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Been There Doing That

Our RV Adventures

Feb 12

19

Royal Gorge, Colorado

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Day Trips, Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | | No Comments»

We have been in Colorado for two weeks now and have called St. Vrain State Park our home during that time.  It’s been a very busy two weeks as I had to put in very long hours at the office I manage in Louisville.  Since CO State Parks only allow 14 consecutive days of camping, and we could never get ahold of the park manager to see if we could stay longer, we decided to head out Saturday morning.  I wanted to get away from it all and not think about work.  Robert wanted to do a little road trip.

We were mighty low on propane, so we woke up early Saturday morning and drove the motor home to Longmont.  I followed in the Jeep.  We decided to park in the Super Wal-Mart parking lot and do some grocery shopping while we waited for the propane business to open (practically connected to Wal-Mart’s parking lot).  Robert invited some Missouri friends who happened to be in the area for breakfast.

By the time we shopped, cooked, ate, visited, and got propane, it was about noon and we had no idea where we were headed next.  We got out the Colorado state map to decide where to go and after a few minutes of study and discussion, we were headed south to Canon City to see the Royal Gorge.  I hadn’t been there since I was a kid in the mid-80s and it had been more than 10 years for Robert.

We had such a nice drive and arrived in the Royal Gorge area about 4:20 p.m.  Wouldn’t you know it…all the campgrounds were closed for the season.  We called a couple that might have been open, but didn’t get an answer we assumed they were closed. 

We still had a bit of daylight left and wanted to park the motor home, unhook the Jeep and tootle around a bit.  The more pressing question was “Where to park?”  Thought we’d drive back into Canon City and park overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but when I called them, I was told they no longer allow overnight parking. 

As we were driving aimlessly, we ended up making a wrong turn off of Highway 50 and went down Highway 9.  By the time we found a good place to turn around, we crossed into public lands.  We realized later we were on the Gold Belt Scenic Byway passing through a Bureau of Land Management area.  Since dusk was fast approaching, we decided to forego any last minute sightseeing for the day and stay at the roadside turnout for the evening.  We unhooked the Jeep and turned the motor home around so that we would be all ready to go in the morning.  The turnout was huge and we decided that it was as good as a place as any to boondock. 

We decided that we would get up early on Sunday and get to the Royal Gorge Visitor’s Center to park, then we would be free to do the tootling we wanted in the Jeep.  In the mean time we thought it was entirely too early to turn in for the evening, but we knew we didn’t want to drive the winding roads after dark.  We settled down and watched a movie, slept a bit and ended up having to take the dogs out at about midnight.  The sky was amazing.  We had never seen so many stars.  For too long we had been near cities and hadn’t had a chance to experience the true beauty of the night sky.  We just wished it wasn’t freezing, because we couldn’t tolerate the cold outside air too long in our jammies. 

Sunday morning we were up before dawn and got ready to go as the sun was rising.  What an amazing sunrise.  The sky was on fire.  We got to the Visitor’s Center at the bottom of the mountain off of Highway 50 and Co Rd 3A at about 7 a.m.  The center was closed until mid-March, but they have a huge parking lot, which happened to be empty.  We weren’t too sure how the road was up to the Bridge, and we felt better parking the motor home and just driving the Jeep.

Although once we officially arrived to the Royal Gorge Park, we found out there is RV and bus parking available, we were so glad that we didn’t drive our motor home all the way up.  We were the second guests to arrive at the park.  We were able to take some wonderful pictures with no people before the other attractions opened.

We walked and drove the world’s highest suspension bridge, rode the longest single span tram, and the steepest incline railway.  It was a beautiful day and we were glad that we caught the attraction off season and avoided any crowds.

We headed back north at about noon to settle in at Chatfield State Park and get ready for another week of work. 

Feb 12

4

Curtain Barrier

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , , | | No Comments»

Last summer, when we were traveling from CO back to FL, in the extreme heat, Robert and I were discussing that we should put some sort of curtain to separate the cab from the rest of the coach to try to keep the cool air up front while we traveled.  We not only used the dash air, but also the coach air just to make it remotely comfortable for us.   Our thought was to try not to use the generator for the coach air while we traveled and keep all the cool air from the dash vents up front.

Now, we are traveling to CO in February and dealing with the cold and wanted to try out the curtains to keep the heat from the dash just up front with us while going down the road.  I had kept my daughters denim curtains from her bedroom and we had a curtain rod on hand.  For the time being, we thought we’d simply place the curtain rod between the window of the slide-out and the overhead storage above the passenger seat. 

There is quite a gap between the ceiling and the slide-out top, but we thought surely any little bit would help.  The curtain rod we had on hand is not long enough to go clear across the top of the coach.  As we are traveling, we do feel a little cool breeze, but we think it is a bit better.  I am anxious to see if it will be better once we get the new rod and place the curtain higher.

 

Feb 12

1

Change In Plans

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing, Working in RV | Tagged With: , , , , , | | No Comments»

We have been in Missouri for the month of January for a well overdue visit with family and friends.   The time seemed short and very busy.  Between work and our visiting schedule, it seemed as though we didn’t have a moment to breath.  Whether we would stay for a week or a month, it seems we wouldn’t have the opportunity to see everyone or to do everything we wanted, but we had wonderful time with everyone.

Our plan was to head back south on the first of February.  Just a week or so prior to our anticipated departure date, I get some calls from the office I manage in Colorado.  It seems as though my staff of almost ten years were making life changes and had decided to term their employment.  It is a small office, so when one or two folks decide to quit, it is a big deal.  This office is also undergoing ownership changes, so with the task of hiring new staff in front of me, my project just got bigger. 

Robert and I discussed all the events going on at that Colorado office.  I explained that I didn’t feel I could do be an effective manager from a long distance right now.  Neither one of us really wanted to go to Colorado in February.  Spring or summer was fine, but February wasn’t exciting us.  Mainly we are concerned about how the RV will hold up in the cold.  However, we both agreed that Robert’s job is much more flexible and I’m being paid to do a job and we have to go where I’m needed. 

Breaking the news to our Florida friends was hard.  Robert has a great following with his music and we certainly hate disappointing his fellow band member friends.  He is a regular at Mahuffer’s a little bar in Indian Shores and we didn’t want to disappoint the owner as he not only is Robert’s boss, but also a dear friend.  It was like ripping off a Band-Aid, Robert made his phone calls and everyone was very understanding.  Unfortunately we couldn’t tell our friends exactly when we are headed back, because I have no idea how long my job will take to get that office back on track.

We prepared the coach as best as we could by adding more insulation to fill in any gaps.  Robert’s dad had several strands of heat tape that we installed and a wonderful space heater to borrow.  Since we’ve been in Florida for so long, our winter wear supply is quite small, but I think we’ll manage.  We’ll just shop for a few things here and there as needed.

So we are off to Colorado and we’ll make the best of it.  We’ll be around the Boulder area and neither one of us has been there in the winter for any length of time.  It will give us an opportunity to photograph new subjects and explore different areas.   At every opportunity that I’m not working, we’ll play tourist and explore.  I know winter boots and gloves are the first things on our list to buy.

Dec 11

29

Beautiful Sunrise

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home | Tagged With: , , , , | | No Comments»

 

This morning we woke up to see a beautiful sunrise, too bad the city is in the way.  Decided to take a couple of shots because in a blink the colors were gone.

We can’t wait to be somewhere to see the sunrises unobstructed by city.  Soon…

Dec 11

17

Insulating the Water Lines

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing, Tips | Tagged With: , , , , , | | 1 Comment»

I’m sure our Florida neighbors think we are crazy, but we are preparing for winter.  With weather in the mid to upper 70s during the day and upper 50s at night, why on earth think about insulating the water lines?  While most RVers go to warmer climate during the winter, we are going north.  We will be in Missouri for the month of January visiting family and we want to prepare as much as possible.  After all, winter in Missouri could be freezing or could be 60 degrees.  We don’t want our trip to be dampened by being caught off guard and it ends up being zero and have frozen and busted water lines.

We picked up some self-sealing pipe foam insulation and foil back pipe wrap insulation to go around as many water lines as we can get to.  The exposed lines are under our slide out in the storage bay.  First, we cut the self-sealing pipe foam insulation to fit around the exposed water lines.  Then we cut strips of the foil back pipe wrap insulation for a second layer.  We wrapped it in such a way to have about ¼ inch overlap.  We secured it with foil tape.  Last, we secured the insulated lines with zip ties.

 

 

 

Dec 11

15

RV Bath

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , | | No Comments»

Having a white vehicle is a pain.  It seems to get grimy quickly.  The last time Robert gave the RV a good bath was when we were still living at our rental house.  We are parked under a couple of live oak trees and those tiny leaves get everywhere.  He has swept  the roof several times since we’ve parked here, but the grime streaks were really beginning to bothering us.

Robert wanted a hose that he could use just for the purpose of washing vehicles, so off to Lowe’s we went to pick out a simple 50′ light duty garden hose and Simple Green detergent.  I can’t be for certain, but it seemed as though Robert was excited about cleaning the RV.  To me, it seems like a overwhelming task, but to him, I think he was going to have fun because he seemed gitty.

Yesterday, while I was working in my home office all day, Robert was outside scrubbing.  We took some before photos, but the photograph really doesn’t do it justice on how dirty it really was.  I know some folks wait longer to wash than we did and you think their white vehicle is really brown, but we want to make sure that we don’t have too much build up of the sap from the trees. 

It took Robert practically all day, but he completed his project.  It looks wonderful.  He got in all the nooks and crannies.  He plans to do a quick touch up cleaning right before we leave for Missouri in a couple of weeks.  I can see why some people would pay to get this service done.  It is certainly a lot of hard work.

Oct 11

24

Washer Woes — Part 2

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , | | No Comments»

It didn’t take long for our $52 part to come.  I happened to be out running errands for work when the delivery arrived.  Robert was so anxious to get in installed, it was done before I came home.  What a wonderful surprise, but I was hoping that he would have taken pictures of the repair to post.  Oh well, it is amazing to have our washer working again.

It’s amazing how much easier the installation is with instructions.  I’m glad that we pretty much were able to open and remove the door without damaging anything before the instructions arrived.  The main thing that we should have done that we didn’t was UNPLUG the power cord from the outlet.  Probably good advice for anyone, and we just happened to not be thinking at the time.

Robert did figure out how to open the door by wedging a flat head screwdriver into the gap between the broken handle and the door hook.  He was able to push on the screwdriver to loosen the door while I held the door and pulled it open.  Then he removed the door by removing the screws in the hinge.  We did this all the night of my unfortunate accident.

When the new door handle came in, all he had to do was remove the door pin out of the handle by rocking needle nose pliers back and forth.  Then he assembled the new handle by placing the latch in the handle and rest the spring on the latch.  Then he lowered the door ring onto the new handle.  He aligned the ring, the spring, and the latch, then drove the pin through the latch.  He then used a small screwdriver to align the latch, spring and ring on the other side and drove the pin the rest of the way through.  He then reattached the door ring to the rest of the door assembly and reattached the door to the machine.

We’d have to say, we had a good experience with the Splendide company and are very pleased that we could do the repair ourselves.  I’d be curious to know about any of your experiences with do-it-yourself repair on your washer.  Did you have good luck with the company?  How was their customer service?

Now every time I use the washer, Robert reminds me about the sticker he put on the washer (came with the repair kit) that reads: “IMPORTANT  This door locks DURING ALL CYCLES and STAYS LOCKED up to 2 minutes after the cycle ends.  DO NOT attempt to open this door until the Status/Door Lock lamp blinks SLOWLY.”

I think I’ve learned my lesson, but I guess I still have several weeks of teasing from Robert left.

Oct 11

17

Washer Woes – Part 1

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , | | 1 Comment»

The other night, Robert went off to work and I planned to do some office work and hang out with the dogs.  I decided to do a load of laundry while I worked.  All was fine and dandy, the washer was doing it’s thing.  I had set it not to dry as I was going to take the load to the RV Park’s laundry to dry faster.  The Splendide washer/dryer combo units are wonderful to have in the RV, but the cycles seem to take forever, especially drying heavier fabrics like jeans.  The wash cycle was done and that was when things went sour.

I was sure the cycle was done, but apparently not…as I tried to open the door, the lock was still engaged and off came the handle!  I was just standing there staring at the washer with the broken handle in my hand.  How on earth was I going to get the laundry out?  Oh, no…how on earth was I going to tell Robert?  After all, we haven’t even lived in the RV full-time a month yet and I’ve already broken something. 

I just felt sick. My stomach was in knots.  I was angry with myself more than anything.  I went ahead and set the dryer setting so that the wet clothes could have a chance to dry.  I hated to have wet clothes just sit in there just in case it would be a few days before we could get them out.   I did my office work and tried not to beat myself up over it. 

Robert finally came home at about midnight after a good gig at Indian Shores.  After he had a chance to relax a bit, I broke the news to him.  He didn’t get angry at all; he simply looked at the situation and was puzzled at how to get the clothes out.  After assessing the situation a bit, with a screwdriver in hand and some elbow grease, success…the door was opened.  The door face was held together with just a few screws, so he went ahead and removed them so that we wouldn’t have to worry about the door locking again.  He had to remove the glass window in the process, but the door back is still on the hinges.

Ring on door removed showing broken door handle.

 
 

Door face and glass have been removed.

He got online and found everything he needed to know about the machine on Splendide.com.  He figured out the part number and the following day we called the service center.  Fifty-two dollars later, we have a new little plastic handle on its way.  When we get it I’ll post how we install it.

Oct 11

12

Little Friend

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: , , , , | | No Comments»

Our little friend hung out with us while Robert cooked on the grill.

 
 
While enjoying the evening and sitting outside, this little fella hopped up on our table and stayed with us for quite a while as Robert cooked on the little Coleman grill just a few feet away.

Oct 11

10

Oscar, what did you do?

By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Wiener Tales | Tagged With: , , , , , , , | | 1 Comment»

Oscar looking innocent in his sleep.

 

Traveling with dogs, you want to be careful that they don’t push any buttons or mess with any knobs.  When we first got our RV, I was concerned about the air brake button.  It’s located just above the driver’s side arm rest and to release the brake, you push down.  I was convinced that the dogs would somehow push it down if they got excited and got up there to look out the window.  We set out to look for something to cover the button.  We ended up getting a PVC pipe end cap.  It works perfectly.  Problem solved.

What we overlooked was the other buttons around that area.  Most are harmless like the visor controls, so we didn’t think much of it.  Just the other day, I had taken Tucker and Lucy out to the dog area at the RV park.  I left Oscar in the RV for just a moment because he had just been out.   The pet area is very close to our lot, so I wasn’t far from the RV nor was I gone for long.  After Tucker and Lucy did their business, we all were walking toward the RV when I noticed a wisp of smoke from the front end.  For a moment I paused and it dawned on me…Oscar had started the generator!

The two dogs and I quickly ran the short distance back to the RV where we found Oscar in the driver’s seat laying down calmly.  What a sight. 

You’d think we would learn and immediately cover the area up, but no.  We thought it was just because he was left alone for a minute and he was just trying to see where we went through the window.  Typically when we leave, the dogs go in the kennel, so we don’t worry about them getting into things.  Just the following night, at about 3 a.m. I guess Oscar wanted to leave the bedroom and wander around.  In my semi-awakened state, I hear him up near the front of the coach, then it happened again…he poked the generator button AGAIN!  We’ve learned our lesson.  We placed a little lap desk over the buttons so at least none of the dogs can push any buttons if they hop up and walk in that area.  So far it’s only been Oscar interested in hopping up there and making his way to the dash, but now we’ve learned our lesson so if the other two become curious and hop there, they won’t cause harm.

 

Controls by driver's side window

 
 

Covered Controls

 
 

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