Tag Archives: UEV

Farewell (for now) Friends, Family, & Elks Lodge 309 (COS, CO)

2015/09/19 davidhobden@mac.com

We can feel the winter chill in the morning air already. It’s time to move south. We’re not sure exactly where we’ll go next just now, but we need to be in Lake Powell for an Alpine Coach SoCal Rally by 5 October. So, we’ll start heading in that direction on Monday.

The pool is all covered…

the chairs are all stacked…

and most of the tables and sun-umbrellas have been put into storage.

We didn’t even have to pay to stay here for the last 14 days or so, since we helped the camp-host so much with the pool area and with our painting of the lawn furniture that I wrote about in earlier posts. We’ll miss this lodge, but I’m sure we’ll be back next year.

We’ve stayed busy the last several days since my last post:

On Tuesday, I hung out at my high school buddy’s automotive repair shop (Chuck’s Auto) while Stilla visited with the daughters. It never ceases to amaze me how easily he can remember where all the parts go back in, and in what order 🙂

Mike working on an engine timing chain and water pump.

It happened to be a day where Mike had decided to rearrange one of the service bays… so I helped move a few things around.

I wouldn’t mind rearranging this El Camino into my garage… oops, that’s right – I don’t have a garage anymore 🙂

After leaving Mikes’ shop, I saw some construction going on near our old house. There’s a huge pile of dirt and boulders on the hill overlooking the back yard. I stopped to check it out.

Backyard view of our old house from hill on the south side. (looking north-west)

View of downtown Colorado Springs from old house (looking east)

It looked like they were just using the hill for a construction staging area for a new building nearby (sign below). Which is a good thing – because it would be a shame if they put a building on the hilltop, it would ruin the privacy that the backyard always had.

I also couldn’t help but notice, the giant cracks in the ground! It looks like the hill is unstable and may break off into a landslide sometime in the future. That’s a little scary. The construction material and the heavy earth-moving equipment on top of the hill probably isn’t helping any…

I’m glad we sold the house when we did… hope the new owner doesn’t have any trouble from this.

Back at the lodge, we enjoyed a final “Taco Tuesday” with our new-found friends Jerry & Marilyn Baumgartner. Biff & Linda joined us as well.

On Friday, Jerry & Marilyn packed up to head back home to Oklahoma. I helped Jerry load his bike into the back of his Ford Ranger pickup that he tows behind his motorhome.

Safe travels Jerry & Marilyn! Hope to see you in Port Aransas, TX next year… or even earlier in Quartzsite, AZ maybe !?!

Jerry & Marilyn Baumgartner. Good friends that we met while at the COS Elks Lodge.

On Friday evening, we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at the Elks Lodge with my Dad/Elaine, Biff/Linda, and our grandson Kaan. Kaan often spends the night with us, I guess the summer trip he spent with us didn’t turn him off to staying in the Coach 🙂

(L to R) Kaan, Stilla, Elaine, Linda, Biff (behind Dad), and my Dad.

In other news – Little Coach got his follow-up shots at PetSmarts’™ Banfield Hospital. I wrote about Banfield in a previous post (Click HERE. He still has the weird cough but otherwise appears to be doing well. We, (Stilla & I), also made our doctor appointments at Evans Army Community Hospital on Ft Carson and got our meds refilled. So we’re ready to roll out of here now. I just have to load up the Harley and bicycles sometime this weekend.

Stay tuned to see where we end up next… I’m thinking maybe Santa Fe, NM. Our friends and fellow Alpine Coach owners, Mike & Donna Kuper, recently blogged about their stay there. Link here: FlyingtheKoop.com. Plus, it’s in the general direction of Lake Powell where we are co-hosting the Alpine Coach rally starting on 7 October.

Colorado

Alpine Eggs & More Friends (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/15 davidhobden@mac.com

On Sunday morning, we saw a familiar face pass by the front of our Coach. It was Wilma Egg! We know Wilma and her husband Vic from several of the Alpine Coach Rallies that we’ve attended over the last few years. They’ve been full-timing in their Coach for ~6 years now.

Vic and Wilma had just pulled into the Elks Lodge 309 parking lot and Wilma walked by our Coach in search of the camp-host when Stilla and I both recognized her… we jumped out of the motorhome to say Hi.

Since the camp-host didn’t seem to be around at the moment, I gave Vic my recommendation for the best ‘overflow’ spot to park in for the night. All the hook-up sites were currently full.

A good looking Coach, eh? Of course, I’m biased since it’s the same year and color scheme as ours 🙂

We talked briefly and then we let them alone to finish setting-up with a promise to get-together later.

Vic & Wilma Egg in front of their ’05 Alpine.

Today (Sunday) was also the last day of the season for the pool to be open here at Elks Lodge 309. So we basically spent the whole day trying to get the most out of it one last time. Our oldest daughter Jennifer came by with our grandson Kaan. And then our youngest daughter Joleen came by with her boyfriend Dylan to spend some fun time in the pool. Here’s some last pics of the year here at the Elks Lodge pool:

Later on in the day, Jerry & Marilyn also came by to enjoy the pool with us. Here’s Marilyn (below), sorry – no new picture of Jerry today 🙁

One of the Bronco fans (John) escaped from the bar area and was seen hanging around the pool too…

Vic & Wilma joined us later in the evening, where we enjoyed the nice weather and some more good conversation by the pool.

Marilyn on the left and Vic Egg on the right at Elks Lodge 309.

Vic told me about the volunteer work he’ll be doing with the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial here in Colorado Springs. He retired from the New Jersey Fire Department and was involved in the response to the cowardly terrorist attacks of 9/11. According to one of the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial websites (link here); “The mission of the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial, which is located in the shadow of Pike’s Peak, is to honor the sacrifice made by IAFF members who serve as professional fire fighters and emergency medical personnel who have given their lives in the line of duty. ”

This nice lady played with little Coach while we talked.

Vic told me that another Alpine had pulled in and parked behind them (see pic below). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet the owners because they left again early Monday. Vic told me who it was, and we probably know them from past Alpine Coach Rallies, but I didn’t recognize the name(s) he gave me. I’m sure if we saw their faces, we’d recognize them… I do remember seeing the Coach before because it has a bunch of wind-deflectors mounted on the sides at the rear. I think they’re called air tabs (link here), and their generator slide-out appeared to be painted with a bed-liner material.

Two Alpines in overflow parking at Elks Lodge 309. (one on the right is Vic & WIlma Eggs’)

On Monday morning, I got the opportunity to talk a little more with Vic before they pulled out. He told me more about the volunteer work he’ll be doing for the Firefighters Memorial. They’re headed over to Cheyenne Mountain State Park (on the south-side of Colorado Springs) in order to be closer to the activities he’ll be involved with. I think we’ll try to find the time this coming Saturday to attend some of those activities. For more info on those Firefighter Memorial activities, go to this website (Click here).

C U later Vic & Wilma. Hope to see you again soon!

After Vic & WIlma headed out on Monday morning, I helped another Elks Lodge member (John) put away umbrellas and stack lawn chairs in the pool area. Later on, Jerry joined in and we covered both pools for the season 🙁

We closed out our Monday evening with new friends Jerry & Marilyn outside our Coach. Jerry grilled up some awesome steaks that we washed down with some adult beverages.

Jerry, Stilla, & Marilyn at Elks Lodge 309.

And another fine day comes to a close! Monday continues to be my new favorite day of the week (since retirement), because when I wake up , I realize I don’t have to go in to work 🙂

Check back soon…

Colorado

Reunion(s) (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/14 davidhobden@mac.com

Saturday was a day of reunions! We got to see our old 1957 Chevy Pickup at a car show and then we went to a family picnic where we got to see all of my Aunts & Uncles from my Dad’s side of the family.

My Dad’s youngest brother, (Uncle Alan) invited us to come up to his house (near Florissant, CO) for a picnic/BBQ that he tries to hold annually. Alan was also our realtor, you may remember him from some of my previous blog posts about selling the house. He not only got us into the last couple houses we bought, but also got us out of them too. 🙂

But first – we stopped in Woodland Park on our way to the family reunion/picnic. The annual “Cruise Above the Clouds” car show was being held. We used to take our 1957 Chevy Bel-Air to this car show every year from ~2006 until I sold it in 2013. I was hoping to see the Bel-Air at this car show, but instead, I saw our ’57 Pickup that I owned from ~2009, but sold in 2011! This was the first time we’d seen it anywhere since it was sold.

The Woodland Park car show is normally held within the town park and on the adjoining streets. However this year, the park was undergoing some major reconstruction, so the cars were scattered around on the surrounding streets and nearby parking lots which made for some serious hiking.

The town park in Woodland Park, CO was undergoing a major renovation.

I recognized our old ’57 Chevy Pickup right away! It had a newly re-upholstered bench seat and the bumpers were re-chromed, but otherwise it looked pretty much the same. The current owner was nowhere to be found, but I was able to ascertain from the window placard that it wasn’t the same person I sold it to back in 2011.

Here’s a picture of the truck when I put it in a car show in Springfield, CO back in 2010. It won a ‘top-ten’ trophy/placard back then.

We had our grandson Kaan with us for the day, so I had him pose for a picture in front of the truck.

Sept 2015 at Cruise Above the Clouds with grandson Kaan.

And here’s an old picture from 2009 for comparison:

Pic from 2009 with grandson Kaan in front of our garage.

The new chrome bumpers look good. But the truck still needs a new paint job, which is one of the reasons I decided to sell it.

This is an old picture (below) for comparison.

The new bench seat (below) also looked good. When I owned it – it had a couple of ugly tan-colored bucket seats with little armrests. I also put in a new clutch, pressure plate, and had the 3-speed transmission rebuilt. I was really hoping to talk to the new owner, but he was nowhere to be found… he must have been wandering around checking out the other cars/trucks.

Here’s a couple more old pictures that I dug up. These were taken in 2010 when we towed the truck to a car show in Springfield, CO behind our old Class-C motorhome.

circa 2010, on the way to a car show in Springfield, CO.

Stilla, July 2010 at car show in Springfield, CO.

There were a lot of Chevy pickups at the car show this year. We must have seen six or seven mid-fifties trucks. They must be gaining in popularity again. For example, here’s a yellow ’57…

and here’s a ’59 for sale that needs some minor work…

I loaded up on a few new t-shirts… they were selling event T’s for $15. I bought one, and then they threw in a couple more from the last two years’ events. What a great deal, especially since I’ve worn out some of my old ones.

After walking through the whole car show area, we still didn’t see my old ’57 Chevy Bel-Air 🙁 So I texted the new owner and he responded right away that he was at a different car show in Colorado Springs today… oh well, maybe I’ll get a chance to see it again another time. We’ve stayed in touch since he bought it in July of 2013. Here’s a picture of the new owner when he picked it up with his trailer… what a sad day (for me).

Anyway… enough of the trip down memory lane with the cars…

We left Woodland Park and headed on up to my Uncle’s house for the family reunion picnic.

The aspen trees are already getting their fall colors.

My uncle lives between Florissant and Divide. Therefore, he likes to call his neighborhood “Floride” 🙂 Get it? The back of his property borders the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Uncle Alan set up a tent and had a campfire going alongside the dirt road leading up to the house on his property. This is the usual spot for his annual picnic, but he has to transport all the food, utensils, chairs, etc., from the house which is still a good distance away – too far to carry stuff by hand, so he uses a little trailer hooked up to his ATV.

Alan cooked some hot dogs on the campfire while his son-in-law Nick grilled up some hamburgers and hot dogs on the BBQ grill.

We all milled around, talked, and enjoyed our food in the great outdoors. The weather couldn’t have been any better.

Here’s some pics of our Hobden family gathering: Note: My dad was the only one of the Hobden clan that couldn’t be here, because he (and stepmom Elaine) were at a campout in their Coach with the FCRV group this weekend.

(L to R) My Uncle Bruce, and aunt’s Alice and DeEtte.

(L to R) Aunts’ Beverly, DeEtte, Alice, and cousin Sarah.

(L to R) Uncles’ Alan, Russell, and Bruce. (Bruce had recent knee surgery).

My Uncle Alan’s daughter Sarah, her husband Nick and their two beautiful girls.

Our grandson, Kaan and Stilla swinging on the cool “porch swing” hanging from the trees.

All my dad’s brother’s and his only sister… (L to R) Alan, Alice, Russell, and Charles.

Our grandson Kaan played in the hammock.

And a few more pics…

My dad’s brother Russell (below right) and his wife DeEtte (below left) drove all the way from Lamar, CO to be here. I don’t get to see them very often and it’s always great to catch up.

Kaan tried to find some treasure with the metal detector until the batteries died 🙁

We toured around the property a little bit on Uncle Alan’s ATV. Kaan always enjoys that 🙂

And Kaan tried out all the swings that Uncle Alan has set up around the house…

It was great to see all my Aunts and Uncles (from my Dad’s side of the family) and we always look forward to these get-togethers.

Before it got too late, we helped clean up, and then said our farewells to head on back down the pass. Here’s a view of Pikes Peak from the Woodland Park side.

Check back soon, my next post includes some new Alpine Coach’s that arrived at the Elks Lodge on Sunday…

Colorado

Fixing the Other Daughter’s Car (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/13 davidhobden@mac.com

I spent most of Friday at my old high school buddy’s automotive shop “Chuck’s Auto“. My oldest daughter’s car had some serious front tire issues as you can see from the following pics:

My buddy Mike came to the rescue again with reasonable prices and his outstanding mechanical abilities. As usual, I did a good job of supervising and even got my hands dirty:) You may remember Mike from previous posts HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Mike gave the car a much needed alignment…

and mounted/balanced two new front tires.

Thanks for the help again Mike!

In other news: The Urban Escape Vehicle just missed being clobbered by this tree branch overnight. We woke up to see this laying in front of the Coach. We didn’t even hear the wind that must have kicked up to do this… or could it be the work of mad squirrels? Luckily, the tree isn’t directly above us.

Stay tuned for my next post. We went to a car show on Saturday in Woodland Park and saw my old ’57 Chevy Pickup, then it was on to a mini-family reunion at my Uncle Alan’s in Florrisant/Divide CO.

Colorado

Alpine’s Come and Go; New Class C (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/10 davidhobden@mac.com

More fun times at the Elks Lodge…

On Wednesday evening, after a lazy day of hanging around the Coach, Jim/Sally and Jerry/Marilyn joined us outside the Urban Escape Vehicle.

We grilled up some German Bratwursts using Jerry & Marilyn’s BBQ…

and just enjoyed each other’s company until it was time to call it a night. The brats were excellent by the way.

Thursday was more of the same… we hung out in the evening with Jim & Sally outside their Coach. Jim & Sally are heading out in the morning so this would be our last evening with them. We expect to see them again in Quartzsite, AZ at the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally” in early January. But, you never know, we might cross paths before then 🙂

Sally made a nice stew for us. We talked for a while and then said our farewells and ‘see-ya-laters’. Til next time Jim & Sally…

And guess who’s back in town?!? Ricky & Cathy Broussard stopped by! They just rolled back into Colorado Springs and saw us in the Elks Lodge parking lot. I guess you could say; one Alpine rolls-out and another rolls-in. Except, Ricky & Cathy aren’t staying at the lodge, they are going to their usual spot in an RV park just around the corner. But they’ll come over to the lodge as their busy schedule permits and I’m sure I’ll be posting more pictures soon 🙂

In other news – My brother Steve and his long-time girlfriend Cheryl just sent us a picture today of their new (to them) Class C. They’re in Casa Grande, AZ where we like to spend some of the winter months. I’ve written many posts from their place which they affectionately call “the dirt farm“. You can do a search on this blog by typing in “dirt farm” to see more, or click on the link. Maybe some family RV trips are in our future? 🙂

Colorado

Old Batteries; New Car (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/09 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

No, not us this time, but I did help Jim & Sally do some battery maintenance and then I helped my Dad & Stepmom (Elaine) pick up a new car. Read on to hear more…

Here’s Jim & Sally’s Alpine Coach parked in the “overflow” area of the Elks Lodge 309 parking lot:

I wrote about Jim & Sally in a previous post (click Here). Jim has had some issues lately with his ~5 year-old batteries. Some of the battery posts have worked themselves loose over time due to (possible) manufacturer defect and excessive heat.

Jim pulled his batteries out while I employed my awesome supervisory skills honed through years of military service. I made sure nothing sparked and ensured we had a fire extinguisher handy 🙂

His Coach, (a 1999 Alpine), has eight ‘house’ and two ‘chassis’ batteries, just like my 2005. Although, Jim has installed an array of solar panels on top of his Coach, while I only have the original (two) 50 Watt panels.

Jim’s battery bay (three batteries already removed)

It may be hard to see in this picture (below), but the old battery post appeared to be a bolt (turned upside-down) and embedded in the lead which simply pulled out after years of use. It sure doesn’t seem (to me) that it’s a very good method of manufacture. All the batteries I’ve dealt with in the past had solid (poured) lead posts.

Original battery post (on the right) fell out.

In this picture (below), you can see the original battery post on the right. It’s loose and it wiggles around, which isn’t good for a battery post. This creates high resistance and reduces the batteries ability to conduct electricity efficiently. The hole on the left-side of the picture (below) was drilled by Jim in order to use a self-tapping screw to secure the battery cables since the original post is loose and therefore unusable.

And here’s how Jim did it:

Here, he is cleaning up the area with a wire brush on his drill to prep for drilling. Again, I supervised and kept a fire extinguisher handy 🙂

And here’s Jim drilling into the lead so he could ‘sink’ a new self-tapping screw to replace the old ‘post’.

After fixing two of his batteries with this ‘modification’… Jim started the task of putting all the batteries back in the bay.

And here ya go! All back in place, hooked up, and working again:)

That took most of Tuesday morning – but, Great job Jim! Now, start budgeting for new batteries instead of doing this again, eh?

After finishing up the battery maintenance with Jim, my Dad and stepmom Elaine stopped by the Elks Lodge to pick me up. I offered to chauffeur them to an auto dealership (Hoo Motors in Kiowa, CO) where they found a new (to them) car over the weekend.

They attended a Labor Day weekend campout with the FCRV “Rolling Springs” group in the Kiowa area and had stopped by the dealership to “just look-around”. They found a really nice 2013 VW Passat TDI with low mileage.

They’ve been looking to trade in their Toyota Camry before it got too old and started to have maintenance issues. It’s been good to them over the years, but they wanted something newer. They’ve been known to go on long road-trips and certainly don’t want any break-downs to be in their future.

Here’s the old Toyota that they traded in.

And here’s the new (to them) 2013 VW Passat TDI.

Side-by-side comparison:

The Passat is a really nice car… I told them they should have bought two 🙂 The interior reminded me very much of our old 2004 E320 Mercedes which I guess isn’t unusual since they’re both German cars with (probably) the same design engineers. It was fun to drive too! I chauffeured them back to the Elks Lodge where we enjoyed (once-again) “Taco Tuesday” with all our friends 🙂

“Taco Tuesday” at Elks 309 with (L to R) Biff, my Dad, Linda, Marilyn, Jerry, Stilla, and Elaine.

After tacos and drinks, we all went outside to check out Dad’s (or should I say?) – Elaine’s new car. After everyone was properly impressed… we said our farewell’s to Dad/Elaine and Biff/Linda.

The rest of us; Jerry/Marilyn and Jim/Sally went back to the lodge to enjoy some more adult beverages and later on we finished up the evening outside Jerry/Marilyn’s Coach.

(L to R) Marilyn, David, Jerry, and Jim.

Good times with good people… and another awesome Colorado sunset completed the day!

Check back soon to see what we’re up to next…

Colorado

In the Wind (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/09 davidhobden@mac.com

On Labor Day Monday we joined our new friends Jerry & Marilyn for an awesome day of riding. We met Jerry & Marilyn here at the Elks Lodge in COS only last week and we already consider them “best-friends” that we hope to be associated with for many, many years to come. It never ceases to amaze me how many great people we get to meet our full-timing adventure.

Here’s some pictures from our motorcycle tour around Colorado Springs, Manitou, and Woodland Park:

David & Stilla riding up the pass (I-24 to Woodland Park) [picture taken by Marilyn]

(L to R) Stilla, David, Jerry, and Marilyn at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center in COS, CO.

(L to R) Jerry, Marilyn, Stilla, and myself at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center in COS, CO.

Jerry trying on a new look at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center in COS, CO.

(L to R) Jerry, Marilyn, and Stilla at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post in COS, CO.

(L to R) Stilla, Jerry, Stilla, and Marilyn at the BierWerks in Woodland Park, CO.

After a full day of riding – we made it back to the Elks Lodge just in time… it started raining as we pulled into the parking lot. What a great day!

Check back in for my next post which includes the always enjoyable subject-matter of battery maintenance; a new car; and the ever-popular Taco Tuesday.

Colorado

Labor Day (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/07 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

Happy Labor Day everyone! Stilla and I finished up our ‘labor’ before the big party at the Elks Lodge 309. We completed our self-imposed project of sanding and painting all the lawn furniture that was previously green.

Some other folks here at the lodge, also got the ‘bug’ and cleaned the pool partitions while we finished up our painting. There’s a lot of nice people here at the lodge living the Elks motto; “Elks Care, Elks Share”.

Biff stopped by again to repair an electrical outlet that was about to fall off the wall.

You may remember Biff from my previous post when he was fixing and painting some of the old wooden picnic tables.

In other news – Our next-door neighbor (Barney) here at the RV park had to put his little dog to sleep on Friday. I think Barney told me he was either 16 or 18 years old. He was blind and deaf. Here’s one last photo in memory of “Noah”. Rest-in-Peace little guy…

We enjoyed the pool some more on Saturday with the grandson who comes by pretty often. Somehow, his X-Box playstation ended up in our bedroom again recently hooked up to the TV. At least he didn’t glue himself to it and got out in the pool most of the day.

And on Saturday we had a little impromptu BBQ in the Elks backyard with our new friends; Jerry & Marilyn from Oklahoma. Good food with good people!

Jerry and I went on a short motorcycle ride together Sunday morning before the Elks Lodge Labor Day BBQ kicked off. Jerry hauls his 2003 Heritage Softail around in his Ford Ranger pickup, pulled by his motorhome when they’re traveling.

We stopped by my old high school buddy’s shop to try to get him to join us for a ride, but he was taking part in a ‘poker-run’. His shop was one of the stops for “Bikers United for America 9/11 Remembrance Run“. We hung out for a bit and then toured Manitou before returning to the lodge for the day’s activities.

My best friend and old Manitou High School buddy, Mike Harris in front of his automotive repair shop.

Back at the Lodge, the band had started up and the BBQ was in full-swing…

And then we ran into Alpine Coach owners, Jim & Sally! They just came down from the Westminster Elks Lodge in Denver. I wrote about our last visit with them in my post HERE.

It was a great evening with new and old friends… here’s Jim and Stilla getting a little dance on…

Our oldest daughter Jennifer and her son Kaan enjoyed the pool…

We hung out with Jerry & Marilyn and Jim & Sally for the rest of the evening. Jerry & Marilyn even had some friends from Westcliffe stop by for a quick visit. It was nice to meet them too.

A friend of Jim & Sally also joined us briefly. It’s a small RV world out there.

(L to R) Stilla, David, Sally, Jim, Marilyn, and Jerry.

And another great evening in Colorado comes to a close…

Little Coach says, C U later 🙂

This morning (Monday) we plan on getting in some riding on the motorcycle with new friends Jerry & Marilyn. Check back in for a full recap…

Colorado

Helping Out at the Lodge & New Friends (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/09/03 davidhobden@mac.com

More of the same around here… we continue to help out around the lodge. As a matter-of-fact, our friend Biff stopped by yesterday to join in on the fun.

Biff fixed and painted a few of the picnic tables while Stilla and I continued sanding and painting the metal lawn furniture. You may remember Biff from many of our recent blog post pictures; Biff & Linda are good friends with my Dad and stepmom Elaine and are also members of the FCRV group that we attend campouts with. He is also a long-time Elks Lodge 309 member and originally sponsored my membership here.

Biff fixing picnic tables at Elks Lodge 309.

Biff prepping one of the picnic tables for a fresh coat of paint.

Biff painting one of three wooden picnic tables at Elks Lodge 309.

And here’s the finished product… like new again and ready for some more fun Elks Lodge activities. Great job Biff!

Here’s a ‘before’ picture of one of the metal chairs we’ve been painting…

And here’s an ‘after’ pic of Wednesday’s progress…

Only a dozen or so tables left to paint… we finished up all the chairs 🙂

Afterwards, we had the pool all to ourselves…

We topped off the evening with new friends, Jerry and Marilyn. They parked their RV here at the lodge a couple days ago and plan to stay for a couple weeks. They got us very interested in visiting Port Aransas near Corpus Christi, TX in the near future. We’ll see…

Jerry & Marilyn; our new friends here at Elks Lodge 309.

We look forward to spending more ‘quality’ time with Jerry & Marilyn during their stay here 🙂

In other news: We got little dog ‘Coach’ into the vet last week. We chose Banfield Pet Hospital because they are located throughout the country in PetSmart stores. This will make it easier in our future travels to get him shots, check-ups, etc., since every PetSmart™ will now have his medical history. He got all his shots current and the vet gave him a clean bill of health. The vet thinks his seizure-like episodes may be due to a restricted trachea and we need to watch his weight. In order to determine anything more, we’d have to order x-rays and ultrasounds. He hasn’t had any new episodes since the 4th of August which I wrote about (Here). He has thrown up once or twice since then, but he seems to be able to get air and recovers quickly. We continue to watch his diet but sometimes he’ll grab something from the ground or grass when we’re not watching. Hopefully, he doesn’t get ahold of a poisonous mushroom or something like that.

Little ‘Coach’ watching us paint lawn furniture from his plastic throne.

We have a follow-up appointment in three weeks for little Coach and also some doctor appointments for us that will keep us here until the 20th of October. So stay tuned…

Colorado

One Year Blog Anniversary! (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

2015/08/31 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

Once again, it’s been a while since my last post. We’re still just hanging out at the Elks Lodge in COS enjoying time with friends and family. It’s not easy to come up with interesting things to write about when we’re parked in one place for so long.

Yesterday (30 August) was also the one year anniversary of this blog! We had already been full-timing in the Coach for a few months before I started writing the blog. Click (HERE) to see the 1st post. It took a while for me to get familiar with all the nuances of the blogging software once I decided to get started. It’s been a great year, except for the part where we had to come back to kick the renters out of the house, fix it up, and then sell it. We’re looking forward to what this next year brings…

Anyway – in recent news: We continue to enjoy the many amenities here at the Lodge which includes the ever-popular “Taco Tuesday”. Here we are again with my Dad and stepmom Elaine. Dad has recovered quite well from his recent surgery.

Dad & Elaine at the Elks Lodge “Taco Tuesday”

We also continue to help out around the pool on occasion when the camp-host/club manager needs an extra hand.

And we even took on the task of re-painting some of the patio furniture:

It feels good to give back and pretty soon we’ll have all the old, faded green chairs and tables re-painted a nice semi-gloss black.

On Saturday evening we were invited to join some friends for a party at their beautiful house in Monument. We’ve known Rick & Claudia for a number of years. Rick is a retired Army Command Sergeant Major (CSM).

After an awesome BBQ dinner, the guys hung out with some cigars and watched the Broncos win a pre-season game.

The girls hung out around the desserts and talked German with each other.

Later on Rick fired up the fire pit and we pretended we were camping 🙂

Thanks for the good times Rick and Claudia! Maybe we can return the hospitality sometime.

In other news: I also finished up the entertainment center/electronics cabinet project I mentioned in a previous post. Here are the ‘before’ pics:

Entertainment Center (Drivers side) rats-nest

And here’s the ‘after’ pic:

Drivers side Entertainment Center & Electronics Cabinet rats-nest somewhat cleaned up

It didn’t turn out too bad… I’d have to cut a new front panel to make it any better. The cabinet was designed around the old components which have been changed out over the years, so the cut-outs aren’t quite the right size. The old surround-sound system (at the top) was much larger than the new one, and the satellite dish controller (lower left) is much, much smaller now.

This is the passenger side. I didn’t do anything to this side except add a USB fan on the side of the DirecTV DVR to help keep it cool.

Passenger-side Entertainment Center & Electronics Cabinet

And that’s all for now. Check back later to see what we’re up to…

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Tag Archives: UEV

Farewell (for now) Friends, Family, & Elks Lodge 309 (COS, CO)

Alpine Eggs & More Friends (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Reunion(s) (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Fixing the Other Daughter’s Car (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Alpine’s Come and Go; New Class C (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Old Batteries; New Car (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

In the Wind (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Labor Day (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

Helping Out at the Lodge & New Friends (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

One Year Blog Anniversary! (Elks Lodge 309 – COS, CO)

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