The Moment We Felt Retired
Not a great start to the fulltime adventure - at least the first night.
When we officially retired, we had a few obligations that we had to complete. We had a wedding to attend in Atlanta and then back to Little Rock, Arkansas to await the birth of our grandson Ben. After helping for a few weeks after his arrival, we were finally on our way.
Holly City Park, Holly, Colorado
Our first planned overnight stop leaving Arkansas was in Deerfield, Kansas at Deerfield “Beach” Campground. It remains one of the WORST experiences of our fulltime adventure. It was nothing more than a dirt field with hookups in the middle of corn fields. We never saw a lake, much less a beach, and it was completely self serve. We picked a site and pulled in, and the neighbor immediately comes out and says, “You gonna’ leave that there? Your blocking my view.” I replied that I would be happy to move it where it wouldn’t interfere with “his view.” Then he said, “Don’t mind my dogs - they usually don’t bite.” That was all I needed.
I told Tracy to pack it back up - we weren’t staying. So we pressed on down the road and just past the Kansas/Colorado border, in the little town of Holly on U.S. 400, is a little city park with RV hookups. We pulled in to the self-serve site, set up, and had a very quiet, peaceful evening. But it didn’t feel like retirement.
After a good, quiet night’s rest we continued west to Cripple Creek KOA. It is a beautiful campground on a hillside that was fairly full. We found our spot, got set up, got the recliners out and began to relax a bit. Tracy started dinner and we had hamburgers and fresh corn. And, after leaving Arkansas with nearly 100 degree weather, we settled in to our recliners outside in 60 degree weather, and it finally felt real. We had actually retired and our fulltime adventure had begun.
Cripple Creek KOA, Colorado
Cripple Creek was a great first stop. We toured the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, then we toured the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine - an active open-cut gold mine that produces a surprisingly small but incredibly valuable amount of gold. The tour puts you in the heart of the mine as the process is explained and you experience the massive size of the operation.
CC&V Mine, Victor, Colorado
CC&V Mine, Victor, Colorado
CC&V Mine, Victor, Colorado
CC&V Mine, Victor, Colorado
Cripple Creek KOA, Colorado
Cripple Creek KOA, Colorado