Westward Ho - A cross country travel log

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

JLB,

Okay, I think I know what it is about this place that feels like home. This morning, my wife made a full breakfast that consists of eggs over easy, link sausage, toast, orange juice coffee and pancakes. We ate them on the table in front of our unit watching and listening to the river.

The temperature is about 70 degrees right now with very low humidity.

This place reminds me of the great trips I took as a kid growing up in Southern California. When I was a teenager, I was a Boy Scout and we often went camping in the San Bernardino Mountains and Big Bear. The weather, the trees and the mountains here feel like that. I always dreamed of living in places like that growing up.

So, it feels like home and it reminds me of my childhood dreams. That's why it so loudly screams out to me as a place to stay permanently.

I would have to say that this breakfast is one of the highlights of the entire trip for me. This experience is EXACTLY what the timeshare salesman tries to capture when they are selling you that overpriced unit. This feeling really is worth it. It's just that you can do better if you are a smart shopper. So, anyone who buys from the developer and gets these types of experiences is doing a good thing for their family.

Hmm, interesting, we decided to do the owner update in about an hour. I wonder what they are going to tell me to get me to buy more? We'll see.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Great Trip

Sounds like a great trip. Keep the updates coming. Next time take a bus and we all can join!

[Suzy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Suzy]

I just found this thread, and I've enjoyed reading it. Most of these places I have visited, so it is nice to relive them. It's also fun to read someone else's perspective.

Suzy

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Nothing like rustlin' up some breakfast in the Rockies. (I wish I was there. )

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

We've also visited many of the places Boca is visiting now. We presently live not far from the Smokey Mountains, we've been to Nashville many times, I was born in Memphis and we've been through Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas through Denver on a trip to Winter Park, CO on a tour bus after Christmas a few years back (the snow was awesome in the Rockies).

I'd be curious what route you will be taking from Estes Park, CO to So. California?? We drove from Las Vegas to So. California a few years ago across the beautiful Ortega Highway. We also took a Amtrak to San Diego along the Pacific Coast Highway.

This is my first time to most of these places. I have been fortunate in that I have travelled a lot, but mostly on business. So, that has lead me mostly to the major cities around the US and the World. Doing this trip is what I've always wanted to do as a kid and as an adult.

Our next stop is Wolf Creek, UT. Then, we will be going to Reno, NV and then Sacramento. We are doing that primarily to see relatives. Then, we are going straight to Hemet, CA to visit my parents. That's where I grew up. Hemet is in Riverside county just on the other side of the mountain from Palm Springs, very close to Temecula and Idyllwild.

We will be driving I-5 from Sacramento straight to I-10 to get to Hemet. We've already done all the great Pacific Coast Highway and 101 stuff. We will do that next time around.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Quiest sales presentation ever.... 5 minutes

Well, we went to do our owner's update and met a really nice guy named Mike who just started the sales office here at Estes Park about 6 weeks ago.

We were really interested in hearing what was new in WorldMark and any updates they could offer us on the new Yellowstone Park resort and the rumored VIP program.

After the first few questions, he asked us how we got our credits. I told him on the resale market. He went into a dissertation about how that's a bad thing and that "pride of ownership" and helping to expand the Club was why everyone should buy from the developer. I just kept my mouth shut and my wife got livid. She is normally very quiet in these meetings, but she just lost it. He knew he was dead. Then, he asked us how long we owned. I told him 2 years. He said, "oh, oh, you need to be an owner for 4 years to participate in this survey." He got up, came back with our $50 gift cards and thanked us for attending.

I really was interested in getting some good info, that's why I didn't negotiate the gift. I am sure I could have gotten $75. $100 if I really pushed it. Oh well, it was short. But, I didn't get any info. Such is life.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Post #46

I can tell by that post that you have discovered the beauty of EP and RMNP.

Summer camp for grownups.

I have done that route up 25 and west on 80. When I did it I ended up at San Francisco. It's a beautiful drive.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

We will be driving I-5 from Sacramento straight to I-10 to get to Hemet. We've already done all the great Pacific Coast Highway and 101 stuff. We will do that next time around.

When you stop in Reno, will you drive around Lake Tahoe? You will like it very much.

Bye the way, we also have a heat wave here. It seems to be everywhere.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

When you stop in Reno, will you drive around Lake Tahoe? You will like it very much.

Bye the way, we also have a heat wave here. It seems to be everywhere.

Emmy,

We don't have time to go to Lake Tahoe this trip. We are primarily visiting relatives in Sacramento. We aren't even going to San Francisco where my sister is. We love it there, both in the summer and the winter. I expect that we will be headed there more often in the next couple of years.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I can tell by that post that you have discovered the beauty of EP and RMNP.

Summer camp for grownups.

I have done that route up 25 and west on 80. When I did it I ended up at San Francisco. It's a beautiful drive.

yeah, it's beautiful here. I think it's the weather that is so familiar to me as well. The weather in the west is so much different than in the east.

Today, we spent the afternoon hiking at Bear Lake. Very easy hiking there. Tomorrow, we will be going to Grand Lake and spending all day in the RMNP. We have the annual national parks pass, which we get every year. So, it feels good being able to experience it.

As soon as it stops raining, we will be headed to town to check it out.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Don't forget to get some taffy at the original taffy store, not one of the other candy stores that also sell taffy. I can't remember the street names, but if you go into town on the one that comes out your way, it turns left at the donut store (Y intesection) and then goes about three blocks to the main drag. The taffy store I'm talking about is right across the main drag at that intersection.

There's an old taffy-pulling machine in the window.

Our favorite is vanilla pecan.

Oh yeah, the donuts and rolls at the donut store are great, too. They have a crowd every morning, and sell out.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

JLB

I knew there was something I really liked about you. Knowing where the taffy candy store and the donut shop are in Estes Park is a man after my own heart.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Sounds like you are having an incredible trip and I will have a lot to live up to to share my Alaskan Cruise. I hope when you went to Dollywood you got to see the James Rogers show, he is fabulous. I've always wanted to go to Graceland. In Branson, you should have gone to see Shoji just to go to the bathrooms!! All I know is that I'm green with envy. Have a wonderful , wonderful time!! shaggy

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

If I am not back to follow your journey, it is because this thread takes my computer about ten minutes to load.

As wonderful as all of the pictures are here and elsewhere on TS4Ms, they really play havoc on older PCs.

I'm fairly certain that is the cause problems I've been having with TS4Ms. I think when I try to close a page before all the pictures have loaded, my computer locks up.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

If I am not back to follow your journey, it is because this thread takes my computer about ten minutes to load.

As wonderful as all of the pictures are here and elsewhere on TS4Ms, they really play havoc on older PCs.

I'm fairly certain that is the cause problems I've been having with TS4Ms. I think when I try to close a page before all the pictures have loaded, my computer locks up.

LOL. That's why I moved the pictures out of the thread. Also, you can edit your profile so that Avatars and pictures don't show up until you click on them. They show up as links instead of pictures. That's how I view the thread when I am on dial up.