Category Archives: Wyoming

Travel Day & a new Verizon Jetpack (Shell RV Park & CG, Shell WY)

2015/07/26 davidhobden@mac.com

We left Deer Park RV Park & Campground in Buffalo, WY by 11 AM on Saturday and traveled northwest along I-90 until we got to Sheridan, WY.

We stopped at the Super Walmart in Sheridan because we needed to stock up again on a few grocery items. We left the generator running so the A/C would keep the Coach cool while I went in for a quick shopping spree.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I noticed a Verizon store. I mentioned earlier that our Verizon Jetpack stopped taking a charge. Sometimes, if I wiggled the connector just right, it would start charging again, but it was becoming annoying. So we maneuvered the Coach with the truck hooked up into a nearby parking area (not an easy task sometimes) and I went into the store to see if they could troubleshoot the problem and maybe get a new charger cable or battery.

Half an hour later – I came back out of the Verizon store with a new Jetpack. It seems that I was eligible for an upgrade at a cost of $50 with a $50 mail-in rebate. That sounds good right? But, in the fine print is an additional $40 activation fee that will be added to my next bill.

For those of you not familiar with the Verizon Jetpack; it provides us with a wifi hotspot so we can connect our laptop, iPads, or iPhones to the internet. We also have AT&T on the iPhones with hotspot capability, but often-times it’s best to have a couple options for connectivity, i.e., AT&T and Verizon to get the best coverage while on the road. We originally were on a plan with a reseller, named Millenicom, for about $90 a month but Verizon bought them out so we’ve been on a Verizon 20GB plan for around $100 a month since early this year. With the new Jetpack, it looks like I get to continue with the same plan but I incurred a new 2yr contract obligation.

We continued on I-90 until we reached the town of Ranchester where we got on the Bighorn Scenic Hwy 14 to head towards Yellowstone NP. What a beautiful pass! It was quite a long, steep grade going up – but the Coach did fine. The engine water temperature reached 210 a couple times, but I manually punched in a lower gear on the Allison shift panel to keep the RPMs up. I also pulled off into a couple of the scenic turnouts to idle a bit while it cooled down. The engine normally runs around 195-200 according to my ScanGauge-D Vehicle Monitor. The engine brake performed awesome coming back down the pass into scenic Shell Canyon and past Shell Falls. I don’t think I want to go back on this same route due to the long, steep grades.

And here we are, at Shell Campground in Shell, Wy. We traveled 115 miles for the day. And we’re located almost exactly 120 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone NP according to the camp host. This campground is $36.75 per night with full hook-ups but only 30 Amp power. The internet is very slow and there’s no cell phone signal here 🙁 But it’s a nice campground with a very nice host that gave us quite a few tips on traveling in and around Yellowstone.

Shell RV Park & Campground office, Shell, WY.

Authors Note: I couldn’t upload any more pics today due to the slow internet.. I’ll edit this post tomorrow and add some pics once we get coverage again. Stay tuned…

Updated with pics on 26 July @ 3:30 PM.

Wyoming

Wind Cave NP & More New Alpine Friends! (Deer Park CG, Buffalo WY)

2015/07/25 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

It’s good to get away from it all! – big cities and jobs, etc., but not so much with regard to internet and cell phone coverage… and I sure hate getting behind with the blog posts 🙁

We’ve been in Wind Cave National Park at the Elk Mountain Campground for the past few days. (Click the links for more info) And now we decided to take our grandson Kaan to see Yellowstone NP. We’re currently enroute…

Let me try to bring you up to date with the limited connectivity we have here now, at Deer Park RV Park in Buffalo, WY. Our Verizon Jetpack doesn’t seem to want to take a charge anymore, so I’m relying on the park wifi and/or our iPhone hotspot…

The last inkling of life we saw on the Jetpack… no bars and no battery. It won’t charge anymore 🙁

When we left Ellsworth AFB FamCamp on Wednesday the 22nd, we didn’t expect to go off the grid, but that’s what happens at some of these national parks. And that’s where we ended up over the last few days – Wind Cave National Park. We headed south on 79 to Hot Springs and then came back up north on 385. My GPS (RandMcNally) said that the park had a campground and would accommodate big rigs.

We passed the Visitor Center and cave entrance on the way to the campground:

The Elk Mountain Campground turned out to be absolutely beautiful. Sites are water only – no electric or sewer. They cost $18 per day, payable with a fee envelope and firewood is by donation. We paid $9 per night with my disabled veteran NP access pass.

Here’s our site at Elk Mountain CG:

Elk Mountain CG in Wind Cave NP, South Dakota.

View to the east at Elk Mountain CG in Wind Cave NP, South Dakota.

View to the west at Elk Mountain CG in Wind Cave NP, South Dakota.

Grandson Kaan checking out the woods for wildlife.

Grandson Kaan getting sprayed down for mosquitos and bugs.

Relaxing on our lawn at Elk Mountain CG.

I should mention that we had to weave our way through the buffalo to get here:

In summary: We went on two of the cave tours and attended two of the evening ranger-talks held at the Campground amphitheater. Kaan and I really enjoyed the cave tours (Stilla stayed behind to watch little dog “Coach”), and the ranger-led nighttime wildlife walk was pretty cool as well.

Grandson Kaan on one of the Wind Cave tours.

We took the ‘Natural Entrance’ tour and then the ‘Fairgrounds’ tour. Our favorite was the ‘Fairgrounds’ tour.

Walking along one of the many narrow passageways in Wind Cave.

Click HERE to learn more about Wind Cave from my friend wikipedia™ and click HERE to see more images. courtesy of google™.

On our last day at the campground we drove into the nearby town of Hot Springs to enjoy a lunch and visit the famous Mammoth Site. Unfortunately, my iPhone battery was low, so we relied on Stilla’s iPhone for pictures and I couldn’t get her phone to download the images 🙂 Maybe I can get it to work later and will update you with a few pics, because this was a really cool site where that are still actively digging. Meanwhile, click HERE for some really good images from google™.

Kaan and Stilla at the Hot Springs, SD visitor center.

Friday, we packed up and departed Wind Cave NP on 385 north. We decided to drive over to Yellowstone NP because our grandson Kaan might not get another chance for years, and we haven’t been there since the early ’90s. We drove by Custer SD where we finally had cell phone connectivity again and I updated our status on Facebook so friends and family would know we’re still alive. Then we headed northeast on 16 to get back on I-90 near Gillette, WY where we were earlier this month.

We finally landed at Deer Park Campground in Buffalo, WY after a 200 mile driving day. We definitely noticed it’s getting harder to find reasonably priced (for us) campgrounds the closer we get to Yellowstone. This place was $43 per night with full hook-ups. But having full hook-ups is nice so we can do some loads of laundry.

And now for the highlight – as we were pulling into Deer Park Campground we noticed another Alpine!

As some of you blog-readers already know, this is a rare occurrence since Western RV only manufactured ~1,700 of them over a 10 year period (’99 thru 2009) before they went bankrupt.

Meet Ken & Caren Dortch:

Here’s a front-view of their nice 2006 Limited:

It’s always nice to meet fellow Alpiners! They are always the nicest people as are most RV’ers. Ken and Caren are from California and have just started full-timing. We spent a large part of our evening getting to know them after we got set up. We exchanged contact information and shared Alpine stories. I hope I was able to convince them to join the Alpine Coach Association (ACA) and the Alpine SoCal group.

Deer Park RV Park & Campground office building.

Our spot at Deer Park RV Park & Campground in Buffalo, WY.

I owe Ken a few adult beverages, thanks Ken! They are heading to Yellowstone NP as well… you never know, we might see them again soon 🙂

(L to R) Caren, Ken, Stilla, myself and little “Coach” in front of our Coach at Deer Park RV Park & Campground in Buffalo, WY.

Check back in to see where we end up… as of this morning (Saturday) even we don’t know. We just hope it’s somewhere near one of the entrances to Yellowstone NP so we can do day trips in the Silverado.

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Day 5: Closing Ceremonies] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/11 davidhobden@mac.com

Author’s note: No pictures today 🙁 Early travel day to Hermosa, SD. (just south of Rapid City). Will post pics of Closing Ceremonies and other Day 5 events in my next post.

Friday was basically a pack-up day for me after I worked on the computer because of my iPhoto crash that I mentioned in my previous post. I was worried because I haven’t done a backup of the hard drive since May of 2014. But it looks like I was able to bring things back in order 🙂

So after publishing the post yesterday (Friday), I loaded up the Harley after washing off all the dust that’s blowing around here in Gillette lately. Then I loaded the bicycles, took down the flagpole, and folded up our chairs so we can get an early start on Saturday. We plan on traveling with my Dad/Stepmom to Hermosa, SD where we made reservations earlier last month.

Stilla spent some time with my stepmom Elaine at the Cam-Plex Wyoming Center learning (or re-learning) how to line dance. And then at about 7 PM, we all (my Dad, Stepmom, Stilla, Kaan, and FCRV friends) went over to the main building for closing ceremonies, awards, and evening entertainment.

I did a full backup of the laptop overnight, which took hours. I had to let it run overnight and when I woke up this morning, the computer said it finally finished at 3 AM. I used my old Time Capsule™ Airport Extreme base station from Apple that I’ve been carrying around at the back of a cabinet in the Coach for the last couple years. It’s a 1TB Wi-Fi Hard Drive that I used to have set up at the house and hooked up to our router. As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t done a backup since May of 2014 and there’s really no excuse other than laziness. I suppose I could leave it plugged in and it would automatically do backups for me over Wi-Fi, but that’s not really an option when we’re limited to our Verizon Jetpack, our AT&T iPhones, or weak campground Wi-Fi. I just need to remember to get it out, plug it in to AC power, and then plug the ethernet cable into the laptop every so often.

Gotta finish packing up now… check back later to see what we’re up to…

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Day 4: Devils Tower] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/10 davidhobden@mac.com

It happened again – I tried to add pictures from my Dad’s USB stick to my iPhoto album on the MacBook Pro this morning for the blog, and it just shut itself down. I had to do a complete rebuild of my iPhoto library and now all my folders are out of order. At least all my pictures appear to be there. Still not quite sure what’s going on – so anyway, after a long morning of messing with the computer, here’s today’s post… better late – than never, right?

On Day 4 (Thursday) of our FCRV Campvention Rally; we followed through on our plan to visit Devils Tower. It was very windy and still overcast in the morning, so we decided to leave the Harley at the campground and we all piled into my Dad’s Jeep. I chauffeured for the circa 120 mile round-trip.

Here’s our first view of the tower at a pull-off along WY-24…

Click HERE to read about the legend of Devils Tower.

Informational placard along WY-24 at a scenic pull-off.

Our first stop was at the Devils Tower Trading Post located just before the entrance to the park.

Kaan posed for a picture with a rather appropriate (for him) sign.

The Devils Tower Trading Post is chock-full of alien related trinkets and gifts because of the Tower’s association with the 1977 film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind‘.

And we couldn’t help but notice that the Trading Post was already stocked up for the upcoming Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in nearby Sturgis, SD. I guess they aren’t wasting any time to ensure they sell out.

Stilla bought a couple T-shirts.

Then we took advantage of the little snack bar inside the Trading Post and had some hot dogs to keep up our energy for the hike around the tower that we planned to do later.

Dad, Elaine, Kaan, and Stilla in front of the Devils Tower Trading Post.

We drove through the entrance…

I used my Disabled-Veterans Access Pass and got us in for free.

We found a parking spot in front of the visitors center. After a quick tour through the visitors center, we took some water along for our 1.3 mile hike around the monument on the Tower Trail.

Stilla and Elaine in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.

The Tower Trail is a nice paved 1.3 mile pathway that circles around the 867′ high monument. There’s another longer, un-paved path named the Red Beds Trail that circles around for almost 3 miles, but we opted for the shorter, closer trail.

Stilla and Kaan in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.

The trail had lots of convenient (much appreciated) benches along the route. The weather ended up being quite nice with temperatures in the 70’s and only an occasional gust of wind.

Stilla and Elaine on the Tower Trail at Devils Tower.

Kaan enjoyed exploring along the side of the path.

Myself (David), Stilla and Kaan resting once again along the Tower Trail at Devils Tower, WY.

Elaine, Bill (my Dad), and grandson Kaan in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.

Informational placard along the Tower Trail.

I’m not sure how long it took us to go around the tower, but we were all glad we did. Stilla and I were here 2 or 3 years ago with our little dog “Elvis”, but they don’t allow dogs on the trail and it was too hot to leave him in the car, so we didn’t get to do the trail back then. This time – we left our little dog “Coach” back at the Urban Escape Vehicle with the A/C on. Our kind neighbor Linda, volunteered to let him out to walk a couple times while we were away.

Letting the Jeep cool off before we get in after our walk around Devils Tower.

On the route back out of the park, we stopped by the Belle Fourche River Campground to check out the sites for future reference. They were nice – but we only saw a few spots for larger rigs and none had hookups.

This sculpture was near the campground:

Informational placard explaining the ‘Circle of Sacred Smoke’.

My Dad took a picture to emulate the picture in the placard (above):

And of course, we had to stop at “Prairie Dog Town”:

Then we stopped for ice cream at the Devils Tower Trading Post on the way back out…

We also stopped at the grocery store in the small town of Moorcroft on our drive back to the campground in Gillette. We scored some fresh fruit (watermelon, cherries, and bananas) to enjoy later.

Back at the Cam-Plex; Here we are again at yet another impromptu “Happy Hour” between our Coaches…

Elaine, Linda, Biff and Stilla hiding from the gusts of wind.

Later on; Stilla, Kaan, my Dad, and Elaine all went to enjoy some evening entertainment inside the Wyoming Center, but I stayed at the Coach to catch up on some recorded shows and download the pictures we took during the day.

This morning (Friday) I took a break from fixing the computer problems to go to the FCRV Parade (my Dad took lots of pictures). And just now, in the early afternoon, Stilla went over to the Wyoming Center building with Elaine to do some line dancing. Later this evening, there’s closing ceremonies and a Monster Truck Show. So check back tomorrow for a full update and more Urban Escape Vehicle.com adventure…

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Day 3: Rockpile Museum & Eagle Butte Coal Mine] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/09 davidhobden@mac.com

Day 3 (Wednesday) here at the Cam-Plex for the FCRV Campvention stayed somewhat overcast with a comfortable 72° Perfect weather for getting out and walking around, so that’s what we did.

There weren’t any seminars or activities scheduled today that peaked our interest, so after walking little “Coach” and finishing up yesterday’s blog post; we jumped into my Dad’s Jeep to go check out the area along with my Dad and his camera (so fair warning – extra pictures today) 🙂 Unfortunately, my stepmom Elaine was scheduled to pass out the final door prizes from 2 – 4 PM so her unswerving sense of duty and unwavering dedication to the cause prevented her from joining us 🙁

The Wyoming Center building here at the Cam-Plex Multi-Event Facility.

We drove around to the northwest corner of the Cam-Plex and stopped at the Energy Exhibit, which is a permanent collection of vehicles and equipment that represent this area, which often calls itself the ‘Energy Capital of the World‘ due to the huge low-sulfur coal mining concerns that still sustain growth and support jobs in the town of Gillette.

Grandson Kaan and I climbed aboard a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.

Stilla and Dad skirting along the side of a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.

Grandson Kaan peeking out from the front of a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.

There were quite a few representative pieces of equipment from the coal mining operations of the area on display…

Stilla standing next to a huge tire commonly used on the heavy coal-mining trucks.

Kaan standing inside a huge earth-moving bucket provides size perspective.

Our grandson Kaan even started a little earth moving of his own…

View from the Energy Exhibit towards the Cam-Plex; RVs in the background.

Kaan wants one of these to play with in the backyard Mom…

Kaan climbed up the back of this giant earth-moving truck to check out the massive engine, and…

of course, had to follow up with the front side…

to sit in the drivers seat…

After we had our fill (pun intended) of the earth-moving and mining equipment exhibit, we plugged the Rockpile Museum into the iPhone GPS and maneuvered our way to the north side of Gillette.

We had no trouble finding the Rockpile Museum thanks to the GPS, the sign (below), and the rock pile itself…

Don’t forget to click on this link to the museum to see more.

Not sure what this is, but it sure looks cool… an old stone age wheel maybe? 🙂 Maybe it’s a piece of petrified tree stuck in ancient sand that turned to stone with the middle of the old tree disintegrated and missing? My dad took this picture under the museum sign.

The Rockpile Museum is… you guessed it… located next to a rock pile! The rock pile is a local landmark and at one time overlooked the massive stockyards and rodeo shows. In even earlier days it was a favorite landmark that the cowboys used to find town and they often camped out under the boulders.

Additional out-building (extension) to the Rockpile Museum in Gillette, WY.

Strange looking windmill at the Rockpile Musuem in Gillette, WY.

Here’s some pictures inside…

Now this is an old RV…

This old RV has all the amenities of home…

More pics from in and around the museum… enjoy…

We watched some really cool short films… I really liked the one on setting off explosives to loosen up the overburden to get to the coal…

Inside an old schoolhouse. Kaan isn’t too happy about being back in school… he thought it was still his summer break 🙂

We worked up an appetite at the Rockpile Museum, so we drove over to nearby ‘old downtown’ Gillette to find something to eat. We found the Gillette Brewing Company with a pizzeria (Pizza Carrello) located inside the old Post Office building…

where we shared a pizza and Dad had a BLT wrap… yup, I said BLT wrap… they really make those here…

Mural on old downtown Gillette building.

Since we still had a little time to kill before we had to get back to meet up for Tacos at the local Elks Lodge, we drove several miles north out of town to check out one of the mining operations we heard about; the Eagle Butte Coal Mine.

We were turned away at the entrance gate. The manned shack had a young girl inside that told us we had to make reservations in town before we could enter the main coal mine area for a tour, so we just went over to an overlook and took pictures from a distance…

My Dad’s camera can really zoom in for some quality pictures…

Giant truck being loaded at the Eagle Butte Coal Mine near Gillette, WY.

Giant truck dumping it’s load at the the Eagle Butte Coal Mine near Gillette, WY.

It was almost time to get back and pick up stepmom Elaine so we could meet up with Biff & Linda Anderson for Tacos at the local Elks Lodge. We made plans earlier in the week when we first stopped there; they need the business. This quaint Lodge performs double-duty as the local VFW post as well.

We made it back to the campground just in time to pick up Elaine and convoy over to the lodge… a whopping quarter-mile (or less) away…

(L to R) Kaan, Stilla, Elaine, Dad, Biff and Linda at Elks Lodge 2825 / VFW Post 7756 in Gillette, WY.

After filling up on Tacos we decided we still needed dessert at the local Dairy Queen…

And that’s it for Day 3 here at the Cam-Plex. If you get a chance, the Rockpile Museum is definitely worth the visit and was the highlight of our day. Hope you enjoyed the pics 🙂

This morning (Thursday) it’s a little windy and overcast. Someone told me that part of the reason it’s so gray and overcast is because of forest fires up north and west of us.

Our plan is to go visit Devils Tower today since there isn’t a whole lot of activity here at the Campvention that interests us. So after my Dad goes to a 9 AM seminar that he promised to take pictures of, we’ll head out on the ~62 mile trip, (104 round-trip). Hopefully the weather holds up for us. I want to take the Harley since we have my Dad & Elaine in their Jeep to take our grandson Kaan along with them. Check back for a full report…

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Day 2] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/08 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

We had much nicer weather for day 2 (Tuesday) of the FCRV Campvention. We started out the day by checking out the “Pet Parade” that took place behind the main Cam-Plex building. Registration for the event was on the previous day and we didn’t get a chance to enter little “Coach”… he probably wouldn’t do well in a crowd anyway, he’s too shy and skittish around people he doesn’t know well.

Some folks went all out to dress up their pets with scarves, glasses, hats, horns, and full costume outfits. I think they awarded prizes, but didn’t stick around to see for sure.

Back inside the Wyoming Center building, my stepmom Elaine, Dad, and Linda have been busy all morning passing out the door prizes to folks that had won during the first round of drawings.

Elaine, Dad, and Linda in their tie-dyed t-shirts.

Here’s the system they devised to notify winners (below). They posted tickets with the winner(s) name and registration number on the closed shutters of the room at the Wyoming Center. Folks are supposed to stop by during the designated times and take their ticket to the door where someone is waiting to hand out the prizes that were donated by the Colorado chapters of FCRV. Around 475 gift donations were dropped off and therefore; with circa 500 rigs in attendance, almost everyone won something. 🙂

After the door prize pick-up times for the day had passed; they closed the room to prepare for the next day. We helped count the remaining door prizes which dictated how many second round tickets could be drawn. The total number of door prizes kept changing because some people were still dropping off late donations and we even got some gift cards from local downtown restaurants/businesses. Then we helped post the new tickets in alphabetical order on the board.

We used the Harley to get back and forth from the campground to the Cam-Plex throughout the day. I even toured around the grounds a couple times. Once back at our coaches in the early afternoon, Stilla put together a cheese, salami and cracker platter for an impromptu “Happy Hour”…

but once we sat down outside the Urban Escape Vehicle, it wasn’t long before it started raining so we had to cut our “Happy Hour” short…

(L to R) Stilla, Don, Dad, Biff, Linda, Cheryl, and Elaine.

It didn’t rain very long, just a passing shower. So once it dried out we took the bicycles for a long ride around the Cam-Plex. We made it back just in time for the evening’s scheduled entertainment.

At 8 PM, we piled into Dad’s Jeep once again to ride over to the Events Center building together for the evening entertainment. The nights entertainment is Charles King “A Fabulous Night in Las Vegas”… but first – if you recall from yesterday’s post, I had trouble downloading pictures from my dad’s USB stick. With that problem now solved; Here are a few pics of the previous (Monday) evening’s awesome performance by Tamra Hayden. Click HERE for a link to her official website. Or click HERE for a link to her youtube videos.

Tamra Hayden performing at the Cam-Plex in Gillette, WY.

She was pretty good… and wow! – did she ever have a strong voice…

For tonight’s performance with Charles King, we once again scored good seating in the mezzanine.

Charles King “A Night in Fabulous Las Vegas” performed songs reminiscent of the Las Vegas “Rat Pack” days and then in mid-show, he changed into an Elvis costume. Click HERE for a link to youtube. I couldn’t find a website for him.

Singer/entertainer Charles King at Gillette, WY.

The show was pretty good, but the acoustics in the large hall were definitely off… we had trouble hearing his voice over the musical instruments. Sometimes when he talked between songs we couldn’t understand a word. Oh well, it was still entertaining! Grandson Kaan amused himself with Stilla’s iPhone during the show, so even he wasn’t bored… thank goodness for free WiFi in the area 🙂

Elaine, Stilla, and self… in front of our Coaches at Gillette, WY.

Check back in to see what Day 3 of the Campvention brings… it’s overcast this morning but hopefully the cloud cover will burn off, I’d like to get in some more Harley-time. The only thing I know for sure is that we plan on going back to the Elks Lodge for Tacos this evening.

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Day 1] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/07 davidhobden@mac.com

Day 1 (Monday) of the Campvention dawned gray and gloomy, but the skies cleared (for the most part) and it warmed up throughout the day.

My first sight in the early morning while doing doggie-duty with little “Coach” (or is it doggy-doodie?) was Biff Anderson up on top of his Coach. He got a new roof-top antennae for local channels because he’s been having issues with reception. He found a broken wire while putting on the new antennae and had to splice it back together.

Voila! All good now…

Biff Anderson on top of his Monaco Coach.

More folks continued to pour in yesterday and last night. The spots behind our rigs are now filled up. At last report, from a reliable source (my stepmom Elaine) says there are around 470 rigs in attendance. You can see my Dad (way back there) in the middle of the picture (below) next to the Alpine. He’s parked on the left side of us.

Spots behind our Coaches are now filled up… no more “open space” for get-togethers there…

Around noon, we went over to the Wyoming Center which is the main building here at the Cam-Plex to join in on the day’s activities.

We missed the previous evening’s entertainment, the “Gospel Trail Singers” but my Dad & Elaine gave us an update. We also missed the morning opening ceremonies while I was finishing up with the blog yesterday.

We found my Dad, stepmom Elaine, and fellow “Rolling Springs” member Heddy Servant in the door prize area trying to organize and finalize the raffle details.

(L to R) Heddy Servant, Elaine, Dad, and Stilla.

The prizes have been sorted, and laid out (on and underneath) the tables which have been covered to prevent prying eyes from turning into sticky fingers.

There were lots of youth activities behind the main building (Wyoming Center). Hot dogs and hamburgers were on the grill. We took grandson Kaan along for hot dogs and playtime…

Our grandson Kaan playing a little soccer.

Tor, Tor, Tor… which means goal, goal, goal in german.

We toured the vendor area again. I ended up buying a Road Mate DVR. I’ve seen these at many of the RV-related shows or Rallies that we’ve attended in the past. These devices normally mount on your dashboard or windshield to record your trip. The advertisement claims that they are designed for your security, protection, and save the best memories of your trip. I’ll post more about it later and give you my review. I paid $130 plus another $35 for the SD card it requires; called a SanDisk Extreme Plus SDHC UHS-1 Card. You can learn more about this device at their website; link HERE.

I peeked into the main stage area, where they were practicing for the Teen Pageant…

And at 2:30 PM, my Dad and I attended the “Tips for Extended Travels” seminar. Maybe I’ve been to too many seminars at other rallies in the past because I didn’t find this one very informative. That’s all I’ll say about that…

Later on, we hung out around the campground and finished up a rhubarb/strawberry pie with my Dad & Elaine. We washed it down with a wine/cranberry juice mix. Yummm.

Then it was time for the evening’s entertainment, so we piled into Dad’s Jeep to go back over to the Event Center…

My dad took lots of pictures and gave me his USB stick so I could download a pic or two for the blog, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it to work on my MacBook Pro. The USB stick showed up and I could read the info on it (size/capacity, used/un-used etc.,) but no pictures 🙁 As a matter of fact, after ejecting the USB stick, my laptop went black and I had to reboot. So, sorry… no pics right now. Maybe tomorrow.

After the evening show, it was time for a little hospitality sponsored by the FCRV folks out of Missouri. We waited in the long line, not quite sure what to expect…

The Missouri group shook hands with everyone as we passed a table loaded with free literature and a snack…

Kaan wasn’t too thrilled with the cheese & crackers that we waited so long in line for…

After that, we called it a night and retired to the Coach. Let’s see what adventure tomorrow brings…

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [Pre-Rally Sunday] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/06 davidhobden@mac.com

Wow! What a difference a day makes… Saturday was 95° with perfect weather for evening fireworks, but on Sunday, it stayed gray and overcast all day and it looks like more of the same for today (Monday) as I type this posting. And it’s only 54° this morning 🙁 Oh well, at least it’s not pouring down rain. Just a light drizzle at times.

This kind of weather is certainly not conducive to getting the grandkid off the internet and outside…

You may recall that I said in my last post that we volunteered to help out with the door prizes from noon to 2pm on Sunday…

Stilla, Linda Anderson, and Stepmom Elaine; accepting and staging the door prizes as folks drop them off.

The Colorado members of FCRV were asked to bring an item to the Campvention that has an approximate value of $10. The “Rolling Springs” Chapter (the FCRV group we belong to along with my Dad/Stepmom) are charged with organizing and conducting the door prize raffle. Note: (The “Rolling Springs” Link (above) is to an old posting I did… they don’t have a separate website). Many of the donated “prizes” were certainly over $10 which is a kind testament to the type of people RV’ers are 🙂 We don’t expect that everyone who attends will get a “door prize”, but we may be close…

I took the pics of the door prize tables early in the day, by the time we left; the tables were full and we started filling up the space underneath.

While manning our station at the door prize drop-off window, fellow “Rolling Springs” members and friends (Don & Cheryl McCarthy) arrived to say hi after driving straight through from Colorado Springs. Roy & Vivian Crouse (on the left) did the same thing, but a day earlier.

(L to R) Elaine, Roy & Vivian Crouse, Cheryl & Don McCarthy

So we completed our tour-of-duty at the door prize drop-off window in the Cam-Plex Wyoming Center and then got our registration “goodie-bag” after the line of people went down. Many folks did 4th of July activities elsewhere and have been arriving today. There should be more tomorrow.

Then we toured the vendor area, which didn’t take long…

The last time we were here at the Cam-Plex it was for the 50th Anniversary of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) event. Click HERE for a youtube link to that event from 2013. This place was packed with thousands of motor coaches and vendors back then… but that’s to be expected; FMCA is a much larger organization than FCRV.

While touring the commercial vendor area; I did find a vendor that repaired windshield chips. Yoo Hoo, just what I needed! Some of you may recall that a rock hit the passenger windshield when we were driving over Raton Pass back in April. I posted about that HERE. I signed up at the unmanned vendor desk for an evaluation/repair. It wasn’t long before I got a call to meet the repair guy at my Coach. He repaired the chip on the Coach and even did one on the Silverado windshield that I’ve had for a long time. So, after a short phone call to my insurance company (USAA) for the Silverado, and a reasonable $40 in cash, I’ve got both repaired 🙂

Shortly after my windshield repairs were completed, we joined my Dad & Elaine, and Biff & Linda at Applebees downtown for an early dinner. Then we returned to the Boxelder RV park for dessert in Biff & Linda’s Coach…

And that’s all for now folks… we retired early (mostly due to the crummy wet-weather) and watched some TV. Check back for a recap of FCRV Campvention Day 1, which kicks off today…

Wyoming

FCRV Campvention [4th of July] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/05 davidhobden@mac.com

Happy Independence Day! It’s been in the high 90’s here in Gillette, WY at the Cam-Plex. Saturday was our first full day parked at the Boxelder RV Park with the FCRV group for the Campvention Rally which officially starts on Monday the 6th of July. (Click on the green links for more info)

We started off the day by washing the bugs off the front of the Urban Escape Vehicle while the front was still in the shade, we’re parked facing due West. We have multiple water faucets at our site along with 50-amp power. After I finished, I shared the wash bucket, hose, and ladder with my Dad who is parked beside us.

Then it was time to unload the Harley from the back of the Silverado. We downloaded the bicycles yesterday, and of course, Kaan’s bicycle was the first…

Trying to stay in the shade… Stilla, Linda, and Kaan.

I toured the Cam-Plex area a little with the Harley… boy, was it hot yesterday. I rode by the handicapped parking area on the opposite side of the Cam-Plex main building and visited with Bob McChord for a few minutes. He was outside washing the bugs off his rig too.

In the late afternoon, we made a trip into town with Dad & Elaine to stock up on a few items at WalMart.

Then we grilled up some steaks on our Cuisinart gas grill. We shared the grill with my Dad & Elaine. Once the steaks were cooked, we put them in a travel container. Stilla made some creamed-corn on the stove top. When everything was ready, we took our food and chairs over to the “Colorado Cruisers” FCRV group to join them in a little potluck get-together. They are parked next to us in the same row. The group we belong to along with my Dad & Elaine is called the “Rolling Springs” Chapter of the FCRV. Fun people… fun times…

4th of July Potluck with the “Colorado Cruisers”.

4th of July Potluck with the “Colorado Cruisers”. Notice everyone trying to squeeze into the shade 🙂

(L to R) Biff, Linda, Elaine, and Dad – 4th of July Potluck with the “Colorado Cruisers”.

After enjoying the impromptu get-together with the “Colorado Cruisers”, our “Rolling Springs” group retired to a shady spot behind our own rigs together to enjoy some dessert that Linda shared… yummm.

4th of July dessert-time with the “Rolling Springs” group. (L to R) Bob, dog ‘Abby’, Biff and Linda.

4th of July dessert-time with the “Rolling Springs” group. (L to R) Stilla, Elaine, Dad (Bill), and Mary McChord.

My stepmom, Elaine dishing up some of Linda’s Cherry Cobbler dessert.

4th of July dessert-time with the “Rolling Springs” group.

Around 10 PM, we set up our chairs in front of our rigs for the highly-publicized fireworks show… expectations were high.

Of course, I had to set up our flagpole for the event. Luckily the solar light had enough time to charge during the day because it’s been stored away for the last couple months while we were parked on pavement at the COS Elks Lodge.

The fireworks were awesome…

We released one of the “Chinese Lanterns” that we purchased in Quartzsite AZ a couple years ago. We’ve been carrying them around for quite awhile. Someone else had released theirs earlier, which gave us the idea.

The fireworks show lived up to expectations! What a great Grand-Finale! Of course, all the firework shows we see, now get compared to our experience at the Pyrotechnics Show “Winter Blast” we attended in Lake Havasu back in February. (Link HERE), (HERE), and (HERE) for my posts on that event.

Today (Sunday) we volunteered from 12 – 2 pm to collect door prizes from everyone that’s arrived so far. It’s already windy and overcast this morning… quite a difference from yesterday. Stay tuned…

Wyoming

Travel to FCRV Campvention (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

2015/07/04 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

We moved out of our spot at the COS Elks Lodge on Wednesday evening after it finally quit raining. I had already loaded the Harley and bicycles earlier in the day. We dumped the tanks and parked at the back of the lot so we could get an early start on Thursday.

Urban Escape Vehicle ready to roll at the COS Elks Lodge.

We coordinated our morning takeoff time with my Dad/Stepmom in order to meet up on I-25 so we could convoy together to the FCRV Campvention Rally in Gillette, WY. When my stepmom (Elaine) called to say they had gotten on the highway and were nearing our exit, we took off immediately but got caught up in slow traffic before we could even get to the on-ramp. When we finally got on I-25 heading north, they were several miles ahead of us. We stayed in contact via text message and called off mile markers. They stayed around 55 mph, but with heavy traffic it took us about 40 miles before we could catch up with them.

We finally passed my Dad & Elaine near Castle Rock and took over the lead…

Dad and Elaine’s Coach with Jeep in tow on I-25 heading north to Gillette, WY.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we have the pleasure of traveling with our grandson (Kaan) while school is out for the summer. He really enjoys the passenger seat.

We rolled through Denver without too much incident… traffic is always a challenge through there.

I only had to stand on the brakes once. Don’t you just hate it when you leave a nice gap between yourself and the cars in front… and someone always seems to want to fill that gap just as everyone ahead is braking… grrrr.

And later on, this knucklehead passed us doing about 85 mph while chunks of his flat tire littered the road in front of us. We dodged the pieces until he finally realized he had a flat and pulled over…

We finally found a rest area near Ft Collins and took a quick break. Our little dog ‘Coach’ enjoys breaks often 🙂 My dad shared one of his walkie-talkies so we could stay in touch without having to call or text on the phones.

Traffic finally thinned as we approached the Wyoming border.

My Dad & Elaine made reservations earlier in the week for the KOA in Douglas, WY. We wanted to stay on budget and didn’t make any reservations. Besides, we can easily dry-camp at a rest area for a quick overnight while traveling.

So we stopped at a rest area just south of Douglas to call the KOA to check prices and see if they had room for us there too. They did have one spot left… but they wanted about $40. Ouch! We originally planned on spending the night at a rest area near Guernsey State Park that we had frequented once before, but we already passed that one. This particular rest area in Douglas had signs posted “No Overnight Parking”. Luckily, the nice lady on the phone from the KOA told us about the city park nearby.

So after traveling ~300 miles for the day we parted ways for the evening. My Dad & Elaine went to the KOA while we found the city park…

And what a nice park it was! Plenty of room, easy access, and the best part – free 🙂

Right next to the North Platte river…

We didn’t even have to disconnect the truck.

Grandson Kaan in front of a barbed-wire deer at the Riverside Park in Douglas, WY.

We unloaded Kaan’s bike so he could get some exercise and give the computer games and our internet usage a break.

We even broke out the metal detector. Kaan had fun with it for a while until he got tired of digging up bottle caps and other metal junk.

Then we played a little “catch” with the football…

In the morning (Friday), we drove the ~2-3 miles to meet my Dad & Elaine at the KOA park for breakfast. We enjoyed Biscuits & Gravy at a picnic table in the shade.

(L to R) Elaine, Dad, Kaan and Stilla getting breakfast at the KOA in Douglas, WY.

The Urban Escape Vehicle parked at the check-in line. Douglas KOA in WY.

Then we convoyed north on WY-59 for ~120 miles to arrive at the Cam-Plex Events Facility in Gillette, WY.

We were greeted by FCRV volunteers in the parking lot where we paid $50 for two nights because we arrived early. The FCRV Campvention Rally doesn’t officially start until the 6th of July. We paid in advance for the rally itself, which was $275 for six nights.

We disconnected the tow vehicles and followed the directions we were given to the Boxelder RV Park located on the east side of the complex.

I followed Dad’s coach to our designated site in the RV park…

And here we are, all set up and ready for the rally…

Elaine, Dad, and Stilla enjoying the shade between our rigs.

We pulled in next to friends and fellow FCRV members Biff & Linda Anderson. They arrived a day or so earlier.

Biff & Linda Anderson next to their Monaco Coach.

After getting set up and exploring the immediate area, we found… you guessed it… an Elks Lodge right next to the park. Elks Lodge 2825.

(L to R) Linda, Stilla, Elaine, Dad, and Biff at Elks Lodge 2825 in Gillette, WY.

After refreshments at the Elks Lodge, we drove through the Cam-Plex looking for fellow FCRV members (Bob & Mary McChord) who were parked in the handicapped area on the opposite side of the complex.

Other than a recent dinner visit at the Elks Lodge in Colorado Springs, we last saw Bob and Mary McChord when they were staying in Parker, AZ at the Pirates Den Resort & Marina. I wrote about our visit with them on 12 Feb 2015 (HERE).

FCRV members visiting with Bob & Mary McChord in their coach.

Stilla and Kaan touring the RV park in Gillette, WY.

So here we are; (L to R) Biff & Linda, my Dad & Elaine, and the Urban Escape Vehicle in Gillette, WY 🙂

There’s supposed to be a nice 4th of July fireworks show here at the Cam-Plex along with some other activities… stay tuned…

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Category Archives: Wyoming

Travel Day & a new Verizon Jetpack (Shell RV Park & CG, Shell WY)

Wind Cave NP & More New Alpine Friends! (Deer Park CG, Buffalo WY)

FCRV Campvention [Day 5: Closing Ceremonies] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [Day 4: Devils Tower] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [Day 3: Rockpile Museum & Eagle Butte Coal Mine] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [Day 2] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [Day 1] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [Pre-Rally Sunday] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

FCRV Campvention [4th of July] (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

Travel to FCRV Campvention (Cam-Plex, Gillette WY)

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