We continued our eastward trek along I-20 on Monday and ended up driving 227 miles from Vicksburg, MS to Tuscaloosa, AL. We stopped at a Pilot/Flying J in Meridian and topped off the fuel tank with 84 gallons of diesel for $187. I like the Pilot/Flying J’s because they’re always easy-in and easy-out. Plus we have their discount card (Pilot RV Plus) that we can pay online when the bill is due. Calculations after refueling confirmed our Scangauge D™ is accurate and we’re getting a little over 8 miles to the gallon. Not too bad 🙂
Once again our ~$100 annual Elks Lodge membership pays for itself… our iPhone app routed us to the Tuscaloosa Elks Lodge #393 where we went into the lodge and paid a reasonable $20 for the night.
After checking in, we disconnected the Silverado and pulled into a 50 Amp full hook-up site next to the only other Coach at the lodge.
Nice spots backed up to a short grassy area and thick woods. Next to us was a nice covered picnic area with BBQ pits.
After getting set up we went back into the lodge for some tasty margaritas and conversation with friendly folks. The bartender cooked us up a really good pizza and a BBQ beef sandwich for our dinner.
In the morning, I got our ladder out and spent some time washing the bugs off the front of the Urban Escape Vehicle. With a little help from Stilla, I even got most of the coach washed and wiped dry again.
Around noon on Tuesday we hit the road again and plugged the route to a Walmart in Centre, AL into our RVND™ GPS. We’ve been in contact with some old friends from Colorado Springs who invited us to park for a couple days at their new (to them) house near Lake Weiss. Tom & Johnna Phillips coordinated to meet us at the Walmart parking lot so they could lead us out to their beautiful home on the lake.
Tom & Johnna were already waiting for us when we rolled into the Walmart parking lot after our ~145 mile drive from the Elks Lodge in Tuscaloosa. They guided us to their house where we’re now moochdocking on their 50 Amp power hookup 🙂
Tom & Johnna have been here a year now but used to be in the Family Campers & RV’ers (FCRV), Rolling Springs Chapter out of Colorado Springs. We were also members of FCRV at that time and went on several camping trips together. We’ve stayed in touch with them along with several other current and past members. My Dad and stepmom Elaine are still active members and as a matter of fact – about this time last year we were with them in Gillette WY at the FCRV Campvention. And BTW – did I mention Tom & Johnna also have an Alpine Coach!?
Tom grilled us up some burgers on the back deck while we watched the sun set over the lake in the back yard and got caught up. Thanks Tom & Johnna for the hospitality!
Check back tomorrow for more pics… Tom & Johnna plan on showing us around the area…
On Tuesday morning, after we pulled in the slides and raised the jacks, I remembered that our dash air-conditioner wasn’t working. The system quit working earlier this year and only blows warm air. I always forget about this until we’re on the road somewhere and it’s not convenient to find a place to check it out and recharge the system.
This time however, I remembered 🙂 and realized that we don’t have a pressing timeline to be anywhere, so I called my old high school buddy Mike who owns Chuck’s Auto to see if I could stop by on our way out of town and get it fixed. Mike told me to bring it by as long as I could maneuver around all the road construction that is currently going on around his shop.
So after we dumped our tanks at the Colorado Springs Elks Lodge dump station in preparation for travel, we headed over to Chuck’s Auto on the southwest side of town. We decided to not hook up the Silverado yet and Stilla followed along behind.
When we got close to Mikes shop, I pulled over on a side street and we both jumped into the Silverado to scout out the best route through all the road construction. It was a good thing we did, because the construction detours required us to maneuver through neighborhood streets with low-hanging tree branches and very large dips in the intersections. Anyway, we found the best route and made it unscathed. Mike made quick work of recharging the system with his high-speed mobile A/C service cart from Snap-on.
The Urban Escape Vehicle getting an A/C recharge at Chuck’s Auto.
While Mike was working on the system, Stilla went over to the local German bakery (Wimberger’s) and got the fixins’ to make some sandwiches. When she got back, she made everyone in the shop some authentic German sandwiches which was our payment to Mike for the A/C work. It’s good to have friends 🙂 Thanks again Mike! We’ll see you again next year when we get back to the Springs 🙂
After saying goodbye to Mike and hooking up the Silverado at a wide spot on a neighborhood street near the shop, we headed south on I-25.
We stopped at the KOA in Colorado City (~60 miles from COS) because my Dad and stepmom Elaine are spending the week there with the FCRV ‘Rolling Springs’ camping group for their annual “Retiree Rally”.
We parked the Urban Escape Vehicle at a wide spot near the entrance and walked in to say Hi and “crash” their party. We crashed their party here last year too, I blogged about it HERE.
Dad & Elaine outside their Coach at the KOA in Colorado City for the Rolling Springs “Retiree Rally”.
Before long, fellow FCRV members (and friends) Biff & Linda came over and we had ourselves a little “Happy Hour” time before we decided to go out for dinner.
Stilla, Linda, and Biff at the Colorado City KOA.
We intended to just stop by and say Hi on our way south, but since it was already late in the day and it looked like rain down south. We decided to see if the KOA had any dry-camping (no pun intended) spots available. We usually don’t stay at KOA Campgrounds because they are more expensive (based on our experience) than other campgrounds. KOA’s usually have all the nice amenities; i.e., swimming pools, playgrounds, mini-golf, etc., but of course, they charge a premium for all that.
The nice camp-hosts hooked us up with a boondocking spot right next to their multi-use building for a $20 charge.
We were able to leave the Silverado hooked up behind the Coach which was a convenient bonus. Plus, we were right next to the “doggie-park” which Little Coach liked.
So after we moved the Coach into the KOA and parked next to the building, we all piled into Dad’s Jeep for a ride over to Obie’s Fillin’ Station located on exit 74 just off I-25. Obie’s is a BBQ restaurant, saloon, gas station, and country store all rolled into one… good food with good atmosphere.
Obie’s Fillin’ Station as seen from the frontage road heading north.(L to R) Dad, Elaine, Stilla, Linda, and Biff at Obie’s Fillin’ Station.Obie’s Fillin’ Station saloon area.Obie’s Fillin’ Station country store.
After our good meal, (Ugh! I ate too much), Dad & Elaine stopped by our Coach to show off the hats that they wore yesterday at the “Retiree Rally” hat contest.
Elaine & Dad with their “Retiree Rally” hats.
In the morning (Wednesday), we joined a lot of the FCRV camping group members in front of the multi-use facility to go on a walk which is a traditional morning event.
We walked along a pre-designated route from the campground and ended up going about 2 miles.
Dad and Stilla on the morning FCRV walk.
After our morning exercise, we all piled into Dad’s Jeep again for breakfast at Max’s Place, (ate too much again), which is another nice local eatery with huge portions.
When we got back to the KOA, we said our sad goodbye’s and ‘see-ya-laters’ and broke camp to head on south.
We made it over Raton Pass without incident this time. You may recall we had a rock hit the windshield the last time we traveled over this pass. Link HERE.
We checked our online resources and determined that Las Vegas, NM had an Elks Lodge with RV spots. We tried to call ahead to confirm availability but got no answer.
When we pulled in, we found four RV spots with full hook-ups – all empty. The lodge doors were locked, but cars started pulling into the lot for Wednesday evening Bingo and the doors were soon opened.
Stilla backed into one of the RV spots while I ground-guided. It’s good that she practices every once-in-awhile.
And here we are (all-by-ourselves) in one of the four extremely un-level RV spots at Elks Lodge 408 in Las Vegas, NM. The “Mother Lodge of New Mexico” according to their website.
Our view of the lodge entrance from the Coach.
We went inside the Lodge and found a nice lady that said she was a past-exalted ruler, cook, dishwasher, etc., 🙂 She directed us to the nice bartender who took our $15 donation for parking overnight. We decided to stay for one more day and check out the town, so we paid for two nights ($30).
They have great southwestern style food here; for dinner we had taquitos, an excellent beef-filled quesadilla, and an egg/potato burrito smothered in green chile. Yum! But I’ve got to stop eating so much 🙂
Our second drinks were free (courtesy of the lodge for visiting members) and they had a separate room with slot machines that Stilla always enjoys. So we left our little contribution and called it a night.
I think we’ll head on over to Santa Fe, NM after we leave here on Friday. We don’t have to be in Lake Powell for the Alpine Coach Rally until 5 October, so we have time to do some sight-seeing until then.
Oh, and by-the-way… the dash A/C is working great so far, thanks again Mike!
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!
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 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…
Once again, it’s been a few days since my last post. After driving on Pikes Peak and attending Margaritaville at the Elks Lodge on Saturday (see last post) we just ended up hanging around the Coach and relaxing on Sunday. It was a rather gloomy day with frequent rain showers; which ruined my original plan to ride the Harley up to Cripple Creek for the 23rd Annual Salute to American Veterans Rally & 28th Annual POW/MIA Recognition Ride.
However, we did get invited to dinner Sunday evening by my Dad & stepmom Elaine. It was their 34th wedding anniversary and also the first time that my dad’s been out of the house since his surgery. We enjoyed a great dinner and evening together at Texas Roadhouse. Happy Anniversary and Thanks for dinner Dad & Elaine!
On Monday, I took my youngest daughter’s car over to my high school buddy’s shop (Chuck’s Auto) for some long-overdue maintenance and repairs.
Her car got a complete check up, along with new shocks, front brakes/rotors, new tie-rod and an alignment.
Joleen’s old blown out front shock.Joleen’s old front rotor and what’s left of the brake pads.
Here’s my buddy Mike inspecting the rear brakes.
And replacing the front shocks/struts.
Due to delays getting the needed parts, I hung out with my buddy Mike for two days (Monday & Tuesday) and helped out with things at the shop. It turns out that it’s not so easy (or cheap) to get replacement parts for an Infiniti.
After 2 days of working on the daughter’s car, it was time for some relaxation at the Elks Lodge. We joined friends for “Taco Tuesday”.
Friends Daniel & Monika brought along their two-month old granddaughter. They had custody for a few hours and showed her off. What a cutie! They even hung out with us in the Coach for a little while after we finished our tacos.
Friend and fellow FCRV member Bob McCord also joined us. Tuesday night was also Bob’s initiation ceremony here at the lodge.
Monika and her granddaughter Dezlynn. Hopefully, I got the spelling right.
And that’s all for now folks. Here’s a shot of little Coach on the lookout for rabbits this morning near the pool at the lodge. He knows they hang out under the shed and sometimes he forgets to “go potty” and hunts the rabbits instead… as-if he could ever catch one 🙂
This is a very early morning post to fill you in on Friday’s activities. It’s now 2:30 in the morning on Saturday and since I volunteered to drive a van to pick up runners at the top of Pikes Peak for the 60th Annual Pikes Peak Ascent & Marathon, I have to be at the starting line by 5 AM. I went to bed early – which apparently was a mistake since I’m up already and ready to go… so I thought I’d get this post done.
After picking up the Harley from Mike’s shop, aka “Chuck’s Auto” that I left there on Thursday after the flat tire incident, (link HERE for that post), I rode over to Manitou Springs.
Stilla stayed at the lodge to spend the day at the pool with our two daughters and grandson.
I met up with about a dozen other volunteer drivers in the parking lot behind the Moroccan Restaurant next to Memorial Park in Manitou Springs to pick up passenger vans from the local rental agencies.
It took several trips back and forth from a few different rental agencies in town, but we ended up shuttling in over 40 passenger vans.
We packed all the vans tightly into the small area of the parking lot allotted for our use.
I’ll be back here before 5 AM (on Saturday) to pick up one of these vans to drive up Pikes Peak so we can shuttle the runners back down from the top after they finish their run.
We finished getting all the passenger vans by 3 PM so I wandered the tents that had been set up in Memorial Park. This is the runner registration area, and vendors (for running-related stuff) had also set up shop under the tents to peddle their wares. There was also a beer tent set up with tables, but unfortunately it wasn’t open yet 🙁
There was a spaghetti dinner scheduled for later on in the evening here that I could have attended, but I already had plans to meet Stilla and others back at the Elks Lodge for Pizza.
I took a ‘short-cut’ through Garden of the Gods to get back to the Elks Lodge in time for the Friday Night Pizza.
It’s always nice to ride through scenic Garden of the Gods and since I grew up here it always seems like a trip down memory lane.
When I was a kid living down the street on Beckers Lane from the Garden of the Gods Trading Post; I remember the owner’s wife (Mrs. Straussenback) would take me and my brothers into the trading post for treats. They used to have a little glass-enclosed case with the mummy of an Indian child inside that always fascinated me. It’s long gone now.
I rode through the balanced rock area of the Garden of the Gods. (Don’t forget to click on the links in green-font to see more) We used to walk here from the house as kids and play on the rocks. There used to be steps and a guardrail so you could go on top of the rock in the middle of the road back then.
The “Kissing Camels” rock formation as seen from a distance.
When I got back to the Lodge it was Pizza time. It was also initiation night for our friend Bob McCord. Bob & Mary are also in the same camping group (FCRVRolling Springs) with my Dad and stepmom Elaine. You may remember them from previous posts. Bob finally joined up with the Elks so he can take advantage of the RV parking at Lodges across the country, like we do.
Bob & Mary McCord at Elks Lodge 309 on his initiation night.(L to R) Stilla, Linda, and Biff at Elks Lodge 309 Pizza night.
OK, that’s all for now… gotta run and pick up my van to drive up Pikes Peak. Check back later for a recap of the Pikes Peak Ascent & Marathon.
We took our time Thursday getting packed up. I wouldn’t have minded staying at the Westminster Elks Lodge for another day or two, but Kaan’s mother (our oldest daughter) was expecting him back. It’s been fun having the grandson for the summer and I think we were able to give him memories to last a lifetime, but it’s almost time for him to start another school year.
We walked over to Jim & Sally’s Coach to say our “see-ya-later’s!” We didn’t get a chance to see our neighbor Ray again, but we’d said our goodbye’s the evening prior.
Jim & Sally’s Coach at the Westminster Elks Lodge.
So eventually, we pulled in the slides, raised the jacks and moved over to the dump station to lighten our load. After taking care of the dirty deed, we hit I-25 south and braced ourselves for Denver traffic.
We rolled into Colorado Springs 75 miles later and unhooked the Silverado in the newly-resurfaced Elks Lodge parking lot. Did I mention how much we hate going through major cities with the Coach? “It’s called ‘merging’ for a reason people… you’re not supposed to just drive onto the highway and force people over… arrgh!”
Then we took the Urban Escape Vehicle over to the nearest gas station to fill up the 115 gallon fuel tank with 75 gallons of diesel. Ouch! Since we’re going to be parked for a while, it’s important to completely fill up the tank in order to minimize condensation. I also put in a fuel additive called Biobar JF that prevents microbial growth. Condensation and algae are among the two biggest killers of fuel filters, injectors, etc., Our friends Mike & Donna Kuper @ FlyingtheKoop.com turned us on to this product a while back.
Stilla already decided for us that we’d stay for the month of August here at the COS Elks Lodge. This is fine with me. At least we can save a little money on fuel and campground fees. We only have to pay $350 for a month here. We pulled into our 30 Amp spot facing the pool and I downloaded the bikes and the motorcycle.
And here we are again in our old spot. We look forward to spending time with our two daughters, our relatives and friends here in Colorado Springs.
I can use the time to get a little maintenance done on the Urban Escape Vehicle. Yesterday (Friday), I already broke out the sealant to touch up some roof seams where I noticed the old sealant was starting to crack… there’s supposed to be some rain in the forecast over the next week. I’ve got a lot of washing and waxing I’d like to get done as well.
Little “Coach” walking his squeaky toy around the Coach.
Friday evening we enjoyed dinner in the lodge. But this time we were alone since the usual cast of characters that have joined us in the past here at the lodge are all otherwise occupied. My Dad is recuperating from his surgery, Biff & Linda are at a weekend campout with the FCRV Rolling Springs group, the kids are at work, etc, etc…
I’ll try to find interesting things to post about while we’re here, so stay tuned…
Author’s note: No pictures today 🙁 Early travel day to Hermosa, SD. (just south of Rapid City). Will post pics of Closing Ceremonies and other Day 5 events in my next post.
Friday was basically a pack-up day for me after I worked on the computer because of my iPhoto crash that I mentioned in my previous post. I was worried because I haven’t done a backup of the hard drive since May of 2014. But it looks like I was able to bring things back in order 🙂
So after publishing the post yesterday (Friday), I loaded up the Harley after washing off all the dust that’s blowing around here in Gillette lately. Then I loaded the bicycles, took down the flagpole, and folded up our chairs so we can get an early start on Saturday. We plan on traveling with my Dad/Stepmom to Hermosa, SD where we made reservations earlier last month.
Stilla spent some time with my stepmom Elaine at the Cam-Plex Wyoming Center learning (or re-learning) how to line dance. And then at about 7 PM, we all (my Dad, Stepmom, Stilla, Kaan, and FCRV friends) went over to the main building for closing ceremonies, awards, and evening entertainment.
I did a full backup of the laptop overnight, which took hours. I had to let it run overnight and when I woke up this morning, the computer said it finally finished at 3 AM. I used my old Time Capsule™ Airport Extreme base station from Apple that I’ve been carrying around at the back of a cabinet in the Coach for the last couple years. It’s a 1TB Wi-Fi Hard Drive that I used to have set up at the house and hooked up to our router. As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t done a backup since May of 2014 and there’s really no excuse other than laziness. I suppose I could leave it plugged in and it would automatically do backups for me over Wi-Fi, but that’s not really an option when we’re limited to our Verizon Jetpack, our AT&T iPhones, or weak campground Wi-Fi. I just need to remember to get it out, plug it in to AC power, and then plug the ethernet cable into the laptop every so often.
Gotta finish packing up now… check back later to see what we’re up to…
It happened again – I tried to add pictures from my Dad’s USB stick to my iPhoto album on the MacBook Pro this morning for the blog, and it just shut itself down. I had to do a complete rebuild of my iPhoto library and now all my folders are out of order. At least all my pictures appear to be there. Still not quite sure what’s going on – so anyway, after a long morning of messing with the computer, here’s today’s post… better late – than never, right?
On Day 4 (Thursday) of our FCRV Campvention Rally; we followed through on our plan to visit Devils Tower. It was very windy and still overcast in the morning, so we decided to leave the Harley at the campground and we all piled into my Dad’s Jeep. I chauffeured for the circa 120 mile round-trip.
Here’s our first view of the tower at a pull-off along WY-24…
Click HERE to read about the legend of Devils Tower.
Informational placard along WY-24 at a scenic pull-off.
And we couldn’t help but notice that the Trading Post was already stocked up for the upcoming Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in nearby Sturgis, SD. I guess they aren’t wasting any time to ensure they sell out.
Stilla bought a couple T-shirts.
Then we took advantage of the little snack bar inside the Trading Post and had some hot dogs to keep up our energy for the hike around the tower that we planned to do later.
Dad, Elaine, Kaan, and Stilla in front of the Devils Tower Trading Post.
We drove through the entrance…
I used my Disabled-Veterans Access Pass and got us in for free.
We found a parking spot in front of the visitors center. After a quick tour through the visitors center, we took some water along for our 1.3 mile hike around the monument on the Tower Trail.
Stilla and Elaine in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.
The Tower Trailis a nice paved 1.3 mile pathway that circles around the 867′ high monument. There’s another longer, un-paved path named the Red Beds Trail that circles around for almost 3 miles, but we opted for the shorter, closer trail.
Stilla and Kaan in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.
The trail had lots of convenient (much appreciated) benches along the route. The weather ended up being quite nice with temperatures in the 70’s and only an occasional gust of wind.
Stilla and Elaine on the Tower Trail at Devils Tower.
Kaan enjoyed exploring along the side of the path.Myself (David), Stilla and Kaan resting once again along the Tower Trail at Devils Tower, WY.Elaine, Bill (my Dad), and grandson Kaan in front of Devils Tower on the Tower Trail.Informational placard along the Tower Trail.
I’m not sure how long it took us to go around the tower, but we were all glad we did. Stilla and I were here 2 or 3 years ago with our little dog “Elvis”, but they don’t allow dogs on the trail and it was too hot to leave him in the car, so we didn’t get to do the trail back then. This time – we left our little dog “Coach” back at the Urban Escape Vehicle with the A/C on. Our kind neighbor Linda, volunteered to let him out to walk a couple times while we were away.
Letting the Jeep cool off before we get in after our walk around Devils Tower.
On the route back out of the park, we stopped by the Belle Fourche River Campground to check out the sites for future reference. They were nice – but we only saw a few spots for larger rigs and none had hookups.
This sculpture was near the campground:
Informational placard explaining the ‘Circle of Sacred Smoke’.
My Dad took a picture to emulate the picture in the placard (above):
And of course, we had to stop at “Prairie Dog Town”:
Then we stopped for ice cream at the Devils Tower Trading Post on the way back out…
We also stopped at the grocery store in the small town of Moorcroft on our drive back to the campground in Gillette. We scored some fresh fruit (watermelon, cherries, and bananas) to enjoy later.
Back at the Cam-Plex; Here we are again at yet another impromptu “Happy Hour” between our Coaches…
Elaine, Linda, Biff and Stilla hiding from the gusts of wind.
Later on; Stilla, Kaan, my Dad, and Elaine all went to enjoy some evening entertainment inside the Wyoming Center, but I stayed at the Coach to catch up on some recorded shows and download the pictures we took during the day.
This morning (Friday) I took a break from fixing the computer problems to go to the FCRV Parade (my Dad took lots of pictures). And just now, in the early afternoon, Stilla went over to the Wyoming Center building with Elaine to do some line dancing. Later this evening, there’s closing ceremonies and a Monster Truck Show. So check back tomorrow for a full update and more Urban Escape Vehicle.com adventure…
Day 3 (Wednesday) here at the Cam-Plex for the FCRV Campvention stayed somewhat overcast with a comfortable 72° Perfect weather for getting out and walking around, so that’s what we did.
There weren’t any seminars or activities scheduled today that peaked our interest, so after walking little “Coach” and finishing up yesterday’s blog post; we jumped into my Dad’s Jeep to go check out the area along with my Dad and his camera (so fair warning – extra pictures today) 🙂 Unfortunately, my stepmom Elaine was scheduled to pass out the final door prizes from 2 – 4 PM so her unswerving sense of duty and unwavering dedication to the cause prevented her from joining us 🙁
The Wyoming Center building here at the Cam-Plex Multi-Event Facility.
We drove around to the northwest corner of the Cam-Plex and stopped at the Energy Exhibit, which is a permanent collection of vehicles and equipment that represent this area, which often calls itself the ‘Energy Capital of the World‘ due to the huge low-sulfur coal mining concerns that still sustain growth and support jobs in the town of Gillette.
Grandson Kaan and I climbed aboard a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.Stilla and Dad skirting along the side of a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.Grandson Kaan peeking out from the front of a Burlington Northern GE U30C locomotive.
There were quite a few representative pieces of equipment from the coal mining operations of the area on display…
Stilla standing next to a huge tire commonly used on the heavy coal-mining trucks.Kaan standing inside a huge earth-moving bucket provides size perspective.
Our grandson Kaan even started a little earth moving of his own…
View from the Energy Exhibit towards the Cam-Plex; RVs in the background.
Kaan wants one of these to play with in the backyard Mom…
Kaan climbed up the back of this giant earth-moving truck to check out the massive engine, and…
of course, had to follow up with the front side…
to sit in the drivers seat…
After we had our fill (pun intended) of the earth-moving and mining equipment exhibit, we plugged the Rockpile Museum into the iPhone GPS and maneuvered our way to the north side of Gillette.
We had no trouble finding the Rockpile Museum thanks to the GPS, the sign (below), and the rock pile itself…
Don’t forget to click on this link to the museum to see more.
Not sure what this is, but it sure looks cool… an old stone age wheel maybe? 🙂 Maybe it’s a piece of petrified tree stuck in ancient sand that turned to stone with the middle of the old tree disintegrated and missing? My dad took this picture under the museum sign.
The Rockpile Museum is… you guessed it… located next to a rock pile! The rock pile is a local landmark and at one time overlooked the massive stockyards and rodeo shows. In even earlier days it was a favorite landmark that the cowboys used to find town and they often camped out under the boulders.
Additional out-building (extension) to the Rockpile Museum in Gillette, WY.Strange looking windmill at the Rockpile Musuem in Gillette, WY.
Here’s some pictures inside…
Now this is an old RV…
This old RV has all the amenities of home…
More pics from in and around the museum… enjoy…
We watched some really cool short films… I really liked the one on setting off explosives to loosen up the overburden to get to the coal…
Inside an old schoolhouse. Kaan isn’t too happy about being back in school… he thought it was still his summer break 🙂
We worked up an appetite at the Rockpile Museum, so we drove over to nearby ‘old downtown’ Gillette to find something to eat. We found the Gillette Brewing Company with a pizzeria (Pizza Carrello) located inside the old Post Office building…
where we shared a pizza and Dad had a BLT wrap… yup, I said BLT wrap… they really make those here…
Mural on old downtown Gillette building.
Since we still had a little time to kill before we had to get back to meet up for Tacos at the local Elks Lodge, we drove several miles north out of town to check out one of the mining operations we heard about; the Eagle Butte Coal Mine.
We were turned away at the entrance gate. The manned shack had a young girl inside that told us we had to make reservations in town before we could enter the main coal mine area for a tour, so we just went over to an overlook and took pictures from a distance…
My Dad’s camera can really zoom in for some quality pictures…
Giant truck being loaded at the Eagle Butte Coal Mine near Gillette, WY.
Giant truck dumping it’s load at the the Eagle Butte Coal Mine near Gillette, WY.
It was almost time to get back and pick up stepmom Elaine so we could meet up with Biff & Linda Anderson for Tacos at the local Elks Lodge. We made plans earlier in the week when we first stopped there; they need the business. This quaint Lodge performs double-duty as the local VFW post as well.
We made it back to the campground just in time to pick up Elaine and convoy over to the lodge… a whopping quarter-mile (or less) away…
(L to R) Kaan, Stilla, Elaine, Dad, Biff and Linda at Elks Lodge 2825 / VFW Post 7756 in Gillette, WY.
After filling up on Tacos we decided we still needed dessert at the local Dairy Queen…
And that’s it for Day 3 here at the Cam-Plex. If you get a chance, the Rockpile Museum is definitely worth the visit and was the highlight of our day. Hope you enjoyed the pics 🙂
This morning (Thursday) it’s a little windy and overcast. Someone told me that part of the reason it’s so gray and overcast is because of forest fires up north and west of us.
Our plan is to go visit Devils Tower today since there isn’t a whole lot of activity here at the Campvention that interests us. So after my Dad goes to a 9 AM seminar that he promised to take pictures of, we’ll head out on the ~62 mile trip, (104 round-trip). Hopefully the weather holds up for us. I want to take the Harley since we have my Dad & Elaine in their Jeep to take our grandson Kaan along with them. Check back for a full report…
