“Machines Seem to Like Me”

A Visit with Tim Bohl

By

Dale Dauten

“When I was ten years old, I heard my mother complaining about her sewing machine — the Singer she used to make all my sisters’ clothes — saying it didn’t sound right. So one day I decided I’d take it apart. I spread all the parts out on the dining room table, then I cleaned and oiled everything and put it back together. My mother wasn’t too happy about what I’d done until she tried the machine – it sang.”

That’s from Tim Bohl, recounting how he knew early on about what his career would include. He added, smiling, “Machines seem to like me.” And that includes the big machines. Tim got his first truck driving job at age 17, would go on to spend time as a heavy equipment operator, (“There’s nothing with yellow paint I can’t run”) and as a mechanic for Aspen Skiing, working on SnowCats.

Along the way he learned of another gift inside him: the knack for teaching others. He loved teaching rookies how to run heavy equipment and notes that three of the young men he mentored went on to own construction firms. Even so, there was one person he mentored that he considered a natural for running equipment and his most skilled operator, and it’s someone you may have met, The Resort’s Manager, Lynn Bohl.

(Photos: Tim at The Resort’s library, and with Lynn. Also, the photo before the article was taken by Tim.)

Let’s back up and fill in Tim’s life before meeting Lynn…

He grew up in Western Colorado, near Grand Junction, where his dad worked in a generating plant and his mom devoted herself to volunteer work. His high school was small (graduating class of ten), but it featured a shop where he learned to weld and where he made a desk and a boat. After graduation he bought a hundred-dollar car and hit the road, off to Denver and then down to Arizona and to where an uncle lived in Scottsdale. He gave his uncle a call and the trajectory of his life took a turn, his uncle saying, “Come over here right now – I need some help.” Turns out his uncle had bought mining claims near Quartsite and wanted Tim to help with exploratory drilling. That land would eventually yield a gold mine that’s still operating today.

But that mine was years in the future and young Tim wasn’t settling down just yet; no he soon was traveling the western U.S., working as an equipment operator, building roads and doing heavy construction. Nevertheless, he did stop long enough to get married and start a family that grew to three kids. But then life handed him as surprise. As he put it, “My wife decided she didn’t want to be a mom.” Oops. So Tim took over as a single dad.

Eventually, as the kids got to be school-age, Tim decided he needed they needed to be in one school and he settled into a mobile home park back in Colorado, near Aspen. His son had a pal in the mobile home park and one day told Tim that the two had decided to trade bicycles. “I didn’t think it was a fair trade,” Tim recalled, “with the friend getting the short end. So I told them they had to get his mom to OK the plan.” That mom was Lynn.

Recalling those early days with Lynn, Tim smiled and said, “My daughters had reached that age where young girls go stupid on you, and I enjoyed having someone to talk to about raising kids.” And they talked about everything else, Tim adding, “She’s very intelligent, and not just smart but good people.” They married, their blended families living near Rifle, Colorado.

Then, fate coming back around, a friend asked Tim to help him haul equipment to a mine in Alaska. They ended up visiting nearby mines, one turned out to be for sale, and Tim came home to Lynn and announced, “I think we just bought a mine.”

They moved to Alaska, Lynn became an accomplished equipment operator, and the mine began turning out gold. You can see in the photo below the beautiful countryside approaching the mine, with the mine itself located near the lowest point in the mountain range you see in the distance. (If you click on the photo you’ll see a short video.)

That phase of Tim’s life lasted about ten years, a pattern he’s noticed about his life. They ended up back in the lower 48, open as to where to settle. Lynn had a sister in Prescott, so they visited there, and Tim’s sister was taking care of her father-in-law’s place at an RV park in Mesa. Tim visited first and told Lynn, “You gotta see this.” Yes, it was the old Resort magic, and they soon bought a place. Lynn became Manager and Tim became one of the park’s biggest supporters, saying

“You walk around The Resort and people are sitting on their porches or at street parties and everywhere you go you hear laughter — you hear happy people. People who use any excuse to get together and have a nice time. That happens here. We spent some time at The Resort and I thought, I want that for us.”

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: This is our special edition of the newsletter, a combined issue for August and September. We’ll be back October 1^st.

If you’d like to volunteer to be the subject of an article, or have someone you’d like to learn more about, please let me know.

Or, if you have photos you’ll like to share in upcoming newsletters, please send them.

Dale Dauten, Editor

Email: ddauten@gmail.com

Text: 480-297-6244

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