OMG---Last Day is HERE !!

A milestone in Gordon's life. Retirement Day has arrived. April 28, 2006 is the official last day of work. Boxes all over the place. Work still to be done. Oh Dear. Gordon is looking forward to dinner tonight at Simms Landing. It is such a special place for us, and has been for years. Before we moved from Colorado to Kansas City in 1982, we patronized Simms Landing for special occasions. Today, it is still special to us. And, still a nice place.

This morning it was snowing. Yesterday it was 75 Degrees. Now, mid morning, the sky is getting lighter as though it might clear up. Truly, this is what we love about Colorado. What we DON'T love about Colorado is the below zero temperature and deeper show. Whatever....

Tomorrow, we pick up the fifth wheel RV from the storage lot and bring it to the neighborhood to finish the packing and preparation.

Sorry for the short message today, but I (Gordon) have to finish packing my office and getting the personal things ready to take home. I will post more in the next day or two. Until then, CHEERS.

Last Week to Work

Ahhhhh. Five more work-days. Lets see, I work a 9 hour day, so that equates to 45 hours, less one is 44 hours (just the way a 4-5-9 schedule works out--that's 4 days the first week, 5 days the second week, 9 hours per day). And, there is only one more week to fuss with that kind of detail. WHEW !!

But what a ride it has been....

The National Park Service has been a wonderful organization for which to work. After Gordon retired from his first career of 30 years, he volunteered at Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, NM, which subsequently turned into a second career. This past 12 years has provided a marvelous way to give back. Betty started her early Federal career with the Social Security Administration, and then took a break in service starting in 1980 to travel with Gordon in his job (good thing she did or she might have missed South Africa). When Betty rejoined the Feds, she wanted to work for the NPS, and accepted a position with the Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe. After a short tour of duty in D.C., we moved to San Francisco where she joined the NPS transition team as the Army transferred The Presidio of San Francisco to Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Betty retired in January, 2006 after 29 years of service as the manager of the Recreation Fee Program for GGNRA.

The NPS is popular with politicians as well as the public and as a result, is not without conflict. However, the NPS is the ONE Federal Agency nearly everyone LOVES and most are willing to support it. What an honor and privilege for us to have been allowed this association. We are proud of the professionalism, the skill and the dedication of the individuals with whom we have worked and we both look forward to continuing this experience as Volunteers in Parks (VIP).

Gordon went to Dakota Ridge RV Park today (Saturday) to our "Retirement Villa" (see earlier posts) to do some additional stocking of supplies and equipment. We will pick up the fifth wheel from storage next Saturday and take it to our home area where we will make final preparations to travel.

This past week has been great weather-wise, tho' a tad windy. Today is to be 80+ degrees. However, on Monday the weather is to change...rain and snow, high of 40. Okay, so summer is not quite here, but we still have the fever. Can't wait to get rolling on our adventure.

Wednesday is Gordon's retirement lunch hosted by the Intermountain Regional Contracting and Procurement office. And, on his last day of work on Friday, Betty has offered a special dinner celebration at Simms Landing in Lakewood, overlooking downtown Denver. Oh boy, it is a favorite.

Our thanks to each of you who have visited our blog this past week Have a great week, next week. To be sure, Gordon WILL !!!

Until next weekend...CHEERS !!!

Friday, April 14th.

9 work-days remaining until Gordon’s retirement. Two weeks from today. WOW. Reality has not really hit yet.

I unhooked the 100# propane tank from the Retirement Villa (RV) “The Villa” on Wednesday (see March 31st picture in the initial posting), and turned the tank back into the park. The weather last week was summer-like—83 degrees yesterday. It surely seems too early for this kind of warmth. Way back in ’68, we lost a 30 year old Maple tree in a heavy and wet, early-May storm. The tree had leafed out and about 12 inches of snow stripped branches clean. Winters don’t seem to be as bad any more…shorter and warmer. Of course, there is no such thing as “global warming” is there? Naw….

Betty is busy getting our bill-paying set up online, and trying to get our invoices and monthly statements online. We have used the Department of Interior Credit Union in D.C. since 1994, and they have quite a good system for online banking. In addition, they pay twice the interest on checking account balances than anyone we have found around Denver. That works for me.

In the next few weeks we will take the Villa out of storage, and move it to the parking area in our community. From here, we can easily finish outfitting for the coming trip. This weekend's goal is to entertain our two great-nieces on Saturday, and attend an Easter celebration and performace at our newphew's church. He has a singing part and portrays Joseph. Next week’s goal is to learn about and set up a mail service account, probably with Escapees in Livingston, TX. It seems to be a very efficient organization. If anyone has comments on this, I would really like to hear from you.

Until next week, cheers and happy trails.

First week of April

Well, the first week of April is nearly gone. Gordon has 21 calendar days to retirement. We have been transporting supplies and equipment to the RV aka Retirement Villa ( The Villa) on a steady basis for weeks, but slowed down this week to do tax preparation. Weather has been quite delightful, in the 60's and 70's, but today it is snowing. It is too warm for the snow to stick to the streets, but a little shows up on the grass. The rain ahead of the snow surely helped the plants and flower...they're all standing straight and happy.

We continue our planning. The end of May should find us in Moriarity NM at RV Sales Co. for some additions we ordered. Then, on to Smith Center for the Excel Reunion and several days with the Colorado and New Mexico Chapters of the Excel Club. After Smith Center, we will head to Oklahoma so spend some time with Gordon's nephew and family, touring and observing their performance at horse shows. We hope to visit Betty's cousin and family while in OK, too. The end of June we'll head for Lincoln for Betty's Aunt's birthday, and then a trek to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan: Mackinac Island, Copper Harbor, and surrounds. We plan to see Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois in depth, too. Maybe others, but we do not wish to hurry. Part of this experience is to "experience" the areas we visit.

Please post your thoughts and comments to help us in our planning. Stay tuned for updates.