Yesterday we had a wintry blast (by desert standards). The thermometer never reached 60 degrees! It was cloudy and cool all day. Donna went out to run and I took a hike around the campground.

When I returned, there was a silver Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck parked next to our coach. It was Mark and Emily Fagan’s rig, but they weren’t here. Donna had returned from her run and told me she didn’t know where they were. A few minutes later, Emily appeared at our site. They had read my blog and decided to come over and use the showers. They’re dry camping at Phon D Sutton and their gray water tank is getting full.

Mark walked up a few minutes later. He said he had hot water for his shower! That’s not what I experienced the day before. Emily said her shower water was tepid. I guess it’s hit or miss on the hot water here at Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Mark offered to take me to the grocery store in his truck. Mark, Emily and I went to Basha’s on Brown Road while Donna stayed home to get some work done. I was able to shop freely without regard to how much stuff I would have to haul home since I wasn’t on the scooter. I stocked up on drinking water and a list of items Donna gave me.

While we were there, I showed Mark the dump station at the Chevron station on the corner of Ellsworth and Brown Road. This station is spacious and easily accessed. It only costs five bucks to use. Mark was thinking about coming to Usery Mountain Regional Park to dump, but he would have to pay $10. And accessing the dump station here isn’t easy unless you drive all the way around the park to access it as you exit. I mentioned this before. I didn’t stop to dump our holding tanks on the way in because of the difficult access. The last time we dumped was 9 days before we entered the park, but I’m not worried about it. We have large capacity holding tanks in the Alpine Coach, 100 gallons of gray water and 89 gallons of black. I’ll hit the dump station on the way out on Thursday.

I took some photos of the Usery Mountain Regional Park (UMRP) dump station to illustrate my concerns. As you drive into the Buckhorn Family Campground, the dump station is on the right side of the road. RVs generally have the waste water drains and valves on the driver’s side. This means you want to have the dump station on the driver’s side. The UMRP dump station is situated on an island with two hook-ups. Coming into the park, you need to position your RV on the right side of the island.

Sharp, tight right turn to position the RV on the right side of the dump station

Once you make the sharp right to enter, you need to follow the curved pavement to the left.

Not much room for an overall length of 56 feet

I would have to start the turn to the left to exit before I could align my coach with the dump station.

The sewer access is at the concrete pad

The exit is tight. It would require a hard left turn. I would have to drive the coach to the edge of the pavement before I started the left turn to avoid hitting the curbing with my left rear wheel or trailer wheel. Then I would have to turn full lock to the left. The distance from my rear axle to the rear cap of the coach is 11 feet. When turning, the coach pivots around the inside rear wheel. This makes the rear end of the coach swing out in the opposite direction of the turn. Our coach will swing out almost three feet at the rear on a sharp turn. The tree on the right side of the pavement is a concern – the rear of the coach might swing into the tree.

Tight exit

When we leave the UMRP, the dump station will be on our left. All I need to do is cross over to the left and pull up parallel to the island. No drama at all.

Easy access from this direction

I can leave adequate space from the pole on the island so I don’t have any worries about swing out.

After I shot these photos, I took a stroll around the park. I saw a nicely restored GMC motorhome. These coaches were built by General Motors from 1973 to 1978. They were a radical departure from motorhomes of the day (or even today). They were low profile, aerodynamic designs and featured front-wheel drive. They were built in lengths of 23′ and 26′ and used 455 cubic inch Oldsmobile gasoline engines. There are several owner groups and clubs for GMC owners and enthusiasts. Maybe I can chat with the owner of this one sometime.

Beautifully restored GMC motorhome from the 70s

Later, I rode over to the Red, White and Brew to have a cold one and drop off our NetFlix discs in the mailbox next to the Brew. When I rode back home, I was cold. I was happy to see that Donna had the heat pumps running. She’s still learning the systems on this coach. I wasn’t sure if she knew how to fire up the heat pumps.

Today, I need to make another run to the Fluff N Clean Laundromat. I also want to take a hike on the nature trail here in the park and photograph some of the native flora. Donna is going out to lunch and to shop with her friend, Lana.