Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Million Dollar Highway

After our excursion to Black Canyon National Park, we were kicking back when I heard the sound of drums. Then I heard a bass picking up the beat, soon a few other instruments joined in. I walked across the Elks Lodge parking lot and saw a stage had been set up at the golf course across the street and a band was doing sound checks. Donna checked online and found a concert series sponsored by the city of Montrose with their last performance of the season scheduled for that evening – right across the street from the Elks Lodge! Two bands were scheduled to play and admittance was free.

First act onstage

We brought a blanket and sat on the grass. They had beer from a local brewery – Horsefly Brewing where we had lunch earlier – and a few food trucks. The first band was loud and played some original music and spacy covers of material that was almost unrecognizable. They were good – the lead guitarist seemed to be from the Frank Zappa school with chromatic scale solos hitting about a thousand beats per second. The second band also had original takes on covers that featured a reggae or ska beat. They had a horn section with a trombone, saxophone and trumpet. Good times.

Saturday morning we went into town for the farmers’ market. Donna wanted to stock up on veggies. I expected to find hot breakfast there, but there wasn’t any food service at 9am. I ended up walking to City Market for a plate of biscuits and gravy.

It was time to light the fires and kick the tires and we headed out shortly before 11am. Our route took us down US550 south. We wouldn’t leave this highway until we reached Durango. About 40 miles south of Montrose, we made a stop at Ouray. This small town is tucked in a narrow valley with towering mountains and canyon walls surrounding it. It sits at an elevation of about 7,800 feet above sea level. I found parking on the side of the road on the north end of town.

Parked in Ouray

It looks like we’re parked uphill – we were! Nothing is level in Ouray. We walked through town – uphill and checked out the shops. Crossing Main Street was also an uphill walk – the road crown is incredible. We popped into a shop along the way. Donna found a purse she couldn’t leave without and I bought a T-shirt.

Purple Peacock building in Ouray

US550 south of Ouray is known as the Million Dollar Highway. It’s a fairly challenging drive with steep grades, narrow lanes without shoulders and sharp curves and switchbacks. Speed advisories of 15mph on the switchbacks were the norm and we even saw one curve with a 10mph advisory. The speed limit is only 30mph for much of the way – it made me wonder why a slow vehicle turnout was necessary. We started with a steep climb out of Ouray and immediately passed through a tunnel – it was marked 13’10” clearance so we were okay.

13’10” clearance

Donna shot a few photos of her windshield view. I was concentrating on the road and didn’t get to see much of the views which she said were spectacular.

Fall colors

This high up in the mountains the aspen trees were already displaying fall colors.

Red Mountain – above the tree line

The first summit was the highest – Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet above sea level. From there we dropped into Silverton only to climb again to Molas Pass at 10,910 feet above sea level. After dropping down from Molas Pass we climbed again to Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet above sea level.

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel

From there it was a downhill run into the Animas River Valley. We saw a runaway truck ramp and I commented on how it must be a heart-pounding moment when a driver decides to leave the highway and plow into a gravel trap.

A little while later, I thought I caught of whiff of something I didn’t like. I casually asked Donna to crack her window open. I smelled it again – hot brakes. I was perplexed. I hadn’t used the brake pedal all that much – I relied on the Jacobs Engineering Engine Compression brake most of the way. The Jake brake works well at controlling our downhill speed – I only used the service brakes for some of the sharper turns.

I slowly applied the brake pedal and my heart was in my throat as the pedal sunk to the floor, barely slowing us down. The brake fluid must have been boiling. There wasn’t any traffic to speak of, so I wasn’t too worried about having to make a sudden stop. But we were only about 10 miles from Durango and traffic would surely build and we would have to stop in town.

I still hadn’t said anything to Donna. I saw a slight uphill grade ahead with a wide shoulder. I slowed down with the Jake brake on high. I pulled off and pumped the brake pedal to build some pressure and got us stopped. Donna didn’t know what was up. I went outside and found the right front brake was overheating – the caliper must have stuck and been dragging. I told Donna what the issue was. I didn’t want to alarm her by telling her of the trouble before I got us stopped.

I let the brakes cool for a bit, then reversed and tried stopping. The brakes were fine. I had reversed to look for any sign of fluid leaking, but our spot was dry. We got back on the road. The brakes were back to normal and the caliper didn’t seem to be dragging. I’ll have to look into it further.

We’re at the La Plata County fairgrounds in Durango. The office is closed on the weekend but Donna made prior arrangements to reserve site 2. We maneuvered through the crowded parking lot without too much trouble and went past the rodeo arena, dropped the trailer and set up. We’ll pay up on Monday. The weather forecast calls for sunny days with highs in the low 80s and overnight lows in the high 40s. A passing shower is always possible around here, but no significant rain is in the forecast.

Rocky Mountain High

Wednesday night was our second and last night at Mountain View RV Resort outside of Cañon City. Donna prepared a Moroccan chicken kabob dinner she served over grilled veggies and rice (brown for me, cauliflower rice for Donna). We really like Mountain View – the park is well-maintained, clean and quiet and set in a beautiful location. And the owners are super nice.

Chicken kabob

Thursday morning as we prepared to leave I looked at the low clouds obscuring the nearby mountain top with some trepidation.

Low clouds

Our route across the Colorado Rockies would take us west on US50 over Monarch Summit at an elevation of 11,312 feet above sea level. I was concerned that we might encounter low visibility and there’s always the chance of sudden thunderstorms with heavy rainfall and high winds. We left a little after 10am to get over the pass by noon – the thunderstorms usually form in the afternoon. We started out at an elevation of a little over 6,000 feet above sea level, but quickly dropped into the Arkansas River gorge about 1,000 feet lower.

The scenery was breathtaking as we climbed. The last four miles to the summit are a relentless 7% grade. Driving big rigs at altitude can be difficult. Steep climbs at high elevation hit you with a double whammy. The air is thin, reducing power output at a time when you need all the power you can get. This is especially troublesome with naturally aspirated engines relying on atmospheric pressure to fill the combustion chamber with air. I’m not aware of any gasoline powered coaches that have forced induction (i.e. supercharging or turbocharging). Our Cummins ISL diesel has a turbocharger that can mitigate the effect of the thin atmosphere.

But, there are limitations. The Holset turbo on our engine is sized for performance, including excellent throttle response and good power output. However, at elevations above about 9,000 feet above sea level, it can’t completely overcome the lack of oxygen. At lower elevations under normal atmospheric conditions, it produces a little over 25 psi of boost, packing air into the combustion chamber to allow peak power. The last four-mile grade to Monarch is above 9,000 feet and we only developed about 20psi of boost. Turbochargers with larger compressors are commonly used in piston-engine aircraft for power output at high altitude, but those engines typically run at a constant RPM and throttle setting. A large compressor wheel on a motor vehicle would result in a lag in throttle response, poor drivability and a very narrow powerband.

I dropped the transmission down to third gear and let our speed fall to just under 40mph with the engine spinning 1,900 rpm. This kept the big radiator cooling fan turning quickly and also had the water pump spinning, moving the coolant quickly through the engine and radiator. The coolant temperature held at a steady 195 degrees.

Once we reached the summit, we quickly dropped about 3,000 feet of elevation. I used the Jacobs Engineering compression brake (Jake brake) to hold our speed down on the rapid descent. We didn’t encounter any adverse weather conditions and had great visibility over the top.

Our route took us past the Blue Mesa Reservoir at an elevation of about 7,500 feet. We had another short, steep grade up to Cerro Summit at 8,042 feet above sea level where we had full power and held good speed.

Our destination was the Elks Lodge at Montrose, Colorado. We arrived by 2:30pm after fueling up in town. We set up a dry camp in their lot before a thundershower came in. We had a quiet evening with passing showers. I watched some of the US Open, then turned to the first NFL game of the season. It was a bit of a yawner from my point of view.

This morning, I unloaded the Spyder and we headed out –  backtracking on US 50 about seven miles, then turning north on CO347 to the entrance of the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. It was about 15 miles total to the park entrance. Black Canyon was designated as a National Monument in 1933  and redesignated as a National Park in 1999.

Black Canyon was formed through erosion from the Gunnison River. The river drops an average of 34 feet per mile through the entire canyon making it the fifth steepest descent in the country. At Chasm View, it drops 240 feet per mile. By comparison, the Colorado River drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile through the Grand Canyon.

Black Canyon has steep walls – nearly vertical in most areas. The average drop from the rim to the bottom is about 2,000 feet. We followed the south rim trail and made several stops to hike to viewpoints and take a few photos.

I tried to capture the fall-like colors on the mesa above the canyon. The scrub oak, balsam and berry plants had various shades of red, yellow and orange. The mid-day sun washed the color out of the photos.

On the way out, we turned off at East Portal Access Road. This steep road drops all the way down to the river. It has to be one of the steepest roads I’ve been on with tight turns and a rough surface. It was slow going. Donna likened it to an amusement park ride.

It’s no joke – I think it was steeper than 16% in places

At the bottom, there’s a pool where they divert water from the Gunnison River through a long tunnel to irrigate land around Montrose. The tunnel, built between 1905 and 1909, is 5.8 miles long and it’s been in use since then. In the winter when the water is low, the tunnel is closed off for inspection and maintenance.

Pool in the Gunnison River near the diversion tunnel

We came back to town famished around 1:30pm and stopped at the Horsefly Brewery for burgers. I paired my Southwest Burger with a red ale. Donna had her burger without the bun.

Tomorrow morning we’ll continue our two-night stop-over plan with a drive to Durango. We plan to make a short stop in Ouray – the locals here in Montrose pronounce it YOU-ray – to look around. Then we’ll continue south on the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass at an elevation of 11,018 feet above sea level. We plan to stay at the fairgrounds in Durango for two or three nights.

 

 

 

 

Cañon City and Royal Gorge

I mentioned Donna’s Bright Line Eating Plan in an earlier post. It involves weighing food portions and also getting the required proportions of protein, grain, veggies and fat. That doesn’t mean we don’t eat well though – sometimes Donna tweaks things for my serving and it’s all good. Monday night Donna made a meal called pizza chicken. For this recipe, she fileted a chicken breast then pounded it flat – this takes the place of a pizza crust. She topped it with marinara sauce, pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese. She served my plate over spaghetti noodles while she used spaghetti squash for her serving.

Pizza chicken

Tuesday morning we said our goodbyes to Dave and Stilla and hit the dump station before leaving the Colorado Springs Elks Lodge. We were out of there before 11am and made a stop at the Walmart on the south side of town. Later, Dave sent me a photo Stilla took of us in the lodge Saturday night.

Donna, Corliss, Marvin, me and Dave (Stilla Hobden photo)

Our route took us down CO115 to US50. We lost elevation as we made our way to Cañon (say “canyon”) City. Cañon City sits at 5,343 feet above sea level. Our destination was about 7 miles northwest of town where we’re at an elevation of 6,300 feet above sea level. It’s a steady grade after you head out of town.

We stopped at Royal View Campground – they have the highest Good Sam rating you can get – 10/10/10. We weren’t impressed. The entry was narrow and the sites weren’t level. We left and backtracked a few miles to Mountain View RV Resort and we’re glad we did. This is a very nice park with level sites – we’re in a long pull through. The campground is covered with pea gravel and the sites have concrete pads with picnic tables and fire rings. It’s super clean and quiet and the views are great.

Donna manned the Weber Q  and grilled pork tenderloin she seasoned with cumin, allspice, and cinnamon and she served it with roasted Brussel sprouts and acorn squash. We didn’t go anywhere as the clouds were threatening and it was windy – thundershowers came through into the night.

Pork tenderloin

This morning we headed out on the Spyder and rode to the Royal Gorge Park just a few miles away. The Royal Gorge is a narrow canyon – about 300 feet across at the top – with a maximum depth of 1,250 feet. At the park, there’s a suspension bridge crossing the gorge and also a gondola and zip lines. We passed on the $27/person fee to get to the bridge and gondola and hiked the rim area instead.

The Royal Gorge was cut by the Arkansas River which  originates here in Colorado and flows southeast through Kansas, Oklahoma and – you guessed it – Arkansas where it drains into the Mississippi River. The end of the gorge is outside of Cañon City – about two miles west from the center of town. It’s about six miles long in a northwesterly direction and ends near US50.

Royal Gorge suspension bridge on the right, red gondola crossing in the center

Arkansas River in the Royal Gorge from the Rim Trail overlook area

Donna at the Rim Trail overlook area

An old locomotive – engine 499 built in 1902 – is displayed outside the Royal Gorge visitor center. The train never ran up at the top of the gorge – the narrow gauge track runs along the bottom alongside the Arkansas River. They have a two-hour tourist train ride through the gorge from Cañon CIty.

We left the Royal Gorge and rode the Spyder back down US50 toward Cañon City and cut off at Skyline Drive. This is a one-way route built in the 1930s with the use of prison labor from the Colorado Penitentiary. It heads southeast up a hogback ridge of sandstone and ends in Cañon City. It’s a little under three miles long and has several pullouts on the narrow one-way road. The road doesn’t have guardrails and the ridge drops steeply from either side.

Narrow road, no guardrails

Pullout on Skyline Drive

The road ahead from the seat of the Spyder

View of Cañon City from Skyline Drive – historic downtown in upper center

We stopped on Main Street in old downtown Cañon City and walked around.

Historic downtown Cańon City

Before we came back home, we stopped at Walmart for a couple of things we forgot to buy in Colorado Springs.

The high temperature today was about 72 degrees with a few afternoon showers and brief periods of sunshine. Tomorrow we plan to head west. The forecast looks favorable although sudden thunderstorms can happen at any time in the high mountains. We will certainly be in the high mountains as our route west will take us over Monarch Summit with an elevation over 11,000 feet above sea level.

 

Labor Day at the Lodge

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.

 

Speedco Not So Speedy

We extended our stay at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, Colorado by two days – giving us a full week there. It wasn’t that we had any great plans, it was more a case of we needed time to plan. We had a look at route options, things to see and do and also find some opportunities to boondock along the way.

That’s one of the nice aspects of life on the road – you can adjust your variable expenses along the way. Our spring trek from Arizona across the country to Maine and back again to San Diego by the end of September means we’ve had higher than average fuel expenses. One way to offset that is to find free or nearly free campsites. Conversely, when we’re in San Diego we pay high campsite fees to be in the location we want to be in, but we’re stationary for a few months and don’t have fuel costs.

I mentioned Donna following the Bright Line Eating plan, so we didn’t go out to eat at all. The plan is working for her and I encourage her to stick with it. But, that doesn’t mean I’ll forgo some snacks or happy hour! Last week we stopped at a nearby taproom that was unique. I went there again Wednesday afternoon. It’s called Brewmented and it’s not your usual small craft brewery. Their core business is homebrew supply. They have everything you need to brew your own. They also serve beer they’ve made in small batches – they use a one-barrel system so they can only brew about 30 gallons per batch. They constantly rotate their beers so you never know what you might find on tap. Typically they have six to eight brews available on tap.

Donna’s eating plan doesn’t mean she can’t put tasty meals on the table. Tuesday she had the slow cooker going all day and made a pot of beef and bean chili. It was delicious.

Beef and bean chili

I made a second trip to the laundromat on Wednesday. We’ve been without a sewer hook-up since we left Sioux Falls, so we don’t use the clothes washer on board – it would use too much water and fill the gray tank. I know I’ve said it before – Donna says there’s nothing sexier than a man doing dishes. I wonder how she feels about a man doing the laundry. (Donna here: It’s even sexier!)

We had a plan when we pulled out on Thursday. First I stopped at the fairgrounds dump station and dumped and flushed out holding tanks. I had already filled our fresh water at our site. We drove to the Elks Lodge in Northglenn – a Denver suburb. We planned to drop the trailer there, then proceed to Speedco in Commerce City about 10 miles away. The Northglenn Elks Lodge has eight sites with water and electricity. I looked at it online and the satellite view looked good.

When we pulled in, it turned out to be not so good. The parking lot was packed – every space had a car in it. As we drove through, I noticed the windshields of all of the cars had writing on them. It appeared that the Elks Lodge lot was being used as an impound yard.When I got to the end of the lot, I had a problem. There was a tall, large-diameter metal pole on my right and I needed to make a sharp right turn to exit. The exit lane was narrow and had a cement barrier. There was no way I could make the turn without either hitting the pole with the trailer or hitting the barrier with the coach.

I had to reverse across the entire length of the lot between the rows of impounded cars, then I backed the trailer around a corner and had a straight shot back onto the street. Then I had another issue – the driveway sloped to the gutter and the trailer jack dragged as we crossed into the street. Grrr!

We continued down the road to Speedco. I dropped the trailer in their lot and we had the coach in the lube bay by 12:15pm. I needed to have it serviced. I was concerned about the condition of our motor oil. On long climbs where the oil temperature rises, we’ve been experiencing lower than usual oil pressure. I was thinking that the overheating problem we had in New York might have oxidized the oil and resulted in breakdown of the oil.

I’ve used Speedco since we bought our Alpine Coach. A few years ago, I could get the oil and filter changed, plus fuel filter and chassis lube for under $200. Then last year they raised their prices and it cost me about $250. Then Love’s Travel Center bought Speedco. This may have been a good acquisition for Love’s, but it’s not so good for customers. There were only three or four guys working in the lube area. All three bays had vehicles in them and there were at least four heavy duty trucks waiting to get in. No one touched our coach for the first twenty minutes. Then a guy in the pit below removed the oil drain plug and also took an oil sample – I’d ordered a used oil analysis. The the guy disappeared and no one touched the coach for next 20 or 30 minutes.

I couldn’t understand it. I talked to a trucker who told me he’s been getting his truck serviced here for years. He said it used to be great – good service and in and out quick. He said they had experienced crews manning each bay. When Love’s took over, they reduced employee benefits, took away accrued vacation time and reduced pay. Everyone quit. Now they have an inexperienced crew, low morale and no one is motivated. It took over two hours for them to change my oil and lube the chassis – usually about a 30- to 45-minute job. The cashier was a rude and surly woman. And the cost was $340! I think I’ll need to find an alternative in the future.

My used oil analysis confirmed my fears. Oxidation was high but a few of the other findings have me perplexed as they seem contradictory. I’ll have to study it a bit more before I can draw any conclusions.

It was close to 3pm by the time we got out of there. The trucker gave me a tip on the best route south out of the Denver area. We went east to I-225 and followed it south past Cherry Creek Reservoir where we picked up I-25. This cut out a lot of the city traffic, but we still had periods of stop-and-go. I-25 was no picnic at that time of day with unexplained slow downs.

We crossed Monument Hill at an elevation of 7,300 feet above sea level and dropped into Colorado Springs. We pulled into the Elks Lodge here around 4:30pm. We’re dry camped in their lot along with three or four other rigs. Their water and electric sites are all taken.

We met up with our friends Dave and Stilla Hobden. They’ve been here for the summer in their Alpine Coach. We got together for happy hour in the lodge. It turned into dinner, then after dinner drinks with cigars for Dave and me. It great to catch up with them. They’ll be here for a another month or so. We plan to stay over the weekend, then head out.

The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, warm today with the temperature reaching the low 80s – mid 70s for the rest of the weekend. We’re at an elevation of a little over 6,100 feet on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Weather here can change quickly and there’s always the chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

Fairground Events

While we were dry camping at Sierra Trading Post (STP) in Cheyenne, I saw something interesting. Around 7pm, a UPS tractor-trailer rig with a long trailer pulled into the STP lot. It had an additional fifth-wheel plate mounted on a dual wheel tow bar trailing behind it. The driver dropped the trailer and left. Minutes later another UPS tractor trailer rig with a shorter pup-trailer pulled in. The driver dropped the pup trailer, then disconnected the trailing fifth wheel from the first trailer and moved it to the front of the pup trailer. Then he hooked up to the long trailer and left. A little while later, a third UPS tractor-trailer pulled in with a long trailer. He hooked the pup trailer to the back of the long trailer and pulled out towing a double combination rig. This performance was repeated in exactly the same sequence the following night.

Apparently, UPS used the STP lot as a staging/transfer station. It reminded me of the time we were in Alamogordo dry camping in an abandoned shopping plaza and FedEx trucks converged there to redistribute their packages. I guess UPS and FedEx can’t have dedicated facilities everywhere they need to transfer freight, so they make do with what’s available in the area.

When we left Cheyenne, we saw on Facebook that our friends Charlie and Sheila Pennington were in the area. They stayed at a campground south of town off of I-25. They were probably within 10 miles of us – too bad we didn’t know. It would have been fun to see them again – we met them in Rapid City our first year on the road.

I mentioned the Bright Line Eating plan that Donna’s on. It involves consuming a lot of vegetables and I don’t always eat the same meals as she does. But sometimes it works out and we have the same thing, just in different proportions. On Friday night, Donna made ginger-carrot soup and grilled wild coho salmon, bok choy and shishito peppers. Yummy!

Ginger-carrot soup with unsweetened coconut milk

Grilled salmon, bok choy and shishito peppers

On Saturdays, they have the Longmont farmers’ market here at the Boulder County Fairgrounds from 8am to 1pm. We walked over to see what it was all about. It was a fairly large market with dozens of vendors – local produce, meats and crafts along with food trucks. As usual, live music was presented with a bluegrass band playing while we were there.

Bluegrass at the farmers’ market

Walking over there, we passed a pond. There was a platform with a large osprey nest. The osprey was in the nest but jumped out and stood on the edge of the platform before I took a photo. It’s hard to see the bird, but the nest was huge.

Osprey nest on platform at the pond

After we shopped and bought a few fresh veggies, we headed back through the fairgrounds and stopped at the indoor arena. A horse show was taking place over the weekend – much like the one we saw in Springfield, Illinois but on a smaller scale. It was cool in the arena and felt nice to get out of the sun.

This girl competed in the nine and under category

Saturday night Donna made green chile turkey burgers and served it with fresh corn on the cob we bought at the farmers’ market along with grilled zucchini sprinkled with lemon salt. I had my burger with avocado on a ciabatta roll – Donna opted out of the bread.

Green chile turkey burger with veggies

Sunday morning the Moto GP race from Silverstone, England was cancelled due to standing water on the track. I watched the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix instead and it was a good one. This is the first time Moto GP has cancelled an event since 1980.

It’s been hot out with afternoon temperatures reaching the low to mid 90s. We’ve also had periods of gusty wind. We run the air conditioners from late morning until evening. With the interior temperature of the coach on the cool side, Ozark the cat likes to lay in the sun on the dashboard. She stretches out on her back and from the outside, she looks like a dead kitty.

Ozark the cat lying in the sun

Stretching out

As usual we witnessed the Monday morning exodus. The weekend warrior campers pulled out en mass.

The temperature should reach the low 90s again today with wind gusts up to 35 mph here and up to 50 mph in the mountains. A cold front is forecast to move in overnight and the temperature will be much cooler tomorrow – the high is predicted to be 75 degrees.  Last night we had a passing shower and gusty winds. We plan to extend our stay here until Thursday.

 

 

 

A Curious Thing

We left the Lusk Elks Lodge Tuesday morning around 11am. Before we pulled out, I walked to the Subway sandwich shop on the corner of Main Street. I took a sandwich with me for lunch on the road and we headed south on US85. This highway has light traffic and a smooth surface. It runs south through large cattle ranches. In much of Wyoming, you’re likely to see more antelope than people – as my buddy Jimbo would say, “That ain’t a bad thing.”

Our route took us through Torrington, one of the larger towns in the area with a population of 6,700. As we headed back into ranch land, a curious thing happened. We were in one those areas with little traffic and few people when two motorcycles approached in the oncoming lane. The lead motorcyclist raised his arm and gave a wave as they passed. I wasn’t sure what that was all about.

A few minutes later, my cell phone rang, but Donna couldn’t pick up the call – we had spotty cell service. About 20 minutes later, I stopped in a rest area so Donna could make a salad for her lunch. I checked my voicemail and had a message. It was from my friend and fellow Alpine Coach owner Dave Hobden. He was the motorcyclist waving at me on US85! I could hardly believe it – here we were in a remote area of eastern Wyoming and we pass each other like two ships in the night. He said he recognized our rig from a quarter mile away. He was on a road trip to Rapid City with a friend.

Eventually, US85 bends to the southwest. It was windy – the wind was coming from the southeast so we had a crosswind. It was a steady 20+ mph breeze so it wasn’t too hard to handle. Gusty winds can be a handful, but this was okay. We hit I-25 south and drove a few miles to I-90 east and found our way to Sierra Trading Post on Campstool Road. Sierra Trading Post has a large facility here – it houses their headquarters and fulfillment warehouse as well as a retail store. They have a marked RV and truck parking area with stalls about 90 feet long and they welcome RVers. This was our destination for the day.

We set up in their lot and Donna went shopping. She can spend hours in their store browsing through clothing and trying on clothes, especially when they’re having their annual summer clearance sale! She also checked us in at the fulfillment center – they like to know who’s in their lot and keep contact info. We were the only rig in the RV/truck area. A guy stopped by and talked to me. He was a former full-time RVer and is planning to get back on the road soon. He and his wife had to get off the road after five years to attend to her fathers health issues, but he said they weren’t ready to stop traveling yet. It turned out he was the fulfillment center manager and he told me we were welcome to stay as long as we wanted.

Later, a couple of other rigs pulled in to shop and spend the night. We had a quiet and uneventful night. On Wednesday, I shopped in the retail store and bought lunch at their counter – it’s mainly for employees but they serve the public as well. Most of the cars parked in the two lots are employee vehicles – I don’t know the number, but a lot of people work at the headquarters and warehouse.

We decided to hang out and spend another night. Thursday morning the weather forecast called for a cold front to move into the area and bring high winds – gusts up 50 mph possible by afternoon. I dumped and flushed our tanks at the Sierra Trading Post dump station and we headed out by 9:30am to beat the wind. I had talked to a trucker the night before and he strongly recommended staying on US85 and avoiding I-25. He said due to some construction and low speeds in a couple of towns, the trip might take 15 minutes longer, but he said I-25 was a crap shoot once you get past Loveland. Wrecks, distracted drivers making crazy maneuvers and whatnot were a constant on I-25. We followed his advice after topping up on diesel fuel at the Pilot/Flying J down the road from Sierra Trading Post.

We pulled into the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, Colorado before noon. We were happy to find open pullthrough sites. They don’t take reservations here – all sites are first-come-first-served and they only have eight pullthrough sites. I paid for five nights but we may extend. We have 50 amp electrical service and fresh water, but no sewer. They have a dump station that we’ll use when we’re ready to leave.

After setting up, I got our DISH satellite dialed in – there is a Moto GP race this weekend and also a Formula One race. I set up the Weber Q grill and Donna took over. She’s becoming quite the grill master. She cooked herbed bone-in chicken thighs and also grilled patty pan squash with onions and peppers. She served it with steamed spinach. Donna’s following a strict diet called Bright Line Eating – so we don’t always have the same meals together. Last night it worked out fine though and the dinner was delicious.

Grilled bone-in chicken thigh, grilled veggies with feta cheese and steamed spinach

High barometric pressure has moved into the area. We can expect mostly clear skies and temperatures reaching 90 degrees. The humidity is low – in the teens. There is some haze over the mountains to the west, but the reports of smoke from wildfires in the west seem to be exaggerated a bit. Typically at this time of year, a passing afternoon/evening shower comes from the mountains in this area, but nothing remarkable is in the forecast.

Deadwood, Spearfish and Lusk

I wrote my last post from the Elks Lodge in Rapid City on Thursday. That night, our friends Mark and Emily Fagan (RoadsLessTraveled) stopped by with their dog, Buddy. We met Mark and Emily five years ago when we were in our first year of full-timing. Since then, our paths have crossed several times and now they’re in Rapid City at the America’s Mailbox campground nearby. The last time we got together was in Mesa, Arizona last March.

Buddy the dog was uncomfortable with Ozark the cat. So we sat outside and talked for a couple of hours. It’s always great to meet up with friends on the road and catch up on things.

On Friday Donna and I had appointments at the driver’s licensing office nearby. We could’ve changed our information online by scanning a form they gave at our new mail service (Your Best Address), but if we wanted the correct address to appear on our actual license we had to go to the office. This entailed a new application and a $15 fee. I had just paid and renewed my license in June, but there wasn’t any way around it. We paid up and walked out with new driver’s licenses in about 10 minutes.

Saturday morning we heard a lot of activity early – before 7am. The Rapid City Elks Lodge is unique in that it has an 18-hole golf course on the property that’s open to the public. Their restaurant and bar is also open to the public. I haven’t been to any other Elks Lodge that allows the public to have access to the bar unless accompanied by a member in good standing. Anyway, it turned out there was golf tournament there Saturday morning. They were setting up and some foursomes had early tee times.

The parking lot was filling up. I went to our trailer and put traffic cones in the spaces in front of it – if someone parked in front of the trailer, we wouldn’t be able to hook up. We were packed up and hooked up the trailer with no problem by 11am.

We’ve been re-watching the HBO series, Deadwood. This series is set in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1870s. Some of the characters actually existed – Seth Bullock was the sheriff, Sol Star was his partner in a hardware store, Al Swearingen owned the Gem saloon and casino. But other than that, the account is fictional and greatly embellished. We enjoy watching it and are on the third and final season.

We decided it would be fun to spend a day in Deadwood. I found a likely boondocking spot on Google Earth about six miles from Deadwood outside the Black Hills National Forest on Rochford Road. It was about a 50-mile drive, mostly uphill. We found the spot and it was a huge gravel parking area that was fairly level at one end. No other vehicles were there and no signs were posted. We set up and prepared to get the Spyder out to head back into town. We were at an elevation near 6,000 feet above sea level – our GPS showed 5,965.

At the back of the trailer, I looked at the sky to the southeast. It looked ominous. I checked the Radar Express app and saw we were about to get hit with a thunderstorm. We didn’t unload the Spyder and went back inside instead. About 20 minutes later, the skies opened up and it poured rain. It rained off and on the rest of the afternoon with a few bouts of pea-sized hail. We managed to get outside for a couple of short walks, but it was raining too hard most of the time to do anything. So much for our tour of Deadwood.

On Sunday morning, it looked like wind and rain would continue. We decided to head over to Spearfish. Mark had told me about the Walmart there and said it was a great spot to dry camp overnight. We drove down through the scenic Spearfish Canyon. A marathon event was being held, but lucky for us the runners were in the opposite lane from us going downhill. We dropped about 2,000 feet of elevation and found the Walmart at an elevation of 3,900 feet above sea level. We shopped a bit and hung out while the clouds slowly cleared. About half a dozen RVs overnighted there.

We were in no hurry to leave, so on Sunday morning, we got the Spyder out – it was finally dry outside. We rode into the historic downtown area and parked. We stopped at the visitor center, then took a walk and had a look around. We were mostly reconnoitering for future reference – we think we would like to spend some time here next year.

Centered on Main Street is the Matthews Opera House and Arts Center. This building dates back to 1906. Currently the Opera House hosts live music of all genres, an art gallery and theater.

Matthews Opera House and Art Center

After walking around, we rode the Spyder to the D. C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery. This hatchery was created in 1896 and is located on a beautiful park-like property. They had an underground fish viewing window in a pond where they keep adult fish for educational purposes. These were some of the largest trout I’ve ever seen at any hatchery. We were told some of the fish in the pond were 10 to 12 years old.

Fish viewing

The ponds and raceways are fed with fresh water from the Spearfish Creek which runs adjacent to the property. They had a fish car – a rail car that was used to transport fish across the country for broodstock and for stocking streams and lakes. They would load the car with large stainless steel milk jugs full of fingerlings in fresh water. The fish cars were in use until the late 1930s when trucks took over.

Fish car

We left Spearfish just before noon. Our route took us west into Wyoming on I-90 to Sundance where we left the Interstate and headed south on WY585 to US85. The road surface was smooth and traffic very light on this scenic byway. We drove through cattle ranch land and spotted dozens of antelope along the way. We pulled into the town of Lusk – population about 1,600 – around 3pm and found the Elks Lodge. We’re back up to 5,000 feet above sea level.

The Elks Lodge here is a brick building erected in 1910 that originally served as the high school. Their parking lot is fairly large and level and they welcome Elks members to dry camp. When we pulled in, I saw someone at the front door. I went over to ask about parking and he told me to pick anywhere I wanted. The lodge is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so we had the place to ourselves.

We got the coach and trailer lined up in a level spot and set up. Then we took a walk back into town and found the Stagecoach Museum. The Stagecoach Museum name is a bit of a misnomer as it contains much more than stage coaches. It is a collection of Old West and Wyoming memorabilia.

Much of the stage coach material revolves around the Cheyenne Black Hills Stage and Express Line owned by Russell Thorp. The stage ran a distance of 320 miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Deadwood, South Dakota. It started operating in 1876 and was owned by F. D. Yates. Later, Russell Thorp Sr. bought the line. It was interesting to read about the stage and I’ve included a photo with a letter describing the operation from Russell Thorp’s son – click to enlarge and read.

Cheyenne Black Hills stage coach

They had first class?

They also had some oddities on display. For example, fossil remains of a triceratops dinosaur found in Wyoming and a two-headed calf born in the area in 1942.

The wind picked up in the evening and we had gusts up to 30 mph overnight. Today is windy with thunderstorms moving in this afternoon. I have a theory that all of the smoke from the wildfires out west are collecting moisture in the particulates – like seeding clouds – and the result is higher than normal rainfall across the area. We’re going to move on to Cheyenne and hope it isn’t too windy or stormy.

 

 

 

90,000 Miles and Another Time Zone

I wrote my last post Tuesday morning. Then I walked to Hardee’s – about a block and a half away – for an order of biscuits and gravy. Before I knew it, the morning was getting away from me. Check-out time at Tower Campground is 11am and it was time for us to leave Sioux Falls. I had packed most of the things in the trailer the day before, but I still had a few things out. I also needed to dump and flush our holding tanks before I brought the slides in and the jacks up.

When we dropped the trailer in our site, I was able to back it in from the left and work it past a tree. Getting it out was going to be problematic. I had the trailer far enough back into the site that the wheels were well past the tree. Before I could turn the trailer left, I would have to have to get the wheels past the tree or else the trailer would clip the tree. There wasn’t much room – the road wasn’t wide enough to bring the coach straight back to the trailer.

Tree next to the trailer

Someone had left a car illegally parked beside the road on the right, making an approach from that direction difficult, but it was the only way out. I angled the coach back to the trailer tongue as best I could – it was nearly in a jack-knife position. It worked out though and we loaded the Spyder and left the park right at 11am.

I opted to head west on 12th Street which became highway 42. Instead of droning across I-90, I thought a drive through farm country would be nicer and we only had about a three-hour drive ahead of us. I had to make a jog south to Parker and pick up SD44 west. This took us through farm after farm until we hit SD45 north and found Kimball. We left the storm clouds behind us. Ditty’s Diner is off of I-90 at exit 284. It’s a small truck stop, diner and bar with a large, fairly level dirt lot. Our destination was Rapid City, but I didn’t want to do the 360-mile run in one shot. Ditty’s was a convenient overnight stop.

The only problem at Ditty’s was the dry and dusty lot. Trucks pulling in kicked up a lot of dust. We closed all of our windows and ran the air conditioner off of the generator. Our stay was uneventful and it was surprisingly quiet all night.

Wednesday morning Donna and I had breakfast in the diner then got back on the road around 9am. It was foggy out, but visibility wasn’t too bad. About 20 miles west on I-90, Nally – our RV specific Rand-McNally GPS – announced “Steep downgrade ahead.” At first I was puzzled, then I remembered, we were about to drop down and cross the Missouri River. Once we crossed the wide Missouri, I felt like we were officially in the west. I wrote about our first crossing here in our motorhome in this post.

Once we climbed out of the Missiouri River Valley, the terrain immediately changed. It was hilly and there were mountains in the distance. The corn and soy bean fields gave way to large cattle ranches with a few feed corn fields and canola. It began to rain. We stopped at the Pilot/ Flying J Travel Center in Murdo and filled up with 80 gallons of diesel. I’m happy to get away from the biodiesel B20 that we had to use in Indiana, Iowa and eastern South Dakota. In the western half of the state they pump 100% petroleum-based diesel fuel. B20 is 20% bio-mass-based fuel made from vegetable oils blended with petroleum diesel.

I’m not a fan of biodiesel fuel. Low percentages have their pluses – it adds lubricity to the otherwise dry diesel fuel since sulfur content was reduced to 15ppm. Diesel fuel had good lubricating properties when higher sulfur content was allowed. B2 or B5 adds lubricity without all of the drawbacks of B20. The B20 fuel has lower energy density than petroleum-based diesel fuel, so fuel mileage suffers. The vegetable oil isn’t as stable as petroleum-based fuel – diesel fuel can be stored for long periods of time without deteriorating as long as it isn’t exposed to moisture but the vegetable component will break down relatively quickly – maybe after a few months.

At mile marker 175, we entered the Mountain Time Zone and gained an hour. Shortly after that, we broke free of the cloud cover and rain. We hit another milestone as well – our odometer turned over 90,000 miles on our Alpine Coach. We paid for three nights at the Elks Lodge in Rapid City. I dropped the trailer in their parking lot and we set up in site 8. They have 10 sites with 50-amp electrical service and water – no sewer. We have appointments on Friday to update our driver’s licenses with our new address. Other than that, we plan to relax and do a little shopping.

We’re at an elevation of 3,200 feet above sea level here. I think it’s the first time we’ve stayed overnight higher than around 1,500 feet above sea level since leaving New Mexico last April. The forecast calls for daily highs in the mid-80s and we may see rain Friday night before we leave on Saturday. I think we’ve had more rainy days this summer than any of the previous five summers we’ve spent on the road.

 

Our New Hometown

In my post last Thursday, I said I was looking forward to some relaxation. I mostly got my wish, but there were a few things that needed to be done. A change of address isn’t as simple as it sounds. There were several notifications that had to be made – financial institutions, insurance companies, pharmacy, vehicle registration and driver’s license, voter registration – I’m still coming up with things.

I also had a couple of small projects to tackle. Just before we arrived here in Siuox Falls, I was driving up I-29 with the cruise control set. As we neared the city and traffic volume increased, I tapped the brake pedal to cancel the cruise control – this usually works best as I can then press the resume button if I want to go back to cruise control without having to reset it. This time the brake pedal didn’t cancel the cruise control and I had to turn it off with the button on the steering wheel. I made a mental note to check it out after we settled in.

When I was dropping the trailer in our site, I set the engine speed to high idle. I did this by simultaneously pressing the cruise control “on” button and the “set” button. This increases the idle speed to about 1,000 rpm and keeps heat in the combustion chambers. Idling a big diesel slowly for extended periods can allow the cylinders to cool too much and unburned fuel can collect on the cylinder walls – eventually it’ll make its way past the piston rings and dilute the oil in the crankcase. Stepping on the brake pedal drops the engine speed back to the normal idle speed – around 650 rpm. Except this time it didn’t. I dropped the idle speed with idle control rocker switch and parked the coach. I had Donna check the brake lights – as I suspected, the brake lights weren’t working.

The control module for the cruise control receives a signal from the brake light switch. When you press the brake pedal, the brake light switch closes and activates the brake lights. I thought the brake light switch on our coach was probably a pressure switch hydraulically actuated by the master cylinder. I was surprised when I crawled under the coach on Thursday to find it wasn’t so, it was a simple, spring-loaded mechanical switch on the brake lever arm. The brake pedal is attached to a lever arm that’s shaped somewhat like a boomerang. The center of the arm is mounted to a pivot point and the other end of the arm is attached to the master cylinder pushrod. A switch is mounted against the lower portion of the arm – with the brake pedal in the normal (not on) position, the arm presses against the switch and opens it. When you step on the brake pedal, the arm moves away from the spring-loaded switch and it closes, completing the electrical circuit to the brake lights and sending a signal to the cruise control module.

Brake light switch

I had Donna step on the brake while I observed the switch, It was stuck in the open position. I pulled it closed and it started working again. I sprayed some WD40 on the switch rod and had her work the pedal a few times. All was good, job done.

Friday Donna rode her bike on the bike path. The paved path is only about half a mile from Tower Campground and runs along the Big Sioux River. It was hot out – the thermometer hit 86 degrees with high humidity. I mostly puttered around and relaxed with a book. In the afternoon we rode the Spyder to another local brewery – Granite City Food and Brewery. The place has a good reputation, but I found the beers to be average at best. I think they’re known more for the food they serve.

Speaking of food, later Donna fixed shrimp fennel and feta which she served over rotini. Yum!

Shrimp with fennel and feta over rotini

My friend David Hobden bought a new motorcycle and I’ve been following a road trip he’s on with his motorcycling buddy. Dave got a 2017 Indian – I think it’s the Chieftain model. They rode from Colorado Springs, Colorado down to Louisiana. The other day I saw a guy here in the park with an Indian Roadmaster. I talked to him for a bit and found out that the rights to the Indian name were obtained by Polaris and they have been building Indian Motorcycles since 2014. The Indian name was used by a few different manufacturers in the ’90s and early 2000s – some of them weren’t very well-engineered motorcycles.

Polaris made Victory motorcycles and their engineering is proven. The new Indians look like a great motorcycle, worthy of the name. The original Indian Motorcycle company made great bikes from 1901 to 1953. Interestingly, another guy here at the RV park has an antique Indian that he rides almost every day. One evening Donna and I walked down to his site and checked it out. It was a 1946 model. I’ve ridden motorcycles since I was a kid, but I don’t know if I could handle this one. The throttle is on the left grip, not the right. That’s because you need your right hand to grab the shift lever next to the fuel tank to shift gears while working the throttle with your left hand and the clutch with your left foot!

1946 Indian

Shift lever and knob next to the fuel tank

Saturday I set up the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill and prepared a rack of baby back ribs. That was my big project for the day! The temperature reached the upper 80s and I mostly stayed cool and read a book. Donna has been braving the heat and either walking the river trail or biking every day. I read two books over the weekend and watched the Moto GP race from Austria on Sunday. I got ambitious in the early afternoon and cleaned the Traeger and the Weber Q and relined them with aluminum foil.

Saturday evening Donna and rode I the Spyder to the fairgrounds and went to the PRCA rodeo. We enjoy rodeos – it’s an All-American experience although several Brazilian cowboys are on the professional circuit nowadays.

Monday I started packing and organizing the trailer. I had one more project – it was time to service the Spyder. Nothing is easy on the Spyder. You have to remove body panels – the tupperware – to get to anything. Then the engineers have packaged everything so tightly that the simplest tasks are a struggle. For example, the oil filter element is housed under a metal cap on the left side of the crankcase. The cap is held in place by two cap screws. Fine, except they routed the shift linkage and an oil line right in front of the cap. The lower screw cannot even be seen. I removed and installed it by feel only and had to wiggle the filter element out past the obstructions. Oh well, it’s a once-a-year task and I got it done.

Today we’ll be pulling out of here. I think we’ll dry camp overnight at Ditty’s Diner in Kimball as we head west. We already checked and they allow overnight parking in the large lot by the diner. Rain is forecast to move in from the east early this afternoon. Hopefully we’ll outrun it as we move west.