Denver, Colorado Springs, Denver

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Friends,

The last two days have been both the high point (so far) and the low point of our trip. Let's try to keep things in order as we lay out the story. When we left off, a beautiful sunset went to bed right along with us in an RV park that is very close to the Denver Airport. We were there because Thomas had to be dropped off early the next morning so he could fly home for a job interview.

Yes, you heard me right. Drive to Denver just to fly home. It's hard to explain.

After leaving Thomas, we headed for Colorado Springs to spend time with the C. family. Along the way, we ran into a traffic jam. The cause?? A Police escort for a family of geese that found their way onto the freeway. The geese were being gently coaxed to the nearest exit by nice ladies carrying blankets. The nice Police Officers kept their guns holstered. I thought only Californians behaved that way!!

Upon arriving at the C. family residence, I promptly introduced the RV to one of their trees. They didn't get along well at all!

While my boys helped Mr. C and his boys build a play set...

...I made temporary repairs to the RV window. Their are a few basic repair materials that we always travel with. They include duct tape, baling wire, zip ties and bungee cords. One or more of those vital resources have come in handy on every single trip we've taken. This particular repair also required cardboard, which I scrounged.

After dinner, Nic introduced his mother to the Stevie Nicks look. They are still refining their technique. Stay tuned...

The next morning it was time to retrieve Thomas. Arrivals go to a different area of the airport than departures do, so we were covering new territory. Guess what!!! Denver never intended that passengers be picked up in an eleven foot tall RV!! Airport police arrived 45 minutes later to close the approach to allow us to back out and take a different route. That other fellow in the photo made the same mistake that I did.

Thomas had time to walk to where we were stuck. I think some sort of rule was broken in the process.

Matthew offers a high five after we escaped the Denver trap. Did you know that you can't get a Denver omelet at the Denver Airport? There's something wrong with that!!



Now that the crisis is resolved, people go back to other forms of amusement.

Everyone knows that old McDonald has a farm, but did you know that he also has an entire town??

There is a place to send and receive letters, such as E, I and O.

You can buy a duck duck here.

There are other towns named for other people.

Every trip has one restaurant that is nominated as worst in the Nation. We found that place today.


Getting back to our high point (so far) of the trip, we would like to thank the C. family for their gracious hospitality and their cardboard. I wonder what tomorrow has in store for us?

be safe,
Hec @ large

Destination: 51510

Friends,

We have to pull up stakes at 0400 AM tomorrow in order to get Thomas to the airport. I will add captions to this tomorrow.

The road is a weary place. As a result, wake up times have been sliding later and later with every morning. Jonathan wakes up happy.

This was our first Walmart stop. We always park in a remote corner of the parking lot which makes for a long walk to the store in the morning. The rule is: If we park in their lot, we buy some of their stuff. Nobody parks for free. The danger is in getting boxed in by other cars that arrive early in the morning. That almost happened to us this time.

We brought our fancy water treatment machine along with us. Ponce de Leon was on the wrong track.

Nic and Mrs. H are playing around with a flat iron. The rest of us are amused, but uninterested in the participating in the experiment.

Anthony is actively interested in increasing his command of the English language. Cross word puzzles help him with the process.

Looking outside the vehicle, we find ourselves facing the great Rocky Mountains. Our hats are off to the early pioneers that traversed this region on foot. They were made of sturdy stock that would be hard to find in this day and age. Our heater is running full blast and our toes are warm.

Ben is working, everyone else is goofing off.

This is the entrance to the tunnel that will take us under the Continental divide. Goodbye Pacific, hello Atlantic.

Thomas is so emotional, at least when a camera is aimed at him.

Pop Quiz: Nic is not upside down and the photo is not upside down, so what is going on here?

We came across a brown sign that caught our interest and broke our forward progress. Who could ignore Buffalo Bill?

Bill's grave overlooks the city of Denver. Anybody got a quarter?

Bill and his wife are the only people buried here. The gift shop does a brisk business. They cook buffalo burgers.

The RV always needs one thing or another. Nic needed some sort of cable to get the TV hooked up to the DVD player. Nic loves Best Buy, and they love him. I'm glad he has a small budget.

After three days on the road, we pulled into an RV park for a much needed round of showers. Hooking the RV into electricity is something of a minor luxury. Watching a beautiful sunset is an added perk.

A question for you: Ben is of the opinion that eight photos are just right, and more are too many. What are your thoughts?

be safe,
Hec on the road

Another day... another mile... or two... or three...

At the beginning of each and every one of our trips, the posts on our blog are frequent. Usually once a day. At the end of the trip, you are lucky if you get one post to read in five or so days. If you are just tuning in you can probably tell we are in the beginning of our trip.

Day two! On Sunday night we pulled into a parking spot somewhere West of Ely, Nevada after we realized the tail lights on the trailer weren't operational. We were all serenaded to sleep at about 2330hrs by faint rap music which was being played from the local bar a block away. Dad wanted to get an early start the next morning, so at 0600hrs the slides went in with sleeping people hardly noticing. The light sleepers of the family (Mom and I) were up and ready in no time.


It is a Monday, so Ben does have work to do. It's hard for Dad and I to do what we do using cell phones.


Anthony and I were taking the signs literally!


A local train tunnel attracted our attention.


Some of the boys went further into the tunnel... then they came running out. Some say there were spiders the size of cows on the walls.


Since we were in the flat deserts of Nevada and Utah, Dad wanted the two new permit holders to try their hands at the wheel. Matthew went first.


Nic went second. Matthew isn't as freaked out as Anton was.


Mom is quick with the AAA tourist guide, and she found an interesting museum that was free. Anthony, Sara, Bex an I decided to use their sign as a limbo game.


Our family likes group shots in front of random items. A cabin.


This tractor they had on display is the exact type that Dad learned on when he was seven years old.


Who knows what Sara was sticking her hands into.


After we were done, Nic decided he wanted to call someone. Who knows who he was trying to call from Delta, Utah though...


One of our various stops was at a antique/thrift/all sorts of things store. They had everything from $6 playing cards, to a Samurai Sword.


We stopped at the JJWD Hardware store to fill up our propane tank. Ben found some upside down sunglasses for $1.69.


In between Southeast Utah and Southwest Colorado is one of the most beautiful places to visit (if you like dry and arid). We stopped at a vista point to look out over the cliffs. It was just a bit windy and cold.


Another group shot!


Nic got a little too close to the edge... good thing he has a lot of brothers.


Welcome to Green River, Utah. The town that had many random opportunities to take pictures! Ben discovered his long lost restaurant that looked like it closed 50 years ago.


Everyone needs a missile for their local park!


Think we'll survive?


Dad saved us all by disarming the device.



Nic found a large piece of watermelon to keep him occupied.


We can't go to the town of Green River and not get a picture next to the Green River! A rare picture of Dad and his kids.



A local diner was found right on the Green River. The younger five ate with us too... we didn't
leave them in the RV.


After Green River, Ben hopped into the driver's seat and drove another 100 miles to the town of Grand Junction, Colorado where we will be spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot... a Hector family tradition! I leave you now to head into the Wal-Mart bathroom to brush my teeth with the guys. Goodnight!

Rumble Score:
Dad 1
Ben 1
Thomas 0
Matthew 1
Nic 1

A journey of two thousand miles begins with......

...asking someone to marry you.



Hello all of you Hector blog followers! We are off on the final chapter of the Elevenfold cord, one last piling into the RV with 11 people, and the beginning of a new set of journeys.

As is common during our trips, bets were taken on what time we would actually leave. Mom wanted to leave at 0800hrs, Dad didn't care (except he claims he wanted to get me to Tiffany as fast as possible), Thomas said 1030hrs, and I claimed around 1100, with a latest time of 1145hrs. We left at...........................1208hrs. Right on schedule.

After waving goodbye to our wonderful neighbors:


We stopped at our traditional spot to get a bon-voyage picture, and Sara wanted to try being a cheerleader!


Not much of significance happened on the first leg of the trip. Sara and I slept for a few hours, Nic read his book, and everyone else lounged around. We have seen the beautiful mountain vistas of the Sierra Nevada so often that no one even looked outside! (I even had to grab this photo from elsewhere on the net....)


After the decent into Reno, it was discovered that the Atlantis Buffet was closed until 1630hrs, and we had an hour to kill. That was spent looking for a mattress, none was found, which made Anton very happy:


There are two reasons for going to a casino, neither of them being gambling. One is the food, which we enjoyed so much that there were no photos, and the other is a ride on the glass elevator. We are much too poor to hit the amusement parks, and this is the next best thing!


Before hitting the road again, Dad took a moment to enjoy the scenery, that and we had accidentally locked him out of the RV:


Time on the road was spent getting our 38 pounds of tomatillos ready for traveling:


and looking for brown signs:


Right now we are traveling down Hwy 50, across the ruggedly beautiful land of rural Nevada. One additional loss during this trip will be the pictures of our trying to find internet connections in odd places. Droid phones are able to link our computers anywhere we are, and that will hopefully mean more frequent updates! Pray for safe travels during this trip, and the Lord's blessings on our journey. One last photo, for your enjoyment:


Later!

BFH

Rumble score:

Dad 0
Thomas 0
BFH 0