It's Been a Long Time

Since the last time I posted to the blog, we've spent time in Minnesota and then traveled slowly to California for another year of managing the Pumpkin Lot in Simi Valley and then get ready for Christmas Trees.

We spent May, June and most of July in Bemidji at the KOA where we worked our first KOA job in 2010. Unfortunately, we had a rough time dealing with the new owners and decided that it would in our best interests to leave. It was the 1st time since we've started this journey that we have left a campground mid-season. We've always been asked to come back to our previous campgrounds, so this was a real eye opener for us. We went to the Maple Grove KOA and were only there for a few days when the owner asked me if I'd be interested in helping her out. After some thought, I agreed and am so happy that I did. She and her husband are wonderful people and I enjoyed working for them the remainder of the summer.

It was so nice being located in Maple Grove because we were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends. It seemed as if we had plans at every turn. We even were able to go to the Minnesota State Fair, which is something that I love to do. In September we left for a slow journey to California. One of our first stops was at Watkins Mill State Park in Missouri for a few days so that we could spend time with Roger's oldest daughter, her husband and their family. We love that park and after all these years we finally decided to go visit Jesse James Family Homestead which is only about 5 miles from the park.

After our visit to Missouri, we headed toward Colorado Springs. Neither of us had been to this part of the country, and we were shocked as to the beauty of the area. We started out visiting Pikes Peak.

Roger with some snow that was still on top of Pikes Peak

A view from the top

On the way back to our campground we literally almost ran in to some Big Horn Sheep.

We drove up the mountain, but a cog train ride is also available. The next time we visit the area, we'll take the cog train. We also were able to see Cripple Creek which is an old Gold Mining Town. Very fun town and we were able to take the Cripple Creek train tour and not only hear about the history of the town but also got to see a couple of the old mines as well as an active gold mine that is still being mined.

After a couple of days, we were able to connect with our friends Barb and Harold Adams. We worked with Barb and Harold at the Augusta/Gardner Maine KOA. We spent the day together taking the train through Royal Gorge.

Barb and Harold

The walking bridge to nowhere

After we left the Colorado Springs area, we met up with our friends, Ann and Joel Lowman in Albequeque, New Mexico. We convince Ann and Joel to try managing a Pumpkin and Christmas Tree lot. When we got to the lot in Simi Valley, the second day we were there, a woman hit the water hydrant in front of our lot and flooded part of our lot.

Hydrant flood

Just before we opened the Pumpkin Patch, our friends Ben and Cynthia Jackson of the Ft. Worth area, stopped by to visit for a couple of days. This is another couple that we worked with at the Augusta/Gardner Maine KOA.

Ben and Cynthia come to visit

Here's what the Pumpkin Patch looked like on one of our busier days.

All in all we had a great time and sold just over 4000 pumpkins. We are now in the Pismo Beach area and enjoying some well deserved rest before we start getting ready for Christmas Trees. Our friends, Rick and Eileen Nygaard, were able to meet us at the campground and stay a few days to tour the area with us.