May 19, 2011 Frisco, Colorado

 

Good Thursday morning…it’s about 6:30 am Mountain Standard Time in Frisco, Colorado.  Frisco is 80 miles west of Denver just off of I-70.  We are in the White Mountains National Forest…our campground is Heaton Bay.  Frisco is where we will be spending the next 4 months working as campgrounds hosts but Heaton Bay campground is not going to be our location…we will be about 5 miles from here at Peak One.  Peak One is on the other side of Frisco on the road to Breckenridge, CO…Breckenridge is less than 7 miles from Frisco.  But I digress…

This is what we woke up to this morning.

We have had temps at or below freezing at night since we got here last Sunday.  We have predictions of snow/rain for the next few days and have had snow flurries off and on all day yesterday.

Today is our first actual day of work…at least being on the payroll.  We are not at our campground, Peak One, because they are having a problem with the water.  We have 3 loops at Peak One…Bob and I are hosting loops A & C and our friends Carolyn and Roy Trout are hosting loop B.  We drove out and checked out our loops on Tuesday and Carolyn & Roy are not even able to get into their host space due to snow.  Roy was able to drive through it because his truck has four wheel drive…there is only one bad area of snow but there is no way they could get their motorhome through it right now.  Not sure exactly when we will move…right now we have electricity but they have to bring us water and pump our tanks.  We will have full hookups once we they get Peak One up and running.

After spending last summer in the Black Hills National Forest in Hill City, South Dakota I have to say we were shocked when we saw this area.  We had heard that the forest here had been devastated due to pine beetles but we were not quite prepared for what we found.  Heaton Bay looks pretty good…Peak One looks worse…it is not a pretty campground at all.  I would be hard pressed to find a suitable area to pitch a tent at any of these campgrounds…they are filled with tree stumps where the Forest Service has had to cut down trees to try and stop the infestation and to clear dead trees. 

I guess I should tell you that these campgrounds are located on and around Dillon Reservoir which is very pretty.  The water is low right now but the folks in the area are worried about the run off once the snow melts in the surrounding mountains and reaches the “lake”. 

The towns of Frisco, Dillon and Silverthorne sort of all run together and are very pretty…I will have more pictures soon. 

This is a picture of the Dillon Lake (reservoir is too hard to keep typing) that I took the other day from one of the public areas.

A large portion of the lake is still iced over. 

 

When Bob came back in from taking the dogs out a few minutes ago, he commented that it did not feel like it was only 26 degrees…I am thinking it feels warmer because the air is so dry…but 26 is 26.

Moving on.

Kentucky April 2011 Part II

While in Kentucky drove to Columbus where a battle between the North and South took place.  The Confederates laid a chain across the Mississippi River with the idea that when the Yankee ships would be stopped by the chain…did not happen.  Here is James with the anchor and a part of the chain…the links were massive.  James said when he was younger, he and his friends would prove how strong they were by how many of the links they could lift off the ground…I think he said his record was thirteen.  This is a beautiful park and they also have a campground.

These young men were to be part of a battle re-enactment that was taking place later that day in the park.

 

We then went to Clinton, KY where we attended the first annual Chicken Festival.  They had several vendor booths and lots of food plus live music. Here are Bob, James and Sandra checking some of the wares.

And Bob makes friends wherever he goes.

James and Sandra used to sell funnel cakes at festivals such as this.  James thought this booth looked so much like the one he had built…and it was!  It looked much better when James built it but this is the second or third owner after he sold it.

And so it was time to say goodbye to the Chicken Festival…we hope to be back again.  Thanks to Sandra and James for all their hospitality, great food and friendship.  James even prepared homemade ice cream Sunday afternoon.  We left on Monday morning.  Goodbye Kentucky.

Moving on.

Kentucky, April 2011 Part I

 

I know I am going backward in time…such is my life.

After leaving Red Bay, AL we headed north to visit our friends Sandra and James at their home in Fulton, KY.  We met them at a Mardi Gras parade in Foley, AL 3 years ago…they spend the month of February on the beach in Gulf Shores, AL…actually the stay in a condo on the beach.

They live outside of town so we had room to park the rv next their house. 

Their place is just lovely…I forgot to take a picture of their pond that is stocked with catfish and crappie. 

Sandra had a great dinner prepared for us the night we got there and James even prepared homemade ice cream one day…what wonderful people and hosts they are. 

On Saturday we travelled north to Paducah, KY for their annual quilt show.  I have to say I was truly overwhelmed by the beautiful quilts I saw…we spent most of the day there and still did not begin to see all of it.  There were quilts from all over the world but a number of them that won ribbons were from Japan…this is truly an art form.

This was one of my favorites…

I had told Sandra that we have friends, Mary and Wayne Wolz from Caldwell, TX who have a business called Mary’s Patterns.  I knew they were involved with several really big quilt shows but wasn’t sure if they were still doing Paducah.  Well, golly…we turned a corner and guess who we found!

Mary is so creative and talented with all of her designs.

Missouri May 2011

 

We left Kentucky on May 2, driving in rain, rain and more rain.  We decided to head south into Tennessee even though we wanted to end up going north.  By doing this we were going to be able to come out west of St. Louis and it only added a few miles to our route.

I feel so sorry for all these folks in this area that are experiencing the flooding…there was water everywhere and we went by several roads that were closed to traffic.  We were getting a bit worried at one point…the rain just would not stop.  Our goal was to make it to Sikeston, MO before stopping so I called the Missouri Dept. of Transportation at one point to get a road advisory.  The gentleman I spoke to told me that he lived in Sikeston and so far I-55 was open.  He advised that he could not make any promises as to what was to come but that once we got to Sikeston we might want to go on to Cape Girardeau which is about 25 miles north of Sikeston…so we plugged ahead to CG.  We ended up spending Monday and Tuesday night at Cape Camping RV Park.  It was an okay park…folks in the office were very nice.  CG is located right on the Mississippi River…duh…what were we thinking!  There is a wall that blocks the city from the water…yeah.  We bought a few things at Walmart and I was able to get a haircut…not at Walmart…and we had some pretty good Mexican food at El Torero. 

Now about the Walmart…been there, done that.  There are not many places that we have been that we have not cared much about returning to…Rapid City, SD is the only one that comes to mind, hate, hate, hate that Walmart, and now I am adding Cape Girardeau, MO to that list…their Walmart runs a close second to RC.  The old downtown area is really cute but on .

the whole there is just too much traffic in a small area.  I am sure there are some really great things about CG that I did not get to experience that might change my mind…but again, maybe not.  I asked the woman in the campground office about what we really needed to see in the area and it took her a while to think of anything.  The only thing she could come up with were the seawalls or I guess they are riverwalls.  There are murals all along the wall and they were nice but it took about 2 minutes to see them.

So how many people have I offended?  Sorry if I did not have more positive things to say about CG but I have to tell it like it is…possibly someone could give me some idea of what I should have seen and done while we were there.

We drove across the Mississippi River into Illinois.  Water everywhere.  These guys were building a levee to try to keep the water out of their business.

A number of smaller roads were totally closed.

Moving on.

Red Bay, AL… April 2011

This post is backtracking…trying to catch up.

We left Coastal Haven RV park on April 20 and headed north to the Tiffin motorhome service center in Red Bay, AL to have a couple of things done to our Phaeton motorhome.  As we did not have an appointment, we were not sure just how long we would be there before being able to get into a service bay.

But, as usual, we met some great people and formed new friendships.  And we got to eat at our favorite breakfast place in Red Bay…Jack’s.  Here we are starting with the lady in the black top…Barb, Don, Lucy, me, Bob, Carol, Mike and Tom.  Barb, Lucy and Carol are all quilters.

After we had breakfast, we met with these folks again and Bob asked Don, the gentleman in the red shirt, if they happened to have been in South Dakota last summer.  Don said they had…they stayed at Sheridan Lake campground where we were the hosts.  Small world department…they are from Maine.

For you Tiffin folks, this is one of the large trees at the park in downtown Red Bay.  We spent most of one night and the next day in the designated storm shelter at the Tiffin service center due to siren warnings.  Just about the time it was all clear we would start to leave and then another siren would go off.  It was a tiring experience but thankfully no one was hurt and only minor damage in Red Bay.

This was taken in Belmont, AL, where the Tiffin paint shop is located.  There was more damage to  buildings here but again no injuries.

Next stop…Kentucky.  Moving on.

Fulton, MO May 5, 2011

I will have to backtrack after this post but I wanted to get this entered before I forget. From Fulton, KY on Monday to Fulton, MO today…Thursday.  We are staying in Mexico, MO for a few days and today traveled about 25 miles south to Fulton, Missouri the home of Westminster College and the National Churchill Museum...that would be Winston Churchill.  Oh, did I forget to mention that the museum is located in the basement of a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren…in London, England.  Doesn’t every small town have a church that was built in England way back in 1667.  The church was bombed during WWII and was described as an “eyesore” afterwards.

From Wikipedia:

Westminster College is a private, selective, liberal arts institution in Fulton, Missouri, USA. It was founded by Presbyterians in 1849 as Fulton College and assumed the present name in 1851. The National Churchill Museum and Library are located on the campus. The National Churchill Museum (formally known as the Churchill Memorial) is a national historic site and includes the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. The church, designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1667, was rebuilt on the campus to commemorate Sir Winston Churchill, who made his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in 1946. As a bookend to history, Mikhail Gorbachev gave a speech in 1992, declaring the end of the Cold War.

On November 9, 1990, the one year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, former President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech dedicating a major section of the Berlin Wall, which now stands as a permanent monument on the College Quad, as a backdrop. The monument, named "Breakthrough" as designed by Winston Churchill's granddaughter, Edwina Sandys. See photo below for a visual of the Church, Library, and Berlin Wall monument.

This is a beautiful campus with enrollment of 1300 at this time.  We arrived late in the afternoon but luckily, due to a private function, the hours at the museum had been extended.  To do the museum justice one would need to spend several hours…it is a great museum and a beautiful college campus. 

The museum was truly wonderful…too much to even try to show.  We will have to go back someday when we have lots of time.

Moving on.