Getting to Know Our Neighbors

Getting to know our neighbors is always a treat.  What surprised me was the number of young families living in the park, most of the guys working on the pipe lines/oil rigs in the area.  They make their homes in 5th wheel units (5ers) and larger travel trailers (TTs).  The couple next door sharing our little yard were from Texas.  They had traveled to Colorado only because this is where they were able to find work.  Even from our first meeting, it was pretty clear they would have much rather have been home in Texas.  They were both in their late 20's or early 30's, had brought their young daughter and a rather cute lil pup, bought a new 5er and set up house.  Even with what I would assume a payment on their new home and their space rent would be, their living expense was still more suitable then renting a house or apartment, as these costs are quite high in this area.  We didn't get to know them too well as within a couple of weeks, this young man quit his job here, found something else back in Texas, packed everything up and happily off they went.  You could sure see their excitement to be heading back home.

A new couple moved in next door, where the young couple heading back to Texas just vacated.  This couple rolled in with a very large 5er with a cool tow vehicle .... I got to help them get into their spot and thankfully the gentleman at the wheel was quite experienced.  That always seems to help. The priority for them was to position their 5er in such a way they could take advantage of their drop down patio on the back. (Wish our coach had one of those!) Though with the very wet weather we were having during the month of May, I don't recall them having the opportunity to use that.
So now we had new neighbors we would share our "yard" with.  Of course we became friends very quickly.  Ed, being from New York originally, was quick witted and very funny to say the least!  He teased me quite often about my "having" to go to work, even though I was supposed to be retired.  It was actually very funny.  His wife Judy & he had been traveling some and had come to Loveland to spend the spring taking care of property they had that was located not to far from the park and just enjoying this time of year.  They planned on hitting the road again just after we were scheduled to leave at the end of June.  It was a joy getting to know them both, and of course when Jackie finally returned home,(yes, the weather was nice now) she & Judy became friends rather quickly as they had a lot in common ...  with healthy food, growing herbs & spices, etc.  So we had many hours of visiting time with them.  We will definitely be meeting up with these folks again somewhere down the road and we are now keeping in contact with each other through email. If you're reading this blog, Ed and Judy, you two are a hoot!  Looking forward to seeing you again sometime, somewhere!

Next we had the pleasure of meeting  Hal & Karen Schatz.  They rolled in with their MH parking on the other side of us, coming in from the SE part of the country.  These folks were missionaries servicing Viet Nam Vets.  It was time for medical check ups and other business in the area, as they too owned property just to the north of Loveland in Ft Collins.  When they left Colorado on this last tour, they had people move into their home, telling them they would be back in 2 or 3 months.  As it turned out, they had been gone a year and a half.  Quite an amusing story.  They left us after about a week, but would be coming back and forth to the park for the next month or so.  I truly wish we had been able to spend more time with them.

Of course getting to know Jim & Denise, the park managers was a real treat.  Not only did we work together in the park, we also got to spend some off time together as well.  And we got to celebrate with them when they purchased their brand new 45' Dutch Star MH.  Just a great couple and we certainly look forward to seeing them again next spring.
Not to mention the great team of folks we got to work with during our stay .... we so look forward to working with this team again next spring.

One day while taking care of duties in the park, I saw a beautiful 45' Travel Supreme roll into the park.  They were towing an all black trailer.  Understand we haven't been out on the road all that much up to this point, but from what we've seen, you don't really see that many Travel Supremes as the company went out of business I believe around 2007.  Seeing this guy roll in was a real treat.  And as you can imagine, I was going to make sure I was available to escort them to their parking area, as it was obvious we would have a lot to talk about.  As their stay would be fairly short, just a couple of weeks, we would have to unload his car and find a place to park the trailer prior to getting into their parking site. And the site they were supposed to be in wouldn't be open for a couple of days, so we would be moving them again.

Tom & Barb had just picked up their coach about the same time we did, so our conversations were asking each other questions about the Buses.  Jackie & I both knew we would be great friends and would stay in touch even when we were on both sides of the country.  They were both retired nurses, very easy to talk to and with our mutually new adventures have a lot in common.  Their coach was a bit different then ours, a couple of years newer and had the cabinetry that Jackie was hoping to find in our coach.  Their travel was fairly free spirited, going where ever, when ever, meeting up with friends and family along the way.  Their next stop was to be in Montana for some way fun fishing.  What a fun couple .... and yes, we are looking forward to seeing them again hopefully in AZ during the winter months.

Escorting folks into their sites is probably my favorite part of working at the park.  You can sometimes tell how much experience people have in maneuvering their units into the parking spots, and many times, they will let you know up front when they're uncertain.  This was the case when a very nice coach pulled into the park, scheduled to park just down the row of us.  When explaining the route we were taking, I was told that any assistance I could provide would be much appreciated, as the coach had just been purchased.  I could certainly relate, being fairly new to our coach, we still had a lot to learn ourselves.  Thus we met Larry & Kim. 
Larry was very up front with his lack of time in their new coach.  And it was a real pleasure helping get their unit set up.  He & I exchanged lots of different information about our coaches right off the bat.  They had sold their business, bought their coach and hit the road, with the goal to see places they've been wanting to see.   We had the opportunity to spend some off work time with them and found them to be a wonderful couple.  Our time was quite enjoyable.  We both committed to staying in touch and possibly hook up again in AZ come winter.

There were many others we met during the first leg of our tour and is probably the best thing about our travels.  Meeting new people and making new friends .... tuff to beat.

Next up .... Our Journey Continues ......  Stay tuned.