3000 miles; two weeks; 6 people; a 21 year old RV and a tour of the southwest

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swinn

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Joined
Jan 15, 2011
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This was really the kind of trip that I bought my used Pace Arrow for.  A long summer vacation with 3 kids, mom and dad, and grandma riding along.  The rig would be 21 years old, built 1990 and only 86K miles 'new'.  I spent the early part of the summer fixing it up to meet our needs and getting it ready for a big trip.  Lots of misc repairs to jacks, electrical items, loose doors, new mattresses, curtain upgrades, and some major mechanical work like new front brakes and ball joints, as well as replacing all the batteries and undoing some 'repairs' made by previous owners.  34' of class A fun.

The trip would cover about 3000 miles and include a highlight of national parks, starting out in San Diego county and traveling on a southerly route to colorado springs.  The return trip would use a northerly route back to San Diego county stopping at national parks along the way both directions.  Family lives in Colorado springs and a marriage was taking place so our destination was determined by life events.

I had several concerns in the back of my mind.  First of all was tire age.  I had read all of the recommendations on tires and had planned to replace at least a couple of them but hadn't gotten to it, they are so expensive!  Also on my mind was the potential for transmission problems and cooling system issues.  We would be traveling up and over some very high passes and putting the engine and transmission through it's paces.

With these things on my mind, we spent a week slowly loading the RV with everything we needed to set out on our journey.
 
Sounds like a blast of a trip 8) As far as the tires FIRST find the date codes and go from there. I would start with the fronts IF you need to change them. Also make sure you have some kind of roadside plan since you will be a long way from home. Also after you get loaded take it to a set of scales and get a weight to make sure you are not overloaded that will cause you the most trouble. Do you have tools on board to do basic repairs?
 
Our departure day was a Saturday.  I had fueled up the night before (ouch) and the propane tank was full, water and holding tanks serviced.  An early morning departure with 6 on board is tough. especially with 3 young children in the picture but we managed to get rolling an hour after the planned time.  Our drive from San Diego to Grand Canyon should take about 9 hours.

The route I had layed out took us up the I-15 nortth to I-10, then jump across the 177 and 95 north to I-40.  I chose 60 mph for interstate driving which seemed like a good compromise on speed, fuel consumption and handling.  We had done a couple of smaller trips in the new to us Pace Arrow including a trip to Desert hot springs earlier in the summer.  Entering palm springs on the 10 it is very hot and we have all the windows open with a blast of dry summer 105 degree heat drying us out like kindling.  Water consumption by the occupants is very high and ice is flying out of the freezer at an alarming rate.

Driving long distances dulls your senses and lulls you into a false feeling of security.  I can maintain alertness but something out of the ordinary still snaps the senses.  The air temp is extreme and the pavement temp is higher than I care to think about.  My concerns of tire age seem like distant memory, I am driving through the hottest desert and 16,000 pounds of 60 mph force doesn't seem to be any problem.  Then all of a sudden BANG, like a shotgun an explosion on the left side of the rig and a very slight pull to the left.  Slap slap slap.  It was so loud I am convinced I had a blowout on the front left.  Over to the shoulder, off the side and stopped, my heart rate doubled from seconds ago.  Visual inspection finds a rear outside dually blowout.  12" of tread missing, a 6" long hole and a 8" flap of tread hanging loose.

Back in the rig I am only 1/4 mile from an offramp directly into palm springs.  10 mph limp it on the shoulder and see a discount tire on the right, right off the freeway.  Quite sure they can't handle 19.5s but try them anyhow, maybe they can recommend someone.  As expected the service advisor tells me they can't help.  Recommends Parkhouse truck tire only 3 miles away.  I ask him how to get there.  'Take the 10 one exit down, get off, turn left it will be on your left'.  Sir, how do you get there without getting on the freeway.  'You can't, the freeway is the only way to go'.  really?  'yes sir'.

So, I had to consult my own map.  Didn't believe that the freeway was the only way to go and certainly did not want to do 15 mph on the shoulder of the I-10 for even one exit.  Map confirmed it, easy to go around just about a mile farther when using the sidestreets.  Does that guy live here?

Arrive at parkhouse tire and they are closed up tight, it's saturday, surprised my discount service advisor hadn't known there were closed.  They are right next door to a truck wash/service center but they don't do tires.  hmm. what next?  On the cel phones find a mobile tire guy who will come out.  He has no new tires, but has some excellent used ones he tells me.  $160 mounted and installed and he would bring them out for me to choose the one I like.  He can get new ones but wants $250 /ea and he has to charge an extra $100 to go to banning to get them.

After 30 minutes he shows up with three very old, very sad looking tires, DOT codes are pre new style so they are really old.  I'm not paying anything for those dinosaurs!  I send him away.  Didn't he tell me he could get new ones in banning?  If he could, why couldn't I?  Thats only 24 miles away.

On the cel phones again.  Find a truck tire shop that has 8 double coin 19.5s in stock, brand new.  I'll go buy two.  Need to put the spare on to get the 24 miles.  Dig it out of the hold and realize I don't want to change the tire in 110 degree heat with basic tools and no easy way to air up the spare which was low of course.  Sure I could have done it I have a bottle jack and a tire iron, but thats what I bought AAA RV service for right? While I am waiting for him to show up I see a parkhouse service truck show up with a semi truck and is doing some tire work.  Maybe he can help?  I walk over and ask him.  "Sir, can you sell me a tire today to get me going?".  He looks at me with, with a tire sales invoice in his hand, in the middle of selling a tire to the big rig owner and says 'No, we are closed, come back on Monday'.  OK, nice to know buddy, odd how you sell tires to big rig guy on a Saturday and your truck says 24/7 service on the side.  On my walk back to the RV I ask the guy at the big rig oil change/detailing shop if he could put my spare on for me, he says he can do it for $10.  While I ask him, the AAA guy shows up to do it with a service truck compressor and a 1" impact wrench has the tire changed out and aired up for me in 10 minutes.  Nice.

I go slowly, the spare is causing the rig to vibrate.  It is really old.  I make it to the tire shop with no issue and I check out these double coin tires.  Made in china. hmmph.  Anything else available in 19.5 today?  No.  Anything else would be on monday.  OK, I'll take two, put them on the front and put the fronts on the back.  The rears had 4 11 year old discount tire brand tires.  The 'new' ones and my best tires were up front at 8 years old.  The double coins are the same load rating, but are all steel belts as opposed to my poly belted discount tires.  That seems like a good thing to me.  110 PSI for max load on the front.

After they remove the 'good tires' from the front I inspect them.  I had done so before we left, but now each tire has a good crack between each row of tread that wasn't there before.  Only 6000 miles and these 8 year old tires are shot.  I fear more blowouts.  Which is worse, brand new chinese tires or 8 year old cracked tires?  I talk to the manager, what kind of deal can he make me on 6 tires?  $1230 out the door.  My entire 'emergency' bugdet plus a bit more.  Banning is cooler than palm springs but still plenty hot.  I agree and one coke, two quarts of water and three hours later I am riding on brand new tires with balance bead balancing which I have never heard of.  The double coins squat a lot less than the discount brand did.  The ride is firmer and much more solid feeling. The rig is affected by wind and other rigs windblast more than before but otherwise it handles a lot better.  The balance beads seem to work fine and 60 MPH interstate driving is nice and quite a bit smoother than before.

I drive on into what is now the late afternoon on the I-10.  Turn off as planned at the 177 towards the 95 junction.  Wow, this is a remote highway!  Sure glad I have new tires.  Very little traffic and easy going.  Much better than the constant blast of 18 wheelers flying by at 75 mph passing me every few seconds on the I-10.  Lots of water on board for the occupants just incase, there is NOTHING out here.  It is becoming obvious that we aren't going to make it to grand canyon today, the 5 hour tire delay put that out of reach.  20 miles into the 177 I see a lot of police lights ahead.  As they get closer I see 3 CHP driving like they are drunk down the highway swerving from side to side at 45 mph.  I pull as close as I dare to the shoulder as I pass 'soft shoulder' signs and see the soft desert sand.  The CHP loudspeaker says 'get off the highway, wide load coming through'.  The first patrolman comes up beside me and I protest the sand entry and tell him I will probably get stuck.  He says I have no choice.  I ask if they will pull me out if I get stuck, and he says they will make sure I get out.  I pull into the sand, all 16,000 pounds.  I complain to a company lead truck driver as he goes by, he assures me they'll help me if I can't get out.  The 19' wide load flies by at 50 mph.
 
Dude, you write like I do in my "Camper Chronicles" that I maintain with every trip!


Now that you fed us that much....????
 
Wow... Sounds like a novel that should be called "Our trip to Hell and back" followed by a movie in your theaters soon.

  Or, "What not to do with an old RV, too many people and and too many expectations".

Nothing a big wallet with lots of Credit cards won't fix. Sure destroys the time planning o

f the trip. Planning is great but not if the plans are impossible.

  I will probably regret writing this post. But....

Hope all works out for you "somehow" in the end.

Respectfully, Carson FL


 
Great tale - can't wait to hear the rest. You have a warm and friendly writing style and obviously a great attitude toward those bumps in the road of life.

And what a terrific advertisement for the advice we give here. Some people think we are too much too conservative, but your tale illustrates why we say  harp on these things
 
I start to pull out and light throttle gets me a tiny amount of forward motion and a lot of wheelspin.  Slowly moving forward, the sand is sucking me further off the road.  More throttle.  More spin.  moving. slowly.  More throttle, pace is increasing, rear end is sliding away from the road.  Trying to turn left back onto the road,  powersliding a 16K pound vehicle through the sand is foreign to me.  My front left catches the pavement and the slide angle increases as I cut it over a bit more.  The extra hardness of the new all steel tires aren't helping in my battle against the sand.  The final chase car flies by.  Is he even looking back to see if I get it back on the road? The speedometer says 10 mph but I know I am not going that fast.  Finally the left rear catches the pavement, spinning starting to decrease, sliding stops.  All six back on the pavement, wow that was close. 

Dark is closing and the 177 flows by mile after mile.  At the junction for the 95 I stop for a bit of gas, I know I have enough but decide to put 10 gallons in anyways even though it is $5/gallon.  It makes me feel better, I have no idea what the actual range or MPG of the rig is, planned for 6 MPG and from that estimate know I have enought to make it as far as kingman with a 200 mile reserve.  The gas gauge reads under 3/4  but yet I am nervous.  It is dark and over 100 degrees are in the air.  A lone gas station, small mini mart, an abandoned diner and an agricultural inspection station brightly lit make up the entirety of this place.

I pull out at the empty parking lot of the abandoned diner and we make some dinner.  Gen set fired up and A/C running. I dont realize at this point that we can run both A/Cs when on gen power, the single A/C can't keep up with the heat.  Spend about 20 minutes making and eating dinner for all 6.  A knock at the door.  A tall lanky guy in spandex is there.  "how long you going to run that generator, we are trying to camp over here".  I look out the window and 15+ heat tolerant bicyclists have shown up and are pitching tents in an aging 2x4 lean-to hanging off the back of the gas station lit by a lone old dusk to dawn lamp.  We are in the dead center of nowhere and our genset is bothering people. Amazing what people do for fun, maybe he thinks the same of us.  I tell him we'll be moving on in a few minutes.  'thanks' he says.

Back on the road, 95 north.  It is getting pretty late and I am thinking of places to stop.  I want to get out of the heat before we stop for the night, but that is out of the question now.  At least get out of california and reach some cheaper gasoline.  I had planned on reaching grand canyon where it would be cooler but the tire issue has put that out of reach.  I decide to hit the 40 and then try to find some place with a decent campground so we will have power and can run the A/C all night.

Thunderstorms light up the dark desert night sky.  Flashes of emptiness filled with scrub and sand.  We drive through patches of rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes light.  The 95 is in pretty bad shape, the RV rattles and shakes over the heaves of decades old tarmac.  I wish I had replaced the headlights, they don't do much.  I drive with the brights on so i can see, the dims don't seem to do much at all.  Only one guy flashes me, even my brights aren't enough to bother anyone.  I-40 in california is in better shape than the 95, but the truckers have increased to warp speed as soon as we cross into arizona.  They fly by me at 80 mph.  They seemed to drive at 55-60 in california.  When we cross into Arizona the gas gets cheaper and the quality of the roads improve.  I can see the physical change in the paving when we cross into arizona.  I would think federal interstates should get the same level of maintenance in all states?  I see signs for kingman and select it as my stopping point.  I fuel up in Kingman and ask the station attendant if there are any campgrounds nearby.  'not sure, think there is one a couple miles down the road.'  Which way? 'I think down to the right a couple of lights and then left' Do you have a map?  'no'.  Does anyone know anything about the places they live?

Back to the phones, and GPS.  I try to use the GPS/nav unit I put together with Microsoft Streets and Trips.  It is useless I don't know how to use it well enough and it is useless without keyboard which I have but isn't currently plugged in.  My verizon phone won't connect, no service.  Grandmas sprint phone brings up a map and a list of campgrounds.  A KOA 4 miles away.  Navigate google maps.  An odd route on abandoned looking side streets, a short dark tour of a route 66 old town, a wrong turn, a dirt road.  On the final road we pass a drunken party spilling out of suburbia.  A drunk runs beside the RV and yells 'I think I can catch it, they are gonig to the KOA!'.  I speed up and lose the drunk.  We finally arrival at the KOA.  $55 for a night?  wow.  Was supposed to be boondocking in Kaibob naitonal forest for free.  I drive into the campground, try to find a space and pull into the first one I can navigate into.  Midnight.  Try to hook up.  Pulled into the space backwards, oops.  I plug in AC, drop the jacks and we all hit the sack.

The A/C barely cools the RV, I can only run one on shore power.  Fitful sleep.
 
I am really enjoying this!  Love the way you write.  It's like sitting around a campfire relating road stories.

Margi
 
Strong sunshine awakens me.  7 AM.  Grandma and I try to sneak out of the RV without waking mom and the kids.  Let them sleep.  Impossible to be silent in a small space and the RV rocks some even on the jacks and everything seems to squeak.  We slip out and the morning air is cool and refreshing.  The KOA is nice.  I decide to throw the schedule out the window at this point.  For $55 we are going to use these facilities, mother says that the kids will like this better than the grand canyon anyways.  She is of course right.  A morning walk reveals a pool, a sad mainly broken mini golf, clean showers, and a rec room.  Our rig is one of the oldest in the park.  A brand new looking prevost dominates a 50 amp space.  A collection of mobile homes lines one street of the park, all single wides.  A bright white pomeranian barks furiously from his steel fencing at our rig all morning.  After a while I get the children up and suited up for a morning swim.  I forgot my trunks.  I put my feet in the water while the children (6, 8, and 10 years old) frolic in the pool.  Foreigners dominate the facilities and I feel like a minority.  A large percentage of the campers are class C rental units filled with foreign tourists.  I appreciate thier presence and the dollars they are spending in our country.  I wonder how they came to end up in Kingman.

We use every facility available.  Showers aplenty, an unofficial round of mini golf, foosball, air hockey and table tennis in the rec room.  Time is passing and I feel the need to be moving again.  Brunch is on at the RV and I prepare for a shower.  I forgot my flip flops.  Everyone else has what they need.  I shower anyways and try to use a towel to keep my feet off the floor that I feel is probably infested with fungus and athletes foot. I could have turned around and hooked up the RV and used its shower but it's not worth it.  We gather up ourselves, I use the dump station for good measure.

With a much shorter distance to the grand canyon I dial up my route in the streets and trips PC mounted to my dash.  It directs me to the I-40 west.  Seems odd.  I am disoriented from our late night arrival so i follow it's direction.  One exit is enough to know it is screwy.  We flip a u-turn and get back on the eastbound.  I ignore the microsoft abomination as it implores me to get off the freeway and use some side streets.  Why is it doing that?  I look at the map on screen and confirm I am going the right way.  We enjoy the scenery as we go up the I-40.  The big 454 works hard up the hills.  Why isn't there a tachometer?  It sounds like it is reaching ludicrous RPM on the slow grades in second.  Wonder how hot the transmission is getting?  What pathetic instrumentation!  The coolant temp climbs slowly from less than half to more than half and I hear the fan clutch engage from time to time as the temp goes up.  All is working well.

The microsoft mapper directs me to an exit number that doesn't exist.  I drive until I see signs but am unclear which exit will take me north to the grand canyon.  I pull one turn around and choose an exit.  Apparently any of them will work.  A short tour of Williams with small 50s and 60s style diners, pleasantly kept and shiny.  RVs are everywhere now and the tractor/trailer traffic doesn't reach this place.  A tourist in a car drives 10 mph through williams making unannounced stops for nothing and then carries on.  I pass them.  We head north out of williams towards the grand canyon.  Beautiful scenery passes by as we approach the grand canyon.  video games capture the eyes of young ones as we go.  Our national park year pass gets us into the park. 

We find the grand canyon and park, view the rim and see the sights.  I see a california condor but everyone else misses it.  I managed to get binoculars on it but could not see it's number clearly.  We see elk on the road in the park.

We have no reservations as I intend to boondock in the forest.  It's getting a little late and we head south to Long Jim Loop road to boondock.  This road was recommended by Sielerbird (sp?) and it is an excellent choice.  Only a couple of spots are flat and accesible enough for the 34' rig but one of them is available.  It looks like a dry camping campground that hasn't been maintained in 10 years.  I set jacks and the start to make dinner. The three day old salmon is bad. I wash it and cook it hoping to save it.  It tastes bad so I have to chuck it.  The fridge doesn't seem very cold.  We make a backup meal of leftover fried brats.  It is much cooler here and the sleeping is better.
 
Thanks for the comments.  My expectation was to have problems with the equipment and it didn't dissapoint!  More to come.  I really came to apprecite the many bits of advice I got here, but had to learn some of it for myself.  I really went back and forth on the tires before I started the trip but with the blowout realized it was too important to take a chance on.  I tried to cover all the possible bases before i started out but unforeseen things happen!  The double coins never gave me any trouble and seem to perform really well.  I couldn't find much about aside from a few positive reviews around the web.
 
Morning time again, this time in a lush, green, damp forest.  As has quickly become routine grandma and I sneak out best we can while the others sleep.  On a long walk down long jim loop I see a lone travel trailer with a lone camper standing and leaning on his truck.  I wave hi, and receive a glare in respose.  I look for Seilerbird's rig so I can thank him for the recommendation but he is not here.  We scout out the rest of the dirt road and figure the easiest way back to the pavement which is no problem.

After a light breakfast we hit the road again, taking the rim road east.  We stop at various lookouts and view the canyon from many angles.  The children are interested but cannot appreciate the enormity of what they are seeing.  The scenery is a passing diversion from the glare of 3" screens of nintendo and apple distractions.  I too remember being too young to enjoy the wonders of the world.  Someday they may return with their families driven by the memory of this visit, after all I remember faintly my visit as a child.

We see the charred remains of a large RV on the ground at the east visitor center.  A huge custom built class A+ rig with a liftgate toyhauler garage dominates the parking area.  We park our lowly, ugly, ancient monstrosity in it's shadow.  A few more sights and then back to serious driving.

We pass through reservations.  Navajo, Hopi, Ute.  Mile after mile of bleak emptiness.  Human settlements scattered across the landscape.  A dead horse decorates the side of the road.  We travel the 160 east and north as we head for Colorado.  The 160 is well kept and relatively smooth in arizona.  I stop for fuel somewhere along the 160 in a very small town with decent gas prices.  Going through one canyon, a scrawny adult dog runs into the road in front of me followed by several small pups.  I brake fairly hard and avoid them.

According to my moving map we cross briefly into new mexico and then into colorado on the 160 but there are no signs to indicate the visit to new mexico.  I see a turn off for the four corners monument.  They want $3/head to see a collection of flags and a marker.  I decide to pass, an arbitrary point in the ground doesn't seem worth $18 to me.

Carrying on the 160 into colorado brings thundershowers.  I am glad that I fixed the windshield wipers well before I left, I use them often.  We pass through Cortez CO and then make the climb up into Mesa Verde national park.  I have reservations tonight at the ARAMARK managed Morefield campground.  Even though it is a national park campground the access card does not get me a discount as the national park service does not manage the campground.  It is dry camping but they have a good dump facility and fresh water available.  It is nearly dark when we arrive and everyone wants a shower at the bath house which is too far to walk from a campsite.  I step out of the RV to register as a thunder shower pelts me.  the rain continues while I service the RV.  It stops when I am done and back inside.  Everyone else attempts to shower and I go to service the tanks of the RV and fill up the fresh water for our planned two days of dry camping.  It rains while I service the RV and stops while I drive back to the bathhouse.  I return and it is basically dark.  The reservation is not space specific.  I buy firewood at the camp store and we set off to find a nice space.  It is now completely dark and I have to back into a pitch black space and setup in the dark.  I manage to get into a nice space and step out of the RV to set jacks and ramps and generally level the rig.  It starts raining again as soon as I step out.  It pours.  I finish setting up and geting it level and climb onboard again.  The rain stops.  We make spagetti, eat and head for bed.  It is cool and pleasant here.
 
In the AM grandma and I rise for a morning walk.  We see deer all over within the campground.  Does and their fauns are grazing and playing.  One doe approaches us and munches grass within 20 feet.  After breakfast I get the rig ready for movement and we drive into mesa verde to see the sights.

Mesa verde has a large number of native american cliff dwellings and other artifacts.  They are really interesting and many are easy to access.  The largest ones require paid guided tours by park rangers which are scheduled throughout the day.  We chose to see many of the free sites.  Parking for the class A at the attractions within the park was adequate.  A longer rig might have trouble in a few spots.  A guy in a class 'C' kept the sounds of silence at bay for us as he ran his genset all day at every attraction we stopped at.  Not sure how he got ahold of our schedule since we were unplanned, but he managed to find us at almost every stop.  The children found the indian ruins and cliff dwellings pretty interesting, especially when we got to climb down a a ladder into a pit called a Kiva.  The thunderstorms started and we headed back to the bathhouse so I could get a shower.  Our 50 gallon fresh water tank just isn't enough for 6 showers so we either did spritz style showers or found a bathhouse while dry camping.  It rained as I walked to my shower and back so I got an extra rinse.  The rain stopped when I got back into the RV.

We made a modest campfire and roasted hotdogs, grilled burgers and made smores.  I had to make kindling with a large kitchen knife and the firewood we had purchased.  Add a hatchet to my list of things to put onboard.  And some newspaper too!

Grandma announced that her overhead compartment was wet and we feared a roof leak.  I had sealed the roof with eternabond well in advance of the trip.  Turns out it was just her coffee pot dripping out some water during storage.  She is the only coffee drinker on board so she brought a french press to be able to make coffee without electricity.

While I was setting up, the wind broke off the latch that holds my primary ramp/chock storage bay open for me so now I need three hands there.  No extra latches to replace it with on board, another item for the list.

As far as electricity is concerned, we are being very conservative of our usage while dry camping. I don't like to disturb the peace of these places with the genset if I can avoid it.  I put two brand new marine/deep cycles with a claimed 230 AH on the house battery system just before we started since I had them on hand and the batts that came with the rig when I purchased it were shot.  We seem to have plenty of power but there is no measurement of usage aside from using it, letting the batteries rest and checking their voltage.  Some kind of usage indicator would sure be nice.

We saw more deer in the campground including more does, fauns and a buck.  Everybody got to see deer.  Evening entertainment consisted of a light helping of handheld videos games, table games and lots of sleep.
 
I'm enjoying your travelogue, but that rain cloud over your head also seems to know your schedule!  ;)  Will look forward to the next installment.

ArdraF
 
Our last morning in Morefield brought some more deer, a morning walk and news that the family we expected to meet in CO later that day would be delayed a day.  Our plan was to dry camp at a remote land site owned by the relatives but did not want to go try finding it by ourselves.  I started searching and we found both a KOA and a state park near the area.  The state park was my first choice due to the cost of the KOA.

We left Mesa verde and paid a visit to the wal mart in cortez to restock on food and other supplies.  Our refer doesn't seem to stay very cold on propane even though the freezer is solid.  I activated a tiny fan that was in the refer when I got the unit with two 'D' batteries.  We'll see if that helps.

Wal mart had everything we needed and I bought some flip flops for future showers.  $2 corona cerveza flip flops, classy.  Showering in a bath house in your socks isn't really pleasant.  I got some trunks for future swimming opportunities too. I figured I could use them for setting up too since it always started raining as soon as I stepped out the door.  After spending way too much at wal mart we fueled up.  Or should I say we tried to fuel up.  I pulled into a station and swiped my card.  As usual the pump stopped at $90 or $100.  I tried to reswipe my card.  The pump computer was so slow it took a LONG time before i could swipe it again.  finally it allowed me to swipe it and it said to 'call card issuer'.  Great.  I called my bank already knowing they had locked the card due to the unusual usage.  I had forgotten to call them and let them know I would be traveling.  They told me it would be reactivated in 20-30 minutes.  I told them I was standing at a gas pump waiting and the cust service guy put me on hole and said he would walk the request over to the department that does that right away.  After completing that 15 minute phone call I swiped the card again and got a 'pay inside' message.  Inside the card worked OK.  Out to the pump and the buttons wouldn't work.  back inside.  She reset something.  Back outside, finally get the pump to work after 45 minutes of messing around with cards, calls and station attendants.  It took $8 more and was full.  During all of this, two delivery trucks had blocked out all exits except the one behind me so i got to back out of the station.  Someone was trying my patience and I had a dr. pepper which seemed to help.  The children bickered and wanted 12V outlets for their devices.  A man at a used car tent sale offered to sell us a better RV.  I smiled and drove on.

On the 160 east I saw an El Monte rv rental rig broken down on the side of the road.

Following the 160 east through the san juan national forest east of cortez is absolutely beautiful.  We crossed the continental divide and stopped for a rest at a beautiful waterfall.  the waterfalls beauty was surpassed by the hordes of chipmunks which fascinated the children more than the waterfall.  Chipmunks are not something we see in southern california.

Our route on the 160 contained a climb through wolf creek pass.  This pass with 7 and 8% grades presented a true test of our cooling capacity and transmission endurance.  As we engaged the steep climb I got into the right lane, placed the trans selector in '2' and maintained 35 for a while.  As the grade steepened I dropped into '1' and maintained 20.  The fan cycled and temps remained within range.  tractor trailers passed us at 35 mph or so, with their turbo diesel engines outperforming our altitude anemic gasoline engine.  We crested the summit at something over 10,000 feet and started down the other side with low gears to minimize brake usage.

Several 'motor coach resorts' with coach age restricted entrance rules set the tone of the place with their spaces full of multi hundred thousand dollar rigs.  We tucked our awning between our tails and drove on.  After emerging from the pass into some plains, we found ourselves crossing through Alamosa.  Alamosa reminded me of El Centro in southern california, bleak, remote and desolate.  I saw another El Monte rental RV being repaired at a shop.

After a few hours of driving we arrived at my first choice for a stop, Lathrop State park.  They had spaces so we stopped.  This little park has a campground with electrical, several small lakes, dump stations, fishing and bathhouses.  If you have a boat, they have ramps.  the spaces are paved which is good because the ground is very soft.  For some reason I decided to pull off onto a place that looked like common pull off to pay my after hours camp fee.  I sunk 4" and thankfully kept rolling as i realized how soft it was.  Disaster averted.

The bathhouses charge by the minute via a coin op shower.  A bill changer is provided if you want a shower but dont have quarters.  A shower cost $0.50 for 4 minutes, and the price was linear up to 20 minutes.  Plenty of sites were available during the week but it was sold out for the weekend.  One night here was in our plan.  Hot water and clean facilities awaited us.  I grilled ribs on my portable grill (in the rain) and we watched 'The last starfighter' after night fell courtesy of our campsite electricity.  The old movie was new to the children.  Finally, sleep.
 
The next morning we prepared for travel again, following our usual routine.  Grandma and I up earlier, kids and mom sleeping a bit later.  The camp host had a pace arrow almost identical in age to ours so we felt at home.  Fishing is on the agenda for today so we packed up the beds into tables and couches and headed over to the recreation area of the lake.  The visitor center sells fishing permits so I got one for myself and the kids were free.

The lake is pretty small and I have never fished before.  I bought some powerbait (yellow) at the visitor center and parked at the spot recommended by the visitor center attendant.  He said it was a good spot for trout.  I made pancakes and then got to rigging up the fishing poles and bait.  Having never done it before I took a guess at a rig to catch some trout and grandma and I made a couple of them.  Mom entertained the kids at the swim beach on the lakeshore.

We spent a good part of the afternoon fishing but did not catch anything.  I sought out a local who gave me a tip on the rig setup.  I modified my stuff but still no bites.  They hadn't caught much either.  The time came to move on and we headed into Walsenburg to meet family.

After a brief stop in walsenburg we headed out to some remote private land.  Access is by dirt road and the surface was firm and fairly smooth.  It was pretty steep in places but had no significant trouble getting to it.  Dry camping in the wilderness is pretty nice and we were careful with our water usage for our three day stay.  We spent one day fishing at another lake and caught 2 trout which we fried and ate. Another day the kids went to a waterpark in walsenburg and the adults took some ATV tours of the area on family provided ATVs.  We saw bears, bear cubs, antelope and a mountain lion.  At one point I was on a motorcycle on a remote wilderness road traveling through a meadow and a large antelope buck (is that what they are called?) emerged from the forest and ran parallel to the road.  He was pacing me and running 20 yards off my left.  I accelerated and he matched my new speed.  He followed and we were racing!  He managed 40 mph and then after 1/2 mile or so he veered off into the forest.  What a beautiful animal, I had no idea they were so fast! 

The rig gave us no trouble during this time although one more storage bay latch broke off in the wind.  I used two harbor freight solar panels to help keep our coach batteries up to snuff.

After a very pleasant three day stay with family we moved on.
 
After the remote stay we headed to Colorado Springs where we would again spend time with family.  After a couple hours of uneventful driving we arrived.  I drove past 'the wrangler' rv park and decided it wasn't for us.  I decided to stay at Cheyyene Mountain state park.  The state park has full hookup sites in the shadow of NORAD near fort carson.  20 minutes from colorado springs put us close to where we wanted to be.  Full hookups for the first time in our whole trip.  The spaces at the park are all concrete with new looking streets and very nice facilities.  I was able to get a space there for 2 nights, and then I would have to go back to the office and ask for more nights.  They only do 2 nights at a time without reservations.

At this point we had reached maximum capacity on dirty laundry.  (I mean actual dirty clothes)  The campground had a laundry facility so I got up 30 minutes before it opened and headed up with a carload of laundry (family loaned us a car while we were in town).  5 tent campers beat me to it and were already there.

I went down into colorado springs to find a laundry mat and left mom and the kids to sleep.  grandma was staying with family while we were there.  I found a laundromat somewhere on the 115 north.  It looked good on the outside, but was pretty poor on the inside.  I did 6 loads of laundry and deeply offended the attendant when I asked for my money back on a 75 cent snack out of their vending machine that had expired a year ago.  She refused to give the money back.  I got the laundry done as quickly as possible and got out of there since inner-tubing on a river somewhere was on the agenda for the day.

We met family and headed to some portion of the platte river.  They knew some folks that went tubing a lot and was familiar with the area.  They brought the tubes and shared with us as we spent the day floating down the river.  We set up a safe tube area for the kids and they floated within sight of the adults with a bunch of us out sitting in the river to catch the stragglers.  A good time was had by all, and I think this was the favorite day for the kids of the whole trip.  The rest of our stay in colorado springs was taken up by a wedding and other family activities.  We spent three nights at the cheyyene mountain state park.

I discovered that the state park system in colorado keeps their site fees low by adding on lots of extra fees.  The basic fee is for a campsite, but you also have to have a daily pass for your vehicle.  if you have a motorhome, your motorhome has to have a pass.  If you have a car as well it also needs a seperate pass. If you arrive with your vehicle being towed and physically attached it is included with your motorhome pass, but a car that isn't attached is charged seperate.  All in all, the $7 day passes for vehicles is something to remember when you are comparing to private campgrounds that typically include an extra vehicle. The full hookups were nice and free usage of the shower and power was very nice.  After our three day stay it was time to move on.
 
On the appointed day we headed out of colorado springs via costco fuel up.  Our destination is arches national park which consists of a 400+ mile drive over some of the highest passes we could find.  North to denver and then west through vail pass.  The RV was performing admirably with no real issues since the tire replacement.

We climbed the pass with no issues, reaching a peak altitude of 11,118 feet.  The 454 was pretty weak at this elevation but we motored past several similarly sized class 'A' rigs sporting triton V10 engines.  The tractor trailers were still passing up.  The V10 guys flew down the downgrades riding the brakes the whole way.  I used a lower gear and an on/off cycle on the brakes to keep them cool.  I don't like to take chances on driving style when it comes to heavy vehicles.  The scenery through the pass was some of the most beautiful of the whole trip.  The colorado river flowing through the gorge, crossing the continental divide, river rafters starting and ending their journeys, it is all just beautiful.  Several tunnels bore through the mountains and make for an impressive distance through mountains.  Trains travel up and through the pass hauling coal and natural gas.  After the pass we settled into the plains cruising at 55-60 mph on cruise control.  The cruise control worked really well and I made liberal use of it.  About 60 miles from arches on a slight down grade I noticed we were slowing down, passing through 45.  It seemed odd that we should be slowing down on a downgrade.  I though the cruise control had disengaged so I hit the accelerator.  The sound changed but no acceleration.  hmmm.  Oooh, check engine light is on.  OHHH.  engine isn't running.  Thats not good, it took me a little bit to realize what had happened.  I pumped the accelerator and it sprang back to life and the check engine light went out.  I looked at the other adults riding with me and we exchanged concerns without saying anything.  I pressed on as we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

For 30 miles no more trouble or even an indication of trouble.  Then on a slight upgrade I felt the power loss and knew engine wasn't running anymore.  I pumped the accelerator pedal but nothing.  check engine light came on again.  we were decelerating fairly quickly and I felt the steering go heavy.  The brake pedal became ineffective as we slowed further.  I muscled the wheel and got it to the shoulder.  I shut off the ignition and tried to start it.  It restarted like normal, but then after a couple of seconds started sputtering and died.  I repeated this exercise a couple of times and then it would not start at all.  I had a bout a half tank of gas.  I checked the oil, it was a bit low so I topped it up.  I looked under the hood and around the rv and found nothing out of the ordinary.  I got back in, cranked it and it fired right up.  Ran like normal.  We pressed on towards moab, the closest 'city' around.
 
I'm enjoying reading of your travels. When you were at the Cortez Walmart, you were 2 blocks from my house !! Sounds like you're having a great trip and you're traveling thru some of the most exciting parts of the country.

Enjoy your travels
Wendy
 

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