I know I say it all the time, but, really – where does the time go? Mid October already – does not seem possible. Anyhow….I’m past due on giving you an update! I’m sitting outside our RV in Chama, NM, with a fire going in the firepit, enjoying the piercing blue sky behind the glowing, golden aspens all around us. I really am at a loss of words (hey! I hear the laughing!) to describe the fall beauty in the Rocky Mountains. Sunny, warm days, cold nights, the glowing of the golden aspens and the mountains are getting snow on top now. It is truly amazing. We try and try to capture it in pictures but it just isn’t possible.
My sister Laura just left day before yesterday – she was here for 12 days and we loved every minute of it. It’s always wonderful sharing our RV life with friends and family. This visit was especially special, a time for healing, connecting and recovering after a really tough year. Mountain air, hiking up to 12,000 feet (we were at 12,000 feet twice!) sharing meals, tea around the campfire – nature’s remedy. Snuggles with Gerry – coffee wrapped in blankets – golden aspens everywhere – a little heaven on earth.
And isn’t that what it’s all about? Life is Good.
Sisters
Lots of pictures and a few videos of our hikes and fall beauty in the San Juan mountains. Enjoy 😊❤
An attempt to capture some of the fall color near Chama, NM – right on the boarder between Colorado and NM in the San Juan mountains: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uLVWTN6rV1Biwvxu5
Howdy from our favorite little corner of the world – we’re in southwest Colorado, at our very favorite campground ever. This is our 3rd visit here and we’re already booked again for next year for a month. We’ll be here for about 4 weeks this year. You may remember the last time we were here, in 2019, my brother Dan and his wife Christine visited, and I had so many pictures and stories to share back then. We really love it here. We’re deep in the San Juan mountains, and the campground is at about 8,100 feet, so we get that great mountain weather – cool nights and mornings, sunny afternoons and hiking all around. The campground has been here for decades and it’s done right as far as we’re concerned. All the conveniences you could want, yet nestled in the trees, along the Dolores river. The river goes right through the center of the campground. Mountain views everywhere. Stars at night, we are several miles from any town with lights. Telluride, the very nice ski resort town is about 45 minutes away, and Dolores, a very small town but with a fabulous local market that carries tons of organic and local produce is about 20 miles in the other direction. And somehow we got lucky and got this super nice, HUGE by RV camping standards site. We are spoiled now for sure!
Our HUGE site at Priest Gulch
Anyhow, we’re all settled in here, we arrived about 10 days ago (I can’t believe how fast time goes by). But I need to back up a little, and fill you in about our brake repair, and our time in Ridgeway, Colorado.
First – the brake – it’s all repaired! I mentioned how the part caught up with us finally. We carried it around with us for a little while. Then, while in Ridgeway, Colorado, we found a mobile repair technician who came out and installed it for us. It’s a relief to have that done.
We really enjoyed our stay at Ridgeway State Park. Big mountains all around and the state park campground had very nice walking paths along the river and a couple of lakes. Easy to get Gerry out for walks. We did a little hiking in the area, although Steve ended up with Strep throat and an ear infection and needed some relaxing time at home. So we set up our chairs and sat outside a lot enjoying the blue skies and clean mountain air. Sometimes we forget that we’re not really on vacation, even though it feels like it a lot of the time. This is our life and some days we just need to stay home and clean house or take a nap. And so we did. 😊
September 16:
OK….so that all is what I wrote back on September 8 when I first started this post (really – where does the time go?!) NOW I need to fill you in on what I consider to be a Big Deal that has been going on. You really do need to go get a cup of tea now….and get comfortable.
This is a story about my stove. Range. Oven. Yes. An appliance. But in my life, a very important appliance. Most of you know we changed how we eat along with our lifestyle a few years ago. We continue to evolve our diet as we learn more and as we observe how we feel based on what we are eating. You know we look for farmer’s markets everywhere we go and access to quality food is a criteria we use in determining where we go. Shopping for quality food has become a hobby we really enjoy doing together. Cooking is my favorite thing to do when not out on a trail. Eating the results is Steve’s favorite thing to do. It’s all good, and it makes us happy.
A big reason we purchased the new RV we have this year is because it has a larger kitchen, and a real, residential, range. The oven has 2 racks and is much larger than the oven in our last RV. Here’s a picture of it:
My Range
Well. I’ve had problems with it from the very beginning. I had a mobile RV service technician come out when we were in Minnesota, before the wedding. I was having problems getting the pilot light to light (it runs on propane). He showed me how to make it work, by taking the cover off the bottom of the oven, where the flames are, exposing the pilot light assembly, and using a lighter I could light it. The pilot light assembly, which includes the thermocouple (yes, I now know what a thermocouple is, unfortunately!) is not aligned exactly right (welded together out of alignment) and that makes getting the pilot light to light difficult. I read online in a variety of RV forums that others were experiencing this same problem with this brand of range in their RVs. Ok. Not a huge deal, I can live with that. And I did – using a lighter and wiggling the pilot light assembly I could eventually get it to light.
It was getting harder and harder to get it to light, I have been having to really wiggle and play with the pilot light assembly to eventually get it to light. But I figured I’d live with it until the end of our trip, and add it to the list of things to be repaired when we take it in for service at the dealership.
I had learned from calling around trying to find a service person for it, no one will work on an Insignia (that’s my brand) range. It is a Best Buy private label brand, no one has any parts for it, and no one wants anything to do with them. This on top of the experience we have had this year that all RV service places, and all RV mobile repair guys, are booked up to their eyeballs. Booked out for weeks.
I had been getting “whiffs” of propane smell here and there. Not all the time. And not really right by the range. More around our loveseat which is near the range. I would check inside the oven (when it was off!) to see if there was a propane smell in it, and there wasn’t. Anyhow, I had convinced myself that I was worrying too much, stressing over the difficult oven too much and let it go. We do get propane whiffs from time to time from the main big tanks outside, maybe that is what I was smelling….
So I spent all day the other day cooking. Had the stove top and oven going for hours – you know, one of those cook ahead, make lots of things kind of days. A perfect day in my book. The next morning, we left to go to a farmer’s market. I didn’t use the stove that morning since we wanted to leave early (turned out to be very fortunate decision). We had several windows open and the ceiling vent/fan open, since it’s sunny and warm after the morning chill wears off. We left Gerry in the RV and went to the market.
We returned back to the RV a few hours later, opened the door and Wow – big propane smell rolling out at us! We were really worried – Steve quickly turned off the big propane tanks at the main source. We took Gerry outside right away. WHY didn’t I think about turning off the main propane source before we left since I had been getting “whiffs”??? Did not occur to me, and poor Gerry had been sitting there with all that propane rolling around. Luckily, the open windows and the ceiling vent/fan must have kept the air circulating well enough he was okay.
Then began the huge process of trying to figure out how to deal with what was obviously a propane leak. I was sure it was the oven. Something must have broken or come loose and was letting propane run out. I spent hours on the phone. Calling our dealership, calling every RV dealership within a 100 mile radius (there were only 3), calling every mobile service guy we could find a number for. Talked to the workers at the campground for recommendations. No luck. Our dealership had a location in Denver we could go to – 400 miles away, in the opposite direction of our planned travel. Not one return phone call from the several messages we left for 2 mobile repair guys. Each of the 3 dealers that were kinda close (100 miles away in Durango) were booked up for weeks. One said that if we paid a $250 fee they would let us “jump to the front of the line”. We said no thanks – who does that? – did not have a good feeling about that one.
So now I’m in tears. We have 3 rounds of guests coming over the next several weeks. Cooking is my thing. What are we going to do? Tell them to not come? Try to get their money back on plane tickets? Eat out all the time? Yuck. And, with the propane turned off, we have no heat. And it’s getting into the 30s at night now. Water pipes will start to freeze before too long. So again – do we have our guests come, tell them we have to eat out all the time, and by the way, it’s going to be freezing in the RV, and we hope the pipes don’t burst so we can keep running water and flushing the toilets???
Steve kept trying to calm me down. We do after all, have a grill. And there’s that thing called a microwave installed in the kitchen. I don’t use the microwave. Why would we go to all that trouble to find good quality food and then kill it by radiating it??? Oh dear. Then I really went down the rabbit hole. Maybe we shouldn’t be trying to live in the RV the way we do. Maybe it’s time to figure something else out. What if I had turned on the stove that morning? What if the leak happened the day before when I had the range going all day? We would have been blown up! And had a big fire! And what about Gerry being there by himself when the leak happened – what if……and on and on it went. Fueled by frustration about owning a 2021, brand new RV with a stove that doesn’t work that I can’t get fixed.
Remember, I told you this was going to be a story and to get a cup of tea. You might want to get another cup. Just saying…
So I call up the mobile service guy who came out to us at Ridgeway State Park and asked him if he would come help us. He is 120 miles away from us (one way) now that we moved to Priest Gulch. At least figure out where the propane leak is and is it safe to even continue to stay in the RV. Please, I beg. He agrees to come out, if we will pay a mileage fee (yes!). It’s a few days before he can come, and I must say I was probably not a lot of fun to live with during that time. Poor Steve. I just seem to have so much of my identity tied up into cooking and it’s so central to our RV life I can’t imagine how we’re going to manage.
We survived without heat for those few nights, and we used the grill to cook and ate out some. And the service guy came, and yup, we had a big leak alright. There is a regulator on the back of the stove, where the propane line goes into the stove. That regulator was faulty. Gone bad. How does that happen I ask? Just goes bad. Hard to know why. Maybe faulty manufacturing. Maybe installed too tight. Who knows. Just happens. Really??? So you just maybe blow yourself up when cooking??? I still can’t wrap my mind around that. But, it was registering way over the explosion level on his handy propane “sniffer” tool.
So he disconnected the propane line from the stove, and capped the gas line. So we can use the propane for heat safely. He can’t replace or fix the faulty regulator on the stove. Remember, it’s an Insignia. No One Works On Insignia. Any other brand, he had parts in his truck for. But, at least now we’re safe. And we have heat. And now I have to figure out what to do about the stove.
Several phone calls, and emails to the dealership and the manufacturer of the RV. They will replace the stove no charge. They will ship it to us. Our mobile repair guy said he’d come back out and install it. Wow. Things are looking up – but wait – the stove is not in stock. Special order. No one knows how long it will take to be shipped, or how long it will take to get to us once it does ship. And we’ll be leaving Priest Gulch in about 10 days from now. And, unlike the brake caliper, we can’t just carry around a stove (where would we put it???) hoping to find someone who can install it, knowing RV service is almost impossible to find. And, if (when) it shows up here after we have left – what will the nice campground owners do with a big old stove sitting in their office? They can’t throw it in their car and run it to FedEx and forward it to us….and so we go, round and round in circles. Are you dizzy yet? I am!
There is good news here and a light at the end of the tunnel. In case you were wondering! I got out the manual for the microwave yesterday. It is a convection oven/microwave. I never really new what that was. Our old RV had it too. Never used it. Well – guess what – it’s an actual convection oven! An electric oven. With a heating element, you set the oven temperature just like an oven (like 350 degrees), wait for it to pre-heat, use your metal baking pans and tin foil – it’s an actual oven! No microwave when you use it this way! Who knew??? And, we found a really nice hot plate at Walmart. So I have one burner I can use all my pans on like the stove top. Works great. I made a batch off shortcakes yesterday in the convection oven (almond flour, honey, a few other ingredients, a favorite) – turned out better than the oven. Since the convection circulates air all around, there’s no browning on the bottom. Steve had found these beautiful local, organic strawberries a couple of days ago – picked the same day – he bought 5 packages. And we had strawberry shortcakes with whipped coconut cream last night! Delicious and soothed my nerves.
My convection oven and hot plate
So we have cancelled the attempted ordering/delivery of a new stove, and are going to have them hold the new stove for us for when we return. I can manage with this set up. And still make good food and enjoy company, run the furnace, not worry about frozen pipes and generally get back to our plans. Whew. Was a roller coaster for several days.
I guess I’ve learned through all of this just how much I love our RV life. When we were facing the possibility of having to end our trip and return back to Ohio I was really disappointed and sad. Right when we were getting ready for our visitors to come. We absolutely love sharing our RV life with friends and family. And I also was reminded of how much I love cooking and sharing good food with everyone. There really is nothing better than sharing a meal over the table with love between us. I know it sounds sappy, but it’s true. Somehow life in the RV is more real and up close and personal than it is otherwise. At least it has been for us. And that is what makes sharing it all the more special. Like most things, you don’t always realize how good it is or how much you love it until you’re faced with not having it. It’s clear to me now. We could have really been hurt or worse, and lost everything in a fire. And a stove is just a stove, and we can have good food and share our table with friends and family without it. Life really is good.
So there’s the big long story. I’ve put together some pictures for you, and I promise more to come. My sister will be arriving the end of the month for a visit. Can’t wait!
August 19, 2021 and August 20, 2021; writing from Dubois, Wyoming
Hello again friends and family! Well, you know, things can get interesting when your home is on wheels and traverses the windy, bumpy, frost heaved, pot hole filled roads we find ourselves on. And so it did…
You know that nice chatty update I gave you on the day before we were to leave Stanley, Idaho? Well, the next morning, things changed. After we hitched up and while doing my usual walk-around-look-at-everything, I discovered a shiny spot on one of our tires on the inside of the wheel. Looked up from the shiny spot and noticed the brake line to that wheel was loose. There was just a tiny bit of brake fluid that had dripped out. I learned to check the brake lines to be sure they are tight and look good from our incident a couple of years ago when we experienced a broken brake line. I learned then that if one line leaks brake fluid, eventually all the lines will lose their fluid and the wheels will lock up. While you’re driving. I’m pretty sure I wrote about that experience in a post back then.
Anyhow, I also noticed this big metal hunk/part that was in the wheel was loose and I could move it with my hand. That is definitely not good. I may not know what that big metal hunk/part was exactly, but I knew it shouldn’t be wobbling around in the wheel. Oh dear. So I say to Steve – “We’re not leaving. It’s not safe. I know we’re in the middle of the mountains and there’s no service place anywhere near. But, we can’t drive down the road with a wobbly metal hunk in the wheel and a loose brake line that I can’t get to tighten up. Double Oh Dear.
The campground, Stanley RV + Camp is owned by a very nice young couple. Joe the owner came over and asked if we needed help! Yes! He was able to tighten the brake line, and said that big metal hunk that was wobbly was the brake caliper. He said it was still partially attached and didn’t think it would be dangerous to drive with it that way. Each wheel has it’s own brake, so we still had 3 working brakes on the RV plus the truck. So we drove to Idaho Falls, the closest “big” city, which took us about 5 hours to reach. We stopped often to check the wheel and all was ok. In the meantime, I started calling for a service appointment. Let’s just say that was a frustrating experience all in itself. Places were booked weeks out before they would even look at it. I finally found a diesel truck repair place that said come on in! They agreed with the earlier diagnosis and set about getting a replacement brake caliper. That is another story in and of itself…talking to the manufacturer (after many attempts to figure out who the right person was to talk to), and delays due to the manufacturer’s phone system being down from a rain storm in Indiana where they are based. They shipped the part overnight, finally. But wait! That would be all to easy! FedEx failed to deliver the part – they were days behind. Of course we couldn’t find out exactly how far behind or when it would actually show up.
We had moved to a hotel since the RV was in the repair shop. We ended up spending 3 nights in hotels, a different hotel each night. And wow it was expensive! Idaho Falls, Idaho…who would think hotels would be so expensive? We paid about $300 each night for very, very average hotel rooms. Nothing special or nice. Of course Gerry was along for the adventure and he rolled with it just fine, although I don’t think he was thrilled:
Gerry at the hotel
After 3 nights we bailed and decided to leave with our bad brake and pick up our schedule to be in Dubois, Wyoming, on the eastern side of Grand Teton National park. The very nice people at the diesel truck repair promised to forward the brake caliper when it finally showed up. And our time in Idaho Falls was not all bad – we had grocery shopping to catch up on, found the inevitable Walmart, and explored the nice town.
Idaho Falls has a very nice greenbelt that runs for several miles right through the middle of the city. The Snake River runs through the city, and they have made walking paths, bike baths, gardens, and picnic areas all along the river. We hung out at the parks each day while we waited for our brake part to arrive.
Yes there’s falls in Idaho Falls!We met Misty the Weimaraner – aren’t they cute together?? They could be twins!Our drive through Grand Teton National Park – a little hazy from smoke
So we have now spent about a week in Dubois, Wyoming, and guess what? Our brake part showed up today! The very nice people at the diesel truck repair place in Idaho Falls received it finally, and they re-sent it to our new location, and it finally showed up, although it was 2 days later than FedEx said it would arrive. But, at least we have it now. We’re leaving here tomorrow, heading for Colorado. We’ll take it with us and find someone to install it.
Meanwhile, we have enjoyed our time in Dubois. We were here a couple of years ago and we are glad we came back. We hiked the Brooks Lake area again, twice this week. It is absolutely beautiful. Then the rain moved in and we’ve had rain the last few days. Unusual here, but they are always glad for the rain. So we have caught up on banking and other life maintenance stuff, I’ve been crocheting, cooking and relaxing. So we’re now all rested up for some adventures in Colorado.
Hello, Howdy and Hey There! So glad to be chatting again – I have a fresh cup of Cardamon Cinnamon tea so I’m all set on this chilly morning to catch up. It was 32 degrees this morning – and it will get up to about 80 this afternoon – gotta love that mountain weather. We sure do.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Idaho these past few weeks. First we stayed in Irwin, Idaho – in what they call “Swan Valley”. We were about 45 minutes from Jackson Hole, WY and also Grand Teton National Park. So we were on the western side of the Teton mountains. It was wonderful. We did several great hikes and loved exploring a new area. We were near a couple of cute little towns, Victor and Driggs. We found a great natural grocery store (a big deal in my life!) in Driggs and were regulars there. We also found a very nice, small, farm to table restaurant that we celebrated Steve’s 70th birthday at (more on that later!). The RV park we stayed at was very nice also. We were in two different spots while there – the first spot was extremely small and tight – I knew this when booking, but it was a challenge getting into it. Once again, we were lucky with a super nice neighbor who was from Ohio also, and who drove trucks with trailers for a living, who had just arrived and was not even done unhitching his own rig when he came to our rescue and directed Steve to maneuver in between the trees, low branches and onto our tiny pad. When our slides were out we were about 3 inches from the tree on one side, and about a foot away from our friendly Ohio neighbor’s rig. We enjoyed a few days visiting with them and also the people that moved into that spot after them – the new neighbors were from Boise and visited the area often, and gave us tons of helpful local tips. It continues to amaze me how nice and helpful people are in the campgrounds. I truly don’t know how we would manage sometimes with out these kind folks.
After a few days in that spot, we moved to the Most Wonderful Camping Spot – it was huge, had a large yard, a patio with a gazebo, beautiful large rock waterfall fountain, and a big fire pit. Same campground, but for some reason they had this really nice camping spot in the back – I’m guessing it was built for the owner’s use at some point. Anyhow, we loved being there. As soon as we moved into that spot we looked at each other and said – we really need to call our friends Don and Patty in Montana and have them come stay with their two beautiful labs, we have such a big spot and are right on the Snake River which is a world class trout fishing spot and Don loves to fish and wouldn’t it be great to have them here for a few days….and so we did….and they came….and we had a great time!
Now it was Gerry’s turn to share his house with Kody and Hunter. Everyone made themselves at home and a fun time was had by all!
Dog Day Afternoon Kody and Hunter at home in the RV
I need to back up a bit here – we celebrated Steve’s big 70th birthday while in Swan Valley also. And, I have a story to tell you about that! He was a little stressed about this big birthday and I wanted to make something special for him. He has always talked about this special cake his mom made for his birthday each year when he was young. A spice cake with raisins and caramel frosting. I have never made the cake before, but his sister Rene had found a recipe that was similar and shared it with me. So I set about to make this for his birthday. I think most of you are aware we have changed our diet quite a bit in recent years, and we don’t typically eat sugar or anything made out of wheat. So I found a way to modify the cake recipe to use almond flour instead of wheat flour, and used apples and honey instead of sugar. No problem, was easy and looked perfect and smelled great. I baked 3 layers – he loves tall cakes! Now on to the frosting. Here’s where it got interesting – I spent hours and hours trying to make a caramel frosting with out sugar or milk. I used coconut milk, honey, maple syrup, all kinds of combos. Total flops, all of them. Tasted terrible. So, finally, on the morning of his birthday when I was desperate, Steve went to the grocery and purchased both regular sugar and powdered sugar, along with heavy cream and I made a traditional caramel frosting that was outstanding! He loved his cake and we both enjoyed every last bit of all that sugar!
Happy 70th Birthday Steve!
Birthday Dinner in Driggs, Idaho
Cake Success!
We got to FaceTime with all the kids and grandkids and we all sang happy birthday to Steve. Really – Life Is Good!
Then it was on to Stanley, Idaho, in the Sawtooth Mountains and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Absolutely beautiful. Mountains everywhere, rivers, streams, natural hot springs, hiking galore – perfect in our book! We leave here tomorrow but we will most certainly come again. We have hiked for miles and miles here, sat in the hot springs (an amazing feat of nature!) and we made new friends!
While hiking one day, we ran into this lovely couple from Hawaii. We chatted, they told Gerry how cute he was, and we each continued on. But we kept running into them all during the 10 mile hike, and we really enjoyed talking. So we ended up spending a few days together, hiking, sharing meals, sitting in the hot springs, and getting to know each other. Wonderful people, Richard and Greta. We quickly realized we had a lot of similar interests and we really enjoyed hearing of their life adventures which have taken them all over the world. What a joy to spend time together, sharing our lives, each of us enriched from the experience.
Heading down a forest service road for a hike in Style!
You guys know how much we love exploring all these new places and having our adventures and hiking. And we really do. But, the people we have met along the way are the real gems. And being able to share our home on wheels with family and friends has made us so happy. The warmth around our table, the lunches along the trail, marveling at the beauty of nature all around, is so much more when shared.
So new friends and old, we thank you! Visitors, keep coming! Life is Good!
July 12, 2021 and then July 16, 2021 and then July 19, 2021
Hello Everyone! (as you can see from the dates, I have been trying to get this done for a little while now….I started writing this in Lander, WY, and now am finishing while in Pinedale, WY. Both are in the Wind River Mountain range, Lander on the east side, Pinedale on the west side of the mountains).
We are currently in Lander, Wyoming, in the Wind River Mountain Range….well, we’re right at the edge of the mountains – what the marketing type folks like to call the “gateway” to the Wind River Mountains! We can see the mountains out our window at the RV park – at least we could when we first arrived. The days have been getting very hazy lately – not sure why. It hasn’t been all that hot – in the 80s, but the last few days have been very hazy. But here’s a picture of the view out our window from a couple of evenings ago:
Lander, Wyoming – view out our window
I have a story to share with you! This might take a minute, so you may want to go get a cup of tea and come back!
I always make reservations ahead of time. We plan out our general route for the season, then I get to work figuring out exact routes, RV parks available, etc. We’re just too big to risk not having a reservation at an RV park that can fit us. I know that takes some of the spontaneity of RV travel, but, it’s a trade off we make for having a larger size 5th wheel with all the comforts of home. Yes, there’s a lot of no reservation, free, very nice national forest service campsites, BLM spots, etc. But typically, if you’re longer than 30 feet, 35 feet max (we’re 43 feet) you can’t fit into any of them. And, many are no hook ups meaning no electric, no water, no sewer. We have a generator, and big holding tanks for fresh water and sewer, so we are equipped to “dry camp”. But our size makes it unpredictable and hard to find appropriate sites. And the idea of not knowing where we’ll end up for the night is stressful to us and takes away from the relaxing enjoyment of our RV life. So, for the most part, other than a few Walmart parking lot nights, we like to have reservations laid out. That’s where this story begins…
We were scheduled into “Green Oasis” campground, in Greybull Wyoming, near the Big Horn mountain range in northern Wyoming. We had not been to that part of the state, and I had read about the Big Horn mountains and it looked beautiful and lots of hiking – our kind of place. I had made reservations in early spring, for a week long stay, and carefully asked about size of campsite and made sure our rig size was known – I always do this, I learned my lesson about that a long time ago on the road to Alaska. A couple of days before we were to leave Spearfish, South Dakota (our first destination after the wedding in Minnesota), Steve asked about where we were staying next. I pulled it up online and we noticed it was a very small campground, and the website was very ….. let’s say ….. undeveloped. Hmm, better call ahead and double check everything. I did, and had a long, very nice, chatty conversation with the lady and she confirmed our size was no problem. Good news! So off we go to Green Oasis in Greybull Wyoming. Beautiful drive through the Big Horn mountains on the way, we went over the “pass” and were excited to have a week of hiking in the area. Until – we start to pull into the campground, which was right on the main street in the very small town of Greybull, and stopped on the street, we couldn’t even pull into the campground without getting stuck. We have learned a few things these 4 years of RVing, and one of them is don’t turn into a place you can’t see a way out of.
Steve goes inside and they tell him, “yup – that one open spot you see back there is for you – it’s a pull through, no problem”. Well. We walked to the spot. It was a very short walk since their 8 campsites were actually in the backyard of their house. There was absolutely NO WAY we could fit in there. I would say the absolute, very biggest, still squeezing in, size rig that would fit there would be about 30 feet. Not our 43 feet. So we cancelled our reservation. They were not happy. We were not happy. It was Friday, July 2. A holiday weekend, 5:00 in the afternoon. And we were parked on the side of the street with no where to go. And trust me, there is not much around Greybull, Wyoming. No Walmart, no rest area, no highway. Just mountains and 2 lane roads. Oh dear.
I start calling every RV park I can find anywhere near. All full. I expand my radius to an hour out. Then 2 hours out. Finally, I found an RV park in Columbus, Montana, just over 2 hours away, with an open site for the night. Hooray! By now it was almost 6:00, I had been calling forever trying to find a place. We can get there before dark if we hurry. The catch – it’s an electric only site, with only 30 amp electric (we are 50 amp). No water or sewer hook up. No problem, they have a water station to fill your fresh water tank upon arrival. So off we go, glad to not be sleeping on the side of the road somewhere.
While I’m making all these phone calls I’m also kicking myself. We have a 100 gallon fresh water tank. We can carry a lot of water. And ours had exactly 0 gallons in it. None. I know better – we should always carry at least a quarter tank of water for emergencies. “What if we don’t find a place and have to stay on the side of the road somewhere and we have no water and can’t make coffee or flush the toilet???? I was sweating. Did I mention it was about 90 degrees still even at 6:00 pm? So the 30 amp electric only site that we can use their dirty hose at the water filling station to get some water was most welcome. I guess it’s all a matter of context, right?
So, just to top things off, after we get there, luckily right before the office closed, and we got our tank filled with the water-from-the-dirty-hose-used-to-also-spray-down-the-sewer-dumping-station (yikes!, but we have double water filters and we were desparate) – we asked the guy if he could help us back into our site (of course it was a very tight back in site – that was the kinda day we were having). Sure no problem he says. So he starts giving Steve directions like “turn your wheel to the right – no wait, I meant to the left – no wait – maybe it should be to the right”. I think his holiday weekend had started a little early and he was struggling – just what we needed! Then, thank goodness, a kind neighbor saw what was happening and took over giving directions and we managed to get into our spot. But wait, then fun is not over yet! Steve goes to hook up the electric, and our 50 to 30 amp converter is missing! Can’t find it, even though we know we have one and have used it on this trip! So off Steve goes to try to find one before everything in the very small town of Columbus, Montana closes. The 3rd place he went to had one and the day was saved. We can run one air conditioner (we have 2) on 30 amps, and we can also turn on lights and use the coffee maker. Much more than that we will blow the circuit. Air conditioning and coffee, who needs more than that???
So where does the “happy” in this mess come in, I hear you asking? Lucky for us, our friends Don and Patty live about 45 minutes away, on a beautiful ranch that we love to visit. You will remember them from previous blog posts. They have welcomed us and our kids numerous times to their lovely home and it is those experiences years ago that inspired us to venture out to the great outdoors in an RV in the first place. We let them know we were unexpectedly in the area and they welcomed us (and Gerry!) to come for a visit. And, the campground was able to give us our spot for 5 nights, and I was able to get us into our next spot a couple days early, so the week was saved.
We found an absolutely perfect hike near Red Lodge, Montana that we loved. We spent a couple of days with our friends and Gerry had a blast on the ranch, hanging with their dogs and the horses and cows. We walked their property which is beautiful and we also hiked an all time favorite – the Sioux Charley. We like this area and had fun exploring it more. So it all worked out! And it is great being able to “go with the flow” and just enjoy where we are. After ensuring we have coffee and water to flush the toilets, of course!!!
Gerry makes himself at home at Don and Patty’s!
Here’s pictures from our hike near Red Lodge – it was in the 90s when we started. Then a couple hours into the hike, we got rain, then hail! It created the most magical, surreal beauty! https://photos.app.goo.gl/SPP1RgrZ1efo84x4A
And here’s a round up of pictures from our time in Lander, Wyoming and Pinedale, Wyoming, in the Wind River Mountains. While here we celebrated our 34th (!) wedding anniversary, and my birthday. We really enjoyed both places and will put them on our list of “visit again” spots. We did a lot of hiking, and some touristy things too which was fun. We even got to do a few miles on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), which is always a highlight for me – the Green River Lakes trail (pictures are in link below) connected to a small portion of the CDT.
Tomorrow we’re off to the Idaho side of the Grand Tetons. We’ll be just about 40 miles from Jackson Hole, but hopefully out of the crowds by being on the Idaho side of the Tetons. A couple of years ago we visited the Grand Tetons from the Wyoming side. The National Park was busy then, and I’m sure it’s even more so now. We probably won’t go into the park again this time, rather we’ll explore the area all around the park. And, Steve has a big birthday coming up later this week (70!). We’re looking forward to spending it exploring a new place and being together in the mountains! Life Is Good!!
Well, it’s official…..Guy and Katelyn are married! Wow! It’s almost impossible to believe how good life can be sometimes. Katelyn is warm, kind, caring, beautiful and Guy is head over heals in love with her. They are a perfect match. The wedding was a beautiful event, small and intimate, with about 38 guests. They wanted a small wedding from the beginning, the idea of a big event with lots of people was overwhelming to them. So they planned a beautiful, very personal, ceremony and dinner celebration. It could not have been better.
We moved the RV to a new (to us) RV park – Lebanon Hills Regional Park – a county park, in a suburb on the southern side of the Twin Cities. We really enjoyed it, lots of grass, trails to walk Gerry and campfires allowed. And it was much closer to all the wedding activities than Crystal Springs. We’ll be back to this park again for sure, assuming we can get reservations. They go fast. I got lucky this spring and happened upon the website on the “opening day” of reservations. They were full within a couple of hours for the entire season!
Samantha flew in from Denver and stayed with us in the new RV and Gerry was delighted! Stephanie and Matt opted for a hotel for their get-away-with-no-children visit and Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Laura and Brooke also flew in and stayed at a hotel. Was great having family visit and to share some of our favorite spots around the Twin Cities with them. We rarely get to have all the kids together anymore, with all three of them living in different cities all over the country – what a joy it was to all be together again!
I find myself at a loss of words (I know! Who would think….?!!) about all the feelings and emotions watching Guy and Katelyn be married. Happy. Amazed at how perfect they are together. Tears of joy (there were lots!). Proud. Can’t wait to watch them grow together. Our hearts are full!
We left a couple of days after the wedding to begin our journey west. We stopped in Sioux Falls, SD to tend to a few residency matters. Yes! I forgot to mention in my last post – we are now residents of South Dakota! We are not in Ohio long enough to be required to claim it as our residence, and South Dakota makes it easy to become a resident. And, taxes are much better – so we changed our residency this spring! Until we decide where to live if/when we decide we’re done with the RV life, this works. I had read about many full time RVers making South Dakota their state of residency and did some research, and it turns out it was right for us too.
I’m writing this post in a very nice RV park in Spearfish, South Dakota – Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort. In the Black Hills region. We arrived yesterday, and plan to get our hiking legs under us with a couple of hikes, lots of naps (we are tired!) and generally relax. And soak in the wonder of life – which is very good, indeed.
The photographer provided a few “sneak peak” photos – we can’t wait to see them all!
It is so good to be sitting at my RV dining table writing another blog post! Seems like it has been a very long time since last doing this. We are at one of our favorite spots, Crystal Springs RV Resort in southern Minnesota. It’s a small RV park, on 40 acres with a beautiful lake and lots of walking paths. A perfect spot to relax and regroup after a very busy few weeks. Gerry is snoozing on the bed and Steve is off at the gym working out. Everyone is in their happy place!
So much to share, so let’s get started!
First things first – Guy and Katelyn are getting married (!!) in 6 days! It will be a small wedding in the Twin Cities area. We are so happy! I’ll give you a nice wedding update after, and I’m sure there will be a picture or two to share as well!
We bought a new RV! And a new Truck! We purchased the same brand, DRV Mobile Suites, but a different floor plan. Our new floor plan is called 41RKDB. The big difference is that it’s 2 feet longer (a big deal in RVs) and the kitchen is in the rear, instead of in the middle. We still have the full bath with 2 sinks (a must have in my opinion) and also a half bath. The living area is larger and it’s all done in a more modern style. We love it. Of course we’ve had a few issues with it and have spent the last few weeks dealing with that and we took it back to the dealership in Elkhart, IN a couple of weeks before we left Ohio and they completed our list of repairs. Mostly it’s a bunch of small things. The big thing was the paint and body work that needed to be done. Of course, there’s a story to that!
My New Kitchen!
We picked up our shiny new RV the end of April in Elkhart, IN, at the dealer. We spent the night there, trying to use everything and identify our “punch list” of things needing to be tended to. We came up with a list of minor things. Then, we drove back to our storage unit in Ohio, to store it until we were ready to head out in early June. Well, Steve backed it into the storage unit like a pro, no problem! We stood there and looked at the 16 foot overhead garage door and said – “hmmm, is that going to clear? Looks like it might not clear – ” we double checked to be sure we were backed up all the way in the storage unit – yup, we were. We knew our previous RV was a tight fit, with little spare room. I had asked during the purchase/ordering process back in November, what the length of this new RV would be. It was a brand new floor plan, and I was told – “TBD, but should be same as your current model”. So….we close the overhead door and guess what? Our new RV is 22″ longer than our old one, we now know! And the overhead door scraped all the way down and then all the way back up again. So paint and bodywork got added to the “fix it” list!
All Ready For Relaxing in Minnesota!Our Living RoomDining AreaMaster Bath
Then there’s the new truck – and it’s a beautiful one I must say. But, we had not planned to purchase a new truck this year. The dealership we purchased the RV from called one day, making arrangements for our pick up date and closing of the purchase, and said they required documentation showing the towing capacity of our truck. No problem we say. We have a big truck – a RAM 3500 dually diesel with a super duty Cummins diesel engine. It took some figuring out, but we found out how to get your “official” towing capacity – you use your VIN at the RAM website. Ours was 18,400. WHAT? That cannot be right. We have been towing 24,000 pounds. It was right. We have been towing, with our very first truck and this second one, way under capacity of what we should have been. We Had No Idea. Towing capacity is not listed on the window sticker. It is not in your users manual. The only way to get it is with the VIN on the RAM website. Turns out there are a million things that effect your towing capacity – ratios, axles, tires, a bunch of stuff I’m not going to remember. So, for the first 2 trucks we had purchased, even though we sat with the sales guys and told them what we used it for and what towing capacity we needed, and were assured “this truck can tow anything”, and the RAM brochures list the MAX towing capacity that MAY be possible if everything was built just exactly to those specs, we now know we have been driving around for the last 4 years in 2 different trucks, way under sized.
I’ll get a better picture for future posts!
I guess there’s 2 ways to look at it: maybe towing capacity is not that important, we pulled our RV through the mountains, for lots of miles, and didn’t have any problem or – OMG we are so lucky we didn’t blow out our transmission and haven’t been stranded on the side of some lonely mountain road or worse, blew the engine, lost control and killed ourselves and everyone around us. We were in the latter camp!
The dealership we bought the new RV from required documentation of sufficient towing capacity or else they would not sell you the RV. Can not drive off their lot with out proof of towing capacity. Makes sense to us. Makes us wonder why that conversation never happened when we purchased our first RV at a different dealership. We were thankful to learn this lesson this way, and not any of the the other possible, terrible ways it could be learned. And, we bought a new truck! And, we found out it is not easy to find one with the higher towing capacity. They don’t make that many of them. And, many of the truck sales people we talked to didn’t know how to find the actual towing capacity of the trucks they were selling. And, it was much more expensive. We thought our other 2 trucks were expensive. We didn’t know we were buying the “cheap” low towing capacity version. Now we do.
When I think about all the things we’ve learned these past 4 years about trucks, RVs, wheels, electrical systems, water systems, etc (if you have ready very many of these blog posts you know some of these stories!) it really is pretty amazing. And we keep on learning!
Driving around Chicago – not what you picture when dreaming of RVing!
Since we had to have the repairs done to the RV before we left Ohio for our season of travel, we took the RV back to the dealership in Elkhart, IN 2 weeks before we were leaving Ohio. Then, we had movers come and put all our apartment stuff into storage, and we rented a U Haul to put all the RV stuff into and we drove our truck and the U Haul to Elkhart to get the RV when the repairs were done. So then, we had to move all our stuff from the U Haul into the new RV while at the dealership. And it was 93 and 1000% humidity that day. And then we hit the road! Except we hit rush hour traffic around Chicago – that was not fun. But alas, we made it to our spot at Crystal Springs RV Resort as planned.
Gerry is always comfortable!Moving into the new RV
So that’s my update for now, and the launch to a new season of RV travel and adventures. I’m happy we get to make it up as we go along! Steve is moving more and more into retirement and has made some big decisions related to work recently. And, he will be turning 70 in a few weeks (oh my!). I’m sure I’ll have lots to share about that as well.
Transitions, new beginnings, new chapters, new adventures. Life is Good.
Hello there and howdy! We are back in Columbus, I am sitting in the RV writing this post amidst the unpacking, move-out-of-the-RV mess. There’s just no way around it – living in the RV for half the year means moving everything in and then back out again…I’m not complaining! In fact, I am moving at a snail’s pace, managing to spread this task out over several days. I think it’s my way to extend the time I get to spend in the RV…. 😊
We are always happy to be back in Columbus to visit and catch up with everyone. And Steve has work to do. But, we are sorely missing our mountains and hiking! Since my last post, we spent time in Angel Fire, NM. A favorite spot, this was our third year there. And then it was on to the Denver area, for a visit with Samantha. Wonderful visit and love that our RV life allows us to go visit the kids so easily.
We had quite a bit of snow in Angel Fire. The campground is at 8,400 feet, and after a few days of beautiful fall weather, we had 2 days of snow. We think we got around 8 – 10″. We got out and hiked in the beautiful snowy landscape and loved it. And, we got lucky and woke up one morning to a herd of Elk in the meadow right outside our back window. Each year we’ve been to Angel Fire (this was 3rd year), we’ve had these Elk show up in the meadow. This year, one cold morning after the snow fall, there was a fog sitting over the meadow. As the fog lifted with the sunshine, there were 200-300 Elk in the meadow! They stayed until the next day, then they moved on. We never tired of watching them out the window. Here’s a couple of pictures out the window. They do not do it justice, as always:
We visited Taos several times, it is only about 30 minutes away, and it’s a beautiful drive through a canyon to get there. We love the quirky, earthy, unique vibe of Taos. As much as we love exploring new places, we also love going back to these favorites each year. It’s familiar and comforting going back to places we love like Taos.
A favorite – Chokola – a great chocolate cafe!
Then it was on to Denver to visit Samantha! We had a great visit and love seeing her so happy with her life in Colorado. We had great weather there, very warm for late October-early November. We got in a couple hikes, but mostly hung out with Samantha and enjoyed time together. Gerry was so happy to have “sister” with us again! He knows the word “sister” and I had to be careful not to say it too soon. He immediately begins looking for Samantha and has run away before looking for her when I’ve made the mistake of saying it too soon!
Then it was time to head east to begin our drive back to Ohio. But, just to keep things interesting – after our first night on “the road back to Ohio”, when getting ready to leave our campsite somewhere in Kansas – Steve noticed our one tire on the RV looking extremely worn again. You’ll remember we have had ongoing problems with this wheel/tire on the RV. We had all new tires put on in May, before leaving Ohio, and, we had this one tire replaced during our trip already this summer. And now here it was again, excessively worn and we weren’t comfortable continuing to drive on it. So, I get on my phone and discover we are only a couple of miles from a big truck tire place, call them up and the nice guy says “come right over, we have what you need in stock we’ll do it right away”. So off we go to the tire place in the middle of Kansas. Super nice people, they have us on our way in about an hour.
Looking forward to catching up with family and friends this winter. Then it will be back on the road again in the spring!
Hello, Hello! Greetings from New Mexico! We arrived Angel Fire, NM a few days ago. One of our very favorite places to stay. But more on that later – right now I want to share with you our wonderful visit we had with Guy and Katelyn in Santa Fe.
They had never been to New Mexico before, and it was so fun sharing one of our favorite places with them. We had great weather (they have 325 days a year of sunshine there!) and a nice spot at the RV park we like to stay in there. So we had a perfect home base for our visit.
There is so much to do in Santa Fe – the museums, the historic Plaza with it’s shops and restaurants, hiking in the near by mountains, and our favorite – the Farmer’s Market! We did it all! We also love the adobe architecture of the area, it really feels like you’re in a different part of the world. And it fits the landscape perfectly. Santa Fe is just beautiful to look at and be in. We soaked up as much of it as we could!
We also visited with Steve’s high school friend, Chris, and her husband, Bob, again while there. It’s so nice to be able to visit with folks who we probably wouldn’t get to see if not living this RV life of ours. Chris gave us a very nice personal tour of the Museum of International Folk Art, where she works. We had visited it before, but we learned so much more when touring with her. It’s an amazing museum, and I highly recommend it if you visit Santa Fe.
We got outside and hiked twice with Guy and Katelyn, up in the mountains with some fall color still there. We missed the peak color, but we really enjoyed the golden aspens that were still there. I know I say this every year, but there is something magical about being in the golden light of the sun shining through the golden aspens. Guy and Katelyn loved them too, and we had picnic lunches on our hikes in the trees. My definition of heaven on earth – in the mountains, eating lunch in the golden aspens with our loved ones. Really – Life Is Good!
During one of our visits to the historic Plaza area, we stopped and talked to 2 Native Americans (turns out they were father and daughter, named Okhuwa P’ing and Khuu Ay, from the Santa Clara Pueblo) who were selling pottery they made. It is called “black on black” pottery for the style it is. They shared with us how it is made – they do not use a potter’s wheel – it is all hand shaped. Then it is fired outside in a wood fire, then smothered with horse manure to block the oxygen. Beautiful pieces, and we purchased a couple of items. During our conversation, Guy mentioned he and Katelyn were getting married next year. When we were leaving, Okhuwa P’ing called us back, and he gave Guy and Katelyn a beautiful, handmade Dream Catcher as a wedding gift. He spoke to them about the meaning of the Dream Catcher, and the 2 feathers on it. He gave them blessings for a long life together. It was incredibly personal and very meaningful. What a special person he is, and we are so fortunate for getting to spend time with him and his daughter. I don’t think any of us will forget the experience. Here’s a picture of Guy and Katelyn with their Dream Catcher:
Their first wedding present!
We loved showing the kids the Farmer’s Market. They love farmer’s markets like we do, and go often back home in Minnesota. I know I’ve gushed on about the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market in posts from years past. But really! It is something special! It was a little smaller this year, and there were no performances going on like there usually are (dances, music). But it was still incredible and we of course bought so much fresh produce and food we could hardly fit it into our fridge and freezer!
You’ll notice we quickly adopted our New Mexico look again, with our hats…and we got Katelyn in on the look too! Still working on Guy….. 🙂
Isn’t he a handsome cowboy??
Of course, the time spent together went by way too fast. But we enjoyed every minute of it and are so glad they were able to come visit. We love our RV life and sharing it with loved ones makes it all the more special. Life Is Good, indeed. Here’s pictures of our visit – enjoy! https://photos.app.goo.gl/xxky18Z3j3GsNQZF8
Howdy folks! And happy fall! My favorite time of the year, especially when we are in Aspen country (and we are, now). We arrived Santa Fe today, our 3rd year in a row spending time here in October. But that will be for another post. Right now I’m going to update you on our past couple of weeks.
So you know we were supposed to go to the Redwoods National Park when my brother and his wife were visiting, and we had to change those plans. Well, we were also scheduled to go to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Both ended up closing due to fires in the area. So….we had to make a new plan. We’ve never been to either Yosemite or Sequoia. We hear Yosemite is a must see. We also know it is always crowded and you know how we already have a love/hate relationship with national parks. So we honestly we were not all that disappointed to change our plans. We’ll get there someday, I suppose. Meanwhile, we re-routed ourselves through Mt. Shasta, California (really liked it, will go back someday) and then on to the Lake Tahoe area (same – really liked it, will go back someday). So it all worked out. That really is one of the great things about traveling this way, we can be flexible and change plans when we need or want to.
Walking trails right outside our door at the RV park near Lake Tahoe. That’s the moon rising!
So we still got to see some of northern California, and new places we had never been. And, it was SO GOOD getting back into the mountains. After several weeks on the Oregon coast, we really were anxious for some mountain hikes, and we found them! We had a little smoke in the skies while in California, but nothing terrible. You’ll see in some of the pictures the sky is a little hazy. And guess what?? The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) goes right through the Lake Tahoe area, so one of our hikes was on part of the PCT. You might remember we hiked part of the PCT while in Oregon too. I just love getting my feet onto these historic, cross country trails, even if it’s just for a few miles. All that good energy there to soak up!
Mt. Shasta was a very cute little mountain town. It has a reputation for having good energy (similar to Sedona), so I planned our stay there to be over the fall Equinox. They were just beginning to re-open the national forest areas while we were there, and several areas were closed still, but we were able to find a beautiful hike. It’s an area that we would like to spend more time in, and explore more.
The Lake Tahoe area was very beautiful too. We stayed right on the Nevada/California boarder. In fact, half the RV park was in Nevada, half was in California! And, the RV park was associated with a casino, and they had a building on the property that sold both Nevada and California lottery tickets. We kept seeing a lot of cars in the parking lot of this building and couldn’t figure out why – then someone told us it was a lottery sales place, and they had a line of tape down the middle – one side sold Nevada lottery tickets and the other side sold California lottery tickets!
We really enjoyed the whole area. We drove around the entire lake (about 75 miles). It has lots of little villages and towns all around, each with a different personality. We had fun being tourists some days, doing some shopping and going out to dinner a couple of times. There were so many hikes in the area it was almost overwhelming to pick a few out. We loved all the hikes we did – but we found an area (the Mt. Rose Wilderness), on the Nevada side of the lake, that had beautiful hikes around a couple of creeks, and with shade. Gerry just can’t handle the sun and needs a creek or stream to get into with the heat. So we spent a few days hiking that area. You’ll see lots of pictures in the link below.
Then we moved on to Sedona. We were there 2 years ago and loved it, and decided to route ourselves through there again, on our way to Santa Fe. Wow. We remembered we liked Sedona. We remembered it was beautiful. But wow – when you come around the bend in the road and see all those red rocks again….pictures and memories do not do it justice. We loved being there again, even for just a few days, and it was a good reminder of how much we like it – and we plan to spend more time there at some point.
I have to tell you a little story about one hike we did in Sedona – Boynton Canyon. It’s a lovely, 6 – 6.5 mile hike, all through a canyon (thus the name!). We had done the hike when we were in Sedona 2 years ago, and my sister, Laura visited. You long time readers of my blog will remember how there was a guy playing the flute on top of a big red rock back then…well guess what?! He was there this time too! When we arrived for our hike, in the morning, he wasn’t there, and we figured he wasn’t doing it any more. But, when we were almost back at the end of our hike, we could hear the flute playing in the distance – so we hurried down the side trail to where he was. He saw us coming, rushing up the trail, and I think he added a couple of songs to his play time to let us get up to the area to sit and listen. It was wonderful! And we were able to talk to him after, and he gave us each heart rocks he carves out of the red rocks again! We had received heart rocks last time also, and one of ours had broken (fell off the dresser in the RV while we were bouncing around on some road somewhere). He is a very inspirational guy, and it was very special to us to hear him play again. And we are thrilled to have the heart rocks! Here’s a short video of him playing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fcZYx9tq6iU9ptMC7 Really – does it get any better than that??
Driving into Sedona. Not a great picture (sorry!). But kinda gives you an idea anyhow!
We have had absolutely beautiful weather for several weeks now. We’ve done as many hikes as we can fit in every where we’ve been, and I have lots of pictures for you. And, we are settling in to our digs in Santa Fe – we love it here! And…Guy and Katelyn arrive in a couple days for a visit (Yay!!) so I’m busy cooking and prepping for that. I’ll have lots to share after their visit, I’m sure.
So enjoy the pictures, and I hope you are able to get outside and enjoy some fall weather where ever you are!
