Monthly Archives: September 2016

Eagle Nest Lake Trail

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Donna hiked to the bakery at Eagle Nest village. She had an interesting early morning hike. The water in the lake was glassy. She took several pictures – I like this one from a high vantage point on the trail looking north toward the village.

Glassy water with reflections of the mountains

Looking at this photo of the trail, you can see the variety of terrain in the area. There’s sage covered flatland favored by the prairie dogs, large meadows with rolling hills, pine covered mountainsides and bare peaks above the tree line.

Terrain varies

Our neighbor told me he spotted elk in the meadow across the lake from us. I’m guessing they are bedded down in the shade of the trees on the mountainside in the afternoon and come out into the meadow in the evening. I haven’t heard any bulls bugling though.

On Donna’s hike she encountered deer – a young buck and a couple of does. She also saw a flock of white pelicans on the lake, but they were too far away to capture a good photo.

Deer by the trail

After breakfast, I had work to do. The night before, while I was watching the Broncos-Panthers NFL game, our generator hour meter turned over 1,000 hours.

Generator panel inside the coach

That meant it was time for service. I like to perform preventive maintenance on a regular schedule. Onan recommends oil and filter changes every 150 hours and air and fuel filter changes every 500 hours. I had a gallon jug of Chevron Delo 400LE 15w-40 oil in the trailer and I had oil, air and fuel filters as well.

I figured it would be best to get the job done here in the park where there aren’t any rules against it. Many private RV parks prohibit working on your rig in the park. Draining the oil is easy, but removing the oil filter is always a chore. It’s hidden behind a trap door, mounted horizontally behind the generator shroud. I can’t see the filter – I have to remove it by feel. Of course, it was too tight to remove by hand. Every time I do this, I tell myself I need to buy a new oil filter wrench. The strap wrench I have is a real pain to fit into the small area where the filter is.

Onan doesn’t make it any easier with their filter design. Most oil filters are dimpled around the cap of the filter housing. This allows a cap-type filter wrench to grip it. The Onan filter is smooth – no dimples for a wrench to grip.

Cummins – Onan oil filter

I wrestled with the oil filter for half an hour before I got it off. Installing the new filter was fairly easy – again I was working blind and had to screw it on by feel. After re-installing the drain plug though, I discovered a problem. The gallon jug of oil I had in the trailer was only half full. I’d forgotten that I used it to top off the oil in our Cummins ISL diesel engine. I needed three quarts of oil for the generator, but I only had two. I carried on and changed the air filter element. The old element did its job well – the intake tract was clean as a whistle.

Old and new air filter elements

I poured the two quarts of oil into the generator, then filled the empty jug with the waste oil. After a quick clean-up, I took the waste oil to recycle and rode the Spyder to the NAPA store in Angel Fire. They didn’t have Delo 400 oil in quart containers, only gallon jugs. I thought I would be paying too much for the oil, but I didn’t have a choice. I got lucky – the gallon of Delo 400LE 15w-40 was on sale and I bought it for $14.00 including tax!

After I returned, I topped off the oil level and fired the generator to check for leaks. Job done and now we’re good for another 150 hours of run time. I didn’t change the fuel filter – I made the mistake of trying that once before and ended up with diesel fuel running down my arms all the way to my shoulders. I’ll have it done next time we have the engine serviced at Speedco.

After cleaning up, I rode my mountain bike over the same trail Donna hiked. I took a picture of the lake from the same high vantage point, but I was looking east across the lake.

View from the trail

I rode to the far side of the village and back – about four miles. The trail was fairly treacherous on a mountain bike – I had to keep a constant watch for prairie dog holes. Some of them were up to a foot in diameter – dropping a front wheel into one of these wouldn’t be fun.

I’ll end this post on a sad note. On September 6th, I lost another friend. Andy Sigler died suddenly and unexpectedly. Andy was the bass player in my friend Gerhard Rauch’s band, Backtrack. I spent many hours in Gerhard’s basement learning songs with Andy, Gerhard and the rest of the band. Andy was truly a kind and gentle person. I can’t recall one instance of him losing his temper or even getting the slightest bit angry at all. I’m glad I had the chance to meet and get to know Andy. I learned about Parrot Heads from him – he was an active member and attended many Parrot Head events. He’ll be missed by many for sure.

I need to get out and do my usual pre-road checks. We’ll kick the tires and light the fires later this morning and head over to Taos, New Mexico for a few nights.

By the way – there’s glitch in the latest WordPress update that’s not allowing e-mail notifications to go through. I’m hoping we can get it fixed soon.

Angel Fire Vietnam Memorial

It’s so quiet and peaceful here at Eagle Nest Lake, we decided to extend our stay two more nights. Donna hiked down to the Six Mile Creek day use area on Wednesday. Later we rode the Spyder to Angel Fire. We had pizza for lunch at the Angel Fired Pizza place and I needed to stop at a hardware store. Google maps showed Lowe’s right next to the pizza restaurant.

Lowe’s turned out to be a local grocery store – Lowe’s grocery. I found a lumberyard that’s also a True Value hardware and bought Gorilla glue for a project I needed to attend to. The support for the hanger pole in our closet broke. There’s a lot of weight on the pole from our clothes and some of the bumps on I-25 were pretty harsh.

Broken hanger pole support

I applied the glue and then screwed it back in place. I added cross screws for additional strength. I hope it holds up. Otherwise I’ll need to redesign the attachment. Our friend Dave Hobden had to rework his – he posted about it at UrbaneEscapeVehicle.

On Thursday morning, we woke to clear blue skies and the promise of a sunny, warmer day. I tried the panorama function on my Samsung Galaxy smart phone in an attempt to capture the beautiful view of the lake.

Panoramic view of Eagle Nest Lake

Here are a couple of signs by the visitor center giving a little information on the area. Click on the photos to enlarge if you wish to read them.

Donna said she thought she heard coyotes yapping in the distance before sunrise. I didn’t hear a thing. The nights are very dark and absolutely silent. I wouldn’t be surprised to find coyotes in the area. There’s an abundance of food sources for them – rabbits and prairie dogs are constantly on the move in the campground.

Ozark the cat amuses herself all day sitting in window sills or on the door step watching the prairie dogs.

Prairie dogs and their holes are everywhere

The park is home to a large prairie dog colony.

In the afternoon we rode the Spyder to Angel FIre. On the way we stopped at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park. This was the first major Vietnam Memorial in the United States. It was started by Victor and Jeanne Westphall after their son, Marine First Lieutenant David Westphall was killed in an ambush along with 15 other soldiers in Vietnam on May 22, 1968.

In the ’60s, Victor and Jeanne purchased the 800-acre Val Verde Ranch and intended to open a resort. After David was killed, they built a chapel dedicated to his memory instead. This grew into a five-acre memorial site. Over the years, they sold off the ranch land to fund the memorial, which Victor mostly built himself. The chapel was completed in 1971.

Amphitheater behind the chapel

The memorial is now operated as a state park and is open year-round with no admission charge. It’s the only Vietnam Memorial State Park in the country. In 2014, New Mexico governor Susana Martinez announced the addition of 10 acres of adjoining land south of the chapel had been donated and is designated to become a rural veteran’s cemetery built to federal standards.

Sculpture of a soldier penning a letter

One of the most widely recognized aircraft of the Vietnam War era was the Bell Iroquois UH-1 helicopter – popularly known as the Huey. In 1999, the New Mexico National Guard brought a Huey to the memorial. This Huey served with the 121st AHC and is maintained by current and retired Guardsmen.

Bell UH-1 “Huey”

From the high ground of the memorial, I could see the runway at the Angel Fire airport. I was struck by the length of the runway – you don’t see runways this long at most small general aviation airports. Then it occurred to me – Angel Fire is 8,400 feet above sea level. On a hot summer day, the density altitude could easily exceed 10,000 feet. It takes a lot of airspeed to generate enough lift to take-off in this thin atmosphere. That means a long take-off run before the plane can rotate and also means touching down at high speed when landing. Thus the long runway.

That’s a long runway

We continued on to town and found the Enchanted Circle Brewing Company.

Angel Fire is a town of only about 1,200 full-time residents. But it’s a popular winter ski resort and has over 500 acres of ski slopes. Its mild summer climate brings mountain bikers and hikers, golfers and hunters come to the area in the fall. Hopefully this brings enough customers for the 20-barrel brewery with a 50-seat tasting room. The brewery opened in April of this year. The owners had the vision and built the place, then they advertised for a brewmaster! That’s right, they built it then they hired a brewmaster to create the beers.

We found their beers to be very good. I had a few small samplers then settled on the Glory Hole IPA. Donna had a plum sour then had a pint of stout.

Beers on tap

Donna had tempura battered veggies and I ordered hand cut fries with house made tartar sauce to go with the beer. It was worth the ride to town.

Today looks like another beautiful day with clear blue skies. Donna headed out at 7:30am and walked along the lake trail to the Eagle Nest village. She bought pastries at the bakery there and just returned with them, so I guess it’s time for breakfast.

Site 16 at Eagle Nest Lake

We’ll spend one more night here, then move on to Taos, New Mexico tomorrow.

Eagle Nest Lake

We got a late start leaving the Elks Lodge in Colorado Springs. Donna wanted to go for a run in the morning. While she was out I puttered around and cleaned the HWH hydraulic leveling jack rams with WD-40. By the time we filled the fresh water tank and dumped and flushed the holding tanks, it was after 11am.

Our first stop was just a few miles down I-25 at the Walmart where I picked a couple of cases of drinking water and Donna bought a few groceries. Then we hit the road in earnest. A few miles down the interstate – near the field where Brad landed the Heart’s A’Fire on Saturday at the Mesa Ridge exit, there was a bad accident blocking the northbound lanes. It was a visual reminder to be alert and drive defensively. A smashed car was being loaded onto a flat-bed truck and a high-cube type delivery truck was lying on its side across the lanes. Traffic was completely stopped as the State Patrol directed all northbound traffic onto the off-ramp.

We’d decided to head down to the Cimarron Canyon area in New Mexico. Our route took us down I-25 about 160 miles to the New Mexico border at Raton Pass. This pass is part of the old Santa Fe Trail in the eastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains and has an elevation of 7,834 feet above sea level. On the south side of the pass, we encountered rain.

We stopped in Raton for fuel at a small truck stop. The pumps weren’t the high speed nozzles I’ve become accustomed to at Pilot/Flying J. It was just a standard automobile type and it took about 20 minutes to pump 63 gallons of fuel. I can usually fill up in five minutes or less using two high-speed nozzles.

About 10 miles south of there, we left I-25 and hit US64. This took us past the NRA Whittington Center and through the town of Cimarron. Donna found sites at Cimarron Canyon State Park that appeared to be big enough for our rig. She phoned the ranger and he told us we should check out the first campground – it had the longest sites. The State Park system here uses Reserve America for its reservation system. One of the issues I have with Reserve America is it doesn’t allow you reserve on the same day as you arrive – you must make reservations in advance.

Not all of the sites in New Mexico State Parks are reservable though. They keep a number of sites in each park available for what they call “walk-ups.” We were counting on snagging one of these. Since it was day after Labor Day, we expected most of the campers would have gone back to their workaday lives.

Before we got to Cimarron Canyon State Park, Donna found another park about 10 miles further down US64. It was called Eagle Nest Lake State Park. She hadn’t seen this park before and it isn’t listed on our Rand-McNally RV GPS. We decided to take a look at Cimarron Canyon, then proceed to Eagle Nest Lake and make our choice. Eagle Nest Lake sounded good – long pull-through sites with lake views.

The sites at Cimarron Canyon weren’t too appealing. So we continued on to Eagle Nest Lake (map). The entrance to the state park has a visitor center and a self-serve kiosk for day use and camping. At the stop sign, the sign above the kiosk warns not to enter the park without paying first. Here’s the thing – the self-serve kiosk at the entrance is about a mile from the campground. When you fill out the self-serve form, you’re supposed to enclose cash or check and drop it into a lock-box. So far, so good.

I filled out the form, then the last blank said to enter your site number. What? How could I know my site number if the campground is a mile away? Even if I’d been here before and knew what site I wanted, how could I know if it was open or if another “walk-up” had already taken it? The visitor center was closed, so we drove to the campground and made a couple of loops to check the sites out. We decided on site 16 – a 62-foot-long curved pull-through that easily fit our 64 foot rig. It also has our door facing the lake. Nice.

I drove back to the park entrance, Donna wrote our site number on the form and dropped it in the box. We paid for two nights but will likely extend. Campers are allowed up to 14 nights before they have to leave the park for a minimum of one week. We’re dry camped – there aren’t any hook-ups here. The cost is $10/night and they have a fresh water fill station that we’ll hit when we leave.

We’re at an elevation of 8,215 feet above sea level, so It’s a lot cooler here. Plus light rain was still falling when we arrived so we didn’t get to explore.

Sunset at Eagle Nest Lake

Overnight the temperature dropped to the 40s and we were comfortable under our down comforter and blankets. It’s totally quiet here – almost eerily quiet after spending the past week in a city. I’m loving the change of pace.

This morning, it’s about 60 degrees as I type this at 10am. The expected high is 72 degrees with partly cloudy skies.

Lake view from our site

Another view from our site

The camera perspective doesn’t do justice to our view. It’s a beautiful spot. Eagle Nest Lake has a small village a few miles from the campground. We plan to take the Spyder out and look the place over. At some point, we’ll head west on the Spyder about 30 miles to check out Taos, New Mexico.

Donna Sails Water and Wind

After watching the Moto GP race and napping Sunday afternoon, Donna made beef ragu over spaghetti squash for dinner. We had hit the hotel pool briefly before dinner and got the scoop on the night’s social event. Someone in the group – it seems like there’s a little controversy over how it came about – secured a reserved conference room on the third floor of the hotel for a round of Cards Against Humanity and other nonsense. We were in – we came back around 8:15pm to see what was up.

We found the conference room and the party was already rocking. After an hour and a half of this crazy game and adult beverages, I was feeling like I needed to bow out. Nothing good would come from the lack of sleep, physical work and abundance of adult beverages I partook in. I loudly announced it was time for me to hit the sack and found my way home. Donna soldiered on for another hour before the game ended, then she joined me. We hear things got interesting after that.

I slept like a rock until the alarm woke me at 5am. I got up and fired up the generator and started the Keurig coffee maker. Donna was up as well – she needed to ride to Memorial Park with me and the crew this morning as she was invited to take a balloon ride today.

At the park, we started with the morning pilot’s briefing as usual – Donna hadn’t been to this before. She discovered the pilot’s briefing includes donuts, bagels and coffee. The briefing was all positive and the weather outlook was good.

We walked back to our launch area, then stood around while our pilot, Brad, sussed out the wind conditions. The weather forecast at the morning pilot briefing has been suspect at best – in fact they were 100% wrong so far. Brad made the decision on how we would orient the envelope and we started laying out the equipment. Once again, we had a large crowd of spectators.

Crowd of spectators in our launch area

I don’t mean to brag, but I should add a footnote here. Our pilot, Brad, and the Heart’s A’fire balloon own a great advantage. We have a dedicated crew that works together, knows what needs to be done and how to do it, and each of us collectively take our stations in turn and get the job done. Many visiting pilots rely on volunteer crews that have never worked together or maybe never crewed a balloon before. Props to these volunteers – they’re needed and much appreciated by the ballooning community. But this scenario means the pilot must direct each step of the operation and double check all of the work. Of course, Brad inspects all of the critical work, but he’s in a position where he can work on public relations and think about the upcoming flight knowing his crew will have things ready. I’m proud to be part of this crew.

We set the equipment out and started the Honda gasoline powered fan to inflate the envelope. I take the left side (viewed from the basket) and Daren takes the right side. We have to hold the throat of the envelope open so the balloon can inflate. We also have to keep the balloon stabilized so it doesn’t start rolling from one side to the other as it inflates. The sponsor banner makes this difficult because it’s heavy and wants to roll to the ground.

As the balloon inflated, the ground wind kicked up. It was variable – coming from the west, then north and then northeast. As the balloon filled with cold air, the wind was trying to roll it away from me. I usually invite photographers and people with children to step up next to me during this phase so they can have a look up inside the balloon as it fills. Today it was spectacular as the top of the balloon has a heart that was backlit by the morning sun. I do this due to following Brad’s lead – he’s a huge ambassador for ballooning and encourages spectators to get up close and get excited.

I was soon unable to even think about the spectators as the wind tried to roll the envelope away from me. I spent the next 30 minutes wrestling the ropes to keep it from rolling over as we cold-filled the balloon with the fan – it was far more difficult than I’ve experienced.

Then Brad decided to fire up the burners and heat 90,000 cubic feet of air. We got the balloon upright. The next 45 minutes were agony for me. Brad kept the balloon inflated with bursts of flame, but it was just another static display. The winds aloft had a shear that would take the balloons north-northwest to restricted air or over the Gardens of the Gods. Sending 60 hot air balloons into restricted air space was a no-go and trying to land in the rocky Garden of the Gods would be a disaster.

Brad has the right temperament for a hot air balloon pilot. He was patient and kept the envelope inflated while I kept my weight on the basket rim. He said, “It’s better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.” Finally Brad told Donna to get in the basket. Balloons were launching. We’d burned a lot of fuel by then, making the flight decisions more critical.

The launch controller came to our site and directed us out. Brad added heat to the balloon and the basket got light. We walked it out 20 yards while Brad hit the burners and they were off!

Donna’s launch

Donna had a real treat. They flew over the ridge and trees, then descended into the lake at the park. Brad expertly dropped the balloon and had the basket floor two inches under water while Donna hoisted herself on the basket rim. They sailed the length of the lake – the balloon acting as a sail while the basket skimmed along. Then Brad hit the burners and they climbed above Colorado Springs. The winds aloft carried them to the northeast. I wish I could’ve captured a photo of the dunk in the lake, but we were dealing with crowds of spectators as we tried to follow in the chase rig.

After a while, we saw them descending back toward the park. Brad read the wind perfectly and had them on track to land near where they launched. By then, though, we were on the wrong side of the park and would have to run the gauntlet through spectators again to get to where they would land.

When Yonnie stopped the vehicle for spectators, I bailed out of the truck and said I would run to the landing zone. It was a little over half a mile, but I got there well before the vehicle could make it. The balloon was already down without incident. But here’s the thing – when I signed on to be a crew member, I felt it also meant I took on a responsibility. Every time that balloon goes up on my watch, I need to do everything in my power to make sure it and its occupants land safely.

Donna at the landing site

The bummer is Donna’s smartphone. After take-off, it froze. The camera wouldn’t work. She had opportunities for fantastic shots as they sailed the water with reflections of balloons on the lake surface, but it wouldn’t cooperate and she was too taken in by the sights to mess with her phone/camera. I don’t blame her, but it was a bummer nonetheless.

Back at the hotel we said our goodbyes – until we meet again soon in Albuquerque. They were all looking forward to a night back at home in their own beds – that’s an advantage we enjoy. We’ve been home in our own beds the whole time and will be in Albuquerque as well.

We moved back to the Elks Lodge and need to figure out where we’re going next.

Labor Day Lift Off

Our main reason for coming to Colorado Springs was the Labor Day Lift Off hot air balloon event. It was an opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with Brad and Jessica Rice and their family and some of the other crew members for their Heart’s A’Fire hot air balloon team. I looked at it as kind of a pre-season opportunity to get back in the game ahead of the big event – the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

The Labor Day Lift Off in Colorado Springs is celebrating its 40th annual event. Although the number of balloons participating pales in comparison to Albuquerque – about 70 balloons here versus more than 500 balloons there – the event is well-run and draws large crowds of spectators. The organizers fill an area of Memorial Park with vendors and also bring in a mobile kids’ amusement park.

On Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed at 5am and prepared to go to work. I met Brad, Yonnie, Darin and Aaron at Brad’s rig. We would be the main crew for Brad. We rolled out to the same area of the park where we set up the static balloon display on Friday. Our stall was marked E2 on the site map, but it wasn’t clearly marked at the field. Brad had an app on his smartphone from the organizers that utilized the GPS function to pinpoint our spot. We were in the right area but it still wasn’t clear which way to orient everything for set up. Looking around, it seemed everyone was in the same boat and we saw what appeared to be a haphazard approach around us.

Sunrise at the pilot’s briefing

After the pilot’s briefing, we quickly set up and inflated the Heart’s A’Fire balloon. Brad had two passengers from his event sponsor, Xfinity. We were in the first wave of balloons. They had divided the participants into two groups. On Saturday morning our group went first and on Sunday we would go in the second wave. The launch official had us release soon after we were inflated.

Another successful launch

We piled into the chase vehicle and slowly made our way through the crowds of people and onto the city streets. Navigating around Colorado Springs is challenging. None of us were intimately familiar with the roads. I was using the map app on my phone as we watched the direction the balloon was heading. The wind speeds were much higher than anticipated and the balloon was heading south.

We thought we knew where it was going, so I navigated us to a commercial area where the road ended by a Camping World store. I was hoping we could find a dirt road to get us into the pasture where we thought they would go. No such luck. There was a dirt road but it immediately crossed a ravine with steep sides that were too much for us to pull the trailer through.

After radio communication with Brad, we hit I-25 northbound and pulled off to the shoulder. We could see a number of balloons in the cow field to the east. It was rough terrain and also had a sturdy barbed-wire fence. I wriggled through the fence and trotted down into the field. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay. I saw Brad walking toward the fence. I continued past him and found the balloon and confirmed both passengers were fine. As I looked around, I could see this wasn’t going to be an easy extraction.

Rough pasture landing area

I saw a balloon with a pilot and two passengers approaching the landing. They had to come in high enough to clear power lines to the north, then quickly drop – only to find a steep ravine that had to be cleared before they could set down. The ground wind had picked up and I could visibly see their balloon pick up pace during the last twenty feet of descent. I ran hard and caught their basket when it was about two feet off of the ground. It was moving fast. The initial ground contact resulted in a bounce that threw me off. I scrambled and jumped and grabbed on again, expecting a rough ride. Just then Aaron appeared and grabbed the basket right next to me and we pulled it to the ground.

The basket was stopped but the wind blew the balloon until it was pulling the basket past the tipping point. I warned the passengers to keep their hands in as it tipped on its side. No harm done. They were safely on the ground. Eventually 13 balloons ended up in this field. It wasn’t an easy landing for anyone, but there were few alternatives.

We set about disassembling the Heart’s A’Fire to a greater degree than usual. We removed the three propane tanks in preparation of packing everything back to the rig at the side of the interstate. Luckily, about then, a local person who knew Brad and crew drove up in a Jeep. We were able to load the envelope, tanks and other hardware in the Jeep and she drove out to the trailer. While the rest of the crew unloaded the Jeep and packed the gear in the trailer, Brad enlisted his two passengers and the four of us started carrying the basket out of the field. It was laborious to say the least, but we got it done and it was time to tailgate.

Back at the park, tables, chairs and easy-up canopies were taken out and set up. Yonnie, Darin and Aaron manned the grills. They made a pile of fixin’s for breakfast burritos. We had eggs, sausage, bacon, hash brown potatoes, grilled tortillas and condiments galore.

Aaron and Yonnie at the grills

A burrito and a couple of cold beers at 10:30am made the physical labor of extracting the balloon soon forgotten. We were home by 1pm and I was ready for a nap. Donna went to the hotel swimming pool. I ended up taking a dip in the pool around 4pm, then I had to start thinking about the evening event.

Heart’s A’Fire was participating in the evening glow. The evening glow is where the hot air balloons are set up by sundown and provide a static display. When the pilot hits the burners, the balloons glow like a lamp shade. It can be spectacular and a huge crowd came to the park. About half of the registered balloons took part Saturday night, the other half will participate on Sunday night.

Of course a static display entails all of the same steps as a flight, minus the launch and chase. The set-up and tear-down are the same amount of work as always. The workload got higher as the wind started blowing harder than forecast, making it difficult to control the balloon and keep the basket from tipping. It’s physically demanding work to put your weight on the rim of the basket to keep it from rising or tipping. I was too busy to shoot any photos – but here’s one from Albuquerque last year.

Glow photo from last year

The spectators mostly seemed oblivious to anything other than watching the balloons light up. Our balloon was near the tipping point and Brad decided it was best to deflate before things got any worse. As the envelope was collapsing, people continued to crowd around and walk right through the area where the envelope would land. I was yelling, “It’s coming down!” repeatedly as I struggled to keep the basket under control. Aaron and Yonnie were manning the crown line and we had to enlist a couple of spectators to add their weight by putting their hands on the basket as it was more than Darin and I could do. When the envelope deflated, we had to remove a few things from under the envelope like a stroller and backpack that someone had left on the grass in our area. We packed with headlamps on our caps.

I was exhausted by the time we came home. After a nightcap, I zonked out until the alarm had me rolling over at 5am again.

The weather forecast was much nicer for Sunday. After the pilot’s briefing, we were moved to a different launch site. Today, Brad would be the hare pilot for the hare-n-hound event. This meant that Heart’s A’Fire would be the first balloon released in the second wave. Brad’s task was to carry a target, set his balloon down in an appropriate area and the other balloons would chase him. After he set the balloon down, one of the crew would take the large vinyl “X” and place in the open. The other balloonists would drop a bean bag and judges would measure for the closest “hit.”

Once again, the park was filled with crowds of spectators.

Large crowds at he park

We launched with two passengers aboard – a woman who’s apparently involved in the sport and her five-year-old daughter. They had a nice flight. They went up high and moved to the northwest, then dropped down and changed direction bringing them back toward the park.

We were able to watch most of the flight from the chase vehicle and made it to their landing zone just before they arrived. Aaron, Darin, Yonnie and I converged on the basket and set it down gently on the grass as it floated by. Perfect! Aaron quickly set up the target.

Soon balloons were passing overhead and the pilots were throwing their bean bags with streamers at the target. We had to educate a few spectators that were standing and talking near the target completely unaware that bean bags could land on their head if the weren’t watchful.

Balloons coming in over the target

We were packed up early and ready to tailgate by 10am. There were brats on the grill this morning plus tables full of side dishes. We were back home by noon. I’ll relax for the rest of the day and watch the Moto GP race from Silverstone, England. Tomorrow we do it one more time, then we’ll move back to the Elks Lodge in the afternoon and ponder our next move.

Expensive Dry-Camping

We hit the dump station and dumped our holding tanks at the Elks Lodge plus refilled our fresh water by noon on Thursday. We drove about 10 miles to the Hotel Elegante and claimed the dry camping spot we’d reconnoitered the day before. Once we got the coach and trailer lined up, Donna mentioned the Burlington – Northern – Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad vehicles in the lot and wondered aloud if we weren’t off the hotel property. So before I put the jacks down and slides out, I went to the lobby to make sure we were in the right spot.

At the reception desk, I explained why we were here and where we parked our rig. The girl at the counter seemed a little confused and asked me to wait while she consulted the manager on duty. The manager came out and was very polite and helpful. She told me we were indeed on hotel property and the BNSF vehicles park on the property as crews often change there and utilize the hotel.

Then she went on to explain that as guests on the property staying in a self-contained RV we wouldn’t be supplied with hook-ups and weren’t allowed to dump any wastewater. I told her I understood this and we had sufficient capacity for the weekend. Then she told me would have access to all hotel amenities including pools, restaurants, business center, etc., but here’s the rub. My original inquiry six weeks ago said it would entail a charge of $35 for the weekend. Now I was told that was incorrect – we would have all the extras of a guest minus the room charge – nominally $159/night – for $35/night. What?! For dry camping in a dirt lot behind the hotel?

This meant our $35 Labor Day weekend just became a $140+ Labor Day weekend. What could I do? We had no plan “B.” So I paid the fee and was issued a pass to display on the coach and key cards for access to the hotel, fitness centers and pools.

Rear of the Hotel Elegante Conference and Event Center

We set up our rig to get comfortable for the next four nights while we crewed at the Labor Day Lift-Off hot air balloon event.

Our location for the next four nights

I have to to be glad we arrived early. A few other rigs pulled in that afternoon and pulled out after seeing we had occupied the primo spot. The pilot for the Heart’s A’Fire hot air balloon, Brad Rice, stopped by with his youngest son Jack along with long-time friends and crew members Yonny and Ruth around 6pm. We gave them a coach tour and had a brew together while we discussed Friday’s plan. Friday was media day and Brad expected six to eight balloons at the park to go up and promote the event. We would participate.

After they left, a car hauler with two BNSF crew vans pulled in next to us. I saw the driver and co-driver unload the crew vans, then load similar crew vans. This had me curious. After a while the two drivers – a man and a woman – stood outside their truck smoking and talking. I went out to say hi and ask what the deal was. Turns out that BNSF bases maintenance crews here just as I was told at the hotel. The crew that had been working here was now assigned to a job in Bakersfield, California and would be replaced by a crew out of Texas. The vehicles they brought in were assigned to the Texas crew and the vehicles they were taking were assigned to the crew here and now needed to be in Bakersfield. Each crew is responsible for all of their gear, including vehicles and BNSF moves the vehicles every time they rotate the crew. Interesting – I guess the bean counters at BNSF have figured this is the best stop-loss method although it creates a logistical expense.

I set my phone for a 5:10am wake-up. I slept fitfully once again but woke up feeling better than I had all week about five minutes ahead of my alarm. I met up with the rest of the crew at 5:45am and we rolled out.

At the launch site, it was as Brad anticipated – there were six or seven teams setting up plus us. It was way different than the Albuquerque Fiesta for sure. Also, we didn’t have as many crew members. Thankfully I was feeling back up to par and had no issues with the heavy lifting. It took me a minute or two to remember the sequence of steps to prepare the balloon and I also took on a couple of tasks I hadn’t performed before.

Laying the balloon envelope out

We had to attach a different sponsor banner for this event – it’s the Heart’s A’Fire Xfinity hot air balloon.

Securing the sponsor banner

Unfortunately we had a low overcast ceiling – below FAA limits for flight. We went through all of the steps for flight but everyone remained tethered with crew hands on the basket for display. After about an hour of this for the media to get their photo ops, we deflated and packed everything away. A lot of work for little reward, but the promotional value was there.

This weekend’s forecast looks very promising. If the event follows last year’s result, we can expect 140,000+ spectators at Memorial Park and more than 50 balloons. Since my crewing schedule means I actually have to get out of bed and be somewhere to do something, my posting times will be disrupted and off schedule for the rest of the weekend.

Bad Dry-Camping Etiquette

Life on the road can be full of fun and adventure, but’s that’s not always the case. Maybe I’m just being grumpy, but I won’t sugarcoat yesterday’s misadventures. We woke up to blue skies and the promise of a better weather day here in Colorado Springs. I still wasn’t feeling 100%. I have a cough left over from the bug I picked up and each time I cough, it sets a pounding headache for a few minutes.

I unloaded the Spyder. Our neighbor was checking the tire pressure on his Airstream travel trailer and found a tire with very low pressure. He asked me if I could locate a Goodyear dealer as he didn’t have wifi access. I found one three miles down the road. Then I looked the map over and found a route to the Hotel Elegante. That would be our first stop – a reconnoitering run before we move our rig there. From there, I looked at what appeared to be an easy route to Manitou Springs where we could do some touristy stuff. I wasn’t up for hiking Garden of the Gods which was the other option we considered.

Instead of jumping on I-25, I took the back way to the hotel down Las Vegas Street. I was looking for Janitell Road which would take me right to the hotel. Somehow I missed it. Then I was looking for Lake Avenue, not knowing it was called Circle Drive where it crosses Las Vegas Street. This changing of road names with no apparent logic would continue to get me. I ended up going way too far south and had to circle back until I found Lake Avenue west of the hotel.

We found the area where we’ll be allowed to park and scoped out our choices for a site. I also confirmed with the hotel registration desk – they told me I would just have to pay $35 for a pass and we would be good for Thursday through Tuesday.

When I checked out the route from the hotel to Manitou Springs, it looked pretty straight forward. Follow Lake Avenue west, then go north on Cresta to US24. Well, I should have looked at more detail. When Lake Avenue reaches the Broadmoor Resort, there is a series of roundabouts. In each roundabout, I encountered drivers that didn’t know how drive them. The rule is, the vehicle in the traffic circle always has the right of way and should keep moving. The vehicle entering the traffic circle must yield until there is a sufficient break to enter. I had drivers coming to a stop in the roundabout to let me or other vehicles enter, throwing the whole thing into chaos.

Anyway, at the first roundabout, I took the first right to stay on Lake Avenue. But it wasn’t Lake Avenue, it was called Lake Circle. The next roundabout didn’t have an exit for Lake anything. There were two choices – Mesa or Mesa. I took the second Mesa and 300 yards later the road name changed to Park Avenue. I was confused. Another few hundred yards and now the road was called El Pomar. El Pomar hit Penrose at a T-intersection. I turned right on Penrose and the next thing I saw was a sign calling it Mesa Avenue! I tried to visualize the route in my head and use dead reckoning. This didn’t work so well as many of the roads go into box canyons with no exit.

We finally backtracked after looking at Google Maps on my phone and tried the other Mesa Avenue – we’d been on few roads called that by now with no sense of logic to it. Suddenly I was on Cresta. Yay! But then I missed US24 – just spaced it out. We ended up in Old Colorado City where I took the main drag – Colorado Avenue northeast. This was the right direction. After a while, Colorado Avenue became Manitou Avenue Business Route 24 and we found our destination.

Manitou Springs is a lively old west town. The main street had many shops, restaurants and pubs. There are also nice city parks and alleyways with merchants. We walked the main street and checked out menus and settled on a Mediterranean diner. I wasn’t feeling up to par. I ordered a Gyro but could only eat half of it. It was a little dry and could’ve used more tzatziki sauce.

Manitou Springs

The walk through town was taking a lot of effort for me. I hope I regain my strength – I’m due to start crewing for the Heart’s A’Fire hot air balloon on Friday.

Homes on the southwest side of town are terraced into the mountain side with steep entries

Fountain Creek runs next to the sidewalk at Soda Springs Park

We decided to head home after lunch. I had a much easier time finding my way home. We made a stop so Donna could buy some gardening tape to help support her tomato plant. When we pulled back into the Elks’ Lodge, I could hardly believe what I saw.

While we were out, someone decided to set up their travel trailer. Fine. There is lots of open space in the back lot.

Lots of open space

More open space

But this guy decided he needed to be in the area right next to our door. He set up his travel trailer so were facing door-to-door ten feet apart. I could understand it if the lot was full, but he had a ton of space to choose from.

Our new neighbor

This is what you call bad dry-camping etiquette.

Our new doorstep view

They weren’t here when we arrived and didn’t come home until 10pm when they fired up their generator and set out a grill and chairs. We’re pulling out this morning anyway, but I have to say some people have no sense at all.

Donna went for a bike ride while I took an afternoon nap and by chance met a guy who works for the parks commission and is an advocate for the bikeways in Colorado Springs. He was on his way to a meeting on his Tern folding bike with panniers. He apologized for lack of signage on the trails and pointed out recent improvements as they rode together for about 20 minutes.

I met with an insurance adjuster at 4pm. He was a nice guy and knowledgeable enough to see this was more than a cosmetic issue resulting from the deer colliding with our coach. I was happy to hear that as I was concerned that the insurance may try to downplay the issues. We’ll have to continue to work out how we’re going to get the fiberglass siding on the living room slide repaired.

It’s time to start packing the trailer so we can move on to the Hotel Elegante today.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Monthly Archives: September 2016

Eagle Nest Lake Trail

Angel Fire Vietnam Memorial

Eagle Nest Lake

Donna Sails Water and Wind

Labor Day Lift Off

Expensive Dry-Camping

Bad Dry-Camping Etiquette

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