We didn’t want to leave Clear Creek

This is our perfect park!  Small, picturesque, lots of good walking – either upstream on the path for a good hike, or downstream on the path for a short walk to downtown Golden and lots of good restaurants, breweries, and attractions. Look at this view from our kitchen window!  That river just kept running and running … it never got tired.

Good Wi-Fi, excellent 4G, good over-the-air TV, clean laundry and bathhouses right at the park.  Good friends nearby.  Yoga classes.  And, within an hour of some of the greatest scenery in the world.  Lots of young people around having fun in the outdoors – very inspiring.  Check out this little video we made while sitting outside on Memorial Day.  By the way, I used the iPad for this.  Using the front and the rear facing cameras for the video and the stills, then I edited it all together with iMovie and uploaded it to youtube.  All while sitting there watching people go by!


But, alas!  It was time to move on.  Actually, a little past time.  We still want to visit Rocky Mountain National Park then we have to be in Sturgis, SD for the Fulltimers Rally by this coming Sunday.
So…. Bye Bye Clear Creek.  We will return!

More Clear Creek, and More Friends

It is now Tuesday, May 28, and we’re still at Clear Creek.  Our plan is to leave today and travel up to Rocky Mountain National park, but don’t be too surprised if we’re still here tomorrow!

Here’s a map I made using Google Maps.  Click on it, and you’ll go to the live map where you can zoom in and out and move around.  Each icon represents somewhere we visited, took pictures, etc.

As I wrote in a previous post, we put this area on our itinerary in order to visit our friends, Diane and Andy and their daughter, Elizabeth.  But, because of a Facebook post we made, we hooked up with some other friends as well!

This is SOO what Facebook is all about for me.  Yes, I knew Lori lived in the Denver area, but it had been many years since we’ve been in touch.  We used to go diving in the Keys with a group of women in the 80s. I didn’t think of contacting her – but because of being ‘Friends’ on Facebook, she saw where we posted a picture from Golden and she commented.  She and her husband, Bob, came out to the RV park and we had a delightful walk and talk.

Then they invited us to their home for dinner.  What a treat! Lori is a Master Gardener (it’s a specific Colorado Certification) and that doesn’t mean just flowers!  Everything she cooks is either from her garden or fresh organic stuff.  It was delicious – and Bob grills a pretty tasty chicken too.  They manage an indoor garden as well – with lots of hanging plants in their high-ceiling living room on an ingenious system of pulleys so they can bring them down to water them.

We didn’t take any pictures at their house, but you can see and read all about their garden in Lori’s blog: MyGardenDelights.blogspot.com

Lori and Bob – it was SO good to see you!  And, thanks for the delicious meal.

I also want to mention someone we met in the RV park.  She saw our sign for Geeks on Tour in the front windows of the RV’s cab over and asked if we could help her with her digital pictures on her computer!  Uh … let me think … yes! We can do that.  So, Dixie got a 2 hour private tutoring session and she loved it!  She had a camera card with 4 years worth of pictures because she didn’t know how to get them to the computer.  I helped her download Picasa, showed her how to get her pictures to the computer, then move them into folders that made sense to her.  She also set up a web album so she could share her pictures with family and friends in Poland.  All as easy as a few clicks of the mouse now.  Before, she had been taking her camera card to a photo lab like Walgreens, printed out some photos, and mailed them to friends.  She wanted to know where we were traveling next so she could follow us and get more lessons!  It was good to meet you Dixie!  You’re a very good student.

Oh yeah … I also never posted the pictures from when we visited Diane and Andy at their business – Rolling Sands Harmony.  They sell yoga supplies, meditation supplies, and other healthy things.  They started out selling some of this stuff from their RV!  When it got to be too much, that’s when they decided on the Denver area where they wanted to live.  Now they couldn’t be more settled!  A house, a 2 1/2 year old daughter, and a stick and brick business.  They’re working hard and doing well.  They also do a lot of business thru Amazon.com. 

Beautiful Diane!

 

They got a shipment of product while we were there.  Jim helped do the unloading.

 

It was great seeing you guys Diane and Andy!  And, of course, to meet Elizabeth! and … Congratulations on your successful Bolder Boulder run.  While you were running – we at least walked at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre!

Red Rock Amphitheatre

When we first arrived in Golden and Diane was giving us suggestions of where to go, she said we had to go see Red Rock amphitheatre.  It was another gorgeous day yesterday –so that’s what we did.

This is a concert venue where many famous musicians have performed, including the Beatles in 1964.  Here’s a picture I grabbed from the web with a full audience.  It can hold 10,000!

When there isn’t a concert, people use the stadium for exercising.  So, that’s what we did.  We started at the top

 

We turned on Runkeeper to track how far we walked as we went across one row of bleachers, then down 2 rows, then back across the other way.  A different kind of walk!  Here’s the map from runkeeper:

And, here’s the view looking up from the bottom:

Can you see the girl with her ponytail sticking straight up?  She’s hopping UP those benches!  There were people doing all sorts of strenuous contortions using the benches and steps as workout equipment.  We just walked!  But, then, we had to walk back UP!  I was definitely huffing and puffing at that 6,400 feet elevation.  But I had plenty of excuses to stop and take pictures of the amazing scenery.

 

 

 

 

And, finally, here’s a panorama from the top of the bleachers.  Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Be Sure to CLICK on this picture to see it full screen!

Rocky Mountain High

Friday started out with a Kundalini Yoga class with Diane at Asana Yoga Studios in Arvada, CO.  Geee … I wonder if I could look up yoga classes in the places we travel thru?  It felt SO good!

When I got home, Jim and I looked out at the sparkling sunshine and agreed that we could not sit inside at the computers.  So, we took off for the mountains.  The road to Mt. Evans is listed as the #1 or #2 thing to do in Colorado.  It goes all the way up to 14,265 feet above sea level.  It is the highest paved road in North America. 

We started out from Golden and got on to I-70.  We came around one turn and the stunning view of snow covered Rockies truly took our breath away.

On I-70 headed west

Wow! Rocky mountains appearing on I-70 west of Denver. Breathtaking

 

Unfortunately, the road up the last stretch on Mt. Evans had not been cleared of snow yet.  It was closed.  We got to Echo Lake at 10,600.  It was still partially ice covered … kind of slushy.

Lake 'slushy' at 10,600 feet up in the Rocky Mountains

 

Our intended destination: Mt. Evans

 

But, the main road continued on and kept rising.  We saw one sign for 11,700 – I think that was the highest.  What spectacular views!

 

Rocky Mountains

 

Looking down on the Mile High city.

 

We came out of the mountains and could look east and down on the Mile High city of Denver.  Then we took another scenic detour on Lookout Mountain, just above Golden.  They had a nature preserve and a nice trail.

Deer!

 

Peek a Boo

 

Driving Lookout Mountain

 

From Lookout mountain, looking north, Golden at the right.

 

Lookout Mountain road!

 

Rocky Mountain High

“Hanging Out” in Massachusetts

We’re still here in Colorado, at the Clear Creek campground, but our Friend Bob Brown wanted us to give a little smartphone seminar for his Good Sam rally in Massachusetts.  We’ve done this before using Skype.  We’ve also tried using Google+ Hangouts.  We still can’t decide which system is best, but we did quite a bit of practice with our equipment using Hangouts this time.

In the picture below, you can see Jim with his Surface Pro tablet.  He’s connected to the Hangout with that computer.  The beauty of it is that it has a rear-facing camera.  That means, as he’s talking to the folks in Massachusetts, he can be showing them the Android phone, or the iPad screens by focusing his Surface’s camera on them.

In the background, you see my computer with the big microphone, and the second, larger, monitor is displaying a view of the room in Massachusetts. 

The weak link in all this is the Internet connection.  We used 2 different connections – my computer was connected to the park’s Wi-Fi   Jim’s computer was connected using his Droid Razr on Verizon and the PDANet hotspot software.  Happily, our connection was pretty good.

Unfortunately, they had thunderstorms in Massachusetts at the appointed time.  Severe weather wreaked havoc with their Wi-Fi connection.  They said that they could hear us OK, but we couldn’t hear them.  So, we called Bob on the phone and he relayed their questions.  Never Give Up!  Never Surrender!

It certainly wasn’t as good as our live seminars, but we covered some of the material anyway.  We finished early, and Bob told us that the Internet connection died completely as soon as we hung up.

We have two more remote seminars scheduled in the next month.  Wish us luck!

Diane, Andy, Elizabeth, and Clear Creek, Golden Colorado

After the RVSEF conference in Colorado Springs, we planned to visit our friends Diane and Andy in the Denver area.  We were thinking of staying in the inexpensive Elks Lodge, or Fairgrounds, but we also knew of a really nice little campground in Golden called Clear Creek.  We’ve spent a lot of money in the last few weeks, with not much coming in – so we didn’t feel like we could splurge on a real campground. 
But, lack of money has never stopped us before!  So, when Diane and Andy mentioned how close Clear Creek was to their home, we said, “What the Heck!”  And, I’m so glad we did.  It is just beautiful.  We paid for a couple of nights, then they let us move to a space right next to the creek, and we just didn’t want to leave at all.  There’s pretty good Wi-Fi here, and a 4bar 4G Verizon signal.  When we realized that the upcoming weekend is Memorial Day, we extended our reservation for 10 more days!  This is what our lifestyle is all about!  We're working all the time (lots of new videos on our website) - but we can do it in beautiful places, and be flexible in our schedule.

Check out this little video and I think you’ll agree we made a good choice.

The primary reason we just had to visit is that Diane and Andy now have a 2 1/2 year old daughter, Elizabeth.  The last time we saw them, Diane was still pregnant!  So, they came by the RV park and brought her.  They were fulltime RVers for a couple of years themselves.  I think they’ve been planting seeds with their daughter!

Elizabeth is ready to go, "My Mommy told me all about driving an RV"

Diane and Andy come to visit us at Clear Creek park

Elizabeth's favorite toys

Elizabeth and Diane

We know the truth! The one on the right is the kid.

Trying to keep up with a 2 year old

Come on!

Colorado Springs and RVSEF Conference

We made it!  2,206 miles in 9 days. That is not our norm.  We prefer to take about a month for that distance.  But everything fell into place, and as you've seen we made sure to have some fun along the way as well.  I added up our expenses ... spending roughly $2,000 all totaled.  $1,200 in diesel fuel, $200 in campground fees, and $600 in RV service and entertainment.
Our goal was this RVSEF Lifestyle, Education, and Safety conference.  It's the same conference that we've done a couple times before in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  We're teaching a few classes, but it's a very small conference so there's no stress at all.  And, take a look at where we are!

That's Pikes Peak in the background (I think)

And, here's our parking spot.

We're just in the parking lot of the conference facility, so there are no hookups.  We're giving our generator a workout, and learning that our inverter works pretty well.  We're here for 5 nights.  I'm not sure we've ever dry-camped that long before, and certainly not for a looong time.  It's good practice!

This is the conference group, just getting to know each other. Some have been RVing for a while, some haven't even bought their RV yet.  They come here to learn what they need to know - driving classes, electrical system classes, water system classes, lifestyle classes, and technology classes-that's us!

There are some real industry experts here, and Jim enjoyed taking a couple of electrical classes with Gary Bunzer, the RV Doctor.  Linda and Howard Payne of RV-Dreams are also here.  We follow their adventures and have been especially envious of their recent exploration of Utah's parks.

And no RV safety conference is complete without Mac the Fire Guy!

We're here for a couple more days, then on to Denver and a visit with Diane and Andy .. and Elizabeth!

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Capulin Volcano National Monument, New Mexico

This was pure serendipity.  We're on our way to Colorado Springs, Colorado.  On our route thru northeast New Mexico, we used our Passport America app on our smartphone to find a place to park the RV for the night. We found Capulin RV Park, and it was delightful.  We got hooked up to their 50 amp electric service, put our slides out, and settled in. We had seen a sign for Capulin Volcano National Monument and had no idea what it was, but the owners at the park said it was very worthwhile, so we determined to make the short, 3 mile trip to the park in the morning.

We stopped at the visitor's center and watched the short video - we love to get the overview that way.  We also bought a new annual National Parks pass for $80. We plan to see a lot of National Parks this summer, and wanted to be ready!  We also splurged and bought the $8 passport, a little book that lists all the national park properties and gives you a place to stamp a page for every property you visit.

Then we drove up to the top of the Volcano and took the mile loop walk around the rim.  At over 6,000 feet and uphill, we were really huffing and puffing, but OH THE VIEWS!

 

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