My last post was on Wednesday the 27th of January.  It has been a busy and stressful couple weeks since then.  We had to move our oldest daughter and grandson from Colorado Springs to Phoenix.  Let me bring you up to date:

We left the Urban Escape Vehicle at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande and took the Silverado with our (empty) cargo trailer on a ~17 hour drive to Colorado Springs (COS).  We made it late Thursday night (28 Jan) without incident.  Thanks Dad and Elaine for putting us up at your place 🙂

On Friday we loaded up all the daughters’ stuff in COS.

Nice weather and nice view of Pikes Peak from where we picked up the daughters’ stuff.  That was about to change tho… the weather I mean.

After getting everything loaded into the trailer and pickup bed, we joined my Dad and stepmom Elaine at the COS Elks Lodge for Friday dinner.  Other friends also joined us when they heard we were in town.

We enjoyed after dinner conversation in the downstairs lounge.  It was great catching up.  I think it was September when we were last here.

On Saturday, I stopped by my old high school buddy’s auto repair shop to say hi and air up the tires on the trailer and truck for the extra weight I was now hauling.

Here’s my old high school pal Mike.  He owns Chuck’s Auto in COS.

Mike and I, along with a couple others from his shop went out for a late breakfast.  We had some of the best biscuits & gravy I’ve eaten in a long time at the nearby Mill Hill Saloon.

A big storm front was moving into COS and snow was expected overnight on Saturday and it was supposed to get real bad Sunday or Monday.  So I made the wise choice to start heading south before the bad weather hit.  Stilla stayed until the next day (Sunday) to spend time with our youngest daughter Joleen, plus the oldest daughter Jennifer still had to clean the place we moved her out of and take care of a few last minute items.

After getting safely over Raton Pass, I stopped near Springer, NM to see what new car displays they have inside Russell’s Truck Stop.  I try to stop by here anytime we go down I-25.

I drove as far as Albuquerque and got a room at Motel 6.  Ugghh, it reminded me of why I like to RV.  And their cheapest room was still almost $50 🙁  Oh well, at least I successfully missed the snowstorm before it shut down Colorado Springs.

Stilla, Jennifer, and Kaan caught up with me around noon just south of Albuquerque, they had some light snow and icy conditions getting out of COS but the roads were fine after that.  We all made it safely to Casa Grande late in the evening on the 31st of January.

Back at the “dirt farm”, we worked on my Mom’s casita that was still under the last stages of construction.  We just had to put a few finishing touches on it to make it livable for Jenny and Kaan until we find her a place.  I helped my stepdad Jim finish putting in the toilet and carpet for the floor, then we set up the air conditioner and heater.  And finally, after a trip to Home Depot for some window blinds, we had a nice one room apartment, aka casita.

We then spent several days looking at houses, rentals, property, etc., and finally came to the conclusion that she needed to be in or near Phoenix to find a job and good school.  We luckily, have a nephew in Phoenix that has extra rooms she can stay in for a couple months.  Thanks Matthew!  Matthew is my younger brother Donald’s kid who lives in Florida.  Matthew owns a house in Glendale where he’s going to college.

We drove by the Elks Lodge in Tempe, AZ on the way back from dropping Jenny and Kaan off at Matthew’s house in Glendale.  We wanted to check it out for possible future RV spots.  They had a Super Bowl buffet that we joined in on.  In the RV park, we saw an Alpine.  So I naturally popped by to say Hi.  It was Todd & Janet Legg!  We last saw them at the Desert Rat Rally in Quartzsite.  I talked to Todd for a bit but didn’t get to see Janet.  See ya later guys 🙂

We finished up the evening back at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande by watching the Super Bowl with my mom and stepdad Jim.  Go Broncos !!

Now we just have to figure out what to do with Jennifer’s dogs.  Having pets certainly makes it harder to find a house or apartment for rent.  And she can’t have them where she’s staying now, so I guess we’re stuck with them for now.

This is Ember (below).  Our little dog “Coach’s” sister.  We put her on Craigslist under the title ‘Free to Good Home’ but only got one response from an animal rights group called S.A.F.E. which stands for Save Animals From Euthanasia.  They take pets every Saturday at a designated PetSmart® in Phoenix to find homes for them.

Luckily, I also put a couple pictures on the Alpine Coach Owners Facebook page and got the attention of Ron and Jeanne.  We worked it out through correspondence to meet in Lake Havasu once we get there for the Alpine Coach Rally.

We left the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande on Tuesday the 9th with both of Jennifer’s dogs onboard to get to the Rally.  We left our dog ‘Coach’ with my Mom because three dogs is just too much in an RV.  Thanks again Mom for watching ‘Coach’… personally I’m beginning to wonder if she’ll even give him back 🙂

We left Casa Grande a little late in the day and finally made it to the Rodeo Grounds in Lake Havasu just after dark.  The volunteer guards at the entrance were still ready for late arrivals and had our check-in paperwork.  We followed a guy on his ATV with annoyingly bright and flashing color LED antennae to our designated site in between the other Alpine Coaches that are already here.  We set up quickly, said some hello’s to our neighbors, and watched a little TV with the generator on until 10 PM when we went to bed.

This morning (Wednesday), we met Ron and Jeanne at the SARA dog park around the corner from the rodeo grounds.  They drove down from their home in Las Vegas to meet us about adopting our daughter’s dog ‘Ember’.  They are fairly new Alpine Coach owner’s and haven’t had the opportunity to join one of our rallies yet.  As a matter of fact, they inquired about this one but it was already full 🙁  Hopefully, they will have the opportunity soon to join us soon 🙂

Ron & Jeanne took little Ember with them to give her a loving home… as I’ve said many times before; those Alpine Coach owners are the best of people 🙂

And so here we are again… at another fine Alpine Coach Rally.  It is now Wednesday the 10th of February.  The Rally officially starts on Thursday the 11th and I’ll try to keep the blog updated with rally activities.  We are dry camping (without hookups) at the SARA Park Rodeo Grounds (←link here).  We’re here for a week of fireworks… called the 27th Annual Western Winter Blast Pyrotechnics Show (←link).  We attended the same rally here last year, click (HERE) for a link to the beginning of those blog posts if interested.

Stay tuned…