Monthly Archives: June 2015

Colorado

Retirement Ceremony and the Alpine Coach “mini-rally” continues…(Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Another fun day!

First of all, I had the pleasure and honor to attend a former co-workers retirement ceremony.  It was held at Schriever Air Force Base within the highly-secretive Missile Defense Agency Integration & Operations Center (MDIOC).  I worked there for ~7 years after I retired from the Army at Ft Carson in 2007.  It was truly a ‘grand ceremony’ for a ‘grand gentleman’.

Pictures aren’t allowed inside the facility, but I hope to receive some “official” photos that the public affairs group took during the ceremony… if so, I’ll post them later.  Meanwhile, here’s a front page photo of the ‘flyer’ or ‘handout’ with biography that everyone in attendance received…

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Arthur, or ‘Art’ as he is known, completed over 32 years of government service in DoD Contracting and now plans on retiring to Hershey, PA.  Good Luck Art!  It was a privilege to have known you during my time at the MDA.

It was great to see the old workplace and coworkers… it’s been just a little over a year since I resigned my position there and we went full-timing in the Coach.  Other than the awesome ceremony, the best part was catching up with the many fine folks I used to work for and with.   Many of my old coworkers follow along on this blog or Facebook and know what we’ve been up to (somewhat), but many also do not.  So, when asked (repeatedly) by many folks during the reception; I found myself trying to remember some of the many places we’ve visited in the last year.  It’s truly difficult to pick a favorite place we’ve been over the last year, it seems like we’ve been to so many.  I passed out a lot of my “non-business” UrbanEscapeVehicle.com business cards, so maybe more will follow along now.

When I returned from the ceremony, I found Stilla at the Elks Lodge pool with our grandson Kaan, and a couple of her girlfriends. (Sorry, no pics)

And then, before long we were hanging out with our Alpine Coach friends again as they trickled in from their day of sightseeing around the Colorado Springs area.

Another fun evening of good conversation with good people ensued…

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This picture (below) almost looks like a repeat of yesterday, but it’s not – we just happened to snag the same table at the downstairs bar.

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And then we spent some time out on the patio when the karaoke got a little too loud for conversation…

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Jack Giddens and Ricky Broussard at Elks Lodge 309.

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Like I stated at the beginning of this post… Another fun day!

We expect to meet up again tonight (Friday) for dinner here at the Elks Lodge with the Gidden’s and Broussard’s.  Unfortunately the Foster’s left this morning to visit relatives in Littleton.   Maybe they’ll be back by before we leave here on the 2nd of July.  Hopefully, the Foster’s will sign up for the Alpine Coach Lake Powell Rally in October and we’ll see them there… I know they were tossing around the idea. 🙂

Stay tuned for more impromptu Alpine Coach “mini-rally” fun…

 

Colorado

Neighbors and an Alpine Coach mini-Rally (Colorado Springs, CO)

Fun times here at the Colorado Springs Elks Lodge!  We started off our Wednesday by going out to lunch with our neighbors Robert and Faye.  They have been parked next to us here at the RV park for the last few weeks.  They invited us, along with our other RV park neighbor; Barney to the Hu Hot Mongolian Grill.  Barney is a long time resident of the Elks Lodge and was even the camp host at one time.  Robert and Faye are full-timers that manage and maintain a metal art sculpture business to support their lifestyle on the road.

Good food and good conversation.  Thanks for the invite Robert and Faye!

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Elks Lodge RV Park neighbors; Barney, Robert and Faye. At Hu Hot Mongolian Grill in Colorado Springs.

We returned to the Elks Lodge after lunch and were happy to see Jack and Linda Giddens had arrived in their Alpine Coach.  They are members of the Alpine Coach Association SoCal group that we belong to.  Linda corresponded with us yesterday, so we knew they were coming in.  I spoke to the camp host to reserve a couple spots for them that had just opened up the day before.

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The Giddens’ are traveling with Linda’s sister and her husband, Hugh.  They parked their 5th Wheel in the last open spot.

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We were also surprised to see John and Lorraine Foster’s Alpine Coach in the RV park!  They are also part of the Alpine SoCal group.  We weren’t expecting them.  Another rig had apparently just departed so they (luckily) were able to score a spot with hook ups as well.  It’s starting to look like a mini-Alpine Coach Rally here at the COS Elks Lodge 🙂

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And it just keeps getting better… Ricky and Cathy Broussard, who are also Alpine Coach owners, showed up to visit.  They are parked at a nearby RV park and just happened by today.  We met Ricky and Cathy at our first Alpine Coach Association Rally in St. George, UT a few years ago when we first joined the Alpine SoCal group.

So we all went into the Elks Lodge bar to enjoy some adult beverages.  However, John and Lorraine were still out and about, so we didn’t get to meet up with them until later.

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(L to R) Stilla, Cathy Broussard, Linda Giddens. Moose antler on table in foreground, courtesy of Ricky Broussard.
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(L to R) Ricky Broussard, Stilla, Cathy Broussard, Linda Giddens, Linda’s  sister and husband Hugh, and Jack Giddens.
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(L to R) Myself, Ricky, Stilla, Cathy, Linda, Linda’s sister and Hugh.

Great people and great fun!  We had a good time catching up on each other’s travels.  Ricky showed off a moose antler they recently picked up during a shed hunt.  There’s probably something inherently wrong with having a moose antler in an Elks Lodge… lucky he wasn’t kicked out 🙂

After “Happy Hour” was over we said our fond farewells and made plans to meet up again later.

On the way out, we met up with Alpine Coach Owners; John and Lorraine Foster who had just gotten back from a quick day trip to Denver.

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John and Lorraine Foster

So we went back into the lodge to enjoy another adult beverage and some more conversation.  We got caught up on their fun travels.  It sounds like they’re having a great time.  Hopefully we’ll be able to see more of John and Lorraine before they depart again on Friday.  The others will be around until Sunday.

Any more Alpines out there that want to stop by?

Stay tuned… today (Thursday) I get to attend the retirement ceremony of an old co-worker from the Missile Defense Agency… I’ll report back later…

Colorado

Still Killing Time (Elks Lodge 309 – Colorado Springs, CO)

Still not a whole lot going on lately…  we’re just killing time here at the Elks Lodge in Colorado Springs since we already paid for the month of June.

It’s been good spending time here with friends and family.  Our next planned trip is to the FCRV Rally (Campvention) in Gillette, WY around the 1st of July.  We will convoy with my Dad/Stepmom and meet up with other friends once we get there.

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Our spot here at the COS Elks Lodge across from the pool.

Meanwhile… we’ve been attending events here at the lodge and hanging out by the pool…

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Hanging out at the Urban Escape Vehicle with (old) neighbor Tricia after a day at the pool.
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Hanging out after Spaghetti Dinner night at the COS Elks Lodge.
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Father’s Day BBQ at the Elks Lodge. Happy Father’s Day Dad!
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COS Elks Lodge Pool.
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Grilling on the deck at the COS Elks Lodge.
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COS Elks Lodge Pool.
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COS Elks Lodge Pool.
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Hanging out under the awning at the COS Elks Lodge.
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Enjoying Steak Dinner night with friends at the COS Elks Lodge.
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Enjoying Steak Dinner night with friends at the COS Elks Lodge.
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Enjoying Steak Dinner night with friends at the COS Elks Lodge. (John and Angelika)
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Newly inducted ‘Elk Member’ and fellow RV’er (Gary Abbs)

We even made it over to the Pikes Peak Harley dealer on a recent Saturday for some “Casino Day” fun…

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It hasn’t been all “playtime” though… I’ve spent some time detailing the generator bay recently…

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I cleaned and touched up the paint on the inside of the front clip.  It cleaned up nice 🙂

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The frame rails have a little surface rust that I still need to take care of.  I plan on getting back in there and taking care of that.  Hopefully, I remember to post some “after” pics once I get it done.

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And here’s a picture of little “Coach” since you haven’t seen him lately…

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Stay tuned… more fun on the way (hopefully) 🙂

 

Colorado

Biding Our Time (Elks Lodge 309 – Colorado Springs, CO)

It’s been a while since my last posting.  There’s just not a whole heck of a lot to blog about when your stationary for so long.   It’s been a great relief to get the house sold and be done with the mortgage payments and other associated home-related bills/obligations.  The checks have all cleared and all the bills have been paid 🙂  We already paid for our spot here at the Elks Lodge until the end of June.

It now feels like we’re just biding our time until we head to the Campvention Rally in Gillette WY o/a the 4th of July.  Now, don’t get me wrong… we haven’t just been sitting around in the Coach all the time – we’ve been doing a lot of things with family and friends and enjoying the many amenities at the Elks Lodge.  It’s just that we haven’t been to any major attractions or “blog-worthy” events.

As a matter-of-fact; we’ve enjoyed the pool here at the Elks Lodge several times over the last couple of weeks; and in between rainstorms, I’ve even been on several motorcycle rides around town and through Garden of the Gods park.

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Front-view of Elks Lodge 309, Colorado Springs CO.
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Urban Escape Vehicle in the RV park behind the Elks Lodge.

And we’ve enjoyed many dinner get-togethers at the Lodge over the last couple weeks…

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Taco Tuesday (2 June) – Elks Lodge 309 with Dad, Stepmom Elaine, RV friends Biff & Linda, Daughter Jennifer, and Grandson Kaan
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BBQ night (5 June) – Elks Lodge 309 with Dad, Stepmom Elaine, and RV friends; Biff & Linda, Bob & Mary.

We even spent a couple days over at my Dad’s house helping to get the ‘bird house’ set up that I wrote about in an earlier blog post HERE.

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Stilla digging hole for the bird house at Dad’s house.
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Dad securing the bird house post after leveling.
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Dad putting the final touches on the freshly “planted” bird house.

So, my apologies in advance to you blog-readers that are expecting new locations and picture-heavy blog posts… you’ll just have to wait until we hit the road again in July 🙂  Meanwhile, we’ll try to come up with some local Colorado Springs stuff… as a matter-of-fact, I recently got an invitation to attend a retirement ceremony later this month for a friend and old co-worker from the Missile Defense Agency, so stay tuned for that…

Colorado

Homeless (Colorado Springs, CO)

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It’s official!… we’re now homeless, or should I say houseless.  Closing went quite well with no surprises.  Congratulations to the new owner.  I’m sure he’ll love the house as much as we did.

Here’s a couple final (farewell) pics of the house, although not the most recent:

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View from front of house.
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View from rear of house. Downtown Colorado Springs after rainstorm.

We went ahead and paid for the month of June here at the Elks Lodge to take advantage of the cheaper monthly rate.  We don’t know for sure if we’ll stay the entire month but at least we can relax, pay off some bills, and enjoy visiting with family and friends here.

We did sign up for a rally in Gillette WY for early July, so we’ll definitely be out of here by then.  Until then… who knows… stay tuned…

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Urban Escape Vehicle at White Sands National Monument, April 2015.