January 17 - 31, 2002

Thursday, January 17, 2002                                                    Breckenridge, CO

Christine and I made our way over to the Denver airport right on time to pick up our friends arriving from Columbus, OH to join us skiing.  We had just stayed with Tina and Lori two weeks ago when we were in Columbus; they brought their friend Cindy along with them.

Christine and I both missed the signs warning of “Low Overhead Clearance” for the “Arrival” area of the airport.  We ended up stuck facing a 9’6” barrier.  I gave Christine one of the 2-way radios and had her direct traffic around the RV as I backed it up about a hundred yards.  We got a little help from airport security before long.  To borrow an expression from Homer Simpson: “Dōhh!”

The women arrived on time, and I was able to collect them in the “Departure” area (no overhead limit).  We had a beautiful sunny day for our drive into the mountains.  We checked into our condo at the base of the Breckenridge Ski Resort (excellent location) and unloaded the RV.  I then had to park the RV about three miles away in the overflow RV parking area.  There were no other RV’s in the parking area, only two cars buried to their roof in snow.  There is no place to plug the RV in, so I’m going to have to spend an hour running the RV each day to keep the battery charged up and make sure the furnace is running. 

The women got their ski rentals lined up and then we spent the evening in our condo with homemade pizzas.  We were all fired up for our first day of skiing for the season.

Friday, January 18, 2002                                                                Breckenridge, CO

We all had a great first day of skiing, though it turned very cold and nasty by late morning.  The temperature at the base of the mountain had dropped to 6 degrees, and the blowing snow created an uncomfortable wind chill further up the mountain.  Christine and I spent the day skiing together and were very pleased with how quickly we resumed skiing at the skill level we quit with last season.  We missed our lunch rendezvous, but everyone ended up having a good day.

I caught a shuttle for the 3-mile trip down to our RV.  I happily found the furnace still running in the RV and the temperature inside above freezing.  To my disappointment, the RV barely started, but it did finally turn over and crank.  I spent over an hour there running the RV and re-charging the coach battery.  I could only hope that this would be enough.

We all walked up town and ate out at the Breckenridge Brewery.  This microbrewery really serves up some fine food and beers.  It was a good way to end our first day of skiing for the season.

Saturday, January 19, 2002                                                         Breckenridge, CO

Nobody slept especially well last night, but four of us were up for skiing—with a late start.  Cindy took the day off for some shopping, but the rest of us spent the day skiing on Peak 8.  The sky was clear and the sun was bright, but the wind was still blowing hard.  We all enjoyed the warmer conditions that accompanied the sunshine.

I took the shuttle back down to the RV with my fingers crossed, but found it frozen.  The cold overnight temperatures had been too much for the coach battery.  The RV wouldn’t start, and connecting the coach battery to the starter didn’t help, since the coach battery was dead.  I was patient, though, and finally started the RV off the last few available amps in the engine battery.

While the RV was running and the furnace began warming things, I went around looking for freeze damage.  Everything seemed pretty frozen.  I found a lot of ‘snow’ in the garage, which turned out to be the results of six exploded Fresca cans.  A few Diet Pepsi’s exploded as well.  I contemplated the RV’s current condition as I began cleaning up the frozen mess.  I decided that the RV had to be plugged in somewhere.  I went looking around the area in which I was parked for a place to plug in the RV.  I was in an industrial/commercial area that showed few signs of life on a Saturday afternoon.  I found a chiropractor’s office across the street with an outside power outlet.  I was desperate and decided to park over there and plug the RV into the building.  I took all possible steps to get permission.  I called the chiropractor’s office and left a detailed message on voicemail, and then I left a long note on the windshield of the RV.  The RV got to run for two hours before I finally caught the shuttle back to the condo.  I pray that this act doesn’t get us into any trouble.

I got back to the condo late, and then we all went out for some Mexican food.  It was a very relaxed evening. 

Sunday, January 20, 2002                                                            Breckenridge, CO

Everyone finally got a good night’s sleep last night so we got an earlier start today.  Cindy was back with us on the slopes, but Lori took the day off.  It was another cold blowing day on the mountain.  The wind was bone chilling as we went up the lift on Peak 10.  The wind blew so hard that the chairs were swinging wildly on the lifts.  All the powder had been blown off the upper half of the mountain leaving some hard ice to ski down.  It was dangerously cold out there today.

I quit a little early and took the shuttle down to the RV with an anxious mind.  I was pleased to see that the RV had not been towed, and that it was still plugged in.  Everything seemed to be working properly, though I hadn’t set the thermostat high enough to fully thaw out all the plumbing.  I unlocked my bicycle from the back of the RV and road it back to the condo.  I needed a way to get to the RV at 6:00 AM tomorrow, before the shuttle runs.

I made it back to the condo shortly after the beginning of the Packers-Rams playoff game.  It was a game worth missing.  The Green Bay loss was disheartening. Christine could at least keep herself preoccupied with preparing a venison roast from home for dinner.  We ended up enjoying a great dinner and ending the evening with several games of euchre.

1) Tina and Lori.  2) This is a view from Peak 8 on the Breckenridge slopes.  It's even better in person.

Monday, January 21, 2002                                                             Breckenridge, CO

I started this day very early by jumping out of bed ten minutes before the 6:00 AM alarm sounded.  I bundled up and hopped on my bike for the cold dark ride back to the RV.  The RV started right up and I returned to the condo to get everyone loaded.  We had all the gear on board and were checked out of our room for a 7:00 AM departure back to Denver.  The two-hour trip was only slightly prolonged by the snow accumulation on I-70 around Loveland Pass.  We dropped the three women off at the Denver Airport at 9:00 in plenty of time for their 11:00 AM flight.  It had really been a great way to kick off our ski season.

Christine and I then drove back toward Denver and pulled over for a little late breakfast and an inventory of the freeze damage.  It was fifty degrees in Denver, which permitted a complete thawing of our rig.  Sitting in the McDonald’s parking lot, I turned on the water pump and waited to it built up enough pressure to shut itself off, then I began looking and listening for water leaks.  For those of you that are new to this web site, you may not be aware of how lucky Christine and I are.  Well, our luck was with us today.  There was no freeze damage in the RV.  I was so very relieved to have the uncertainty removed.  We could now return to ski country with no worries.

With plenty of time on our hand in warm Denver, we decided to try the Colorado Capitol again.  We couldn’t find any parking spaces when we went there last week.  We were hoping for better parking opportunities today since this is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  After two trips around the block we found a street space large enough.  The Colorado house was in session and we got to sit in the gallery during their opening activities.  There was extra ceremony today to commemorate the holiday.  The thing that Christine and I found most amusing was when a clerk read all the new bills and resolutions into the record.  He read them so fast that nobody could understand a word, but they were now in the record.

After walking through the building for a while we went outside to see the view across the mall to the west where the Denver City and County offices are set against a backdrop of the Rockies.  The obelisk in the foreground is the Colorado Veterans Monument.  It was a beautiful day for the view.  We stopped to listen to a gospel group singing on the west steps for a while.  Then we walked down to the curb to watch a massive march/parade of people celebrating the holiday.  We considered it rather timely for us to be there in Denver visiting the Colorado Capitol on this day.  We certainly got a great civics lesson today.

We picked up some lunch and made our way back up into the mountains.  We checked into our campground where we’ll stay for the next month in Breckenridge.  They had a spot plowed for us and were expecting us.  I spent a couple hours shoveling snow to permit the RV to get close enough to the water spigot to connect my new heated 15-foot water hose.  I would have done better with a 20-foot hose, but I made do.  It was great to have a sunny clear day to get all my connections secured for the long stay.

We have a perfect location in this large campground; we are right across from the clubhouse.  It has an indoor pool and hot tub, as well as other recreational amenities.  Christine fixed up a fine meal to celebrate our first night here (we can find a way to make almost anything into a celebration).

1) The Colorado State Capitol in Denver.  2) The view of the Denver City and County Offices and their Veterans Memorial from the Capitol steps.

Tuesday, January 22, 2002                                                           Breckenridge, CO

I slept better last night than the four nights in the condo, combined.  We piddled around this morning getting organized and finally walked out at 10:00 to catch the free 10:15 shuttle to the slopes.  We have about a ten-minute walk from our campsite out to the shuttle stop.  We hauled our skis with us this morning, but we have ski locks that will permit us to keep them locked up at the mountain instead of lugging them back and forth each day.  The shuttle ride was less than ten-minutes and we were on the slope in no time.

The mountain was nearly empty today.  The post holiday lull is the best time to avoid the crowds.  It was cool and windy today, but nowhere near as bad as Friday and Sunday were.  With no lift lines. Christine and I were able to get five runs down the mountain in just over an hour.  We broke for lunch, which we brought with us today in order to save money.  We went back out to a colder windier mountain after lunch to get a few more runs in before quitting for the day.  One of the things we especially enjoy about our season passes is that we don’t feel the need to wear ourselves out everyday in order to feel like we’re getting our money’s worth.

We locked up our skis and went back to the RV.  I enjoyed a soak in the hot tub while Christine did some schoolwork.  It was a good first day using our campsite.  A fine dinner of Christine’s pork chops and a relaxing evening followed.

Wednesday, January 23, 2002                                                    Breckenridge, CO

Christine opted to take today off, so I skied alone.  It was still a cold day, but the wind had abated which made it seem warmer to me.  I really worked hard on my bump drills today making six runs down mogul trails.  These kinds of runs are so physically demanding that I had to rest several times in order to get down each run.  The pumping motion in my legs as I hop over and around each bump cause rapid build up of lactic acid in my upper legs, and the entire effort is very aerobic.  I knew I was pushing myself hard because I took two big sobering spills.

I returned to the RV and enjoyed another soak in the hot tub.  Christine and I cleaned up and attended a wine and cheese social gathering at the campground lodge.  There was quite a turn out, and we were clearly the youngest couple there.  We met another couple closer to us in age that had just begun full-timing.  It was fun to hear about their plans and share some of our stories.

Thursday, January 24, 2002                                                          Breckenridge, CO

Christine woke me from a deep sleep at 5:30 this morning when a loud thud had awakened her.  She was concerned that our water hose may have disconnected.  We have a quick-release connection for our water hose, and it has come lose a few times in the past without any apparent cause.  Christine checked the faucet and observed that we had no water flowing.  So I grabbed the flashlight and went outside in the –7 degree cold to investigate.  The hose was in tact and nothing appeared awry outside.   Back inside I decided that the severe cold had frozen up some of our interior water lines.  We should have left some cabinet doors open last night to permit good heat circulation.  With help from Christine’s hair dryer I thawed out the lines and got the water flowing again.

This still left the question of what the thud was that originally woke Christine.  She heard the thud again while I was trying to thaw the lines.  I heard it too this time.  I looked in our garage and saw signs of exploded Diet Pepsi cans.  Christine had forgotten to bring the cans back into the heated space before bed last night.  We’ll have a little mess to clean up back there, but fortunately it was diet soda, so there is no sticky sugar residue.

It was –9 degrees by the time we got out of bed, but the cloudless blue sky promised to bring a warming sun.  We waited in the RV for a while to let it warm up a bit before hitting the slopes.  We put in a day of skiing, but my performance was well below par.  I just didn’t have any energy left in me.  I ended up quitting early and waiting for Christine at the base.  She had a great day, and had a lot more energy than I.

By Christine: The skiing has been great.  I have been making sandwiches for lunch every day, which is working great, as a bowl of soup on the mountain is $6.

For those of you not familiar with Breckenridge, it is a unique ski hill in that you can often see two groups of people on it that are not usual on ski hills.  Breckenridge is a common training ground for Army mountain groups learning to ski.  It also has a wonderful program that gives people with disabilities a chance to enjoy skiing.  It is very humbling to see people who spend their lives in wheel chairs or who are blind skiing down the hill.  There are all different types of skis for these people, some of whom ski better than I do.

Friday, January 25, 2002                                                                Breckenridge, CO

Today was another great clear day with the warmest temperatures to date.  I still didn’t feel like I had a lot of energy, but I was determined to make today a better day.  Christine and I skied late into the day, and I did much better than I expected I would, though I still feel a bit depleted.  I fear that I may have caught a cold.  We hung around the base village for some après ski beers before heading back to the RV.  It had been a great day.  I have skied 7 of the last 8 days, and Christine has skied six.  The weekend forecast promises more sunshine and warm temperatures, so we’re going to avoid the weekend crowds and take two days off from skiing.

By Christine:  Today was one of those days all skiers live for: blue sky behind the white mountains; the need for sunscreen as the sun beats down on you; and no lift lines.  The perfect kind of day when you sit outside to eat lunch and savor how lucky you are to not be working on this perfect day.

1) The RV's home for a month with the mountains behind it.  2) Here you can see the RV hookups.  You can see the top of a little brown hut next to the RV.  This is a heated hut that holds the water hookups.  It takes work to make a Campground usable in winter, but this is called a RV Resort and lives up to the name with many amenities that we are enjoying.

Saturday, January 26, 2002                                                           Breckenridge, CO

I woke up with a severe cold this morning.  It is in my upper chest and throat.  I have a very raw cough that is aggravated by the cool outside air.  I took my time and got the RV ready for a day of travel.  We drove into Frisco to get some shopping done and then spent the afternoon exploring the town of Dillon.  We took in a movie: “The Count of Monte Cristo” before enjoying a very nice dinner at Pug Ryan’s Steakhouse Brewery.  Great beer washed down some excellent Rocky Mountain Trout Almondine.  I lasted as long as could be expected with my cold.  We carefully drove home to our campsite on some icy roads.  It had been a very relaxing day together.

Sunday, January 27, 2002                                                             Breckenridge, CO

I awoke in the same condition as yesterday, and resigned to a day of rest.  My ambitious wife took the shuttle into town for a 2-hour workout at their fantastic recreation center.  We spent the rest of the day watching football and cleaning up around the RV.

By Christine: To read a description and see a picture of the work Joe did to prepare us for this cold weather, click here.

Monday, January 28, 2002                                                            Breckenridge, CO

I’m still very sick today, and disappointed that I haven’t begun to improve yet.  Christine decided not to ski today and instead spent the day on-line in the lodge doing research for her class.

Tuesday, January 29, 2002                                                          Breckenridge, CO

I again woke up feeling no better; so Christine rushed out on her own to get to the mountain in time for a ski lesson.  She took an all day level-6 group lesson and came back very excited about how well she did.  It only made me feel worse that I wasn’t able to be out there with her.  I was, however very pleased that she enjoyed herself on her own.

Wednesday, January 30, 2002                                                    Breckenridge, CO

I give up.  I can’t seem to shake this terribly raw throat of mine.  I normally heal from these things much more rapidly.  I called a medical center in Breckenridge and made an early appointment to get checked out.  I rode the shuttle in with Christine, who decided to take a second full-day ski lesson.

The doctor looked me over and couldn’t tell whether my condition was viral or bacterial.  She went ahead and gave me an antibiotic and some suggestions for what over the counter medicines would help me.  I picked up a couple movie rentals on the way back to the RV and tried not to be depressed.

I forced myself to join Christine for the weekly wine and cheese social in the campground lodge.  There was another turnout of about thirty people, and we committed to attending the potluck dinner next week.  It was good for me to get out of the RV.  It does get a little small in here after a while.

Thursday, January 31, 2002                                                       Breckenridge, CO

I woke up feeling somewhat better for the first time in a week.  I decided to go skiing with Christine today, if only to lift my spirits.  It was very cold today and we both agreed on only skiing for half the day.  We arrived late and stayed in town for the annual ULLR FEST parade at 4:30.  ULLR FEST is an annual weeklong celebration honoring Ullr, the Norse god of snow/winter.  There are many activities taking place all week, including an international snow and ice sculpting competition.  Thirteen teams from England, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Russia and the U.S. have a regulated time of 65 hours over 5 days to carve their pre-approved design out of a 12-foot tall, 10-foot square, 20-ton block of hard-packed snow.

It got very cold as the afternoon passed.  The temperature was in the single digits by the start of the parade.  Many bundled up spectators lined the street to watch the parade.  It lasted about a half hour and the floats were very creative and fun.  Two gung ho guys even streaked down the street in the nude (except for a carefully placed fig leaf). 

After the parade we met up with Helen and Alan from the campground for dinner at Downstairs at Eric’s.  Helen and Alan are from Scotland and spend several months each year in their RV that they keep here in the U.S.  We had a great time with them over dinner.

By Christine: To see pictures of the snow sculptures, click here.  In addition to the many international snow sculpting teams that Joe listed there were supposed to be two teams from Argentina, but they had to cancel two weeks before the festival due to the political environment in Argentina.

All of these pictures have to do with the ULLR festivities.  1) Christine with two of the many Norse Gods walking around.  2-4) A few of the many floats and sites.  They included many floats and signs supporting the people from this area in the Olympics.  The last picture is a semi flatbed.  There were people doing ski stunts on the flatbed.