Tag Archives: FCRV

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…

Colorado

FCRV Rally – continued (Brush, CO)

2015/05/17 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

On Saturday, we joined most of the 100+ FCRV attendees here at the Morgan County Fairgrounds for a flag-raising ceremony. The flags arrived in a parade of old John Deere tractors.

After the flag-raising ceremony and accompanying musical tribute(s); we were able to peruse some of the classic agricultural-engineering-vehicles; aka “tractors”.

Checking out tractors was almost as fun as a classic car show 🙂

Then we joined the smaller group for our morning 2-mile walk again:

As we rounded the park on our walk-about, we came upon a rather large group of local boy scouts:

They were shooting up their Estes Rockets…

Several of our walking group stayed to watch some of the rocket-launching activities. We saw one go into a tree; and one got hung on a telephone cable; and another one or two, plummeted down like missiles when their parachutes didn’t open. It brought back memories of childhood… ahhh, to be young again.

Later in the day, around noon-time, we took part in the raffle and vendor sale activities in the event building. They served hot-dogs, brats, and ice-cream. We also joined many others in wandering around the grounds on a scavenger hunt. We had to find hidden flags with a flamingo on them to mark our scorecards… when complete, we turned them in for a chance to win prizes.

Then it was time for another “happy-hour”:

Just before dinnertime, we watched another storm front move into the area.

Luckily, the heavy rain passed us by and we were able to stay somewhat dry.

After another fine dinner at the events building we gathered again for announcements and door prizes. I won one of the 50/50 drawings from earlier, Yoo Hoo!… $65 dollars!

Our friend Linda, (below) won a $25 gift certificate from the previous days’ downtown scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, the certificate is only good at local establishments… and guess what? They’re all closed on Sunday and the certificate expires in a few months. Sorry Linda.

And then Stilla won the drawing for the Flamingo scavenger hunt! A $30 dollar Visa gift card. Yoo Hoo again!

Today (Sunday), we head on back to Colorado Springs. It’s been a great time with family (Dad & Stepmom Elaine), and our other friends in the FCRV group.

In other news from the home-selling front: We got the results of the home inspection that was conducted on Friday by the buyer. I was pleasantly surprised, but we have a few things to work out with the buyer. More on that in my next posting… stay tuned…

Colorado

Dodging Tornados at the FCRV Rally (Brush, CO)

2015/05/16 davidhobden@mac.com

Our first full day (Friday) at the FCRV “Spring-Fling” Rally started out with a 2-mile walk for those members that wanted to go.

A rather nice, scenic route was marked for us by Rally volunteers. It went around a pond and the local park. The weather was cool but dry.

Here’s our friend Linda walking Porter… or is Porter walking Linda?

We walked past the Brush Area Museum and Cultural Center, which is a former schoolhouse built in 1912. Maybe we will find time later to check it out since it’s right next to the fairgrounds where we’re parked.

We returned to the fairgrounds after our walk-about. We logged in our miles at the events building… the miles are converted into “Brush-Bucks” that can be used to purchase FCRV related items.

We hung out at the fairgrounds most of the day except for the girls who went on a scavenger hunt of sorts, to get stamps from local businesses downtown. A drawing for prizes will be held later this weekend for those that participated.

And, then we had a little excitement just before dinnertime. We got tornado warnings on our iPhones and could see the clouds heading our way:

Pretty ominous looking, eh?

The local police even stopped by to make sure we were all aware.

We watched the whirling clouds as they got closer and closer… luckily (for us) they passed over without incident.

We put away all the chairs and tables and hunkered down to hide from the rain that we could still see coming our way after the tornado-like clouds passed. The rain, mixed with a brief hail-storm passed quickly.

We then went to the events building to enjoy a catered meal of BBQ pulled-pork.

There was also a section of “flea-market” type items for sale that we perused. Members donate the items and the proceeds go to the club. There was even a kitchen sink for sale there 🙂

We finished off our first evening with entertainment from a Father/Daughter team. They were really good, and had CDs for sale after the show.

That’s all for now… stay tuned…

Colorado

A House Offer & Weekend Outing (Brush, CO)

2015/05/15 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

It’s was a good morning Thursday. First-of-all; it wasn’t raining for a change. And second-of-all; we finally got a good offer on the house! I got the email from my Uncle (the realtor) as we were packing up to meet our group so we could convoy to the FCRV “Spring-Fling” Rally in Brush, CO.

We delayed our departure a little bit while I brought up the contract via email and applied our digital signatures. We got very close to our asking price with no seller concessions. Now, the only thing to worry about is the home inspection scheduled for this morning (Friday). Hopefully it appraises appropriately and the inspector doesn’t find anything expensive for me to fix that I wasn’t aware of. Our expected closing date will be the first week of June contingent on the buyer getting his existing house sold. He’s scheduled to close on his house in Canon City at the end of this month.

We were about 15 minutes late joining our convoy at the designated place (E Woodmen Rd and I-24). After hugs and greetings we all headed east on I-24 to Limon where I left the convoy to fuel up at the Flying J. Since we were going to be dry-camping (no electric or water) at the upcoming rally, I need to have at least 1/4 tank of diesel in the fuel tank or the generator won’t run. This is a built-in safety feature to prevent folks from using all their fuel while boondocking and then not being able to drive to a gas station. It’s no easy task to get a diesel engine started again after it runs out of fuel due to air in the injector lines.

After Limon, we took Hwy 71 north to Brush. We never caught back up with the group on the road, but they were still setting up when we joined them again at the Morgan County Fairgrounds.

So, about 150 miles later… we parked the Urban Escape Vehicle and joined everyone for “Happy Hour”…

After “happy hour”, we all (eight of us) went out for dinner in downtown Brush and made it back in time for Stilla to join the other girls for card bingo at the event building. No, she didn’t win big 😐

Here’s my Dad and stepmom Elaine in front of their Jeep. They towed the Jeep for the first time since he got the baseplate installed and found a good deal on a used Blue Ox tow bar.

So stay tuned… we’ll enjoy activities and the company of the FCRV group this weekend and then probably head back to Colorado Springs on Sunday. Our spot at the Elks Lodge is already paid-up until the 1st of June.

Arizona

YPG (Yuma Proving Grounds, AZ)

2015/02/12 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

Almost caught back up now with the journal entries… I’m only a couple days behind now 🙂

On Tuesday morning, we left the Coach parked at the noisy campsite behind the VFW post and drove the Silverado to the Yuma Proving Ground Museum.

Fair Warning – This post is picture heavy! As a veteran of 26+ years, I enjoy military history and equipment, therefore, I took lots of pictures.

These are the signs you see at the turn-off from US 95 to the Proving Grounds and Imperial Dam.

YPG sign on US 95 (taken later when we drove by in the Coach)

These giant cannons are on the west side of US 95 opposite the signs above… you can’t miss the turn to Yuma Proving Grounds with these landmarks! The “Atomic Cannon” was designed to fire a nuclear shell per this link @ RoadsideAmerica.com

Here’s another couple vehicle displays outside the main gate at one of the two base entrances.

The following tanks, vehicles, and other military equipment are located on the side of the road just a short way down from the US 95 turn. We parked and checked them out. No ID card or anything is needed to view these, they are open to the public… they are just off the side of the road and there is ample parking.

This is the museum entrance on the base located just across from the Fam Camp. It used to be the installation’s headquarters and is now called the Heritage Center Museum. (Click on the link)

We were going to stay at this Fam Camp but changed our minds when we were having too much fun down by Los Algodones. Besides – it would have cost us $130 for the week or $40 for one night.

You do need an ID card to gain access to the base which is the administrative side of this massive post. However, I assume they allow visitors with proper identification to get a visitors pass. Here’s another good link for more information.

It took us a couple hours to tour through the museum. You could easily spend more time here if you stopped to read all the literature or sit through the several recorded presentations.

Did you know that General Patton trained his tank corps here to prepare them for battle with Rommel during WWII?

And who doesn’t like Jeeps?

A couple cool pictures of vehicles being tested back in the day.

There were quite a few cool dioramas, I like dioramas… maybe it’s a not quite grown-up “guy thing”.

The original Installation Commander’s office has been recreated here with all the furnishings.

A couple more cool dioramas:

There was even an entire room dedicated to the cowardly terrorist attacks of 9/11. The video presentation was riveting.

Great museum – highly recommend it!

After our tour of the museum, we stopped at the mini PX and gas station to save a few bucks on fuel for the Silverado. Then we exited the base and headed farther down the road to check out the BLM sites in and around the Imperial Dam (Click link for more images) for possible future camping locations. Wikipedia has more interesting facts about the dam here if you’re interested.

The following pictures are of the Imperial Dam area. We saw many different long term visitor areas (LTVAs) and other nice camping spots. We might have to come back here some time in the future.

This guy was para-sailing… or is it para-surfing?

Typical signage seen throughout the area.

When we got back to the Coach parked behind the VFW post, we immediately got ready to roll on up the road. We weren’t going to spend another night here with the planes and trains.

We pulled into Parker, AZ (about 40-50 miles up US 95) and found the local Elks Lodge. They had 12 spots with 30amp and water for a suggested donation of $15 per night. We were packed in pretty tight – we couldn’t even put out the awning more than a couple feet or it would hit the RV next to us. Oh well, it was nice to have electric again. It’s been a while. Stilla loaded up the washer/dryer combo to get caught up on some laundry since we had hookups.

The Elks were having a lodge meeting and didn’t have anything to offer for dinner, so even though it was short-notice, we called some friends from Colorado Springs that we knew were staying at the Pirates Den Resort just up the road. They hadn’t eaten yet so we made plans to meet at the Black Pearl Restaurant located inside their resort.

“Greeter” inside the doors at the Black Pearl Restaurant located in the Pirates Den RV Resort, Parker, AZ.

We met Bob and Mary McCord and had an awesome BBQ rib dinner while we caught up on things. It was sure nice to see them again, it’s been several months since we saw them last in COS. They belong to the Family Campers & RVers (FCRV), Rolling Springs Chapter that we also belong to along with my Dad and Stepmom. We only get to see them during campouts or meetings.

After dinner we went over to their site and relaxed in their nice Coach. They recently got “upgraded” to a spot overlooking the Colorado River instead of being a couple rows back. Nice Coach, Nice spot! We called it a night, said our farewells, and headed back to the Elks lodge in downtown Parker. We’ll see you down the road Bob & Mary!

Stay tuned…

Colorado

FCRV Rolling Springs (Colorado City KOA)

2014/10/06 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

Friday was another wash & wax day since I was so rudely interrupted by the exploding expandable hose that I talked about in my previous post. I decided to get another pocket hose from WalMart on Friday after doing some research on-line. It seems that no matter which version of expandable hose you choose – there are many negative reviews on each. The pocket hose is cheaper than the x-hose and this time I saved the receipt. Anyway, I finally got the whole coach washed… it’ll take awhile for the waxing though – one section at a time is the best approach 🙂

On Saturday, we decided to go see the folks in the camping group we belong to – the Rolling Springs Chapter (FCRV). So we jumped into the Silverado and drove down to the KOA in Colorado City where the group is having their weekend campout. We “crashed” the party and got caught-up with folks… especially my Dad and Stepmom. This KOA is about 65 miles South of Colorado Springs. We stayed here with the group once last year. Nice campground, but of course at KOA prices…

When we arrived around noon-time, most folks were out enjoying the local sites so we hung out with Biff & Linda Anderson outside their Monaco Coach (we still had our folding chairs in the back of the Silverado) until my Dad and Stepmom Elaine got back. It was great catching up with them… Biff & Linda were especially helpful to us before we started our trip up to the Pacific NorthWest back a couple/few months ago… they provided us invaluable tips on routes and best places to stay because they had been before. Thanks Biff & Linda! It was great seeing you again.

Finally, my Dad & Stepmom Elaine arrived back at the CG. It was really good to see them again too! We haven’t seen each other since late July when we convoyed together to Lake Tahoe and spent an awesome week together at the Sugar Pine Point CG with some cousins that live in California.

This is the first opportunity we had to see Dad’s new Jeep! He hasn’t gotten the baseplate installed yet to tow it behind his “FRED”. That’s short for Front Engine Diesel. It is made by Gulfstream and the model is the Crescendo. Elaine drove the Jeep down from COS, following Dad in the Coach. Next time, I’m sure he’ll have it set up to tow.

Nice Jeep Dad!

Of course as soon as a hood goes up, others come by to check it out too 🙂

I got to test drive it. We all piled in and went over to Graneros Gorge which is just minutes South of the CG. Although we didn’t need 4-wheel drive – it was still fun hitting the dirt road to get there. Here we parked near the edge of the gorge.

There are the remnants of a gazebo on the edge. At least that’s what my research determined this was.

View down into the gorge.

And here we are looking down into the gorge. You can see Dad’s new jeep in the background.

I posed for a picture near the edge… Stilla kept telling me to take one step back…

We got back to the CG in time for happy hour with the group.

It wasn’t long after happy hour was over and we all gathered together again inside the community room for our traditional Saturday evening potluck. Tonight’s potluck theme was chili. We had every sort of chili known to man and as usual there was more than enough to go around.

Again, it was fun seeing all the great folks again in the Rolling Springs Chapter of FCRV. C U all next time!

I started this post yesterday morning (Sunday) but just now (Monday) got it posted due to interruptions. We picked up our son William and his girlfriend from the airport in Denver (DIA) on Sunday evening and have been running around all day today doing some sight-seeing and shopping… but I’ll do a separate post on that shortly… I need to post this one first.

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Tag Archives: FCRV

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)

FCRV Rally – continued (Brush, CO)

Dodging Tornados at the FCRV Rally (Brush, CO)

A House Offer & Weekend Outing (Brush, CO)

YPG (Yuma Proving Grounds, AZ)

FCRV Rolling Springs (Colorado City KOA)

Follow along on our adventures…

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Follow along on our adventures…