Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2004: 15

    On Tuesday, March 16, we arose at 5:00 AM and were on the road toward Colorado by 5:30 AM. We were using the trip guide that Miles had obtained from the Good Sam Club to get him back to Littleton, Colorado from Pharr, Texas. We drove for 100 miles before stopping for breakfast in a small town. We drove on many roads as we followed the Good Sam directions. We had very little traffic and were able to drive at 70 mph most of the day. We ate lunch in a Mexican restaurant in another small Texas town. We finally quit driving after 760 miles in Amarillo, Texas where we stayed in another Hampton Inn. We ate in a nearby Mexican restaurant because it was the closest available. 

We slept in until 5:30 AM on Wednesday and ate breakfast at the hotel. We were on the road by 6:30 AM. Later in the morning, we finally exited Texas and entered New Mexico. We stopped at a tourist information center and got MapQuest instructions to Jack and Joann's new house in Golden. We stopped in Colorado Springs for lunch at an IHOP and arrived at Jack and Joann's by 2:00 PM. We found Jack in a hospital bed set up in the living room, with a million dollar view out the window at the snow covered peaks of the Rockies. We were able to have a good conversation with Jack, but then withdrew for fear of infecting anyone with the cold bug that circulated around the group in our Mexican caravan. Bill seemed to be at the end of the cold, but Cathy was in the midst of it. We drove on some hilly roads to Conifer to pick up an item at a drug store there. We also bought a couple of books and a latte in the shopping plaza while we were there. On the drive back we decided that we had to keep from infecting anyone with our colds. Our niece Joan, husband Paul, and children Elizabeth and Jane were due to arrive while we were gone and we didn't want to spread the cold to any of the others. So, we dropped off the item from the drugstore and withdrew into quarantine to Louisville, near Boulder. We stayed at a Hampton Inn there and enjoyed dinner at an Italian restaurant within walking distance. We talked to Bill's sister Joan and our daughter Alex. 

On Thursday, Cathy’s cold was worse. We had a few items to take care of, so we got off to an early start. Bill’s laptop finally refused to connect to the Internet in any way at all. This problem started a long time ago when it refused to connect using the wireless card. Then, in Spain last winter, the laptop wouldn’t connect to the LAN at our Spanish language school. Bill found a guy in Boulder who does computer repairs and we dropped off the laptop there. Then we got an oil change at Grease Monkey. We went to an ATM for some cash and then gassed up and got a car wash at a CONOCO station in Boulder. We ate lunch at a bagel place and then drove to Estes Park and on into Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw a wolf (we think) and a herd of about 70 elk in the park. We ate dinner in a Mexican restaurant near the Hampton Inn. As Bill was enjoying a hot shower, the power went out in the whole area. We got out our flashlights and read for a while with headlamps. Just as we were turning in, the power went back on.

Cathy’s cold continued to worsen on Friday. Bill took a 1.5 hour walk on some of the bike paths in Louisville. Then we drove to Jack and Joann’s house and Bill had a visit with Jack while Cathy stayed downstairs in the sun room. We had to pick up the computer in Boulder, so we left just before 2:00 PM and were on I25 North when we got a call asking us to pick up some prescriptions in Conifer. After running that errand, we drove to Boulder and bailed out the laptop for a total charge of $350. This included reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the XP operating system. Most importantly, the price included backing up the “DATA” folder which has most of the important information on the computer. When we got back to the room, Bill discovered that he can finally connect to a wireless network. Bill worked on reinstalling files and programs before and after we went to dinner at the local Italian restaurant.

Cathy felt even worse on Saturday. We drove to Best Buy to purchase Quickbooks Pro 2004 and a web edtitor. Bill got his email working and started to communicate with the world. Cathy didn’t want any lunch, so Bill got something at Starbucks. Bill spent much of the day installing and tuning software for the laptop. Finally, during mid to late afternoon, Bill took a long walk on the bike paths of Louisville. He had a long conversation with Alex and Phil as he walked. We drove to the Flatiron Mall and ate at an Italian restaurant there.

On Sunday Bill ate breakfast at 6:00 AM and brought Cathy breakfast to the room around 7:00 AM. Cathy was finally feeling a bit better. Bill walked around Louisville for 1.5 hours and then around 10:30 PM we checked-out of the Hampton Inn and drove to Jack and Joann’s house. Jack’s friend Joe from Sun Oil was there on a visit from Bangkok. When Bill talked with Jack he found him less alert than before. It was explained that Jack had had a very active day on Saturday and that might explain his tiredness. Around mid-afternoon, John took us to Jack and Joann’s realtor’s house about a mile down Montane Drive from their house. They are renting this large house and we were the first guests. The house belongs to Terry and Jane Fleener. Our son Bill will be very interested to learn of Terry Fleener’s involvement at a high level in the Denver Barbarians Rugby Club and the USA Rugby Union. He was one of 15 signers of the USA charter in 1975. There are Rugby decorations throughout the house and he has “RUGBY” on the license plate of his Lexus in the garage (he didn’t leave the key – Bill asked). We moved into the master bedroom and jumped into the spa out on the deck for a good soak. We talked with Katie on our cell phone as the service drifted in and out. Later we returned to Jack and Joann’s house to arrange for Bill to work into the schedule. It was easily decided that Bill would take the 6:15 AM shift since he is up at 5:00 AM anyway. Then we drove to the historic El Rancho restaurant at the Evergreen Parkway exit for a surprisingly good meal. Afterwards we did some shopping at King Sooper and returned to the rental house. There were several TVs in the house, but we didn’t turn any on and read in bed instead.

Bill showed up for his shift with Jack at 6:10 am on Monday. Jack was alert for the first part of the watch but began to get drowsy after a while. Joann got some much needed sleep before relieving Bill shortly before 10:00 AM. Meanwhile, Cathy had walked the uphill mile from the rental house and was reading a book to Elizabeth and Jane. Later, we went out to buy a few items for Joann. After delivering the items, we drove to downtown Golden and got on the Internet at Kinkos for free (they charge only for using the printer). We didn’t find a suitable place for lunch and returned to the rental house for a makeshift snack. Cathy prepared stuffed shells for dinner at Jack and Joann’s house while Bill put on a load of wash. Then Bill took a hilly hour’s walk and then a soak in the spa.

        Bill and Cathy