Off To Boulder ~ Not So Fast!

April 29 ~ May 1

Return from dinner last night, and the sky was starting to get a little funky looking.  The wind was picking up substantially and Tor is rockin' in the wind.  Go to bed and the wind is so strong, we close our bedroom slide that's being rocked about and making a dreadful noise.  Very little sleep that night. 

In the morning, we learn the winds are at a steady 40 mph with gusts to 80!  We needed no time to make the decision that we weren't going anywhere in that kind of weather.  You can barely walk, the dust storms have created accidents everywhere and the mountain we used to look at is totally gone.

Take the opportunity of the "bonus" down day to clean Tor and do the laundry.  Spend the rest of the day in the RV park's clubhouse reading.  So glad they have a comfortable facility.  You can barely tell there's a hurricane going on out there...the building isn't moving at all!  By the late evening, the wind is dying down and we think it will be possible to sleep, though we leave the slide in just in case.

Finally get on the road in the morning.  Everything is going just fine until we get to Colorado Springs.  It's almost May for heaven's sake and it's snowing!  Decide to stop in Castle Rock for the night and look up a friend we made three years ago, Ian Steyne, the owner of Castle Rock Campground.  Lo and behold, we get there and Ian's turned his facility into a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park. (Website is still castlerockrvpark.com) We love them because we've had such a good time with our grandson, Ian, at one in Maryland.

Catch up with Ian over coffee the next morning and he is very excited about the new franchise, the growth of his property and plans for further expansion.  Great to see him...admire his vision and energy!

Finally make it to Boulder about 1 p.m.  The big party is at 4.  We need to get Tor in Jim and Linda's driveway which turns out to be more of an adventure than we anticipated.....not the backing in part....Rick's really good at that....it's the low hanging branches part!  Rick gets out of Tor and surveys the situation.

He decides a little pruning is in order.  Nephew Jason keeps him steady.

One branch proves too much for Rick, so Josh, niece Theena's husband who is perhaps one of the buffest guys on the face of the earth because he's an Army Ranger, is called in.  Success.

Tor gets happily settled in the driveway.

The party, in honor of Theena and Josh just in from Savannah, is a roaring success. Crowds come to wish them well and to give Josh a send-off for his fourth deployment to Afghanistan next week. We give continuing tours of Tor, indulge ourselves in food and drink and hit the sack early.  We're staying in the driveway for a few days because the house is full!