buckle-up

If you told me that your grownup kids want to spend vacation with you, I would assume it is not because you are a lot of fun to be around. I would probably say, let’s examine the situation: do you own a ski chalet in the mountains at Aspen and it is winter vacation? Are you spending time in Australia and have rented accommodation with an extra bedroom? Do they know of a cabin by a lake with a motor boat? You get the idea … What if your child is married and has a small baby, with one set of parents owning a lakeside cabin with a motor boat and the other set of parents owning a motor home that can accommodate a family of three and all the baby equipment? Well, then you have a true family vacation. Lakeside Homes? Family-size Motor Homes? All the ingredients are there but somehow, are these really all that’s needed for a family vacation? The first July 4 th Independence Day with baby Ella was spent on the shores of a beautiful lake in Minnesota, fireworks and all! As you see the...

For several years now Friday afternoons have seen Margo and me “laying down laps” at Denver’s most famous road course, High Plains Raceway (HPR). Located east of the city, just beyond the small village of Byers, it really is a surprise to all first-timers not expecting to find a track this good so far from anywhere else. However, as we are fond of saying in Australia, “it’s the goods!” Taken shortly after we arrived at HPR, the freshly polished bright red Vette looks ready to go and it would be only a few minutes before it drove through the gate leading to the track. Carved into the rolling pastoral fields that feature small ravines, there are more than enough elevation changes to ensure drivers are fully tested. The course has names for all the turns, and over the years we have come to understand the history – High Plains Drifter, Danny’s Lesson, To Hell on a Bobsled to name but a few. And of course, there’s the Prairie Corkscrew, that for those who have driven Laguna Seca and f...