buckle-up

The last days of fall are still with us and the long shadows that are being cast over the golf course behind our home are a reminder that the dark days of winter are not that far away. Ominous clouds seem to be ever present but the vista from our deck continues to remind us why we moved to Windsor, Colorado – it’s simply a quiet retreat where everyone knows their neighbors. The sense of village and community is unmistakable and as good natured as we are about it, there are still times when we miss our old haunts. Fine dining in Windsor? There are BBQ joints and fast-food outlets, but little to compare with what we enjoyed in Boulder County. Then again, this is truly the season to entertain and to enjoy meals served at home and the deck-side grill has seen a lot of overtime. If you had told me that you could turn to a simple Coleman propane gas grill – yes, the same one we take with us on our RV excursions – and turn out really good food then I would have thought you were exagger...

October saw a return to time spent in the RV – our company command center – as we pulled back onto Americas highways with an opportunity for yet another “bizcation.” The primary focus was business, as we were leveraging an opportunity to catch up with former colleagues as well as others providing insights into where technology was headed, particularly when it came to HPE. If you have a need to check into the business aspects of our trip then check out the posts to the NonStop community blog Real Time View of October 15, 2017, NonStop future – not all what it seems! Sometimes, you just have to get out and meet folks to better understand the reasons driving change and this trip proved no exception. As it so happened, our trip took us to Albuquerque, New Mexico, at a time when the annual hot air balloon fiesta was well under way. Even though we missed some of the opening activities we were still able to take in a lot – very early in the morning, unfortunately. The one thing tha...

We are now hard at it, packing the RV; clothes are hanging and shoes stored away and shortly, we head off for our last shopping spree to fill in the pantry with the many items we simply forgot about in our previous trips to the shops. It’s not a big list but we will be heading back down to Boulder as it seems Ft Collins is a hard place to shop for prime beef – only choice. Even at Whole Foods. Surprising but prime makes a big difference even when grilling outside on a Coleman gas BBQ. NO worries though, we will get it all done and come mid-morning, Sunday, we hit the highway for one last trip before the RV season concludes. Once again, it’s going to be mostly business as we will catch up with clients and prospects. There is always too opportunity to pick up new material for future blogs and taking a picture or two helps with setting the stage for story lines to follow. It’s been amazing these past couple of years just how many story lines we have come up with while staring out t...

A sense of normality is finally descending on the Holen-Buckle household. Boxes have been unpacked and cut down to a size where they can be carted off to the recycling center. Packing paper has been stuffed into bags so that our trash collectors will recycle for us and yes, all the miscellaneous stuff that you see finding its way to the floor is all compressed into the available trash can. Yes, the air is finally loosing that dusty appearance that becomes visible whenever sunlight streams across the room. Little particles just floating with no further role to play in the big move! The three car garage with room for a motorcycle now has two cars parked in the slots allocated to them. The third is still a bit of a mess as the last remnants of the move are still visible but with just a couple more days of dedicated organizing, the final slot for the third car will be ready, We will be left with one vehicle parked on the driveway but with the construction going on all around us, we do...

Before it all becomes little more than a distant memory what was it really like to live as fulltime RVers? I only wish I knew, as the time we spent in our company command center was pretty much hit and miss, and included many repositioning drives. The picture above was taken our last evening as fulltime RVers when, a matter of twelve hours or so later, we drove up to our new home and office in Windsor, Colorado. In one respect it was ten weeks more or less spent on the dark side, where almost everything went wrong. The force was definitely strong with us. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the good force we were hoping for. At the very beginning of our extended sojourn that much-feared Check Engine light first appeared, and it was pretty much all downhill from there. A torrid trip into darkness of all things that can go wrong with your RV on the road, out of which we have only just managed to emerge! Looking at the odometer on the RV I was somewhat surprised to see that we covered 6,000...