Carbondale

And, back in Golden, the Christmas tree is up. We're not back in Golden,
but the motorhome and Christmas tree are.

Carbondale

Wrapped up the Carbondale job today, a snowy day in the morning, sunshine in
the afternoon. Tonight we pack up as much as we can. Tomorrow morning,
we're off bright and early, even if the weather isn't bright, between
storms, moving camp to Vail, where the next job is. Alpine Legal Services.
Judy will drop me off at the job and go check us into a room while I work.
I'll work inside while it snows outside.

Even though it has been single digit cold at night at least once in Denver
while we've been gone, I'm sure it was a good decision to leave the coach on
the other side while we came up into the mountains. I should confess,
however, that it was not entirely my decision to leave the rig and drive
over in the Jeep. In fact, it was not even a little bit my decision. Judy
and I disagreed. We live in Colorado. We work in Colorado. Why change
what we do just because there is some snow off and on in the forecast? Judy
felt strongly too. We had just finished extricating ourselves from a
snowbank in Woodland Park, with some damage to the motorhome already. Why
ask for more abuse by driving back up into a snowy forecast? An impasse.
We went to the tiebreaker. Judy felt more strongly about her position than
I felt about mine. That's the final determiner when we disagree, we gauge
how strongly each person feels, and go with the one it's most important to.

Now see how smart that makes me look? Wasn't I smart to listen to her?

Carbondale

Annie took Judy to the Vet. She, Annie, needed something checked so while
she was there she had Judy looked at as well. Judy got her stitches put in
her finger at the Woodland Park Clinic. In Carbondale, twelve days later,
she got them taken out by Doctor Leak, Annie's doctor. Thanks Annie.

Carbondale

The commute to the Lions Camp from Woodland Park.

Carbondale

The Woodland Park camp from last week.

Carbondale

So far, it has only been cold. The forecast for tomorrow... snow. A foot
forecast for here. A foot and a half for Vail. Thursday's job... it's in
Vail.

Carbondale

This is the first time we've stayed away from the motorhome in a year.
Guess we don't get out much. Single digits at night. Interstate 70 is
still closed across all of eastern Colorado to Kansas. Warm and dry in the
motel room.

Oregon

And Bend.

Utah

_____________________________________________
From: Steve Taylor [mailto:spt@thetaylorcompany.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 9:55 PM
To: Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail); Tom Taylor (E-mail)
Subject: utah

And Utah.

Wyoming

Interstate 80 is a trucker's highway.

Colorado

And Western Colorado.

New adventures

Something completely different. We're leaving our motorhome for a week to
go stay in a motel. The rig is still plugged in at Dakota Ridge in Golden.
We just drove to Carbondale and checked in at the Comfort Inn. A snowstorm.
Winter driving conditions. Eight degrees at the tunnel. Chain law in
effect for commercial vehicles on Vail Pass. Trucker Cleve out working on
his chains at temperatures way too cold to be exposing oneself. Glad we
didn't drive the motorhome. It's supposed to snow off and on all week.
Drove across the Continental Divide in the jeep, no problem. This is the
last week of jobs in the mountains for the year. Two jobs. One week.

Football games on the satellite radio, can choose from every game being
played. We switched between the Chiefs and the Chargers.

A brief run in the cold, dinner, a soak in the hot tub, and we're done for
the night. Tomorrow, Thunder River Theatre Company.

Wyoming

We don't have any pictures of driving across the Continental Divide today,
but we do have some of our recent Wyoming adventure on Interstate 80.

Golden

Only 554 more days until the next America's Cup.

Football

Yeaa!

Our Colorado Team beat our Texas team.

Yeaa! Go Broncos!

Football

Thanksgiving day football. We've got it covered. Both our teams are
playing. We can't lose.

Go Broncos/Cowboys.

Bad dog

Judy is so overprotective with Annie. If she sees a big dog coming, she is
always watching to make sure the other dog isn't coming to get her Annie.
Dogs on neutral ground in an RV Park? That's not when dogs attack. Dogs
protect their own property and people. Otherwise, they're just coming over
to say hello.

Before we left Woodland Park, Judy took Annie for her morning walk. A
bigger dog charged out, off lead, and attacked our little princess, growling
and biting for no reason. Annie didn't get hurt, but she did get dragged
around by her leash while Judy hit and kicked the attacking dog. Judy
didn't get bit or hurt either, but the adrenaline sure got pumping.

Can't tease Judy about being overprotective. She was right there and took
care of that bad dog trying to get our Annie.

Now we're at a more civilized park, back at Dakota Ridge in Golden.

Golden

Another job done.... almost done. It wasn't a big job, but three days
wasn't quite enough. Time has run out though. Time to leave Woodland Park
and head for Denver. A wedding to attend. Our old friend Johnny Seethaler
(Bowman). A good time was had by all. We got to catch up with his Mom,
Mimi. Her quote of the night was: "I've known you two almost as long as
I've known Johnny." Got to meet some of his relatives we hadn't met before.

Next week we were scheduled for Las Vegas, New Mexico, but that job has been
delayed, so I'll get to devote the extra time needed to finish the Woodland
Park job.

We left the RV Park in Woodland Park. Drove a loop down through the
campground to get us lined up properly to make it up the slippery hill. We
did make it, and I'll bet if I had two more tries at that trap, I'd clean
it. I made it through with one dab. The snow got deep at the bottom turn
through the forest and we started to wallow and stall. As I was working to
keep it afloat, we took a tree trunk amidships. Did some damage to the
bodywork. That pretty much sucks, but there are people who fix things like
that, so we'll get it taken care of in a few weeks and eliminate the
evidence.

Football

The Broncos are having a really fun week, laughing and mugging for the
cameras, acting silly. Everyone has a funny story or joke to tell. They
are preparing to play one of the worst teams in football, the New York Jets,
with a record of two and seven, just the reverse of the Broncos. There is
no chance the Jets can beat them, so why not just relax and have a good
time? After all, what could possibly go wrong on Sunday, playing the New
York Jets?

Woodland park

Bright blue sky all day today. Forty degrees. Almost all the snow on the
roof of the motorhome has melted. We've almost got all the ice and snow off
the slide awnings. Almost all the slide awnings retract. The forest floor
is still completely covered with snow.

Not a problem. We've settled on the exit strategy.

-----Original Message-----
From: taylor234@comcast.net [mailto:taylor234@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Steve Taylor; 'Tom Taylor'; 'Bill Taylor (E-mail)'
Cc: Judy (E-mail)
Subject: RE: woodland park

Sleep on it. Maybe the sun will come out bright and hot in the morning.

Hey, maybe you should just break down and put your chains on. What? You mean
to say that you don't have chains for that thing? Go figure.

Okay, so you let some of the air out of the tires & get yourself a nice, fat
footprint...

--
David Taylor
Red Oak Ridge Estates
www.redoakridgeestates.com

> I think I'd rather go wait for spring in South Texas.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Taylor [mailto:code-boy@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:27 PM
> To: Steve Taylor; Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: woodland park
>
>
> Maybe you should just wait for spring.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Taylor" <spt@thetaylorcompany.net>
> To: "Bill Taylor (E-mail)" <billt4@earthlink.net>; "David Taylor (E-mail)"
> <taylor234@comcast.net>; "Tom Taylor (E-mail)" <code-boy@earthlink.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:49 PM
> Subject: woodland park
>
>
> >
> > A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
> > remainder. It's going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig
out
> > of the forest campground we're in. It's a pretty forest campground, but
> > the
> > undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
> > fresh snow. I don't think the fresh snow will be a traction problem,
but
> > there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery
> > section
> > that concerns me. We'll talk that one through a few more times before
we
> > attempt it.
> >
> > Life on the road.
> >
> >
>
>

Woodland park

After all, we have four wheel drive.... well, power to four wheels out of
six, does that count?

Forecast for tomorrow morning, twenty-three degrees.

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Taylor [mailto:spt@thetaylorcompany.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 7:24 PM
To: Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail); Tom Taylor (E-mail)
Subject: woodland park

Bright blue sky all day today. Forty degrees. Almost all the snow on the
roof of the motorhome has melted. We've almost got all the ice and snow off
the slide awnings. Almost all the slide awnings retract. The forest floor
is still completely covered with snow.

Not a problem. We've settled on the exit strategy.

-----Original Message-----
From: taylor234@comcast.net [mailto:taylor234@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Steve Taylor; 'Tom Taylor'; 'Bill Taylor (E-mail)'
Cc: Judy (E-mail)
Subject: RE: woodland park

Sleep on it. Maybe the sun will come out bright and hot in the morning.

Hey, maybe you should just break down and put your chains on. What? You mean
to say that you don't have chains for that thing? Go figure.

Okay, so you let some of the air out of the tires & get yourself a nice, fat
footprint...

--
David Taylor
Red Oak Ridge Estates
www.redoakridgeestates.com

> I think I'd rather go wait for spring in South Texas.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Taylor [mailto:code-boy@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:27 PM
> To: Steve Taylor; Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: woodland park
>
>
> Maybe you should just wait for spring.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Taylor" <spt@thetaylorcompany.net>
> To: "Bill Taylor (E-mail)" <billt4@earthlink.net>; "David Taylor (E-mail)"
> <taylor234@comcast.net>; "Tom Taylor (E-mail)" <code-boy@earthlink.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:49 PM
> Subject: woodland park
>
>
> >
> > A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
> > remainder. It's going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig
out
> > of the forest campground we're in. It's a pretty forest campground, but
> > the
> > undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
> > fresh snow. I don't think the fresh snow will be a traction problem,
but
> > there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery
> > section
> > that concerns me. We'll talk that one through a few more times before
we
> > attempt it.
> >
> > Life on the road.
> >
> >
>
>

Discoveries

Judy was doing some work around the outside of the coach which involved
pulling out that heavy slide drawer in the outside cabinet. To get the
drawer open, there are two latches to work: a pull latch with one hand and
a thumb latch with the other. You have to pull really hard to get that
heavy drawer to move, but Judy was up to the task. She pulled on the pull
latch with one hand while lifting the thumb latch with the index finger of
her other hand. Her index finger, not her thumb. There is a reason why
they call it a thumb latch and not a finger latch. If you use your thumb to
hold it open, your hand just naturally follows the drawer as it rolls out.
If you use your finger, however, your hand tends to stay with the latch and
just gets run over by the heavy drawer.

Four stitches in her left index finger, keep it dry for ten days, it'll be
as good as new. Meanwhile, the pain reliever is beginning to wear off
tonight. The finger is starting to tingle. It won't be long and that
finger will own her.

Judy didn't know it was called a thumb latch.

Woodland park

A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
remainder. It's going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig out
of the forest campground we're in. It's a pretty forest campground, but the
undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
fresh snow. I don't think the fresh snow will be a traction problem, but
there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery section
that concerns me. We'll talk that one through a few more times before we
attempt it.

Life on the road.

Woodland park

Wow! Blue sky, moderate wind, and no degrees when we got up this morning.
Zero. None. Nada. Not a single Fahrenheit to be found. From inside, we
couldn't tell. No ice on the windows. No cold air on our heads. The
furnace runs a lot. The inside of the windshield, behind the drapes, has
ice on it. But zero outside? This was the kind of weather that drove us
out of the Bounder. It was unacceptably cold and drafty in the Bounder at
zero, cold air falling on our heads, anything touching the walls wet with
condensation. That was zero and calm. This was zero, with gale force winds
rocking the rig.

Engine block heater on for the night, the motor starts right up. Defroster
on the windshield, unhook the electric, run the slides in and out a few
times to clear the snow and ice off them, bang on the retractor with a mop
handle while Judy runs one of the bedroom slides in and out a couple more
times until the frozen retractor breaks free, and the slide awning rolls up
like it's supposed to. The first hundred miles were a challenge. Snow
pack, slick, and windy. Mostly trucks on Interstate 80, the occasional car,
but mostly trucks. We picked a medium speed one and stuck with it, passing
slower ones, while the faster ones blew by. We were out of the dangerous
conditions by Cheyenne. No more snow pack, just wind. Another hundred
fifty miles south and we were in Woodland Park by dark.

Tonight's forecast, a balmy ten degrees.

Rawlins

Weather update for Rawlins, Wyoming: high winds diminishing overnight, snow
ending, clear and very cold tomorrow morning. Sounds like traveling weather
to us.

Rawlins

We're reconsidering our travel plans. It didn't look that bad here at
Rawlins last night, but Interstate 80 east of here was closed all night
because of snow and high winds. The Interstate is open this morning, but
road conditions are snowing, slick, and high winds. We're going to stay
here, warm and dry until conditions improve.

Rawlins

Now it's time to clarify. We're warm and dry inside the motorhome.
Outside, the blizzard has hit. It's a sideways snowing mess out there,
outside the windows. Wow, did we make a good decision not to move this
morning.

Bend and beyond

The point of being in Bend was to get a few things taken care of on the
motorhome. It took a few days.

Day one, the old couch is gone, the new one is in, the drop down visor, and
some interior curtains got fixed. Day two, an alignment correction on the
big laser guided alignment machine to make the rig handle as well as it
should. Day three, snap-on external sunshades to cut down the solar gain
from Imax when we're parked. Day four, an improved tow-car braking system
and some paint touch-up on the outside cabinet door I dinged. Friday, out
of here, across the Oregon desert, headed for a new client in Woodland Park,
Colorado. Stopped for the night in Vale, Oregon. Saturday, continue across
the Great Basin in cloudy weather, through Idaho, stopping for the night in
Salt Lake City and a visit with Uncle Johnnie. Sunday, a short day through
deteriorating weather to stop for the night in Rawlins, Wyoming and watch
the Broncos crush the hated Raiders (it actually worked out that way).
Cold, snowy, and windy all day, but the roads stayed dry. The good news is,
it was a tail wind.

Tonight, we're rocking and rolling in high wind and thirty degrees.
Tomorrow, wind and snow permitting, the Boulder County Fairgrounds and
dinner with Brian, Becky, and family.

Bend

A frigid dawn. Three varied thrushes on the ground before the robins were
even awake. California Quail flapping, gliding, one by one, down from the
trees they roosted in for the night to land in the brushy area beside us.
Landing on the grass, scurrying into the bushes, careful not to reveal their
presence, then announcing it loudly with their charming calls. Probably
forty of them altogether. This sparsely populated RV Park really is a park.

Bend

Today we moved out of the motorhome and into the Jeep. Well, for a day
anyway. We get the coach back each night, to give it up again the next
morning. Moving into our car, but not as granddaughter Teigan envisions.

Lying on the floor a couple weeks ago, having a late night, I'm not tired
and don't want to go to bed conversation with Teigan, she asked: (you have
to read this in a tiny, carefully enunciated, four-year-old voice) "Grandpa,
why did you choose to move into your motorhome?"

"We thought it would be fun."

(Remember the voice) "I don't think it would be fun to live in my car."

Moving into the car, but not quite as Teigan envisions.

Bend

We celebrated an anniversary recently. November 1st, one year full-timing
in the motorhome. Three months of that in the new one.

Bend

Familiar places and names along the way. We didn't drive by the Carroll
Park house, but we did stop in front of Grandma Taylor's old house. The
small grass slope we used to roll down in the front yard to the sidewalk has
been reconfigured and is now a garden behind a retaining wall. The garages
are still out back but look better than they used to. The old apartment
building is still across the alley.

In Northern California we see familiar place names on the map, Jedediah
Smith, McArthur Burney Falls, Susanville. Names we associate more with our
parent's trips than our own.

Northern California, halfway through Oregon, rain all day, snow at the
higher elevations, broken concrete gave way to asphalt north of Redding.
Bumpy asphalt gave way to smooth asphalt at the Oregon line. Settled in at
Villa Grove, south end of Bend, Rags the cat ensconced at the cat hotel,
motorhome ready to give up to the Beaver Shop on the north end of Bend
tomorrow morning. They're going to change the couch out for us and fix a
few things. Can't have the cat wandering in and out of the coach while
they're working on it. Annie can stay with us, wherever that is.

Redding

101, 680, toll bridge, 680, 80, 505, to interstate 5 north. Didn't have to
go through San Francisco or Sacramento. Split the difference.

Sign in a window (a motorhome window): "Warning! Retired, knows it all,
has plenty of time to tell you about it." That's what I want to be when I
grow up.

Easy day overall. Stopped at Premier Resorts RV Park in Redding. We like
it here. Crawling with white-crowned sparrows. Hadn't picked up a new bird
since October 2. Walked around the park and picked up three new ones:
Nuttall's woodpecker, oak titmouse, golden crowned sparrow. I really like
this place.

Tomorrow, Bend.

Helen

Some days are better than others, but generally Helen is upbeat. We might
imagine ourselves sliding in sideways to the finish, or at least kicking and
screaming on the way out, but in reality, we often meet the end with calm
resignation, even a sense of relief that it has finally arrived. Helen
appears to have been prepared for this event for years, and is just ready
for it to be over. Remember the scene in Little Big Man where the old
Indian climbs to the top of the mountain, declares it to be a good day to
die, lies down on his back to wait, and wait, and wait? Then it starts to
rain. He finally has to get up and walk back to camp. Sometimes it doesn't
happen quite as we would plan, or when we're ready.

We don't know how much longer Helen has, but she is in a nice facility, well
cared for, and well medicated. She will be reasonably comfortable while she
waits.

Morgan hill

Today's adventure, a birthday party. Our passing through NoCal happened to
coincide with a birthday celebration for Allison's third birthday and
Jacob's thirty-first birthday, and we got invited! We got to meet and hold
the new babies we haven't seen before, meet Mason, visit with the Mike and
Jacob parts of the family, see Nina, Paula, Juanelle, Katie's mom, some
other of their friends, and eat Pizza. Where else would you want to have a
birthday party but at a pizza parlor?

We stopped and set up at Morgan Hill, a small town twenty miles south of San
Jose, typed the address of Stuft Pizza into the navigator in the Jeep, and
buzzed in for the visit. Thank you Mike and Katie, Jacob and Yousun, for
inviting us. What a charming bunch of kids.

Tomorrow, we continue to Oregon. We hear there is some weather up that way.
We'll be careful.

Lost hills

The shame of it is, Southern California has so much great stuff. Oceans,
beaches, cliffs, tide pools, rolling brown grass savannah dotted with oaks.
Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo. It would be such a great place to be,
it is so good, if it hadn't attracted so many people and become a victim of
its own success.

Lost hills

Enough of Southern California. Judy visited with her mom every day. Did
some errands. Took care of some stuff. What can be done has been done.
Our mission today was to escape the LA Basin. Mission accomplished. We're
stopped for the night at the Lost Hills RV Park on Interstate 5 in the San
Joaquin Valley.

One day, from Temecula, we drove to Anaheim for an errand, over to Belmont
Shore to see sister Sue, then back to Temecula. Another driving adventure.
Traffic considerations dictate every movement. We didn't get on the road
before nine. We were careful to be back by four. Southern California
traffic is just like Denver rush hour traffic, stop and go, but over 100
times the area, and all day long, with concertina barbed wire around the
road signs on freeway overpasses. To get into the basin, we drove in from
the east through heavy traffic for a hundred miles. We drove out to the
north for a hundred fifty miles of heavy traffic.

All that traffic breathing the air before we can. We're breathing seconds,
air that has already been used. The cars turn it white. There are hills
all around, five miles away, but we only get glimpses of them through the
haze. We are such smog weenies. No tolerance. Eyes burn, lungs hurt,
headache. We listened to a Los Angeles traffic report. They listed ten
accidents, ten car fires, then switched to the weather report. The
meteorologist began her report with "A beautiful day in Los Angeles today,
eighty-four degrees, the reason we all live here." We think we're the only
ones who have noticed something is not right here. Something is just not
right.

I know, I'm ranting, I'll stop. But this experience is going to leave a
mark. The reasons we left here in the sixties have only compounded. A
fresher sharper appreciation of where we live and what we do.