Tag Archives: RV

Days 11 thru 14 in Deutschland – Recovery Time (Sindersdorf, GE)

2015/12/21 davidhobden@mac.com

Monday was day 11 in Deutschland and I helped Stilla’s brother Wolfgang pick up some old building materials at the edge of town.

There used to be a wood product business here. It was called Widauer’s. Wolfgang often made items in his work shop and sold them to Mr. Widauer. They went out of business a while back and someone is now tearing down and recycling most of the building(s).

I helped Wolfgang hook up the trailer (below) to the tractor so he could pick up some of the items.

Then we loaded up some re-useable lumber, glass windowpane sheets, and other assorted items. It was a shame to see this place go out of business, I really liked the stuff they had here. I guess the big stores like IKEA® and others are taking their toll on small businesses here in Germany too.

Here’s some old pics from 2005 of this place:

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (1) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 — 2005 picture at Widauer.

I always thought this was a good idea for a patio… that is, if you have a lot of logs laying around that you didn’t know what to do with:

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (44) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

How about a German log house?

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (39) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

or a massive garden shed:

There used to be lots of yard art, furniture, nic-nacs, etc., and other wood-related products for sale:

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (2) — 2005 picture at Widauers. Our youngest daughter Joleen.

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (4) — 2005 picture at Widauers. Stilla and Joleen.

Here’s some of the furniture that you could get here back in the day:

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (6) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (8) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (9) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

I’m pretty sure that this table and chairs (below) is one that Stilla’s brother Wolfgang made at his workshop and then sold to Mr. Widauer for resale.

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (16) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

Now, this ornamental birdhouse (or whatever you want to call it) was definitely made by Wolfgang. He made us one of these for us that we took back to the States in 2005. We had it set up in front of our house. Some of you may remember me posting about moving this over to my Dad’s house in Colorado Springs when we sold our house. (Link HERE)

2005 05 26 IMG_1193 (18) — 2005 picture at Widauers.

Here’s a recent pic (below) of what the one in the picture (above) looks like now. Not sure if this is the same one, but it’s highly likely…

You can still make out the price tag in the picture below; 1000 euros! Wow… what a markup. Wolfgang probably sold these to Widauer for 3 or 4 hundred back in the day.

In the afternoon, we took Opa with us over to Martin & Maria’s house for dinner. Maria is Stilla’s older sister.

I had Bratwurst mit kraut and kartoffeln.

Stilla had bludwurst, kraut, and kartoffeln. Not one of my favorites.

Festive wood candle arrangement on top of the well at Martin & Maria’s house. Thanks for the awesome meal Maria! We sure are eating good here 🙂

In the evening, I helped William get his IKEA™ kitchen cabinets hung up on the wall. Almost all together now.

The next few days, I basically hung around the house here and recovered. I apparently tore some muscle ligaments in my right shoulder while I was helping Wolfgang hook up the trailer, etc., We had trouble lining up the trailer to the tractor and I pushed on the trailer with my shoulder to get it in position. Big mistake… I could hardly lift my right arm for a couple days. So, that’s the excuse I’m going to use for being behind on the blog posts 🙂 Plus, we got pretty busy on Friday and have been on the go every day since then… I’ll catch you up in my next post(s). Til then…

Germany

Day 10 in Deutschland – Castles & Chocolate (Eysölden, GE)

2015/12/14 davidhobden@mac.com

On Sunday we were invited over to Richard & Gertraud’s house for another fine home-cooked meal. Richard is Stilla’s oldest brother.

Another great meal 🙂 Thanks Richard & Gertraud! And thanks also to their daughter Tanja for the awesome dessert too!

In the afternoon, we convoyed in two cars over to the small town of Eysölden.

There was a Christmas market and event at the old town’s Schloß (castle). Click HERE for a link to learn more about this castle built in the early 1100’s.

Upstairs, after navigating the old narrow and creaky wooden stairs, we found a number of craft stands and booths with their wares on display:

We met up with Wolfgang and Hildegard who were taking part in the craft market. Hildegard had lots of sheeps-wool related items for sale.

Hildegard (Wolfgang in background) with woolen hand-made items on display.

Nice view through one of the castle tower windows of the town kirche (church) down the street.

In the courtyard, children sang traditional christmas carols. A couple stands sold food and drinks in the yard.

The castle also has a small wirtschaft (restaurant/bar) but there was limited seating, so we drove back towards Sindersdorf and stopped at the autobahn rest-area. Here we went into the Schocolat® confiserie (confectionery) and café for coffee and cake. This place had just opened when we last visited in 2013… it seems to still be going strong and was really crowded.

Everything in this place is made of chocolate. They also have a large viewing window to watch the treats being made.

Anyone have a sweet tooth? You can sure spend some money here:

Have you ever tried a chocolate pizza? Me either… we just bought a few small items after we enjoyed some coffee and kuchen (cake) in the adjoining café.

When we got back to the house, William & Jasmin had bought and decorated their Christmas tree. Nice 🙂

In other news – one of our daughters in Colorado Springs sent us a picture (below) of the weather there. Brrrrr 🙁 At least our weather here in Germany has been free of snow and ice so far. Its just been cold, gray, and damp so far… hopefully our luck holds out.

Stay tuned for more German adventure… Bis bald (until later)…

Germany

Day 5 in Deutschland – Opa’s 85th Birthday (Sindersdorf, GE)

2015/12/08 davidhobden@mac.com

Happy 85th Birthday Opa!

Today, (Tuesday) was Stilla’s father’s 85th birthday and in accordance with German tradition – all the family, friends, and neighbors came by the house at some point during the day to congratulate him and pay their respects.

Folks came and went throughout the morning and afternoon.

Even the town mayor came by to wish him well.

Stilla, along with a couple of her sisters, made sure coffee, cakes, drinks, etc., were made available throughout the day. Later in the evening, there was even smoked bratwurst (geräucherte bratwurst) and other brotzeit (←link here) type items for all the guests. Of course, there was also lots of champagne, sekt, wine, bier, and other refreshments on hand for everyone as well.

In the evening as more and more folks got off work; the house filled up quickly.

At one point during the evening, we counted over 25 people in the small kitchen at one time.

It was a good day for Stilla’s father and we all wish him continued good health and many more birthdays!

Birthday gifts that everyone brought throughout the day were stockpiled in the corner of the kitchen 🙂

There will be more birthday celebration this coming Saturday at a local restaurant (gasthaus). All the family is invited. Stay tuned…

Germany

Day 4 in Deutschland – Birthday Prep (Sindersdorf, GE)

2015/12/08 davidhobden@mac.com

Our 4th day in Germany (Monday) was spent getting prepared for Opa’s (Stilla’s Dad’s) 85th birthday here at the house. Lots of folks are expected to come by the house on Tuesday (Dienstag) to congratulate him in typical German fashion. Stilla tells me that even the town mayor is scheduled to stop by. The ‘big party’ will take place on Saturday, but we had to get extra tables and chairs set up in the old kitchen/dining room for congratulatory guests throughout the day of his actual 85th birthday on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Opa!

Opa during trip to America in 2009. (Bryce or Zion area)

Opa taking a ride in my old ’57 Chevy back in 2009 during one of his trips to America.

I forgot to mention in my last post that when we got back to the house Sunday evening, we were able to use Skype® on William’s television to video-chat with our grandson Kaan back in Colorado Springs and watch him open a couple of his presents. Happy 9th birthday Kaan!

At one point during the day (Monday), I went with Wolfgang to pick up a trailer-load of wood pellets that he uses in the heater/stove to heat the bed & breakfast portion of the house.

Wolfgang and a trailer full of wood-pellets.

Cool old wagon in one of the outbuildings.

Stilla and I went back over to Stefan & Annerose’s house at lunchtime to help with the leftovers from our Sunday dinner. You just can’t get enough of Sauerbraten mit Kloß and Spaetzle 🙂

We also went to the local store to pick up bier and refreshments for Opa’s birthday.

Typical case of German bier:

I know that the Germans have had these cases of bier for years and years, but I thought it was neat how they split into two-halves for easy transportation. I still haven’t seen this type of case in the states yet.

That’s all for now… Bis Später 🙂

Germany

Day 3 in Deutschland – Stefan & Annerose Dinner; Weihnachtschiessen (Meckenhausen, GE)

2015/12/07 davidhobden@mac.com

We spent most of the day (Sunday) at Stefan & Annerose’s house in Meckenhausen which is the next town over from Stilla’s hometown of Sindersdorf. Stefan is the youngest of Stilla’s four brothers.

Annerose & Stefan outdid themselves (as usual) and we had lots of good food to eat. It was almost like Thanksgiving all over again 🙂

Salads…

Sauerbraten mit Klöß… Yummm!

(L to R) Reinhardt, me, Stilla, Opa, Annerose.

After dinner we had ice cream…

and some had adult beverages…

After dinner, we all went over to the local Schützenhaus.

We took part in the annual air-rifle competition. Every Christmas, the club holds a competition and gives out prizes according to how well you score. The prizes are given out at a big Christmas party to be held later in the month. Here’s the prices to take part in the competition (below). We (Stilla & I) spent about $25 in our attempt to get a good score.

Here’s the rules (regeln)… Nobody needs a translation do they? 🙂

And here’s the flyer (below) listing the dates and times to take part in the competition along with a sample of some of the major prizes which include money orders worth 200, 125, & 75 Euros along with an Android Tablet PC. Everyone ends up winning something at the party which is scheduled for the 19th of December. It’s always a good time as I recall from years past.

We paid our entry fee(s) and got our targets:

and we hit the indoor range:

Neighbors from Sindersdorf (Rita & Xaver Bayer) were already working on their perfect score 🙂

William’s almost perfect center shot (below). I taught him everything he knows 🙂

Stefan (below) had an almost perfect shot as well, but it didn’t count because he had too many shots on the target sheet 🙁 He accidentally put 11 shots in a 10 shot sheet which makes it invalid.

Then it was my turn…

Let’s just say we’ll have to wait until the 19th of December to see how well I scored 🙂

We hung out at the Schützenhaus for a bit before heading back to Stefan & Annerose’s house.

Where there was more food to be consumed… Yummm dessert 🙂

Stilla got online using FaceTime® to wish our grandson Kaan a happy birthday. He’s back in Colorado Springs. Happy Birthday Kaan!

Later in the evening, Annerose brought out the ‘brotzeit’.

Then we played a dice game called ‘5000’ which I believe the game called ‘Farkel’ is patterned after.

Stefan had to show off and get a straße, which is rolling a 1 thru 6 on a single turn. I think he did it twice… “what a show-off” (Angeber) 🙂

I won the first of three games… I don’t want to talk about the others 🙂

Then we called it a night and headed back to the house in Sindersdorf. What a great day, thanks Stefan & Annerose! Bis Später.

Germany

Day 2 in Deutschland – Gluhwein Fest (Sindersdorf, GE)

2015/12/06 davidhobden@mac.com

Authors Note: While in Germany – I’m going to try a NEW format for the blog: “short & sweet” just a few words and maybe short captions to the pictures. Why, you ask? Well, recent feedback from (German) family and friends, indicates that (most, if not all) find it too difficult to take the time to read and translate… they just look at the pictures anyway. And, since we’re here in Germany until the 11th of January with the content primarily focused on Stilla’s family and our friends here… I’ll try to tone down the blog and make it “short & sweet” starting today. Here we go…

William’s new IKEA kitchen (below). I helped William and Wolfgang install a few more pieces today. We still need to put up cabinets and hook-up the dishwasher.

In the hof. Stilla just got back from the garden with Opa.

Wolfgang made this cool candle out of a birch(?) tree branch.

Wood stove in Wolfgang’s woodshop. It’s cold here in Germany 😐

View out upstairs window towards the Volunteer Fire Department (Freiwillige Feuerwehr) house across the street. The Glühwein Christmas (Weihnachten) party is scheduled to be held there later tonight.

In the evening, we went across the street to the Glühwein party at the Volunteer Fire Department House. This is an annual event held by the town Maibaum Verein (Maypole Club).

The townsfolk gathered around the fires and tables set up by the Maibaum Verein. They sold Glühwein, bier, wiener & bretzen (pretzels). Lots of free stollen (cake) was also on hand.

Neighbors and friends; Herbert and Werner.

20151205_224228_LLS — More neighbors and friends. (L to R) Claudia, Me, Stilla, Gunter.

Lone-standing burning log put out some good heat 🙂

Family Friends; Silvia & Barni. They visited us in Colorado several years back. We did a RV tour together in our old Class-C through the south-west.

(L to R) Claudia, Stilla, Gunter, Werner. Claudia & Werner visited us in Colorado back in the early ’90s once.

We walked into the Maibaum Verein (Maypole Club) clubhouse. No one was using it this evening because everyone was hanging around outside around the fires.

There were some old pictures on the wall of us getting the maypole and putting it up. I think these pictures were from the late ’90s. The second picture down on the left side is of my old tailgate table and umbrella that I used to put on the receiver hitch of my Dodge Dakota pickup. I was surprised to see these old pictures… pretty cool 🙂 I’m also in a couple of the other pictures (below) along with family and neighbors.

My old Jeep CJ-7 (upper left in picture below). I think I was hauling a bunch of the tree branches from the recently harvested Maypole tree. Mid or late ’80s. The lower left pic has three of Stilla’s brothers in it (Stefan, Wolfgang, Richard), a brother-in-law (Martin), and good family friend (Barni).

Stay tuned for Day 3 activities… we’re invited to Stefan & Annerose house for dinner today (Sunday). Stefan is Stilla’s youngest brother. I’m sure there will be lots of good food to be eaten 🙂

Germany

Travel to Schnitzel-Land (Munich, Germany)

2015/12/05 davidhobden@mac.com

We had to get up before 5 AM so we could check-in (2-hours prior) for our scheduled flight to Germany at 08:30. Ugghh 🙁 My stepdad Jim and brother Steve drove us to the Phoenix Skyharbor International Airport. Thanks Jimmy and Steve!

We said our goodbyes’ to Mom and little ‘Coach’ in the early morning before we left. Coach didn’t look too worried that we were leaving… he probably thinks we’ll be right back as usual. He’ll be just fine hanging out at the dirt farm. Thanks for watching him Mom! Hopefully, she gives him back to us when we return 🙂

Cool WWI era bi-plane on display at Phoenix Skyharbor International Airport.

The check-in and subsequent flight out of Phoenix was relatively uneventful. Our two bags were right at the allowed weight of 50-lbs each thanks to some pre-weighing and re-packing at the dirt farm . Of course, the TSA agent patted me down after my artificial hip set off the metal detector alarm… that’s always fun 😐

Our connecting flight was in Atlanta, GA where we had a ~three hour layover.

Stilla survived the flight(s) just fine. We got into Munich around 8 AM on Friday. Turbulence was minimal and the take-off / landings were smooth. If I calculated correctly, I think it took us about 17 hours to get here from the time we left Casa Grande.

Wolfgang (one of Stilla’s four brothers) was waiting for us in Munich after we got through passport control and had collected our luggage. He picked us up in his RV (below) and drove us to the house.

Wolfgang (Stilla’s brother) posed in front of his RV after we arrived at the house.

And here we are in Sindersdorf, GE. The Dotzer family house! Stilla and I used to have the second-floor of the house when we lived here. Maybe I’ll post more about that later with regard to dates and times… Our son William lives here now. Of course – Stilla’s dad, ‘Opa’ (which means Grandpa in German) still lives here too, along with Wolfgang and his girlfriend Hildegard. Wolfgang has turned some of the rooms in the adjoining building (which used to be the barn) into a bed & breakfast. He keeps moving his wood-working shop to different parts of the house. We left here in 2005 when the Army sent me to Fort Carson, CO but we visited again for a few weeks back in 2013.

Wolfgang put up the American flag on the pole in front of the house in honor of our arrival 🙂

We fought off jet-lag and fatigue while we met with many of Stilla’s relatives and friends throughout the rest of the day until we finally got to bed. Here’s some pictures (below). Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of everyone that stopped by to greet us, but we’ll have plenty of time for that later.

Hildegard (Wolfgang’s girlfriend) made us a nice traditional ‘brotzeit’ after we got in.

Our son William and his girlfriend Jasmin.

Stilla’s sister Maria and her husband Martin.

Stilla’s dad ‘Opa’ and Stilla. Opas’ 85th birthday is on the 8th of December!

A couple of Stilla’s nieces (Tanja and Nicole).

Annerose & Stefan. Stefan is Stilla’s youngest brother.

As I mentioned before – we had many other friends and relatives greet us but I forgot to get pictures. Our social agenda is filling quickly with parties and dinners being scheduled around other already scheduled events. For instance, later today (Saturday) there’s a Christmas party with ‘Glühwein’ across the street here in our little town (dorf) that we’ll attend. (flyer below)

And here’s a picture of my favorite beer… or more-correctly; German ‘bier’ 🙂 Ahhh goood!

Stay tuned for more travel adventures without the Urban Escape Vehicle… which is safely tucked away at the ‘dirt farm’ in Casa Grande, AZ. Our return flight is scheduled for the 11th of January, which leaves us plenty of time to get to the Alpine Coach Rally in Quartzsite, AZ on or about the 19th.

Arizona

A Dirt Farm Thanksgiving (Casa Grande, AZ)

2015/12/02 davidhobden@mac.com

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been over a week since my last post. We’ve been super busy enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday at the “dirt farm” and then prepping for our trip to Germany.

It was your typical American Thanksgiving; We enjoyed lots of good food…

with lots of good people…

All my relatives in the area came out to the “dirt farm”. We even had some come in from far away places: My Aunt Kathy came down from Sun City Grand (Phoenix) for a few days with her boyfriend from Canada; My cousin’s daughter (Jules) came down from Denver with her boyfriend from Ireland.

My cousin Kristine came down from Denver. That was a special treat! Haven’t seen her in years. Here she is (below) looking through an old photo album.

Here’s me and my brother Steve.

We even had family friends come down from Tempe.

After an awesome dinner, we played some games.

And just hung out.

After all the holiday festivities and lots of leftovers… I spent some time cleaning the Harley to put it away while we’re gone.

Then I got the ATV out to prep it for when we get back. I keep it stored here at the dirt farm and we’ll want to take it with us to Quartzsite in January when we get back from our Germany trip.

I even cleaned up the trailer that I keep here on the farm and took it up to Phoenix for an annual service. I bought it a year ago and got a timely phone call from Trailers-Plus telling me that the one-time free service was due.

Here’s little ‘Coach’ running around the farm. We’ll leave him here with my Mom during our trip. He’s turned into quite the farm dog and enjoys being off leash.

I then got the oil changed on the Urban Escape Vehicle at a nearby Speedco (←link). I also topped off the fuel tank at a nearby Pilot Flying-J and drained the tanks. I then gave it a good washing in preparation for leaving it here in storage while we fly to Germany for Christmas and New Year.

Now, we just have to finish packing our suitcases 🙂

My next post will be from Germany. We leave on the 3rd of December and will return on the 11th of January. Follow along…

Arizona

Back at the “Dirt Farm” (Casa Grande, AZ)

2015/11/24 davidhobden@mac.com 4 Comments

We made it! We’re back at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande, AZ where we’ll stay parked until we get back from our trip to Germany on the 11th of January.

We made the circa. 290 mile trip from our overnight boondocking spot at the Red Earth Casino located next to the Salton Sea without incident. We arrived at my brother Steven & Cheryl’s ~5 acre “dirt farm” in Casa Grande, AZ before dusk. I wrote about why they call it the “dirt farm” in previous posts HERE and HERE.

Driving across the border into Yuma, AZ.

Stilla even took over driving duties for the last 100 miles or so 🙂

The long and straight Highway 8 (east bound).

Here’s the Urban Escape Vehicle in front of Mom’s house.

A few pictures around the “dirt farm”:

Opposite side of Mom’s house, looking at one of the chicken coops and the casita.

My brother Steven & Cheryl’s house on the “dirt farm”.

Steven & Chery’ls (new to them) Class-C RV parked by their house.

View of the “back 40″… the horse corrals and sheds behind Steven & Cheryl’s house.

We’re expecting to have a bunch of relatives and friends here for Thanksgiving, so we’ll enjoy that while we get prepared to leave for Germany on the 3rd of December.

I was able to find a couple round-trip tickets for just under $1,200 so we’re all set to spend the Christmas and New Year holiday(s) with Stilla’s family. And, more importantly her father’s 85th birthday on the 8th of December.

I’ll post again in a couple/few days… there’s lots to do before we leave: I’d like to get the oil changed in the Coach, plus we still need to top off the fuel tank and dump our tanks… Check back soon 🙂

California

Southbound & Down (Red Earth Casino – Thermal, CA)

2015/11/23 davidhobden@mac.com

Happy Monday! My new favorite day of the week since retirement 🙂

We’re on the road again headed south to the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande, AZ. The “dirt farm” is a term of endearment that my Mom, Stepdad, brother Steven & Cheryl call their ~5 acres where they keep horses, chickens, dirt, etc., 🙂 We need to be back there before Thanksgiving because we have a lot of family coming to visit over the holiday, plus we are making plans to leave the Urban Escape Vehicle parked there while we travel to Germany to visit Stilla’s family over the Christmas holidays. We need to be in Germany for Stilla’s fathers’ birthday on the 8th of December.

We sure would have liked to stay at Bill & Patti’s but we have to hurry down to Casa Grande as I said earlier. We’ve dawdled enough and better get down to the dirt farm to help out with things before Thanksgiving.

Thanks again to Bill & Patti for their hospitality! We said goodbye with hugs and ‘see-ya-laters’.

We traveled about 200 miles yesterday (Sunday) after we left Bill & Patti Figge’s house in Thousand Oaks, CA. We needed fuel… Bill turned us on to a nearby Chevron station that had easy access. Thanks again Bill! We put in a couple hundred dollars worth of diesel and continued on. We stopped at the Red Earth Casino (map below) for an overnight stay. It’s free as long as you stay away from the slot machines 🙂 We stayed here once last year on our way to Pomona… it’s not bad here, but there’s dry-camping (boondocking) only.

The fine (sic) roads around Los Angeles took their toll on the drivers-side sun shade (below). The little bolt that holds the arms to the shade loosened itself up and fell out due to all the bumpy roads and vibrations from the concrete freeways. Luckily, a rest stop wasn’t too far away. I was able to find all the pieces and put it back together 😐 I also took the opportunity to tighten the others, i.e., side-window shades and the passenger-side windshield.

Drivers-side view after the sun-shade fell apart.

And here we are at the Red Earth Casino (←link). We made the rest of the days trip without incident 🙂

Red Earth Casino (Thermal, CA) dry-camping.

Here’s the rest of our intended route for today (map below). 291 miles to go… check back later to see if we make it 😉

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Tag Archives: RV

Days 11 thru 14 in Deutschland – Recovery Time (Sindersdorf, GE)

Day 10 in Deutschland – Castles & Chocolate (Eysölden, GE)

Day 5 in Deutschland – Opa’s 85th Birthday (Sindersdorf, GE)

Day 4 in Deutschland – Birthday Prep (Sindersdorf, GE)

Day 3 in Deutschland – Stefan & Annerose Dinner; Weihnachtschiessen (Meckenhausen, GE)

Day 2 in Deutschland – Gluhwein Fest (Sindersdorf, GE)

Travel to Schnitzel-Land (Munich, Germany)

A Dirt Farm Thanksgiving (Casa Grande, AZ)

Back at the “Dirt Farm” (Casa Grande, AZ)

Southbound & Down (Red Earth Casino – Thermal, CA)

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