It’s hard to believe it’s Labor Day 2018. The year has flown by – paradoxically, when I think back to when we left Arizona in the spring and all we’ve seen and done since then, it seems like a long time has passed. I’ve mentioned this warped sense of time on the road before.

On Friday morning, Zee the camp host stopped by to talk to a few of us. She was anticipating a lot of visitors and traffic at the lodge over the weekend – there were a couple of events planned. She wanted to shuffle all of the big rigs to the south end of the lot. A Monaco Windsor belonging to Ken was behind us. He was waiting for a rig to pull out of one of the hook-up sites so he could move there. Once he did that, I would back our rig into the space he previously occupied. Our neighbor Marvin would move his Country Coach and trailer bedside us. We had a plan, we just needed to wait for the site to open up so all of the dominoes could fall in place.

Donna went for a walk and when she returned she told me there was a fly in the ointment. Someone had dropped their trailer right behind us. I saw them pull in, but didn’t pay much attention. I knew they left only a few minutes before Donna returned. I went outside to look and saw they parked so close I couldn’t even load the Spyder if I needed to.

Blocked in

They had dropped their travel trailer, locked it up, then put cones in the parking spots around it so no one would block them in and left. One of the cones had a phone number on it. I phoned and a woman answered. I told her what the problem was and we needed them to move their trailer. She was short  in her answer – it was around 1pm and she said they would be back at 5pm.

Later I saw Zee and told her why I wasn’t moving yet. She said she had told the woman to park alongside the Windsor, not between us.  When the trailer owner returned at 5:30pm, she was nasty and yelled at Donna telling her I was the “biggest a$$hole around.” Donna calmly asked her if she was trying for second place. Anyway, they moved and we all got situated.

Earlier, my friend Dave Hobden offered his Indian Chieftain for a test ride. I took him up on it. I took a short ride up to Palmer Park and back. What a nice motorcycle. I’ve only had one cruiser style bike – a Victory Vegas – but I’ve ridden several. This Indian is by far the best of the bunch I’ve ridden.

I put on a helmet before I hit the road (Dave Hobden photo)

On Friday night, our neighbors Corliss and Marvin Delameter told me they had a problem. They planned to leave Saturday but an intermittent electrical problem wouldn’t allow them to start the engine. It started once, but when Marvin turned on the dash ventilation, it killed the motor and then he had no electrical power. He cleaned his battery posts and connectors, but it was dark by the time I talked to him. The camp host told him that mobile RV technicians were in short supply and he would probably have to wait a couple of weeks for service. I told him I would stop by and have a look in the morning.

It turned to be a real head scratcher.  Dave Hobden came over and offered his assistance as well. It’s always good to have another set of eyes and a different perspective on a tough problem. A couple of factors complicated the troubleshooting. First, it turned out to be more than one problem. Secondly, the schematic in the Country Coach manual was misleading. The wiring harness color codes on the schematic didn’t match the actual wiring, making it difficult to sort out. After chasing our tails for a while, we found the ignition switch was faulty. Testing it showed inconsistent resistance. It would vary from 0.5 ohms to 12 ohms. So we replaced the switch – it’s a standard GM style switch. The engine fired right up. Then we turned on the dash vent. It died and we were back at square one.

Assume the position (Dave Hobden photo)

Eventually I found a faulty solenoid that supplies power to the ignition fuse panel. The strange thing was, the solenoid would click every time the key was turned to the run position which seemed to indicate it was working. But, internally the contacts were compromised and would only pass current intermittently and once it was working, any additional electrical load would make it break contact. I replaced the solenoid and all was good. All together we spent about six hours troubleshooting and repairing. Marvin and Corliss invited Dave, Stilla, Donna and me to join them for beer and pizza in the lodge – their treat. They stayed an extra night and pulled out on Sunday.

I settled in front of the TV on Sunday. First up was the Formula One from Monza, Italy. Then it was the US Open tennis. Donna’s friend Ann Koerner came by and picked her up. They went hiking at the Garden of the Gods. They hiked about five miles and had spectacular views. Here are some of Donna’s photos.

Snow on Pikes Peak in the background

It’s steeper than it looks

We planned to visit our friends Brad and Jessica Rice at the Labor Day Lift Off balloon glow where they were displaying their balloon, Hearts A’Fire. We crewed for them here the last two years and three years at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We didn’t know we would be here on Labor Day again, it just worked out that way. I hadn’t made any plans to crew this year. By the time Donna showered and we had dinner, it was getting late and we weren’t up for the event.

We’ve had scattered thundershowers daily – sometimes the showers were heavy for brief periods. There’s a 30% chance of a shower today and tomorrow with cooler highs of about 70 degrees. We plan to head out tomorrow – maybe we’ll stop in Cañon City. We have about 22 days to get to San Diego and we’re keeping things flexible until we get there.