Brrrrr…..

Last week I had a post with the title “Fall Has Fallen”. Well in the last couple of days it had done more than that, it has turned to winter!

On Thursday I decided to take my new truck and drive it to Colorado Springs to look at an Arctic Fox fifth wheel camper. The day was cloudy and chilly. By the time I got down to the Springs the temps had sunk to 30 degrees and there were periods of light snow.

The trailer was very nice. About 28 feet long and a quality build. It was a true four season trailer as it had upgraded insulation, thermo-pane windows and heating blankets for the waste tanks to keep them from freezing. On the down side there wasn’t a whole lot of storage area. A lot of the basement area normally used for storage was taken up by an onboard propane generator, something I don’t need since I have a little portable Honda generator. After looking at the trailer I decided to do something I had been thinking about for several years.

I went to high school in Colorado Springs in the early 60’s. My Dad, The Colonel, was stationed at NORAD at the time. I started at Wasson High School in 1962 and graduated in 1965. Two weeks after graduation the family moved to Ft. Benning, GA and I have never been back to the school for reunions or even just to look. This day I decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the high school I graduated from 44 years ago.

I wasn’t sure I would be allowed to even look as a lot of schools these days have pretty tight security. I was surprised when after explaining what I wanted to do in the school office they said, no problem, just sign in and help yourself. Their one caution was to make sure I didn’t get trampled when the bell sounded for the period change! Some things never change.

I spent about a half hour wandering around and was amazed I remembered as much as I did. Wasson HS was opened in 1960 so it was very new when I attended. At the time it was “state of the art” with a great auditorium/theater, state of the art labs, several gyms, a pool, and other amenities that made it THE place to be when I attended. It’s now 50 years old but it has been well taken care of. I don’t have the connection to the high school that I do to my college alma mater but I’m still glad I went to visit. It brought back some pleasant memories.

Saturday The Bride and I had a number of chores to do including checking out a kennel that we were thinking of leaving Molly Dog at when we take our cruise and driving up to Ft. Collins to retrieve my little Suzuki that I left at the dealership when I bought the truck last week. Along the way we also stopped to look at some more trailers.

The weather had turned even more wintery on Friday night with some snow and ice on the roads. We probably saw 20 accidents on the interstate between the south side of Denver and Ft. Collins. At one point I was reconsidering driving up to Ft. Collins and just waiting until Sunday but I pressed on. We arrived in Ft. Collins about noon, picked up the car and had lunch at a local Olive Garden. By the time we headed back to Denver the roads had returned to normal.

This week I’m planning on visiting a few more RV places to continue the hunt for a fifth wheel. On Friday, The Bride and I are leaving town for Keystone, CO, a ski resort about half way between Denver and Vail. We have reservations at the Ski Tip Lodge for the weekend. In addition to being a great place to stay, they have a very nice restaurant in the lodge. We are both looking forward to it.

Thanks for visiting.