Shufflin’ off to Buffalo

Buffalo Wyoming that is.  Wow.   How time flies.  It has been almost two weeks since I last wrote about our adventures, so I have a lot of catchin’ up to do.
I last wrote from the campground in Yankton, SD after catching a rather handsome catfish.  The other thing I caught on that fishing day was a good sunburn on my feet.    After a whole summer of wearing socks and sneakers, I decided to spend a day fishing (in the bright sunlight) wearing sandals.  Rosie has been questioning my intellect lately, maybe she is onto something .  Several applications of a good Aloe lotion is helpful.
We pulled out of Yankton on Thursday morning on a little over 300 mile push to Lake Maloney State Park south of North Platte, Nebraska.  We discovered this place last year.  It is a good stopover between Yankton and my brother Bill’s place in Eaton, CO.  We already had a State Parks sticker from Chadron earlier in the trip, so the cost for this overnight was $15.  It is set on a lake with big sites and wonderful sunrises.
         
We decided to take the “back roads” to Colorado instead of the interstate.  Two event occurred on this journey; first I turned over 200,000 miles on the Chevy and we got a close up look at a lot of corn fields and grain storage silos.  These silos are right on the Nebraska/Colorado border.
  
We arrived at Bill’s home in Eaton about 3:00 pm.  It is nice to wonder around a large home for awhile.  Bill and Joanie found a real gem in this house last year; about 3,000 sq. ft. with a 3 car garage and a large, beautifully landscaped yard, complete with hot tub.
       
Bill and Joanie have 3 sons and 6 grandchildren.  Sunday afternoon is dinner at grandma’s.  It is sort of controlled chaos, but mostly chaos.   This Sunday’s feast included pulled pork sandwiches with a lot of good side dishes.  I don’t think anyone went hungry.  Bill presented me with a large bottle of Stolichnaya Vodka for my birthday, which I reluctantly accepted. 

On Monday we headed up the into the mountains southwest of Denver to our old neighborhood in Shawnee, Co.  Shawnee is so small that you are required to go to the post office to pick up your mail.  There are no retail stores in Shawnee.  We set up the camper in the yard of our former neighbors, Mark and Janice Richter.  They have a beautiful home on a mountain hilltop.

It is a little tricky getting the camper into their yard, but once there it is a great setup.  The builder originally built it for himself and included RV connections, including sewer, in the yard.  Obviously he changed his mind and sold the house, but that little feature sure comes in handy.  Mark and Janice are great hosts; treating us to a filet mignon dinner the night of our arrival.  Mark has a pool table, so I always pack my personal cue on these trips.  We based our operations from here for a week.  I took the truck into Denver to have major service work done (an expensive celebration of 200K miles) on Tuesday.  Also got some personal shopping done while the service was happening.  Thursday Rosie went hiking with her old hiking group; followed by a gathering at Shari Sorensens's home in Conifer.
 
Friday night we and the Richter’s enjoyed dinner out in Conifer.  Saturday morning Mark (a former truck driver) expertly helped me get out of his driveway and we headed back to my brother’s home for the Labor Day Weekend.  On Saturday afternoon, I had two work events, one in Cheyenne and another in Laramie.  Rosie and the pooches went along for the ride.  That evening, we enjoyed a great meal in a snazzy Mexican Restaurant in Greeley with Bill and Joanie.  On Sunday, Bill cooked up two fantastic pork loins for the family gathering.  The food was excellent and the company wasn’t bad either.
It is now Monday and we are in Buffalo, Wyoming for a night stop over on our way to Cody, Wyoming.  I have 4 work events in the Cody area and will get them done on Wednesday and Thursday.  We are in a great campground in Buffalo with very large sites and full hookups, 50 amp. electric, water, sewer, Cable TV and a good wi-fi connection.  The dogs are settling it to a more restrictive environment after having the run of Bill’s big back yard for several days.  Rosie and I are settling back into the quiet life on the road.  Life is good.  We expect to be back home in Idaho Falls on Friday.