Howdy! I mentioned in my last post that I was writing from a hotel room….we spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Hilton Hotel in Ft. Collins, Colorado. A very nice hotel, right next to Colorado State University. AND they allow dogs…they even give you doggy dishes for the room! It was Gerry’s first hotel stay and I think it would be fair to say he wasn’t wild about it. We were on the 5th floor, he really didn’t like the elevators – they were glass elevators and the floor was slippery. We used the stairs as much as we could (mostly going down, it was a long way up!)
We had to stay in the hotel while we were getting some repairs done to the RV. Somewhere in Wyoming, at a rest stop, I noticed the tires on the curb side (passenger side) of the trailer were excessively worn, especially the one in the back (we have 2 axles, so 2 tires on each side). We were pretty worried about continuing to drive very far on the tire. So, many phone calls later, we found a truck repair place near the highway not too far from where we were staying that night who said they had the right tires in stock. We arrived the next day for the tire replacement, and it didn’t go too well. First, they said putting new tires on would only mask whatever the real problem was that caused the excessive wear in the first place and they didn’t do that kind of work. And, after we said we would like the tires (2) replaced anyhow, so we could safely drive to somewhere that could figure out what the underlying problem was, they couldn’t get the hub off the first tire. They tried for a short while, then said we needed to leave and find somewhere else to get repairs. Yes folks, we were “kicked to the curb” on that one. Gee thanks!
So we drove on to our next stop somewhere in Wyoming (we drove interstate 80 across the southern part of the state). I spent hours (literally) on the phone and online, trying to find a repair place. I tried RV dealerships with service departments (they don’t do this kind of work I was told by them all). I finally found an RV dealership that said they would look at it, and the first available appointment was in 3 weeks! After many calls and piecing together information from the folks I spoke with, I found a diesel truck and trailer repair place in Ft. Collins, Colorado, which is where we were headed for next. This was a Thursday, and they had an opening for the next Tuesday – we took it!
Next, I called our super great helper, Rob, in Ohio and gave him the run down of what had been happening. He had me go under the trailer and take a few pictures for him, and also pictures of the tires. Well….why didn’t we think of looking underneath??? I’m telling you, our brains do not work that way. Well….both shocks on the side of the trailer with the tire wear were completely bent! They are supposed to be straight up and down, and the ones on the other side of the trailer were. But these 2 were bent into a “L” shape. Those pot holes on the Alcan came back to haunt us. We do recall hitting one pretty hard on the way out of Alaska/Canada – we couldn’t see it until it was too late.
Rob did a great job of guiding me through looking at a variety of things on the trailer – he really is so patient and so helpful, explaining things in a way I can understand them. He had us take the seal out of the hub and check for lubricant – bone dry! Just like the batteries in the earlier story I told you – who knew you were supposed to check these things!!! He sent us a picture of what to buy, and of course the local Walmart in Cheyenne Wyoming had it. Steve was able to fill all 4 hubs with the lubricant. I believe this is for the wheel bearings.
So we spent a couple days in Cheyenne – we had very high winds – steady at 30 mph and gusts over 60 mph. The RV was rocking and rolling! So much fun! We then drove to Loveland, CO and spent a few days there, and then on to Ft. Collins on Tuesday and turned the RV over to the great folks at Diesel Services of Northern Colorado. They even backed the RV around their building to the work area for us. We packed up a few bags of clothes and things and headed to the Hilton. It was very weird leaving the RV and moving into a hotel!
Steve has a client in the Ft. Collins area, and he spent part of a day there doing some work. We caught up on errands and some shopping and did some hiking. Gerry spent a day at doggy daycare and we went to Estes Park, near Rocky Mountain National Park. We had planned to hike that day, but it was snowing, windy and too cold! So we walked around the cute town, had lunch and enjoyed sight seeing. We saw several Elk, including some males with huge antlers. A coyote ran across a field near us too. The weather here in Colorado has been crazy – 80s one day and snow the next!
We also had a great visit with Sarah, Jeremy and baby Hazel (2 years old now!) who live in the Denver area. They kindly had us over for dinner which was so nice. Hazel was happy to show us her yard with a great play house and swings and her cute bedroom! It was so good to see them and to catch up. Gerry had a blast playing with their dog, Rio, too!
The RV was ready on Friday, as promised. They had to order some parts from the manufacturer so that took a little time. Luckily, the axles and frame were okay. The wheel was not bent either. So, new shocks, new tire and hub and we are good to go!
We were happy to get back into the RV and moved to another RV park in Loveland, CO, where we’ve been for the last few days. It feels so much more like home than the hotel, and we really missed it. Gerry is much happier too! On the day we moved into this RV park, there was an owl in the tree right above us. I was making dinner, and I could see our neighbors out the window, looking up into the tree. So I went outside and there was the owl! They said a family of hawks had been here all summer, and they had enjoyed watching the young ones learn to fly and catch dinner. I also saw an owl along the road from Cheyenne. We see hawks almost everytime we are out hiking.
I’ve been cooking a lot and have made apple crisp a couple of times. The leaves are falling here and it’s getting cold at night. We purchased a special drinking water hose that has an electrical cord through it, and you plug it in, outside, by the water hook up. Keeps it from freezing during the night. Again…who knew??? A nice lady at the RV park we are staying at told us about it. We’re pushing the weather envelope a little, I think, and it’s time to continue east for home!
I have a few pictures below and in the link of our hikes and time in Colorado.
https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0plh5E31vPFJBztvGS
