The 201703 trip – home

Monday, April 10

As I said in a previous post, our theory was to wait for the winds to die down. Unfortunately, the winds didn’t quite die down in time. The high-wind area was moving east across Colorado and we had to no choice but to drive on through the end of it if we were going to get home on time. We had already pushed the trip one day past what we planned because of the weather.  We had at times up to 28 mph cross winds plus gusts to speeds unknown, but It was exciting, yet still manageable, even with the lousy hitches. We arrived near Topeka, KS at about 8:15PM.  We stayed in Deer Creek Valley RV Park. We were getting in late – but they left our reservations at the office to pick up and a park attendant showed up shortly after we parked. It was a brand new, well laid out, spacious park. No shade of course. The pads were concrete, quite level and way longer than we needed.  The utility pedestals were even lighted.  This was the last stop before home and storage, so we did a quick dump n flush in the morning before we left.

Tuesday, April 11      We made it home safely with no additional “fun”. All glory to god! Left Topeka area a little after 7:30 and got home at 4:30PM. Debbie drove the whole trip of 6375 miles.  It was an interesting test of nerves, patience, trailers and tow vehicles.  I now have a makeshift heater for my water pump compartment.  We will be watching forcast temps a little closer and  disconnecting water hoses if the temp is going south of 40 degrees.  I requested a replacement for the Tire monitor that kept failing on is – and it works fine.  We had issues adding water to the kids trailer fresh water tank – we discovered that the fill and vent hoses, which are connected high up on the side of the water thank, were allowed to hang down to the plastic cover in the sub-basement.  The end result is they would fill up with water, then make it difficult to add water to the tank.  I loaned a wather thief to enable them to get water in – but I don’t like that because you can over-pressure your water tank if you arent careful. After returning, we opened the sub-basement and clamped up the hoses to the bottom of the floor – and the next water fill worked fine.  They got their wonky hitch replaced – then we ordered ProPride P3 hitches for both trailers.

The End

The 201703 trip – Colorado Springs

Saturday, April 8

Garden of the Gods RV
Garden of the Gods RV

We drove from Santa Fe, NM to Colorado Springs. Will stay for 2 days and head home after strong windws & bad storms pass. We got reservations at Garden of the Gods RV Resort in Colorado Springs. It was a nice enough place with full amenities. Our 30 amp electric hookup was wired backwards (thank you Progressive Industries). Fortunately, the 50 amp was fine and I used our adapter to hook up. The sites weren’t as level as the could or should be but we managed. There were deer that wandered through the place at times. It was wedged between the highway and residential neighborhood but was convenient to Garden of the Gods.   We got in early enought, we haded for Garden of the Gods and stopped by the visitor center and went hiking.  Parking was difficult but we found spots in the main lot and hiked around the big rocks. Saw quite a few rock climbers, took lots of pictures.  Then home for supper and a good nights sleep.

 

Garden of the Gods
Garden of the Gods

Sunday, April 9     Went out to say a Pueblo Vievo. Excellent.   It was a nice day, but we Laundry in the morning anyway. Mostly Debbie and Sylvia while I replaced the water pump. I took the old one apart – and the check valve was stuck. I freed it – and it seemed like it would work, so I now have a spare pump.   In the afternoon we headed to Garden of the Gods again and tried to find parking – and it was even worse. Deb, Sylvia and I took a spot and the kids went off to look nearby. Eventually they found a lot in the SE corner and we went there to meet them. Then we all hiked to Balanced Rock and back, then to the store which was nearby. Then we went to find Pueblo Vievo, a restaurant Deb, Sylvia and I had been at 3 years ago – and it was still there and it was great too.  The next day, the winds were supposed to die down……

 

Continued next post.

SaveSave

SaveSave