It's been a whirlwind!

Early Sunday morning we left Colorado and drove to Sioux City, SD through Nebraska and Iowa all in 1 day. Josh was able to get his SD drivers license Monday and we were able to meet the friendly people at Alternative Resources, our Mail Forwarding company, and our Insurance Agent at Dougherty & Associates in Sioux Falls. The weather on Monday was mostly snowy but we started the drive home anyway, making it as far as Lincoln, Nebraska before I ordered Josh to stop for the night because I had all I could take of the windy and snowy conditions. Tuesday we finished the trip home to Colorado and spent Wednesday finishing errands, etc. Thursday was the day josh was supposed to install the solar kit but as we read through all the manuals and instructions our heads were spinning and we had to concede that dealing with electricity was not something we wanted to mess with. Luckily Josh had a connection through some great guys that he worked with at the hot rod shop and they referred us to Nolin's RV in Denver. They took us in without hesitation and said they'd take care of everything. We then took a big sigh of relief and headed to Loveland, CO to spend a few days at Josh's parents while our RV is being worked on. We actually found the sold out Nintendo Wii at EB Games and snatched it up immediately. Josh and I have been having a blast playing bowling (and all the other sports games) and are thinking of looking for a few more remotes for friends and family to be able to play with us. I'm currently trying to figure out the best TV to buy for the RV to use for movies, backup camera, and The Wii. As far as the retirement lifestyle, we absolutely love it! We're shipping out the car on Friday so we'll be beginning our journey to Springfield, MO to have the veggie oil conversion done and then we're free! We will head down to the Lubbock, TX area to see our friend Jason race (motocross) and then maybe go check out Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo and who knows, maybe we'll show up at your door next!

the sound of tin cans dragging

It started almost 11 years ago on the "Grinder"! I had just finished Navy boot camp in Chicago and and was heading to Biloxi Mississippi for school. That's when I got down on bended knee and asked Kelly to marry me. Many years later and a fresh new start we completed what I started all that time ago! On Monday Kelly and I went to the Breckenridge court house and officially got hitched. It wasn't nearly as painful as they say! After sealing the deal they gave us wonderful parting wishes and a sweet little gift!

For those of you who asked for a mailing address for letters or cards (or large sums of money) here it is!

Josh and Kelly West
2322 Paonia St
Loveland, CO 80538

As for other updates...Me and the RV arrived in Denver Wednesday morning and Kelly followed shortly that evening. We headed up to see my parents and do some laundry as well as take a shower in a real bathroom, not some rec center! Ah, it's the little things that count the most! We will start the Solar Panel install sometime next week as well as get my license in South Dakota! Everything is still on track and we have decide to head to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas to enjoy a few days before the Veggie Conversion. Keep watching for more stories and pics. We really don't know what's next!

Josh and Kelly

Summit County, Colorado

We drove the motorhome out to Tiger Run RV Resort in Breckenridge, CO yesterday. It was one of the first sunny and "warm" days we've had in a while so it was a great opportunity to get her out on the road again, and our tanks were looking mighty full so it was about time. The resort has over 300 RV sites that are lined up neatly in rows with mounds of snow piling up around them. We got our gawking fix as we drove around checking out the many different styles of RVs that were there, many new, expensive one's, fleetwoods, safaris, airstreams, and many fifth wheels. I never thought an RV would capture my attention like they do now. I took a few pictures, you can see some of the Breckenridge ski trails in the background. The third picture down I took as josh was trying to 'clean' the RV at a car wash, I think it's showing the keystone/loveland pass area where Keystone Ski Resort and Arapahoe Basin are located.



Josh took the pictures below this morning when we had to pull out of the garage for a few minutes. Can't wait to take pictures of her parked in front of the beach!!!

14 days and counting

Only 2 weeks left until we depart from the cold and snowy Rocky Mountains!!! Whoohoo!! We are still parked in a warm garage while it snows almost everyday outside and the wind howls up to 70mph!!! Josh and I keep envisioning ourselves somewhere warm, sitting outside under the sun, just relaxing. After our last days here in Summit County we are heading up to South Dakota to get Josh's Driver's License and then we'll head back to Denver, pick up the RV, and head to Springfield, MO to have our engine converted to run on waste veggie oil. Then we're thinking of traveling to Arizona to have a solar kit installed so we can have power without worrying about where we will plug in next. As soon as it starts warming up in the North we'll head to NH (and PA, WA, MT & OR!) to begin remodeling the interior by installing bamboo flooring, painting the walls with non toxic paint and possibly disassemble, sand & restain all of the the orange looking wood cabinets. As for right now we are running around crossing things off our never ending "to do" list whenever we are not working. Josh came down with the flu this week so he's taking time to let his body rest. We just wanted to let anyone reading our blog know that we will soon be on the road blogging about all our new adventures!!!

It's like the Incredible Hulk

My hair and beard get frizzier. my nostrils flair, and my eyes blacken...Awesome picture Pipe and Josh!

NuWave Breakfast

We attempted 2 more meals in our NuWave oven this week, scrambled eggs with bacon & Turkey burgers. As you can tell we're keeping it simple. The eggs we whisked together and put in a pan on the 4" rack and then spread the bacon around both the 4" and the 1" rack.

The Nuwave guidelines say to cook the eggs for 7 minutes and the bacon for 12. After 15 minutes for both the eggs finally cooked and tasted like eggs......Josh likes the fluffiness of them but the consistency was a little tough for me (I think i'll stick to my stove top). The bacon took a little longer to cook but tasted pretty good, the best part about cooking bacon in the Nuwave is less mess!

Finished product. Looks like scrambled eggs and bacon, tastest like scrambled eggs and bacon. B+


Next we tried Turkey burgers! The consistency of the meat was pretty much like pasty mush in your hands but the end result was tasty and delicious! We cooked for 8 minutes on each side and they came out perfect.

Josh strongly dislikes doing the dishes, especially after the cooking the bacon directly on the racks the other night. Because we don't have running water he's been washing dishes in a bucket or down at the bathrooms. He's such a trooper! Tonight he created these neat little foil bowls to contain the grease from the burgers (and to decrease the amount of dishes he's have to do). Pretty ingenious. Keep watching to see what else the Nuwave has in store!

Today was also a special day....the pictures will speak for themselves...Enjoy!!!!

If Josh had a mug shot I think this is what it would look like :D