather and we could decide if we wanted to press forward or simply stay put until it passed. Mostly we kept watch of what the weather was in CO as they appeared to be getting pummeled with snow. Ideally I wanted to be at the office on Monday morning, but we decided that we weren’t going to push it, if we needed to stay a day somewhere to let the system pass, we would do that. It was only Friday, so we felt we had plenty of time.
We rolled into NM at about 2p.m. and stopped by Russell’s Travel Center in San Jon. Cute little place with an antique car museum. The owner has quite the collection of cars and memoribela. What a nice break.
We stayed on I40 until we were past Santa Rosa, NM then connected with HWY 84 N. We connected with I25 in Las Vegas, NM and decided to call it an evening. Even though it was about 6p.m. and we really weren’t that tired, we decided it would be best to just pull over and not risk traveling after dark just in case we would encounter snow or ice. We thought it would be better to see what we were getting into.
That night was COLD! We woke up to 13 degree temeratures with wind chill -1. Our little Florida doggies weren’t used to that at all. After I fixed us some eggs and toast for breakfast, we were back on the road by 7a.m. According to the weather forecasts, all the snow hit the Denver area on Friday. Since it was Saturday and we were still in NM, we really felt by the time we got there, the road crews would have cleared off the major roads anyway. We looked up the road conditions on the web and they didn’t seem that bad, but still we decided, if we needed to pull over we would. Afterall it is just Saturday, we still had plenty of time before our arrival time goal of Sunday evening.
Travel on I25 was fine for the most part. Once we crossed into CO, there were some warnings to go slow. We traveled about 25mph through those mountains like the semi trucks were. The roads were clear, with just a few slick spots. We didn’t want to risk it going down such steep grades. Once we were out of the mountain pass, the roads seemed dry and clear for most of the way. We ended up getting to the Denver area by 1:30ish. The roads were wet, but cleared off. We were delighted to pull into St. Vrain State Park near Longmont at about 2:30p.m. We made it and could get comfortable and have all day Sunday to unwind before I needed to get into the office on Monday morning.
The miles may have been longer going the southern route vs. going through KS, but we certainly thought it was worth it to avoid the severe weather they had. We also met our goal of not having to call CoachNet because we were broken down somewhere. That was a wonderful feeling.
View of Bald Eagle Lake outside our window at St. Vrain State Park
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, insulation, rv hints, rv living, rv repair tips | | No Comments»
Last summer, when we were traveling from CO back to FL, in the extreme heat, Robert and I were discussing that we should put some sort of curtain to separate the cab from the rest of the coach to try to keep the cool air up front while we traveled. We not only used the dash air, but also the coach air just to make it remotely comfortable for us. Our thought was to try not to use the generator for the coach air while we traveled and keep all the cool air from the dash vents up front.
Now, we are traveling to CO in February and dealing with the cold and wanted to try out the curtains to keep the heat from the dash just up front with us while going down the road. I had kept my daughters denim curtains from her bedroom and we had a curtain rod on hand. For the time being, we thought we’d simply place the curtain rod between the window of the slide-out and the overhead storage above the passenger seat.
There is quite a gap between the ceiling and the slide-out top, but we thought surely any little bit would help. The curtain rod we had on hand is not long enough to go clear across the top of the coach. As we are traveling, we do feel a little cool breeze, but we think it is a bit better. I am anxious to see if it will be better once we get the new rod and place the curtain higher.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing, Working in RV | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, rv living, working at home, working in rv | | No Comments»
We have been in Missouri for the month of January for a well overdue visit with family and friends. The time seemed short and very busy. Between work and our visiting schedule, it seemed as though we didn’t have a moment to breath. Whether we would stay for a week or a month, it seems we wouldn’t have the opportunity to see everyone or to do everything we wanted, but we had wonderful time with everyone.
Our plan was to head back south on the first of February. Just a week or so prior to our anticipated departure date, I get some calls from the office I manage in Colorado. It seems as though my staff of almost ten years were making life changes and had decided to term their employment. It is a small office, so when one or two folks decide to quit, it is a big deal. This office is also undergoing ownership changes, so with the task of hiring new staff in front of me, my project just got bigger.
Robert and I discussed all the events going on at that Colorado office. I explained that I didn’t feel I could do be an effective manager from a long distance right now. Neither one of us really wanted to go to Colorado in February. Spring or summer was fine, but February wasn’t exciting us. Mainly we are concerned about how the RV will hold up in the cold. However, we both agreed that Robert’s job is much more flexible and I’m being paid to do a job and we have to go where I’m needed.
Breaking the news to our Florida friends was hard. Robert has a great following with his music and we certainly hate disappointing his fellow band member friends. He is a regular at Mahuffer’s a little bar in Indian Shores and we didn’t want to disappoint the owner as he not only is Robert’s boss, but also a dear friend. It was like ripping off a Band-Aid, Robert made his phone calls and everyone was very understanding. Unfortunately we couldn’t tell our friends exactly when we are headed back, because I have no idea how long my job will take to get that office back on track.
We prepared the coach as best as we could by adding more insulation to fill in any gaps. Robert’s dad had several strands of heat tape that we installed and a wonderful space heater to borrow. Since we’ve been in Florida for so long, our winter wear supply is quite small, but I think we’ll manage. We’ll just shop for a few things here and there as needed.
So we are off to Colorado and we’ll make the best of it. We’ll be around the Boulder area and neither one of us has been there in the winter for any length of time. It will give us an opportunity to photograph new subjects and explore different areas. At every opportunity that I’m not working, we’ll play tourist and explore. I know winter boots and gloves are the first things on our list to buy.
