Durango, Denver, Golden and back!

Our journey continues as we left Five Branches behind for the trip to Colorado Springs and the work on the camper. At the end of that episode, we discovered the whole "repair" thing was a tempest in a teapot. The service department guys at Camping Country RV in Colorado Springs really didn't find anything drastically wrong with the slide-out. They did upgrade the battery size and also got us a reimbursement for the work we paid for at River's Edge in Bayfield. All-in-all, I guess it was worth the trip but it was "much ado about nothing". We took the opportunity to visit Royal Gorge near Canon City...absolutely breathtaking and well worth the admission price. We spent most of the day there and rode everything but the "Sky Coaster", a sort of "zip line" contraption that drops you and swings you out over the Gorge. No, thank you!
We could not get into Chatfield any earlier than our reservations allowed (June 19th) so we ended up at Clear Creek RV Park in Golden, CO. This was one of those neat little gems you run across when on the road like this. We heard about this place from a Florida couple we meet while staying near Colorado Springs. We really hit it off with William (Buddy) and Shirley Tomlinson from Ft. Myers. He was a retired fire fighter for the Lee County Fire and Rescue and they were extended traveling too. Very nice, friendly folks and we shared a campfire one evening and just talked way into the night. Armed with the information they gave us, we made our way to Golden the next day. The park is situated right by Clear Creek and only three blocks away from downtown Golden...a town with quite a bit of history. Golden was the territorial capital back in the 1800's when the territory encompassed six states! Golden is a wonderful "walking" town with sidewalks and trails going everywhere. People love their bicycles out here too and there is a "whitewater park" right there in town so you can go sit and watch the more adventuresome brave the rapids in kayaks. While here we took the opportunity to tour the Coors Brewery. Although we don't drink beer, we did find the tour fascinating and at the end you get free samples...including non-alcoholic beverages such as Pepsi products of all kinds. I had a glass of pink lemonade that was the best I have had so far on this trip. We also took the very winding road up Lookout Mountain (overlooking Golden) to visit the grave of Buffalo Bill Cody and enjoy the panoramic views of Golden and Denver.
Finally we were able to get into Chatfield State Park near where our family gathering was to take place. The rest of the week was spent eating, talking and eating some more. We did get a chance to ride the "light rail" into downtown Denver.
Sunday the 25th Buddy and I went to church at Faith Community Fellowship in Centennial (15 miles from our campground). This was a sweet, very small church with some of the nicest and friendliest folks we have met so far. The church is 50 to 60 strong in membership and is pastored by Jim Smith who retired out of the Air Force, then went to Dallas Theological Seminary for ministry training. By the way, Pastor Jim said to send greetings from Faith Community Fellowship in Centennial, CO to Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, FL...consider it done!
Sunday evening was the BIG EVENT and it turned out to be quite lovely. The group was most congenial and the food was wonderful. Carolyn and Ray seemed pleased with the way it all turned out.
We said our "see ya laters" to Jim and Judy Monday morning as they broke camp and prepared to return to Jacksonville.
We will be leaving Tuesday to return to our assigned duties at Five Branches on the shore of magnificent Vallecito Lake.
We will try to keep you updated as the summer unfolds.
The Road Runners,
Buddy and Elaine
1st Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Down the road to Durango

Well, we have finally reached a location where we can bring you an update on our travels! Once we got through Texas and into New Mexico, we began to lose our T-Mobile signal for the cell phone as well as internet connections. Stopping at an RV park near Albuquerque (at Tijenos, NM), we took a couple of days to do some sight-seeing. We took a scenic byway from Tijenos up to Santa Fe one day, then sat in on a seminar on "sharing the road with truckers" which was led by several over-the-road truck driver retirees who work for ABF (Arkansas Best Freight)on the company's safety team. The seminar was hosted by the RV park where we were staying and we found it most informative. A side note: we will be studying to complete a test/form which will allow us to be designated members of Homeland Security's Highway Watch program. This is a new program activated in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack which allows vigilant civilians to help watch out for suspected criminal activity. The Amber Alert program would fall under this catagory.
From NM we made our way up to the Durango area and our planned rendezvous with my sister Judy and her husband Jim. We actually stayed at River's Edge RV Park at Bayfield for 10 days of sightseeing with Judy and Jim. The highlights were Mesa Verde National Park, walking tour of Durango, a wonderful dinner/show at the Bar D Chuckwagon, worship services at Pine Valley Church (energetic contemporary worship) and then at First United Methodist Church of Durango (very traditional with beautiful special music by a cello and two flutes - "Allegro" "Andante" & "Vivaci" from Trio I by Haydn). These were very different services which show the many ways there are to worship our Lord and our God. We drove up to Silverton, then took the very narrow and steep road to Animas Forks, an old mining town situated high up in the mountains above Silverton. This is a real heart-stopper ride since you are on a narrow dirt/gravel road with sheer drops deep into the canyon below. Anyone who suffers from a fear of heights is cautioned about attempting this! We also rode up to Vallecito Lake for a fish fry at the Vallecito Community Center and stumbled onto a Workamper opportunity at Five Branches Camper Park, a very busy campground right on the edge of the lake. We had actually been approached by the owner of River's Edge about workamping there...but the call of the Lake was too strong. The altitude is 7650 feet so it has taken awhile to acclimate.
Jim and Judy said their farewells on Sunday, May 28th. They will continue their trip on into Utah to several of the National Parks, then to Salt Lake City, the Tetons, Flaming Gorge (Wyoming), Cheyenne for a night, then into Chatfield State Park near Denver and the planned 50th anniversary party.
We went straight to Five Branches on Monday, May 29th to begin training. Buddy is on "Cloud 9" since he works at the boat dock taking care of the small "fleet" of pontoon boats, fishing boats, canoes, kayaks, paddleboats...if it floats, they've got it! I'm training in the office/store so I'm learning such things as how to run a cash register, issue a fishing license (there is a machine for this also), work a credit card machine, price articles for sale in the store and gift shop, make reservations...whew! Then, there are the housekeeping duties. I am responsible for two Camper Cabins, the little apartment unit down at the dock (called The Landing) and the Bunkhouse. Obviously I stay quite busy! Buddy does help me with the cleaning so it goes pretty quickly. For 15 hours of work apiece we get our RV site with full hookups free, free breakfasts every day, any snacks and drinks we might want during the day (from the store), free propane, dinner out "on" our hosts and the owners of the park, Bob and Jan Davis. There are several other Workamper couples here: Jim & Dee, who have been doing this for 4 years, Rick & Wanda, new to Workamping, Tom & Chris (also new), Gina (a single woman who just started full-timing in February) and us. To assist us in all this there are Jerry & Marilyn (good friends of the Davis's, who have been coming back to Five Branches for 6 years and helping for 4), Fritz (wife Ruthie reminds me very much of our old friend Nell D from SCC) and George (who lost his wife to cancer 2 years ago). We are getting to know all these folks as we all work together, have opportunity for fellowship over meals, go sight-seeing, and generally hang out.
We have also found a church up here we really like, Vallecito Church (a non-denominational community church) approximately 6 miles from the campground. The pastor David Guy is certainly on fire for the Lord and his messages are quite challenging. If it is at all possible, given our work schedule, I want to try to join their choir for the summer. They meet on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm so it might just work. Time will tell...
We had to leave Five Branches Sunday afternoon (June 11th) to take our camper into Colorado Springs for some work on the living room slide-out.
I will close this rather lengthy posting for now and pick up with our adventures later.
The Road Runners,
Buddy & Elaine
1st Thess. 5:18
PTL!