Big Wheels are a Rolling

Both Chuck and I were really getting antsy to get on the road again. I'm sure the fact that we have this great adventure on the drawing board had something to do with it. We are like a couple of kids......are we there yet? Time to go...huh, huh??

Left Colorado Springs on Thursday, after the optometrist having given me the get out of town pass on Wednesday. It was an uneventful drive (and we like it that way) to Lusk, Wyoming. Spent the night at a Passport America park, that at 10 dollars, was priced about right. The next day we drove on in to Rapid City, SD. We are staying at Ellsworth AFB. Very nice campground.

Our Site

Yesterday we took a drive, had to see Mount Rushmore, and it was breath taking. Stopped in the little town of Keystone and took in the Borglum Historical Center. There we learned of the life of Gutzon Borglum and how he came about overseeing and designing the construction of the monument. Made us appreciate seeing it even more.

Picture of a replica of an eye. This is over 8 feet across. Borglum devised a way

of carving the pupil so that at a distance it had depth to it. Amazing that this could have been done by sheer brawn (and a lot of dynamite) for less than 1 million dollars.

After leaving there, some how we took a wrong turn, but we have found that some of the best sights are when we are lost. There are times we just drive and when we are done hit home on the GPS and let it get us back. Love it, can't imagine full timing it with out the GPS.

Leaving we turned around and in doing so seen a mountain goat, so at the top we once again turned around, but by the time we got back there he was at the tip of the rocks. Did manage to get a few pictures of him, only you have to look hard to see him.

Know that Dorthea, Mark, Jim and Ellie are in the area, hopefully we can cross paths with them. Looking forward to seeing them.

Smelling the Flowers

The past week has been one of rest and relaxation, like we have been wearing ourselves out doing nothing, but it has been just gorgeous as far as the weather goes. The very best we have had since being here. My hummers are back, although not nearly like last year. They are doing about one refill a day, and there are two feeders, so they are offering a lot of entertainment.

With all the rain there has been here the past months the wild flowers are in bloom in full glory. They are saying that the bloom has not been like this for years, and it is spectacular. Walked in the area behind the RV and took some pictures, but they just don't do it justice.

I had the surgery on the second eye Wednesday, and all went fine. We are staying till after the weekly check up next week, and if all is well we will be comfortable about leaving. We have started in the getting ready mod now. Washing the rig and all the things that go with getting back on the road. We are lucky here, they allow washing here, as long as we have an auto sprayer on the hose. And Chuck installed some safety thingy on the awning, new carpeting on the steps. Also had to get a new DVR from Dish TV. Ours would record, but on playback really broke up with starts and stops. Surprisingly they were very accommodating. New one arrived, blue label, with a return shipping label to send the old one back. After getting some of the bugs worked out, we have been reasonably happy with Dish. Our only challenge is getting the local channels when we move. When we first signed up with Dish they told us that when we moved just call, give them the zip code, and they would connect us to the local channels. Well, it has worked, but only after we usually have to do the "speak to your supervisor bit". And when you are talking to someone in India they have no idea what rving is. We will probably get the east/west local set up, but just have not gotten around to it yet. Besides is has gotten to be sort of a game.

Last night we met our daughter and son in law for dinner at Red Lobster. It was very good, Chuck had this huge platter that must have had everything on it, never seen so much , I had the coconut shrimp, which was great. He ate all of his, half mine came home. Swear the man has a tape worm!

Till the next time......Life is good......

Seeing the World with New Eyes

Well, make that one eye, but what a difference! It was the fastest, most organized procedure imaginable. Felt like I was on a conveyor belt. Took a total of 30 minutes start to out the door, have a nice day, finish. But it is totally amazing what a difference it makes. We went to see the Glen Beck performance last night and ...clear as could be, no glasses. Great show by the way. He is neither republican or democrat, but just a concerned American, who gave both parties "credit for the fix we are in", really makes one see how truly in trouble this country is, that has been a long time in the making. Only now we are on steroids! Some how he made it all seem so funny! Enough I know, but I'm afraid of what is coming. Well that does it...after sweating over this post and finally getting it done, posted it and wallah...it is NOT there. For some reason this little bit was left.........So here we go again.

Have not been doing much of anything, visiting family, seeing a few friends that we have met over the years, trolling Costco, trip to the outlet mall, which was a bust, one pair of shoes is not a success, as any women knows. Chuck has played golf quite often, which is what he would do just about every day. Should rephrase that, five days a week is his limit. And that was in his younger days.....LOL

Our Site

If you ever get the chance to stay here be sure to ask for a site in the west side. This is a huge campground, but it never ceases to amaze me that no matter how much land is available on the military establishments, that RV parks and railroad crossings are almost always one. We did not know about this the first time here and there were times that it felt as if the trains were running right down the middle of the RV. And just to make it even better, most of them run at night, and there are almost a steady stream.

Matilda

all ready for the 4th of July

New member of the family

Decided to keep my vacuum (that was in storage) as I'm just not any too happy with the built in that is in the 5er. The hose has got to be 40 foot long and weigh almost as much as I do. Plus just not user friendly. The problem there is no place to store one, so out in the open was about the only solution. Found the bunny cover on e-bay and problem solved.

The sliding shelves
LOVE Them!!

We will probably be here another two weeks if all goes well. They are doing the other eye Wednesday and have to have it checked out a week later. Then hitch it up, jacks up, pedal to the metal, look out world...here we come.

Well there is thunder, so Chuck will be here soon or he is hiding under some little lightning hut.

Till next time, hopefully will have a more interesting post next time.

Day to Day

Gee over a whole week has gone by, and I swear the time has not flown by so fast because we are having all that much fun. Chuck and John got back with the moving van on the 23rd, so it was one fast trip. Which was good as nothing went wrong. We had thought that we could be a little selective and go through things, and had everything all spread out at the storage area, but the biggest thunder storm came up, and we could not get it stored any faster. Lucky that we had lots of help. Guess it will wait to another day in the future, when we decide to settle down. Actually not too sure what we couldn't part with, but it was very important, back then.

Am thrilled over one thing that took place, and most people will think that it might be fairly minor, but I love it! My cupboard that held my pots and pans, (which I had a hard time finding what I needed, much less getting in to) we figured out a way to install sliding shelves. It took some thinking out of the box, but we came up with a solution. Lowes has these sliding shelves that are top quality, but the size was just a little bigger than the opening of the cabinet. No problem, we will make the opening larger, opps, now the doors are too small. No problem we will get a new door. You want 148.00 for a door???? Don't think so, back to Lowes...we ended up buying the doors for a closet cupboard, having them cut down to the size we needed (they will do that at Lowe's, free) and presto....problem solved, less than 35 dollars. Of course this took a whole lot longer than it sounds, but hey, it was only a weekend and I couldn't be happier about it. I've always had this saying that when Chuck picked up a hammer, I ran to get a paper bag as he would be hyperventilating shortly. He would never be a handyman, but at least he has kept trying. LOL

Seen the eye surgeon about my cataract surgery and they have it scheduled for the next two Wednesdays. They only do the procedures one day a week, and they were full for tomorrow, so that was the best I could do. Actually looking forward to seeing clearly again. Both of us are anxious to get on the road, but looks like it will be at least a month. We do enjoy being near the kids, but they are busy with their jobs and all the things that go with running two businesses and all. Plus the weather has not been too kind, rainy, cold not what you would call spring. Will say that we have been experiencing spring since we left southern Texas.

We are moving out to the campground at the Air Force Academy tomorrow. They have a very nice RV park in the pine trees with huge spaces. And the hummingbirds are unbelievable. Stayed there last year for a few weeks and you could hardly get the feeders hung before they were there. Had to fill them at least a couple of times a day. But they were so much fun to watch.

So till next time, may the wind be at our backs.