We're Back

The wait is over...the rain has stopped!  Oh...you thought I was talking about your wait for more WALLIEBLOGGIN'!  At's right, more hapless adventures of a retired couple and their dogs!  Well, here goes.

Working on "Hiatus", thinking about moving day. 

Yesterday and today were primarily taking care of business days.  We slipped out of Colter Bay at 7 AM, quiet as mice, if those mice drive a diesel truck.  Overall our truck is not traditionally diesel loud, but while it is "warming up" it is a bit rough sounding.  But what are our neighbors going to do, come out in the low 30's temperatures and yell at us?  It is not the RV park way.  We all understand those early morning pullouts, those dogs barking at inappropriate times during quiet hours, or working on your rig as though you are an RV mechanic on call.  At least we do, since we have fallen into all those categories of RV'er irritants.  By the time they all fell back to sleep, we were well on our way south to Heaton Bay Campground in Dillon, Colorado.

To get there, we traveled a different road than the one we arrived by to the Tetons.  It did not have the road construction the other one did, but I guess when you are in this part of the state of Wyoming that we are in (or any part for that matter), it is desolate between towns and there aren't many of those, so the road choice is a toss up.

We crossed over into Colorado on a stretch of road that wouldn't be a stretch to say it was like riding a bucking bronco with an RV on your back.  I've suggested to Miki numerous times that if the people in charge of the road construction would drive these roads with a 5th wheel trailer behind their truck, all roads would be a little smoother.  But I guess they don't.  I guess that was the trade off trying a different road to Colorado.  The road to the Tetons had some road construction that slowed us down (I guess those people drive RV's) and the other road away from the Tetons we took didn't have any road construction, but should have (I guess those people don't drive RV's).

My vertebra started to realign when we arrived in the area of Steamboat Springs, CO.  Last year as we were leaving Colorado to come home, after visiting a couple of weeks to see the aspen turn, the aspen weren't quite at there peak and we had such a good experience the previous year with unbelievable colors (confused?).  To clarify my rambling, last year's colors okay, not quite prime...two years ago they were spec-tac-u-lar.  Approaching, going through, and leaving the other side of Steamboat was spec-tac-u-lar!  The closer we got to Summit County (Dillon, Frisco, Breckenridge area), the more hopeful we became that we hit it right again this year.  So far, spec-tac-u-lar. 

Words don't capture the color, or photos for that matter.

As we pulled into Heaton Bay Campground, named for part of Dillon Lake we were on, we did so with a bit of intrepidation.  You see, months ago we got an email from the campground people that run this operation that only one loop in the campground had access to water.  The loop we stayed in last year had water and electricity.  We found out while checking in to our site that a pipe had broken underground and that was why we did not have that "hookup" available to us this year.  My response when finding out last night, was...(wait for it...), why-not-fix-it?  I refrained from actually letting those words out of my mouth.  I am sure the campground hosts were tired of the topic, so I let it go.

Our site C31 is located in Loop C (clever, huh?).  This loop is where most of the "campers" that want more of the amenities of home (the hookups discussed in a previous post).  All the other loops have water available, but not at each specific campsite as in Loop C.  But our water spigot at our site has been rendered useless due to the broken pipe somewhere underground, I didn't ask where or I might have started digging to repair it.  Not to worry, we have a 66 gallon freshwater tank for just such occasions.  If you can imagine one of those 55 gallon drums you may have encountered...that is a fair amount of water.  With our previous email notification of said waterline break, as we entered the campground we went straight to the available water spigot in Loop B and filled our tank before setting up at our site (even though our learning curve is still pretty much like climbing Everest, we are semi-mediocre learners and grasp what we can).  We pull away from our lifeline with an extra 500+ pounds of cargo and head for our site.

C31, Loop C

Loop C is a relatively small loop and from our previous visit, we knew exactly where our site was located.  It was easy to back into and our back window overlooks Dillon Lake and the Continental Divide.  We get all of our set up duties performed and headed in to feed the dogs and ourselves (in that order).  One last set up duty was to open the faucets and let the air out of the water line.  Normally, if we were hooked up to our own individual water supply spigot (which should have been fixed when it was first broken, weeks if not months ago), it supplies the water pressure to your system as the water is pushed out of the spigot, into your water hose (that is connected to your trailer), and through the water pipes inside.  When that is not an option, you flip a switch, and a small water pump (in the "belly") does the job of pushing the water to your faucets instead.  We have primarily stayed places, so far, that have "full hookups", but on a few occasions we have had to fill our freshwater tank and our water pump  configuration.  Are you seeing where this is heading yet?  We flip the switch and open our faucets and all is quiet.  Usually you will hear the pump below making a low vibrational sound, as it is sucking the water from the freshwater tank into the plumbing of the beast.  This time it was unpleasantly quiet.  We repeated the process, thinking that whatever the reason for the silence was a mistake the first time and it would have repaired itself and all will be fine the second time around.  Had you been paying close attention and were in tune with the universe at the time this was going on, you would have felt a change in barometric pressure due to my blood pressure increasing exponentially with each successive attempt at flipping the water pump switch and opening the sink faucets.

If I told you we tried this 100 times, you'd think I was exaggerating.  But by the 83rd attempt, my fingers were blistered and and on the verge of bleeding from the theory of, just one more time will do the trick.  It did not.  Instead of beating my head against Miki's, I started to take deeper breaths to increase the oxygen flow to my brain (stop laughing, it worked).  I started at what would be the "breaker box" in your house.  In our RV we have both breakers and fuses, depending on whether or not you are hooked up to "normal" electricity or running off of the two car batteries stowed away underneath.  Everything appeared normal and by normal I mean nothing was smoking, flaming, or in any other way looked alarming to the novice eye. 

Breaker Box...Fuses on top, breakers on the bottom. 

I moved on to the next stop on the electrical journey of frustration, the switch panel.  This is like a main control panel that turns on or off main parts of the trailer, i.e. certain ceiling lights, water heater, slide outs, WATER PUMP...  There is a light in the switch that comes on when the switch is turned to the on position.  It was on.  Next in the circuit line was the control panel by the steps that lead to the boudoir.  I unscrewed the control panel and looked behind  at all the wires and found everything looking satisfactory (like I'd know satisfactory if it climbed up my leg and did a jig or two).  

The control panel.  Not quite up with the "Bridge" of the
Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, but close.

All this leads to the pump itself, deep in the bowels in the belly of the beast.  The driver's side storage area is accessed by lifting a door that exposes a large storage area, water and cable hookup compartment, and a detachable panel that gives access to some plumbing and heating stuff...and the water pump.

                                         No picture of the pump because I had already put the
                                                      cover back in place and really don't want to pull it off
                                                                                       EVER AGAIN.

Last spring I bought a multimeter.  A what?  Don't worry about it, I don't much.  To my knowledge (using that word rather freely), it lets you know if electricity is flowing through something (don't laugh Willie).  I used it to check my two batteries in the RV to see if they need charging while they sit there, begging to light up the kitchen or run the TV.  Back to the pump predicament.  I was thinking, if the pump was to be running, it would need juice (electricity for the layman).  If it was getting juice at the wire connection to the pump and still not working, then the pump must be bad (I hope).  I stuck the two little probe things, one in each wire nut connection and shazaam, there was juice getting to the pump...Wa La...the pump must be bad!  This was Sunday night.

Your average multimeter

Monday morning... I call my service guy at the dealership back home, told him everything I've told you.  He gives me something to try, but to no avail. In the meantime I have located a new pump in Golden, CO at a Camping World (a place that is worth it's own posting).  It is decided the pump needs to be replaced.  Duh!

With that confirmation, Miki and I make a road trip up and through Eisenhower Tunnel and down to Golden.  The mountains were glowing with the aspen's gold and orange leaves, highlighted by the fresh dusting of snow on the higher peaks from last night.  Camping World was easy to find and had what we needed (I had called ahead just to be sure).  While in the "neighborhood" we looked up REI, the mecca for all outdoor stuff and stopped by for some footwear.  I started out this trip by choosing not to bring my good, high top boots for hiking.  I still can't figure the logic in that decision.  I did have a pair of Keens and tennis shoes I felt would be a good summer substitute.  I threw the Keens away after our first hike after proving painful and realized the tennis shoes I had my Epic Day in were not up to snuff for the rest of the trip in Colorado although they stood up pretty well, just not the right stuff.  After futile attempts at locating a replacement in Jackson, REI was a given since we were here.  Once again, REI could have it's own posting.  Searching for stuff online at REI is overwhelming enough, but in person...I'm sure the surveillance footage would show a gaping mouth with drool, while bumping into displays and mannequins while excusing myself to them.  It was just sensory overload to the 3rd degree.  I am wearing them right now, breaking them in while in the resting position, preparing for the many breaks that will be taken on the trail in days to come.  Now, where was I?

Near REI, the entrance ramp onto the highway takes you right by the
Denver Broncos stadium, a.k.a. Sports Authority Field...really?

Back in the truck and back up to the divide.  We made a driving stop in Georgetown as we approached the tunnel again.  A quaint old 1800's town that is fixed up to get you to stop and shop.  Back on the road, over the top, and down the other side, we coasted into Dillon and our campground.  

Old downtown Georgetown.  A couple of blocks long...probably would
have stopped, but I was focused possessed by my water pump project.

The view of Dillon/Silverthorne as you get to the bottom of the pass on I-70.

After rewiring the water pump, hooking the inlet and outlet hoses back to it, attached it back to the floor in it's place, it was ready to be tested.  I stayed below to check for leaks, while Miki was ready to flip the switch and open up the faucets.  We were communicating on our cell phones, so the others in the campground wouldn't hear the yelling back and forth that might get ugly in a matter of seconds.  I  gave Miki the go ahead.  She lifted the kitchen sink , bathroom sink, and shower faucets, then flipped the water pump switch on the control panel...Dang it!  Just teasing, everything worked as hoped and we were back in business as my blood pressure dropped and the skies probably cleared where you are.  The water pump came alive and vibrated on it's rubber mounts, as it drew in the water from the freshwater tank and sent it coursing through the veins of the doghouse.  A little dramatic, but I've earned it.

We will now settle into a new routine here in Dillon.  We are in more familiar territory here, as we have been here many times in the past.  We really enjoy this area both in summer for hiking and fishing, but also for skiing in winter up the road at Copper Mountain.  There is a farmer's market on the other side of the lake (where I would love to have a condo someday, I wonder if they would take a trailer as a trade in!), bicycle paths everywhere around Dillon, Frisco, and up to Breckenridge if you so desire (I don't so desire).  The hiatus is over.  The carrying of buckets and buckets of water crisis averted and it is time to blend in with the locals.

Our new view with the continental divide in the background.

My Zen from the Road:  I am not quite there yet, but as these traveling interruptions (RV crises) crop up, I am learning from them as they beat me over the head with "it will all be okay."  As much as Miki stays calm, I get irritated.  For a variety of reasons I seem to not see the light at the end of the tunnel, only the darkness of the tunnel walls around me.  Maybe by the time I have redone this trailer from the wheels up (since I've already done two of them) I will adapt to the idea that when things don't go my way, eventually they will again and getting irritated doesn't seem to help matters any.  But in a sick way it feels good at the time...maybe I have an addiction to being irritated...now  that's sick!