Denver, CO - June 7 - 16, 2009

On June 7 we continued our scenic trek through the Rocky Mountains stopping at South Park Mobile Home Park in Denver (Sheridan) to spend a week or so with Susan's sister Linda, niece Amanda and nephew Cris.  The park is perfectly located just two miles from Linda's home and is adjacent to the Bear Creek Parkway bike and pedestrian path, that links to the Platte River Trail system.  The park is slowly transitioning from a mobile home park to a RV park.  This pleasant, urban park will definitely be our home base whenever we visit Denver in the future.

The day after our arrival, and the day before Linda's birthday, we packed up and moved to Linda's house for six days.  On Linda's birthday Susan fixed dinner for the family and we all toasted Linda's good health.

Apparently it didn't work because during the first several days of our visit Linda was feeling pretty punk.  Also, Amanda was preoccupied with moving into her first apartment, Bill was distracted for three miserable days scrubbing and reformatting Susan's virus infected computer, Cris was focusing on his business in a bad business environment and Susan was doing the laundry.  Lots and lots of laundry. 

Once we got past all that, we checked out the former Stapleton Airport that has morphed into an attractive planned community with substantial green space, bike and pedestrian paths, a town center and varied income housing.  It is a very attractive, if somewhat sterile, community.  The sterile feeling will likely diminish with time as the trees grow and the residents impart their character on the community.

On Saturday, we got together for lunch and drinks with our extended family and friends Anita, Dave and Ann.  In addition to being our friends, they are also Amanda and Cris's aunts and uncle, and thus our family.  Our friends had not seen our nomadic home, so before going to lunch we gathered at the Beast for a glass of wine.  We talked about the lifestyle and life on the road, and then went to lunch to get refueled and to continue our lively conversation.

The next day we decided to take advantage of Sunday's deeply discounted bowling rates.  Susan, Bill and Linda took off in Linda's car, while Amanda planned to join us at the bowling ally.  We never quite got there.  Our plan came to a screeching halt when a fast moving Taurus smashed into the rear of Linda's Corolla, pushing said Corolla into a Nissan.  We were all quite shaken and rather sore. 

Within minutes of the accident Amanda found herself stuck in traffic behind some yahoos that had gotten into a fender bender.  Reaching the incident she discovered the yahoos were her family.  Fortunately, and thanks to the seat belts, none of us were seriously injured. 

The vehicles, however, sustained considerable damage.  The Taurus was totaled and Linda's car sustained over $6,000 in damages.  The Nissan just had the imprint of Linda's license plate on its bumper.

The next couple of days were consumed with stocking up the Beast and getting ready for a week or so away from markets and services.  Tuesday night Linda came over for dinner and a Wii demonstration.  It is always fun to watch Bill hula-hoop without the hoop.  Unfortunately, the video did not turn out.  Sabotage perhaps?

Then we were gone.  On June 17 we navigated Denver's numerous construction zones and headed north to Wyoming.