Nice view while sipping our morning coffee

 

 

 

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Gut says north of Boulder

We had a fantastic time with some friends we met on a hiking trail last year in Lake City. They live in Longmont now and showed us all around Longmont and the outlying areas like Berthud and S. Loveland.

We love the area as it is relatively close to all the places important to us. Now the tough part is what is our minimum sq. footage and acreage. Certainly would be fun to live near Adele and Steve who also love to hike and travel!

Today we went to Golden which we also love. Josh Pollock (Sylvia and Lee's son) also gave us great advice and added more towns and issues to consider. We shall be so educated when this is over, no matter what decision is made...Believe it or not we may even consider a town house!

 

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Loving Longmont

We spent quite the day yesterday traveling here and there...some disappointments as our budget doesn't go as far as we thought! We have eliminated several towns after seeing them, including Fort Collins. We would love to live in the mts but the practicality, distance and cost rules some of those towns out too.

So far we are loving Longmont. 1/2 hour out of Boulder, 45 minutes from the airport, close to all the mt towns and more reasonable. The old section has a good community feel, as we briefly went to an outdoor concert there. It is hot here but within an hour you can be at Nederland and have it significantly cooler. (Nederland below). Now we just have to face the fact that buying here will mean a much smaller house with less space".hmmmm, the idea was to scale down, right? ...this might force us to really do so:)

 

 

 

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Sunset in Longmont

 

 

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North of Denver

We made it to Longmont, about 1/2 hour east of Boulder. What a drive it was through Denver..heavy traffic even though it was only around11am. Don't think we will be living too close to the city! Thank God Don loves to drive, because I would have been a wreck. As it was, at one point the road split due to construction and a car wouldn't let us in the right lane, so we were forced into a bunch of plastic lane dividers. Luckily neither the RV or car we are towing got damaged.

It is hot here in Longmont but the views of the mts are great. After settling in we drove around Boulder looking at the neat homes and then we drove up rt. 119 to a lovely mountain town called Nederland. We had been there before and loved it and may go up there again Sat. am for an art festival. On Saturday night we are visiting some friends we met in Lake City last summer . They live here in Longmont and will show us around the town. Can't wait. Tomorrow we are driving to the Fort Collins area for the day.

Views from campsite...and a bunny I met on a walk around the pond

 

 

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Colorado Springs

So we started our journey of questioning where we will live in the future..I adore Eaton, but I love the opening process of exploring other opportunities even if we end up with no changes in our lives. We toured many communities in this area, met with 2 wonderful real estate agents who showed us 4 homes, knowing that we may never live here. We ruled out most of the area due to traffic and over development, but a town 10 miles north of CO Springs called Monument, got us to begin to fantasize. There is an older neighborhood that offers privacy, views and proximity to the historic old town with its small shops and activities...only about 1 hr and 15 minutes from the airport yet not far from the city, Pikes Peak, and lots of trails and mt. towns. The process has helped Don and me each begin to figure out what is important and where we could compromise. It has also gotten me to think about what really makes me happy. ( I am also reading a centering book called The Happiness Project, that has made me ponder a lot) .

So other highlights include stops to a local microbrewery and Mexican restaurant, picnic in the middle of nowhere, an hour's hike on a lovely trail within the AirForce grounds, seeing many hawks, and today a fun ride through the mountain towns of Cripple Creek, FairPlay, Bailey, and Conifer, we saw buffalo and pronghorns.

Now on to the St. Vrains State Park in Longmont , north of Denver, in the am.

View of the Pikes Peak Range from our campground:

On the road by Manitou Springs:

Cripple Creek:

 

Fairplay where they had the best Jack Daniels chocolate chip ice cream!

Mountain scenes along the way:

 

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Kansas and our new home

It is Sunday morning and I am settling into our new home in Colorado Springs: Perigrine Pines Campground, an air force campground open to military retirees and active duty folks. We had quite the problem finding a campsite and really lucked out with this place ( got it only due to a cancellation) . Tons of open space which views of the mts. I am adjusting to the altitude which is about 6800 ft, I think. Hopefully by the end of the day and lots of water I will be back up to speed.

After our wonderful visit with Marty and Larry Bridges we headed off to Kansas. Quite the long day and hot, but we found a lovely state park on Milford Lake near Junction City.

Finally, after 8 more hours through Kansas we got to Colorado Springs. Mugginess is gone. Hot dry weather in the day and quite cool at night. Now off to begin our exploration...

Milford Lake, Kansas:

 

New home at Colorado Springs until 6/25:

 

 

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Indiana, Illinois and Missouri

For 2 nights we stayed at a pretty county park outside of Terre Haute with a lovely pond and walking trail. ...rained much of the time and humid, but we had nice visits with Don's father and his sister Lisa. While at a pie place, a man called over to Don..he had worked with him 45 years ago and hadn't seen him since but recognized him. This was definitely a first for him as I am the one who always has these experiences...

 

Today we are outside of St. Louis , MO visiting NC work camper friends Marty and Larry Bridges. We got the royal tour of St. Louis with its wonderful architecture and interesting old buildings, and had a special lunch at Pappys including a frito pie with pulled pork. A super day, despite the weather!

 

 

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Learning Again

So why is it each year we have to relearn all about our dear old camper? We forgot to put the gas back on this am and the refrig food was warming, the honda Fit we are towing was blasting with music as we towed it...( guess I forgot that little detail...at least it started up after 7 hours using up the battery), still figuring out our complicated radio/Cd receiver and since there has been little access to the Internet, I was relying on the cell service of my IPAD, which for some reason doesn't work.

But we are enjoying the simple pleasures on the road and our little finds. Both nights we have stayed at clean, pretty county parks for $22 a night, and we've seen a newborn deer, many bunnies and lovely scenery. Right now I am under a "Boy Scout " eating tent watching a mother bird feeding her chicks in her nest, and enjoying the Internet.

Off to Indiana in the morning!

 

 

 

 

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And the New 2015 Chapter Begins

In a few days we will begin our 2015 westward journey! Our hope is that this 2+ month journey across the country will help us figure out the next phase of life. Will we move? To where? What kind of housing? Maybe just land for a cabin and RV? Or maybe we should stay put and just travel more and do home exchanges or rentals?? This exploration in our RV should be quite the adventure for Don, our 10 year old dog, Sophie, and me. We will be traveling again to some beautiful places and will get to see our west coast girls and families, and some friends along the way.

On Sunday we will head towards Indiana to visit some of Don's family, then we will stop near St. Louis for a brief visit with work camper friends from our time in North Carolina. We should get to Colorado around June 22 and set up our first base near Colorado Springs.

This year's blog is my effort to record this trip for ourselves . Hopefully it will be fun for you to read as well. We are also looking forward to posting many pictures along the way.

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