Hi! We have been enjoying the southern part of the central Oregon Cascade mountains for about a week now. We visited Crater Lake National Park, got in a couple really nice hikes (including doing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail – a real highlight for me!), and we enjoyed a day of boating on a nearby mountain lake.
We’re moving today to the northern part of the central Oregon Cascades, to a pretty remote RV park. Not sure if we’ll have good enough cell or internet service there to do a blog post, so I wanted to share this quick one. I’ll give you a full update when I can, I promise! In the meantime, here’s some pictures from our visits to Crater Lake National Park. We went twice, once with Gerry, and drove around the rim, stopping several times to take in the views. We went again, without Gerry (since he’s not allowed on any of the trails in national parks ) and hiked down the rim to the lake and enjoyed a day (it was Steve’s birthday!) with our feet in the water.
Howdy! I know I say this all the time…but seriously….where does the time go? Seems like just a few days ago I posted an update, and now I realize it’s been quite awhile – Sorry!
We have been in Oregon for about 10 days now. First in LaGrande, and now in Bend. We’re going to be in Oregon until about mid-September, we are meandering our way all through the state. LaGrande is in the northeastern part of the state, not far from Idaho. We really enjoyed our time in LaGrande, nice small town with a good farmer’s market and a good restaurant we frequented more than usual for us. The RV park we stayed at (Grande Hot Springs RV Resort) was a few miles outside of the town, in a very nice setting with lots of acreage. They also had hot springs that fed two pools for soaking which we enjoyed. We got in a couple of hikes while there, and just hung out enjoying our views of the big sky and relaxing at the RV.
But, just to make things interesting….we got a flat tire on the truck! Luckily, we were not pulling the RV when it happened. We had just driven to a trailhead to hike. It was my birthday, and my request was a long beautiful hike. So we had one all picked out and while we were getting our backpacks on, Steve heard a Pssssssttttt. That’s a technical term for air leaking from the front tire on a truck. So Steve says, “hurry, get back in the truck, we’re going to drive as far down this mountain as we can before it gets completely flat!” And so we did, and we made it several miles back down the gravel forest service road we were on, to a forest service campground. We still didn’t have a signal on our cell phones but we were able to get off the road into the campground and had a good place to get to work changing the tire.
So – any one who knows us knows this is not something we know how to do. In fact, neither one of us has changed a tire on a vehicle. Ever. And so we knocked on the door of the campground host (they were in a RV) and asked for help. He came over and looked at it and said, “I have no idea how to fix that”. But, he did offer to call AAA for us – they had some sort of cell booster and could get a weak signal on their phone. So they called AAA for us who promised to send someone out in the next hour. Then AAA called back twice asking more questions, and the time estimate became 1.5 – 2 hours for arrival. So we got to work on it our selves and, we got it done! Took off the flat tire and put on the spare. It was a true team effort – me reading the instructions in the manual (I don’t think the people who write these things ever have to follow their own instructions!) and Steve doing all the heavy lifting. But we ran into a snag in the process: There was one lug nut that was different than all the others and it didn’t come off. And the wheel was clearly “locked” on, even after following all the instructions and taking off the other lug nuts. No mention in the instructions anywhere about this different lug nut. We checked the other tires – they all had one too. One of the questions the AAA people called back to ask was about a “tire lock and did we have one”?? What’s a tire lock? Never heard of it. Did we have one? Not that we knew of. But, yes we did as it turns out. While we were stuck, unable to get the wheel off, I started rummaging around in the truck hoping we had missed something, and I found an open package with one hexagon shaped “nut” kinda thing in it, down in the bottom of our center console. And 4 missing pieces in the packaging. Hmmm…no label on the package saying what it was, and no instructions in the packaging. But we tried the hexagon shaped nut kinda thing on the one different wheel lug and it was the magic unlocker thing we needed! How did we end up with wheel locks that we didn’t know we had??? Who put them on and then put the open, unlabeled, no instructions, magic unlocker thing into our truck console with out us knowing anything about it???? We’ve had tires changed on this truck before and no one ever said anything about wheel locks or the magical unlocker thing…those guys must all know about them and maybe there’s a master unlocker thing they all use. I don’t know. We’re guessing the dealership must have done it when we bought the truck. Probably an “upgrade” to add the wheel locks that we didn’t know about. Anyhow, we had never heard of a wheel lock before, and now we know we have them and how to unlock them. 😆
Took 3.5 hours. And AAA still had not arrived. We learned a lot – and I hope we never have to do it again, but if we do, we’ll know how to do it next time. We were safely off the road, we were not pulling the RV down the interstate when it happened, it wasn’t raining…all kinds of ways it could have been worse. There was a lovely creek running by and we had food and water with us. Gerry was bummed out being leashed to the picnic table all day instead of out hiking, but, he got a quick romp in the creek at least. And we did the hike the next day and it was perfect – a favorite so far.
Then it was on to Bend. We’re staying at an RV park right in town. It’s tucked away in a lot of trees and mostly you wouldn’t know you were right in town. It’s a very nice RV park – considered a “luxury” type park. The parking spots for the RVs are all pavers, the driveways are all paved (really cuts down on the dust and grit tracked in and blowing in the windows). They have a nice doggie area and the space between RVs is very generous. But I have to say, we really prefer being out more, away from town, more in nature. But, we had to get the truck serviced (new front tires and an oil change) and we needed to restock on groceries and of course the inevitable Walmart run. Here’s a picture of our current spot:
We’ve enjoyed exploring Bend, but it’s VERY busy. We’ve read it’s one of the fastest growing cities in the country. About 100,000 people now and growing by the minute it seems. Lots of construction, houses and roads. But the mountains are literally right next door. I can’t get used to looking up while driving down a city street and – boom – right in front of you are snow capped mountains. So close it seems you can reach out and touch them. These are the Cascade Mountains and they are beautiful. We will be staying in a few places all through the Cascade Mountains during the next few weeks and I’m sure we’re going to love it. We did a very nice hike yesterday just a short ways from Bend – it was beautiful. Here’s a picture from the drive to the hike – this is just a few miles out of town:
I feel like all our pictures must seem the same – hiking through the woods, reaching a view point, or a lake, streams or creeks along the way, Gerry having fun. But, this is what we love doing and the hikes don’t seem boring or the same to us at all. They all have unique challenges or something interesting and we just love being out there doing it. And of course, pictures never do justice to the real view. But we keep trying to capture the beauty and love sharing it with you!
Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great summer – do you believe it is already the middle of July?? Where does the time go? We have been enjoying mostly sunny, not too hot days and cool nights for the last couple of weeks. After leaving Missoula, Montana, we stayed at a nice RV park in St. Regis, Montana. St. Regis is along interstate 90, in the far western part of Montana, near the Idaho border. We enjoyed the area very much – nothing around but mountains and pine trees and plenty of hiking. The RV park was very nice, but crowded over the 4th of July. Not surprising I guess, but it was a little busier than we would have liked. But the weather there was great – needed the furnace in the early mornings, it was so cool. Then sunny and pleasant in the afternoons. We got in a few really nice hikes in the area, I have pictures and some short videos in the link here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/64zqoNqdqDsPrWiaA I hope the videos work, I’m never too sure about that!
After St. Regis, we moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the panhandle. We have never been to this part of the state before, and we’ve been enjoying exploring. Our RV park is average, not great but is waterfront, which is nice. Its a very large RV park (182 sites) and we are very far in the back, no water view for us. The Spokane River runs into Lake Coeur d’Alene, and our RV park is right where river and lake meet. Lake Coeur d’Alene is 50 square miles, very long and narrow. We rented a boat yesterday and toured around, admiring the very nice homes all along the shore. Unfortunately, the weather did not really cooperate – it was cold! We wore sweatshirts and pants, and had a blanket to wrap up in on board, but, I still needed more, so we stopped at a resort along the lake and I bought a sweater to add to my layers and some hot coffee. It is always surprising to me how different things look from the water – a total new perspective.
There’s not a lot of hiking near here, it’s about an hour drive in any direction to be in the mountains. We are enjoying being tourists in the area instead. We’ve sampled some local coffee shops and Gerry got to spend a day at a nice doggy day care while we went boating (he was not allowed on the boat, which was disappointing). We went to the Coeur d’Alene farmer’s market last evening and found tons of great produce and more strawberries and cherries. We have been eating so many strawberries and cherries, it is crazy, but they are soooo good! We love being in the produce growing region, and I think most of our trip will be full of wonderful, fresh, local fruits and veggies. There’s another farmer’s market tomorrow evening, in Spokane, Washington (just about 30 miles west of here) that we plan to go to also. Lots of cooking and baking with all our bounty!
I hear you asking….what about the RV repairs? And what about those stitches in my head??? Happy to report both worked out very well. The RV repairs went very smoothly in Missoula, the guy we found was very good. He adjusted the 2 electric cable slides (the other 2 slides are hydraulic). The cables had become somewhat slack and needed tightening. Kinda like a chain on a bicycle…we hadn’t had a problem yet, but didn’t want to worry about one developing, so he took out the 2 electric slides, they are both in our bedroom, and adjusted the cables. He also replaced the electric water heater element and fixed our living room window latch. So, at the risk of jinxing us by saying this….everything is working perfect in the RV and we feel great about all the maintenance we’ve had done, it is practically brand new again! We do have a running conversation about possibly getting new furniture and carpet put in someday. We’ll see. Right now we still love it and are very comfortable here. Here’s a picture I took just now of us all set up at our RV park in Coeur d’Alane:
And I had the stitches removed from my forehead when we arrived in Coeur d’Alene. They put some type of glue on it and is still covered for a couple more days. So I haven’t gotten a good look at the damage yet, but I’m sure it’s okay. But, to keep things interesting, while we were on our way to have the stitches taken out, a crown broke in half on one of my teeth! So I had to go to the dentist and have a new crown done… 😣 The good news is I really liked the dentist I went to, she was super nice and I was all fixed up in just a few hours. Hoping that’s it for me!!
Hello again everyone! So nice to chat again. I’ll bring you up to date on what we’ve been doing and share some pictures of our time here in Montana. We spent 12 days in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish Montana area, near Glacier National Park. We got in several hikes in the area, and also had our friends Don and Patty come visit us along with their two yellow labs, Hunter and Kody. We were so glad to have visitors, and Gerry could hardly contain himself, having two furry friends for a sleepover! The dogs quickly settled in and everyone was comfortable…. 🙂
Don and Patty have a beautiful place in southern Montana that we’ve had the pleasure of visiting several times, and they have taught us so much through the years about being outdoors, hiking and camping. In fact, it’s the time we spent with them, bringing the kids out on vacations and enjoying the Montana wilderness that was a big influence in our decision to experience the great outdoors so much, living in our RV for part of the year. We went on a couple of hikes while they were visiting, and one of them was one of our favorites yet – here’s a link to pictures of that day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aBStwg1Puim4UbpL8
After our friends left, we tried to spend an afternoon driving through Glacier National Park…we only made it 2 miles into the park and turned around and left. Half of the park is closed, so all visitors were crammed into the one half; they were limiting visitors to prevent overcrowding, and so they closed the roads going further into the park. It was a zoo! So many people, nowhere to go, so we left! Luckily, we’ve been there before and had seen most of what there is to see anyhow. So then it was off to our next stop, Missoula, Montana.
We’ve never been to this part of Montana before, so we’ve been excited to explore. Unfortunately, the weather has had other ideas. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, got a very nice hike in on Sunday, and just as we were returning to the RV on Sunday the rain started, and today is Tuesday and it’s still raining. Here’s the view out our window right now:
Has not stopped since Sunday….it’s 50 degrees, dreary and wet, and has been in the low 40s at night. Good sleeping weather, but that’s about it. So we’re catching up on some chores and grocery shopping and we have driven around Missoula a bit to see what there is to see. Here’s pictures from the one hike we have done here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrFpFLh5izJsKY92A
And then there’s the RV repairs….let me give you an update on that. I know I gave you some background in my last post. We scheduled an RV mobile repair for while we are in Missoula, to get the window latch repaired, and to replace the hot water heater electric element (we’ve been using the propane water heater since the electric heater element is burnt out). Well….I noticed yesterday the carpet in the dining area was very wet. The dining area is in a slide…so I went outside to investigate and figured out the slide seal that runs up and down along the slide is kinda bent, and it is letting water run into the underside of the slide room. And the subfloor of the slide room (dining area) is soaking up the water, and soaking up into the carpet. So that got added to the mobile repair list. But, that is not where it ended….I decided I should walk around the RV to look under the other side. So I walked under the “5th wheel” front end of the RV – where the hitch is that hooks into our truck bed. I do this all the time – you just duck under the hitch and don’t have to walk all the way around the RV – well, it was raining, and I had my rain coat on with the hood up, which was blocking part of my view. I couldn’t see the hitch very well, underestimated the amount of ducking to do, and wham! my forehead ran right into the hitch! It did not feel good, and ended up requiring 7 stitches at the nice Missoula urgent care Steve took me to. Yes I’m ok, just a nice bump on my forehead and some stitches that will come out in a few days. 🤕
So the mobile RV guy came out today, looked everything over and is going to repair the slide seal for us on Thursday. Thursday is our moving day, and our next spot is only a couple hours away, so we have a few extra hours and are taking the RV to his shop so it can get replaced. He’s also going to maintenance the cables that operate the 2 bedroom slides – we noticed some of the cables are looking loose and need tightened. And he’ll put in the electric water heater element then too. So much to learn about maintaining an RV, but it’s all good. The carpet will dry easy enough, and we’ll feel good about having the slides maintained. I always learn a lot spending time with these RV repair guys, and from friendly RV neighbors who are ready to help and pass along what they’ve learned.
So there you have it – a rather boring update, but sometimes it’s just every day life stuff out here too. Hoping for better weather as we meander our way west. We’re moving to St. Regis, Montana on Thursday, near the Idaho border. I’ll be sure to give you the report from there!
Howdy everyone! Its mid June 2020 and we are in northern Montana, near Glacier National Park. So wonderful to be out again in the RV, and in the mountains. There’s something about the mountains and the big sky out west that we just love.
We left June 2, 2020 for our 4th (do you believe it???) season of RV travel. We have not been in the RV since we returned back to Ohio last November. Feels like a very long time and we’re happy to be back in our home on wheels. Lots to update you on!
First, the RV: we almost traded in our Mobile Suites last fall/winter. We visited the factories of 2 other manufacturers: New Horizons and Luxe. We liked both makes, and were tempted to buy a new 5th wheel. But, in the end, we decided ours was still in very good condition and we will wait another year or so before we trade in. We’re glad for our decision since we would likely have had a significant delay in the building of a new RV had we moved forward, since the manufacturing plants shut down for awhile.
We did, however, have quite an adventure with our RV this spring . I’ll give you an overview and try to keep it short (you know I’m not very good at that! 🙂 ) We took the RV to our dealership in November when we returned, as usual. We had a list of things for them to repair/look at, as well as our usual “we’re not mechanical so please look everything over including brakes, wheels, etc to be sure it is in good condition for the long travel we do” request. They had it in service until mid-February. Seems the holidays and an RV show in Cleveland every winter get in the way of our service appointment. Anyhow, it was “done” and we picked it up at the dealer in Medina, Ohio, and drove it to our indoor storage unit in Springfield, Ohio – about a 3 hour drive. Our storage unit is about 1 mile off the interstate, and, literally as we pulled into the driveway of the storage facility, the RV skidded to a stop, lurching the truck. Big skid marks in the parking lot. Turns out a brake line had broken. We were extremely lucky this happened after we got off the interstate. We were pretty shaken about what could have happened. Anyhow, a phone call to the dealer, a couple of pictures sent and we figured out the broken brake line. We managed to “rock” the RV a little, and got the wheels unlocked and managed to get into our storage unit. So unhappy to say the least. We ended up hiring a repair shop, Andy’s Big Rig Brakes, locally, who came to our storage unit and replaced all the brakes, the entire wheel that was ruined from the brake line failure, and also replaced all 4 tires. Our extended warranty people came to examine the RV twice and ended up only paying for a small part (I know….shouldn’t be surprised….but we were anyhow!) We also took it to Cleveland to a special alignment place that determined our axles were out of alignment and corrected. I’ve written about this suspicion in other posts…we kept getting excessive tire wear – hoping this alignment fixes that issue too. We spent a lot of time on these repairs and discussions with the dealer about how unhappy we are with them not even looking at the brakes, in spite of our request they do so.
So, that was a big project and would be nice if that was all. But – wait! – there’s more! So we get the RV out of indoor storage in May, to get ready for our trip. The RV was winterized while at the dealer since it sits outside while it waits for its service there. I’m not a fan of the winterizing process, they run this pink stuff all through the water lines and it takes forever to get it all out again. Which is why we pay for an indoor storage unit. And, last year, when we picked up the RV from service, it was full of mice from being outside at the dealer so long. Alas, that is another story and I will save you that one! Anyhow, back to last month when we took the RV out of our indoor storage unit and brought it up to Columbus to get ready for this trip. I started the “unwinterizing” process, hooking water up and running water through all the pipes.
You may recall in previous posts how we had problems with our fresh water tank filling sometimes, even when we didn’t have it set to. I researched an found the check valve in the water system had a recall for a faulty valve. So, that was one of the things that was replaced when it was in for service this last time. They replaced the entire water hook up system, which included the water heater valve. When they winterize an RV, they set the water heater to “bypass” so you don’t get pink stuff in your water heater. Then, when you “unwinterize” you change it to “normal” on the water heater, to get the water heater tank to fill up. So I did this. And, after giving it ample time to fill up, I turned on the water heater. It kicked on, but water never got hot. So, I called a mobile RV repair guy who found out they installed the “bypass” and “normal” settings backwards for our hot water tank! Yup! The tank never got water into it because “normal” was really “bypass”. So when I turned on the water heater, it burnt out the heating element since there was no water in the tank.
We hear stories like this a lot. Really, I don’t know how things can get done so poorly all the time. But, lucky for us, we have a back up water heater that runs on propane, so we are doing without the electric heating element for the time being. I’m going to get it replaced somewhere along the way this summer. Oh well, I’m learning a lot!
Now on to the fun stuff! Our first destination this year was Minnesota to visit with Guy and Katelyn. We stayed again at Crystal Springs RV Resort. We love it there. It’s about 80 miles from Saint Paul, but it is beautiful and lots of acres for Gerry to run. Guy and Katelyn stayed with us for a few days, and Katelyn’s parents came to visit also. So nice to get to know them and spend a day together! I’m also happy to report that Aspire Sober Living added it’s 3rd home – we closed on the house the end of March, and it has been up and running one day after Guy moved in. Even with all the business closures, the sober community supports each other and many went out of their way to help Guy furnish the house and make repairs needed so the home could be occupied as soon as possible. Amazing stories of people helping way above and beyond. So thankful.
After leaving Minnesota, it was on to Bismark, ND to visit some Lewis and Clark sites. A nice museum and a replica of the fort they built in 1804 when they spent the winter there. Then on to Montana. First we went to Great Falls, Montana – we had this idea of kinda following the Lewis and Clark trail. So I had booked us into a RV park for 3 nights, thinking we would explore the area and maybe get in a hike. Well, I didn’t research the area enough, and we got there and were terribly disappointed. It is not a pretty area (despite the name sounding pretty!), and it is not in the mountains like I thought it would be. And the RV park was terrible. So, we left after one night. That’s one of the advantages of traveling by RV, we can be pretty flexible with our travel plans. So we arrived in Columbia Falls, Montana, where we are now, a couple of days early. We stayed in this same area 3 years ago, when we were on our maiden voyage, to Alaska. It’s fun to be back and remember places we visited then and to reminisce; and to realize how much we really didn’t know then about RVs! Not that we’re experts now, far from it, but we have learned a lot!
We’re spending a few weeks in Montana, at a few different locations. We love it here and are so glad to be back out in the mountains. We got out yesterday for our first hike – a beautiful hike through the pine forest up to an alpine lake. Wonderful. I think we all (Steve, me and Gerry) needed that hike! Now we’re going to relax and enjoy this area. Columbia Falls, Montana is also very close to the little towns of Whitefish and Kalispel. Each town has its own farmers market, so there are 3 each week. Perfect in our book!
Hello Friends! This is going to be a long post, so I suggest you get a cup of tea for the journey! I just made a cup of Vanilla Chamomile personally…and here’s the view out my window right this minute:
We’re in Angel Fire, NM, at about 8,400 elevation. Very windy and snowing off an on. Some strong wind gusts are rocking us a bit…I’m glad our RV is so heavy!! Mostly we’ve had beautiful weather for all of our time in NM. Sparkling blue skies, cool mornings, warm days and chilly nights. Perfect in our book! And the snow is pretty today. That’s a ski area you can see in the background in the picture. We have beautiful views right our our windows here. This morning, we had a herd of Elk in that meadow. Best guess is about 300 Elk. They were majestic, especially the males with their huge antlers.
Lots to catch up on! Sorry I’ve gotten behind (again!). I don’t know where the time goes, but it must go somewhere. It just flies by. After we left Chama, NM we headed for Santa Fe. The very first thing we did was have a tire changed on the RV. One of the curbside tires was wearing excessively (you may remember from previous posts this happened on our way back from Alaska too). We had the wheel hubs and shocks all replaced back then. And we had our tires and shocks all checked before we left on this trip. I am wondering if it is an alignment issue – we have an independent suspension, dual axle and I wonder if it’s out of alignment and that is causing the tire wear. Who knows. But, the tire worried us and we didn’t want to risk a flat tire on the road, so we made an appointment at a place in Santa Fe and went straight there from Chama. They got the tire changed, no problem. We’ll find out about the cause of the problem when we get back to Ohio and go to the dealership for our annual service.
We absolutely loved our time in Santa Fe. The New Mexico motto is “State of Enchantment”. I think it’s fair to say we are completely enchanted with New Mexico. At least the northern part of the state that we’ve traveled. Some day we’re going to have to go south and explore that part of the state. Anyhow, Santa Fe was fabulous. We hiked, explored galleries and museums and went to the Farmer’s Market. I know I said this last year when we went to the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market, but I have to say it again – it is AMAZING. It’s an adventure all in itself. And we’re like kids in a candy store, we buy so much until we can’t carry another thing. It’s held twice a week, and we made it to 3 markets during our time there.
We met so many interesting people at the market. We shared a table with lovely lady from Germany who spends 6 months each year in Santa Fe to write (she’s a published author); I bought a hat from a very nice elderly lady who raises Alpacas and Sheep, makes her own yarn from their wool and crochets hats and other items; we talked to countless farmers about their farms and how they operate; we purchased a painting from an artist who moved to Santa Fe from New Zealand because he found the scenery and light to be so wonderful. He’s had his art in shows all around the world and it was so nice he was there talking to us just like an ordinary person! I should clarify – we purchased a print of one of his paintings…we can’t afford the original! Here’s a picture of him with Steve:
You may have noticed Steve’s hat…we have totally embraced the culture here and hats are part of it! Everyone wears hats! I love it and we’ve had fun purchasing a couple of hats for ourselves. We also caught up with Steve’s high school friend Chris and her husband Bob again. We saw them last year when we visited Santa Fe also. One of the great joys of this lifestyle is being able to visit friends and family we wouldn’t normally get to see.
Then it was on to Angel Fire, which is about 2 hours north east of Santa Fe, about 20 miles outside Taos. We were here last year too. We think it is very pretty here, lots of mountains and good hiking. And Taos is a great town. Similar in many ways to Santa Fe, but much smaller. Very artsy, earthy, quirky, and fun to explore. They have a nice farmer’s market too which we have enjoyed. And guess what? There was a very nice lady there who raises her own Alpacas, and makes the wool into yarn. I couldn’t resist, I bought more yarn! I have purchased so much yarn I will be crocheting forever! But I can’t resist this beautiful yarn made with love from these ladies!
One of the highlights of our time here is The EPIC Hike we did a few days ago. We hiked Wheeler Peak, which is the tallest mountain in New Mexico, at 13,150 feet. We’ve been as high as 12,300, and have hiked 12,000 or higher several times. But we’ve never done a “thirteen’r” before. There are folks who hike all the “thirteen’rs and fourteen’rs”, there are many in Colorado – I can now safely assure you, we won’t be one of them! But, we did make it to the top and we’re glad we did! It was the hardest hike we’ve ever done. There’s a big difference between 12,000 and 13,000 I now know. Even though we’ve been in high altitude for several months now, we had a very hard time breathing at the top. We almost turned around several times during the last mile, but we kept pushing each other on and we made it! It was steep, rocky and difficult hiking for the last mile. Round trip, we hiked about 11 miles, and we climbed about 3,000 feet in elevation – we started at about 10,100. Gerry had no trouble at all, and when we reached the top, he ran right up to the peak and stood there looking at us. The view was spectacular – 360 view of the mountains and valleys all around. And very steep drop offs all around! It was freezing, windy and getting cloudy. We knew snow was in the forecast for that night, so we took a few quick pictures and headed down fast. An incredible experience and we’re thankful we could get it in before the snow moved in for the winter. Here’s pictures from the EPIC Hike: https://photos.app.goo.gl/z5vTnbqrtkFcDyZz9
Now for some updates on the RV: We’ve had some extreme cold temperatures the past several nights – single digits with wind chills well below zero. And that has created some challenges with RV living in this weather. Our furnace runs on propane. The propane tanks keep freezing during the night. We have 2, 40 pound tanks with a lever that activates one or the other. Several nights we have woken up during the night, cold, not hearing the furnace running. Steve has to go outside and switch from one tank to the other which has been fixing the immediate problem. For some reason, the tank that is in operation freezes. Steve made a trip to the local propane refill station and the guy there said it happens all the time. Steve got an insulation blanket thing and wrapped the tanks with it. It has helped a lot. And then there’s the water situation. I’ll do my best to explain it – I’m not mechanical so keep that in mind!
There are 2 ways to get running water in the RV – hook up to the campground provided water outlet (we always do this), or, fill up your fresh water tank and turn on the water pump installed in the RV. We almost never do it this way, since we prefer staying at RV parks with hookups. But, if you’re into more remote camping, with no hook ups, or need to spend a night in the Walmart parking lot, this is how you have water. Well, given the freezing temperatures, we cannot stay connected to the camp water outlet – it would freeze, break their pipes, and probably ours as well. So, when it’s this cold you fill up your fresh water tank during the day, and use it with the water pump for evening and early morning water, until it’s warm enough to hook up again. Simple enough – right? And our furnace runs heat through our underbelly, (a nice feature not all RVs have), so our fresh water tank and pump stay nice and warm and don’t freeze. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. But a couple of mornings ago, we woke up to no water – the tank had froze. So we started leaving water drip from a faucet during the nights, and that solved that problem.
You may remember, during last year’s trip, we had the issue of the fresh water tank filling up even when we were using the camp water hook up. I had this checked out during our last service visit. They “couldn’t replicate the problem” so nothing was resolved. My research indicates there is a valve in the water pump that is supposed to stay closed when you’re using the water hookup – a check valve. Then, when you switch to using your fresh water tank, the water pump valve opens to allow water to flow through the pump. I think this check valve is failing and allowing water to get past the valve when we’re hooked up to the water outlet, therefore filling up the fresh water tank when we don’t expect it, then the tank overflows. Happened a couple of times last year. But hasn’t happened again until yesterday.
We spent the day yesterday hiking, and had the water hose hooked up to the RV and the camp water outlet. Was a nice sunny, warm day. When we got back to our RV, water was running everywhere outside. The fresh tank had filled up and was overflowing. Fortunately, there’s an overflow vent, so the extra water just kept flowing out of the tank onto the ground. So, even though we did not have the water set to go into the fresh tank, it did. I think it proves my theory of the check valve not working. That would have been bad enough, but, it doesn’t end there!
So, we figured we had our fresh water tank full for the night, which we needed anyhow, it was going to get very cold for the night. Steve disconnected the hose and set the water to be used from the fresh tank, with the water pump. The water pump turned on, and we could hear it, but no water would flow. We think the pump is completely failing. So, we had no water for the night or this morning. Luckily, the campground has very nice bathrooms and showers, and we brought water back to the RV and had our coffee and tea this morning (let’s get real – there are basics you just can’t do without!). I did more research, and found a recommendation to set the water setting as if you’re using the campground hookup, but don’t connect the hose, and turn on the water pump instead. It worked! We have running water, at least for now!
Sorry for the long story about the water, but it’s part of this wonderful journey we’re having and life in an RV! We have 4 more days in Angel Fire, then we’re off to Oklahoma City. Steve will do some work there, then we’ll head for Ohio and this part of the adventure will be over. We’ll be getting the RV serviced (and a new water pump installed) then putting it into storage again. It’s always a little sad at the end of the trip, we love our RV life so much. But we’re always happy to be back home again and see family and friends. We’re so grateful we get to do both!
It’s still snowing and blowing outside so I’m going to make a new cup of tea and sit by the fire and watch the winter wonderland out the window. The giant Ravens are flying around, so pretty against the white snow. Steve’s out getting our propane tanks filled, each tank only lasts about 3 or 4 days when we’re running the furnace this much. Gerry’s sleeping in front of the fire. Life is good.
Hello again friends! Today is our last day in Chama – a nice little town in northern New Mexico. We were here last year, at the exact same time. In fact, October this year will be a complete repeat of last October. Except we’re staying in a different campground in Santa Fe, we weren’t wild about the one we stayed in last year. Otherwise, we’re repeating it all again!
We timed our visit here just right for the changing Aspen leaves. We saw the color change in Priest Gulch, moved here, and got to see it all over again. So lucky! We have had absolutely perfect weather, the bluest skies possible, cool (or I should say cold!) nights, but warm and sunny days. We cannot get enough of the golden Aspens. Pictures cannot begin to capture the golden light a grove of Aspens has when the sun is shining through the leaves. It’s like walking into a room full of gold light. We love to just stand in the middle of a bunch of Aspens and soak up the golden light. Yeah I know, we’re kinda weird! But I can live with that!
We’ve also become pretty intrigued by the Continental Divide Trail. It goes right through this area, and we’ve hiked 2 segments of it while here. We hiked one of the segments last year, and it’s one of the reasons we came back to this area, we remembered how much we loved that hike. The CDT starts in Montana at the Canadian border, and goes 3,100 miles through Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, ending at the Mexican border. It goes straight through the Rocky Mountains, closely following the actual Continental Divide. I think I mentioned in my post from the Dubois, WY area that we met some CDT hikers at breakfast one morning. Dubois is a popular “re-supply” town for CDT hikers. We were fascinated by their talk of long distance hiking.
Chama is also a “trail town”. I have learned there are “trail angels” all along the CDT, including in Chama. There’s even a registry for hikers to use to reach an “angel” when in need. Trail towns are used for re-supply plus a hot shower and a soft bed for a night. And a few good meals too! Oh, and electricity – that little convenience we all take for granted! Anyhow, we picked up several “trail hitch hikers” during our stay here. The place the CDT crosses the road about 10 miles north of Chama is where they come off the trail and hope for a ride into town, or, in the mornings, we would pick up hikers in town looking for a ride back to the trail.
While they all were extremely appreciative of the ride to or from town, let me tell you, we loved it more than they did. The ride is about 15 minutes either way, and of course we asked each of them as many questions as we could in that time! Where are you from? How many miles a day do you hike (25-30 is the common answer!) Do you hike with stove or stove-less (cold food vs hot food)? Any wildlife on the trail? What do you do for work when you’re not hiking? These young people, and they are all are 20 somethings, are amazing. They were from Australia, several from Canada, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, Oregon. Most have hiked several other long distance hikes too: the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail were mentioned several times. Some had quit jobs to hike (one young man said, “much to my parents alarm I quit my nice office job in Seattle to do this hike and I’m so glad I did!”) The Australian guy said he worked in a “gear shop” and would go back to it when he was done. Wish I would have asked what a “gear shop” was!
But the best two stories were from the last two hikers we talked to. First, we picked up a hiker yesterday morning, she was leaving town and going back to the trail. We also were going to the same place on the CDT for a day hike (we did 8 miles by the way, cannot figure out how they hike so many miles in one day, over an over!) She was a very nice young lady from British Columbia. Graduated university, and “will probably go to law school when I’m 27, I think I’ll have all the hikes in I want to do by then”. What hikes has she done already?? The Pacific Crest Trail, the Arizona trail, the National Trail of Israel, a trail that goes all through Scotland (didn’t catch the name), a trail that goes all through Jordan and a trail that goes all through the south island of New Zealand. And she’s 25. Oh, and she also “just visited for a few weeks, but didn’t hike” Lebanon.
We thought she was going to win the prize for the most hikes we had heard from anyone. But, we ran into a young lady on the trail that day who wins our prize. She had started in Canada – I wish I had asked where, but didn’t – and she was finishing in Nicaragua! She is “connecting footsteps” from her previous hike that was from the southern tip of South America to Nicaragua, which took her 3 years to complete. She plans to reach Nicaragua in March or April.
To say we are humbled by what these hikers do is a huge understatement. What incredible life experience they are gaining, and how it will shape their perspective of the world. Every one of them said they would do it again, given the chance, and no regrets for taking the time to do it. Bravo!
Meanwhile, we did 3 very nice day hikes while here, including 2 on the CDT. And we came home to our very comfortable, cozy RV to a hot dinner, warm shower and soft bed! No regrets here either! And Gerry met his new BFF, Heidi the Weimaraner. Heidi and her people stayed in the spot right behind us for a few days, and we got them out together to run. So pretty watching the two of them run together! And Gerry is such a flirt!
We went back to our favorite bakery in Pagosa Springs, Colorado – one of the benefits of having been here before we knew a few places we wanted to go to and the bakery was top of the list! We went twice, and took Gerry one time with us – he got his very own grilled cheese! We also visited Tierra Wools. It is a weaving workshop where they make rugs and blankets from the local sheep wool. We were able to see a weaver working on a rug at a “walking loom”. Amazing how it works.
Lots of pictures in the link below for you. Off to Santa Fe tomorrow!
Sometimes things just escape words. How do you describe the mountain vista at 12,000 feet after climbing almost 4 hours to get there through beautiful aspen, pine and jumping over babbling streams? What words describe the intense blue of the sky contrasted against the dark green of the fir trees? And, there are no words for the joy and warmth of our hearts, having my brother Dan, and my sister-in-law Christine visit with us. Seeing them experience the beautiful San Juan mountains for the first time was so special, a blessing indeed.
They arrived for a week’s long visit and quickly decided one week just wouldn’t do and extended their trip for another 5 days. They stayed in a cute cabin in our campground, with a porch right on the river. What a blessing to have time together and to share this experience with them. The fresh air, sitting by the river listening to the water rush over the rocks, hiking beautiful trails and watching the Aspen just begin to turn golden are memories we’ll treasure. Funny how the best things are the simple everyday things. Like cooking together, sitting around the campfire, stopping on a hike to gasp for air as we climb into higher and higher elevation. Watching Gerry on the trail, the happiest dogie you’ll see anywhere (cutest too!)
This journey of ours is amazing. Sharing it with family and friends makes it all the more wonderful. Thank you Dan and Christine for allowing us to experience the wonder of the mountains and the love of family together.
Lots of pictures to share in the links below. Enjoy!
Hello Again! Writing you from the Glenwood Springs, Colorado area, we leave in the morning for Priest Gulch campground in southwest Colorado. Just had to fill you in on our adventures the last few days! You may be wondering what do bears, vapor caves and diesel have in common? Not much! Other than it’s what we’ve been doing. Grab a cup of tea and I’ll fill you in!
First – the vapor caves – what an experience! We booked a day of indulgence for ourselves at Yampah Hot Springs and Spa. They have these caves (real caves, not man made) that are full of hot steam and water. I didn’t research it to get all the technical geological stuff about it. But, it’s about 125 degrees in these caves. The Ute Indians discovered them hundreds of years ago and used them for healing. It’s been operating as a hot springs spa since the late 1800’s. You descend the stairs into very dark, hot, steamy caves that have stone benches. There’s a garden hose in the middle of the caves you can turn on for cold water, and small buckets to fill to take cold water to your spot with you. Smells very sulfur-y everywhere. And so you sit and/or lay on the stone benches and sweat. And try not to panic about being underground, in the dark, in 125 degrees of hot steamy air. Yes, people, including us, pay money for this torture! Actually, we really enjoyed it. And then we got a mineral bath (same hot water from below in tubs, so hot you have to work up to getting into it), and then massages. Very nice day of pampering!
We did a great hike the other day, taking the advice of the US Forest Service lady we talked to and went to a trail that wasn’t on my trail app. This is where the bears come in. But first, some background. We ran into a very sweet older lady on the early part of the trail. She was coming down from the hike, we were going up. Stopped to chat with her and she shared a story of 4 years ago, she and her husband, who is now passed away, hiked this trail and ran into a bear on the trail. She turned and ran, he stayed and got some pictures then made movements and noise and the bear ran away. She told us about where it was on the trail, near some old discarded mining equipment. (She also told us about her daughter’s restaurant in a near by little town which we visited that night and was one of the best meals we’ve had out in a long time). Anyhow, we go on with our hike, get to the old mining equipment and stop to look at it. We’re hiking deep in a canyon, with tall canyon walls on each side of us, the trail runs along a beautiful stream in the bottom of the canyon. I look up the side of the canyon to see if there’s remnants of the old mine, and instead see Mama Bear and her 2 Cubs! Mama is a very big brown bear, and the cubs are one brown and one black. She saw us, looked us over for a minute and moved on her way with the cubs following.
There’s not a lot of “flat” ground when you’re in a canyon – so the bear was heading right towards where our trail was going. We turned around and headed out! Not chancing a closer encounter with Mama and Cubs! Steve tried to get a couple of pictures, but didn’t get them. He ended up with the trees above the bears (he didn’t have time to put on his glasses and he couldn’t see very well). Steve says if anyone asks, the bears were 50 feet away. Just kidding! He guesses they were 200 yards. Close enough to be fun to see, but wouldn’t want them any closer! If we hadn’t talked with the nice lady at the beginning of the trail, I don’t think we would have stopped to look at the mining equipment and look up to see the bears. The trail was very rocky and we had to watch our feet every step, so we weren’t looking up at all until right then. Here’s a link to a few pictures of the canyon and stream: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZHAyespgMkN49J117
So now for the diesel part – since we’re leaving in the morning for a more remote area, Steve went to get the oil changed in the truck and fill up the tanks with diesel. We like to start our trips with both the truck fuel tank and our reserve tank full. We have an auxiliary fuel tank in the bed of our truck, that is connected to the truck fuel tank. So we can carry about 40 gallons more of fuel. There’s a switch in the cab of the truck he turns on when the tank needs fuel, and it will flow from the auxiliary tank into the truck tank. Amazing the things we know now that we had never heard of before this RV adventure began!
Anyhow, I’m cleaning the RV, mopping floors, when he comes home and looks very distraught. “I’ve made a big mistake, Anita”. Oh crap! He looks so sad! What could be wrong?? He pulled up at the gas station, was distracted, didn’t pay enough attention, and accidentally put Ethanol into the reserve fuel tank instead of diesel. Diesel pumps always have green handles. Guess what – so do Ethanol pumps evidently! He caught his mistake and only put a gallon or two in. But – what to do? So he called two diesel truck service places and got conflicting advise. First one said, if you run that Ethanol through your diesel engine you’ll ruin the engine. Oh dear that’s not good! But it’s Friday before Labor Day weekend and he can’t get us in until Tuesday. Really not good. Then there’s the second guy who says, it’s no big deal, fill up the rest of the auxiliary tank with diesel, it will dilute the Ethanol enough it won’t hurt anything. At least he didn’t think it probably, most likely wouldn’t. Hmm…and he was closing for the day and could take us on Tuesday if we wanted. Great.
So….we called our friend Rob back home. If you have been reading my blog, you’ll remember Rob is the super nice guy Steve met at a gas station (are you picking up on this coincidence like I am right now???) before we left for Alaska on our first RV trip. I don’t think we would have made it out of Ohio without his help back then. He taught us how to operate our new RV, made improvements to our truck to support the towing of the heavy RV, installed the hitch for us, and so much more. He gave us lessons on how to hitch and unhitch. He showed us how to operate the leveling jacks. I called him from the road on our “maiden voyage” so many times and he walked me through electrical issues, bent shocks, you name it! He suggested draining the auxiliary tank and not risking running Ethanol through the engine. He gave Steve instructions about how to unhook the fuel line to drain the tank. But, we got to looking at it and were afraid we’d mess something up. So, Steve went to Walmart and got a siphon and pulled all the Ethanol/diesel fuel out of the tank. If you know Steve, you know this was a Big Deal. He bought the right thing, put it together, figured out how to use it, and got the job done. We have come a long way! Thank you again, Rob!!
Putting together the siphon
Pulling the fuel out of the tank
Now we’re all caught up. Enjoy the long weekend and I’ll have more reports from our next spot!
Howdy! I think I’m picking up on the western/cowboy lingo around here! People really do say Howdy around here a lot! Anyhow, we enjoyed our visit to Cody and surrounding area very much. We stayed right in the town of Cody, the RV park was okay, not one of the best. But the location was good. We didn’t go to Yellowstone, even though it was only about 45 minutes away. We were there some years ago, with the kids, and didn’t feel the need to go back and fight the crowds. Everyone we talked to who had been to the park talked about the crowds. We didn’t do any hiking in the Cody area either. Steve hurt his knee while we were hiking the week before, and it needed a rest.
We had to take Gerry to the vet also – a persistent cough that we had checked out while in Minnesota too. He gets a very congested cough and sounds like he’s gagging. Then it goes away for a few days then it comes back. Anyhow, he got a cortisone shot and another round of antibiotics. Hoping it will take care of it.
So enough of the boring stuff! We did drive the Chief Joseph Highway, and also the Beartooth Highway. Both are beautiful mountain drives. The Beartooth crosses into Montana, and ends in the cute little town of Red Lodge. We had lunch at the top of the Beartooth pass, which is about 10,900 feet. There were small areas of snow still, but most is gone for the summer. It’s one beautiful view after another. We had done the Beartooth Highway years ago on a trip with the kids – it was nice to see it again and remember being there with the kids. Both of these mountain passes are definitely to be done in the truck only – way too steep and hairpin curves for the RV.
Beartooth Highway
Fruit Stand Bounty!
We found a great fruit stand in Cody also. A very nice guy who grew everything on his property in Paradise, Utah and came to Cody for a few days to sell it. Some of the best tasting berries ever. We bought tons and I froze a lot of it. I’m pretty sure we were his best customer of the week!
The highlight of our time in Cody was a trip to visit good friends Don and Patty in Nye, Montanta. Nye is about 2 hours from Cody so we packed up Gerry and our hiking shoes and off we went for an overnight visit. We’ve visited Don and Patty at their Montana home several times in the past and always love it. (They also live in Columbus some of the time). We have taken the kids there a few times and they have fond memories of camping, horseback riding and hiking there. Gerry made friends with the Yellow Labs Kody and Hunter and they were nice enough to share their home with us all. We hiked one of our very favorite hikes, the Sioux Charley. It’s a beautiful hike along a rushing river. The next morning we hiked their property, another favorite. We climbed to the high point on their property, which is about an 1,100 foot elevation gain. Simply spectacular there, meadows, forests, mountains, big sky! It doesn’t get any better.
Hiking on Don and Patty’s property – so beautiful!
And, Gerry decided to roll in cow manure while we were hiking!! Got himself a pretty good coating of nice fresh cow crap! So he got an outside bath with the hose and some soap. 🙄
He was so happy with himself!
A wonderful visit and so nice to see them again. Gerry had a blast and promptly crashed in the truck and was asleep before we were half a mile down the road!
We left Cody yesterday, and drove to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Very long day of driving, about 10 hours. We’re here for a few days and then will move on to Priest Gulch campground, in southwest Colorado, which will be our home for the month of September. Glenwood Springs is about 3 hours west of Denver, just west of all the ski areas of Aspen, Breckenridge, etc. I’ll let you know what we find here. We did try to hike today, but had to turn back…too hot for Gerry. He just can’t take the heat. It was high 80s, maybe 90. And we’re at about 6,000 feet elevation. It was a very dry, desert-y (is that a word?) kind of trail too – our least favorite. I recall saying before, the 5,000 – 7,000 elevation can be the miserable zone – foothills, not mountains, and hot and dry! Anyhow, that’s what we found today, and Gerry was not liking it at all. Not sure if his heat intolerance is related to the coughing issue, but he really can’t take the heat. So 1/2 mile in, we turned around and came back home to the air conditioning. We went to a local farmer’s market and stopped in at the US Forest Service office and got some recommendations for better hikes, more in the mountains and with water along the trail. So we’re hoping for a better hike in the next day or two.
In the meantime, enjoy pictures below and enjoy the end of summer. Can’t believe it is almost the end of August already!
