Wrapping up Denver; Contract Day

Saturday was our last full day Denver, and we made the most of it!

The day started out with a breakfast meeting with the owner of Maverick Ranch. We had a verbal agreement on the job situation, from our last visit back in July. We now had to finalize it all and agree on start dates, arrival dates in Denver, areas of responsibilities and benefits (it was going to be a long meeting!)

We were able to nail down all of the specifics. I really ended up with more then I expected coming into the meeting (How often does that happen in today's job market?) Sorry, details are confidential ;) Suffice it to say my broker history and previous success was taken into account as well as relocation cost and transition time for Laura to find a position in Denver, next spring; We'll be well taken care of during the transition from traveling nomad back to "normal" life. Although I've been making the transition from broker to "employee" since July, my official start date is October 2nd. Just in time to be swept off to Baltimore for a Natural Food Products Expo!

After that long meeting, it was off to Stapleton for another long visit with a builder to see if we can nail down a house and move-in date.

Laura and I weighed all the pro's and con's, what we wanted, where we wanted to be, lifestyle, proximity to work and budget. It all led us up to the Stapleton "New Urbanism" development.

I would call us "picky" buyers. We aren't looking for the suburban hell "McMAnsion" surrounded by strip malls, which is all they seem to be building. A mountain home(our original thought), would create too much of a commute and be too far from "stuff". A downtown loft won't work for us, we need a garage for bikes and toys. We are looking for something small and high quality, within a very specific price. The builder we found has everything we are looking for that fits in our budget. We spent some time walking around Stapleton and the weekly Farmers' Market. We talked with residents, vendors and shop owners on the area and it has a great community feel to it! In all the places we've lived, we have never really known our neighbors. That will change at Stapleton as the houses don't face a street, but a central court yard that 4 houses will share. Garages will be in the back of the house. Oh yeah, almost forgot, NO yardwork!!

The builder we are working with has the model we are interested in with completion dates around mid March to mid April. That would be perfect for us. We have to coordinate our move with the arrival of our stuff from Michigan. It looks like we can have the house done, our stuff from Michigan in and waiting for us in time for my April 16, 2007 start date at the Maverick home base! We like that idea much better then living in the motorhome while we search for a place after our arrival next spring. One of the best things about the location, 7 miles to my office, which means I can ride my bike to work on nice days(and Denver has a lot of 'em!).

So, here it is, our little piece of heaven in Denver :) It won't actually start to become a home until early next year. They may try and get the basement dug and poured before the ground freezes.


That little hump you see in the background, behind the equipment, is the western edge of Central Park. When completed, it will be the second largest park in Denver and will have bike path's that should connect directly downtown, 1 block from our home, how great is that :)

After almost a full day of negotiation of one type or another, we were ready for a drink! My boss from Maverick took us to Sushi Den, downtown, as a celebration of our new partnership. It's supposed to be THE place for sushi in Denver. It was probably the best sushi we've had since last year in Santa Barbara!

We can't believe our 2 weeks in Denver is up already! Between looking at houses (over 50), negotiating contracts, working and mixing in a little bit of fun, we were busy all day, everyday. Now its time to make our way to Tucson. We plan to take 2 days to get to Albuquerque, with a Wal-mart stop Sunday night. We'll spend 3 or 4 days in Albuquerque for some much needed R&R before landing in Tucson for our 6 month stays and full-time jobs for both of us!

This stop in Denver was definitely a "mission accomplished" as we were able to finalize everything we needed for a smooth "landing" next year. Ironic, as Stapleton, in its previous life, was Denvers main airport!!

Rich & Laura