Monday, August 6, 2007
Shady Acres Mobile Home Park, Lafayette, CO - June 13-July 12
Back for yet another stay at Shady Acres, the somewhat disreputable park where we originally parked our home while we were moving into it. Age has not been kind to Shady Acres; as a matter of fact (according to a newspaper article sent to us), the park has been bought out by a group of investors who plan to kick everyone off and redevelop it commercially. The fate of the numerous low-income families that live there is uncertain. Other interesting tidbits gleaned from the article include the fact that city water was shut off to the park years ago due to nonpayment (the owner then started to serve his tenants with on-property well-water) and that the county health dept has investigated numerous raw-sewage leaks on the property over the years. Needless to say, we chose to drink bottled water.
Our first order of business was flying out to Mississippi to attend the memorial service for Willie's mom, Anna Lynn Kilpatrick Haynes. She requested a small service for immediate family only, with readings from John 14 and Thanatopsis. 
Willie was able to download a couple of appropriate versions of "Beulah Land", a gospel song that Anna Lynn also requested be performed. Willie's niece Jennifer designed & printed the program, which we will treasure. Brother Kevin White, the minister who so ably assisted us all when Willie's father passed away in 2003, drove in from Arkansas where he now ministers. The range of emotions we both experienced upon seeing him cannot be described. Special thanks also to Sue Horne, our good friend and bridge partner, who took care of our cats while we were away. She interacts with them almost as well as we do, and would call us each evening to report on their antics.
The rest of our stay was spent in the usual rush of visiting friends, doctor appts, vet appts, and a wide array of activities including movies, Cirque de Soleil, playing bridge, Colorado Music Festival, visiting the Boulder Mall, eating out (way too often, as usual), and, in general, overbooking our time.As we got closer to the end of our month's stay, it became obvious that we needed (and wanted!) to stay in the area longer. We inquired whether we could get some sort of prorated rate for 10 more days, but were turned down flat. Their nightly and weekly rates were much too high for such a junky park. We quickly made reservations at St Vrain SP, and were amazed when we could book for ten days in one of our top five spots. We weren't sorry to leave Shady Acres -- the RV section was populated with a horde of undisciplined little urchins, Artful Dodgers, really, who took delight in pilfering anything that wasn't tied down.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:12 PM 
Post a Comment