Campground Review

We are at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colorado.  This is a very large city park with a couple of small, man made lakes being the main attraction.  There is a lake for water skiing and a lake for swimming and other non-motorized water sports.  The park also has miles of concrete, and dirt, biking trails.    There is also an Archery range and horseback riding.  And of course, there is the campground with camp sites, a few yurts and 3 or 4 cabins.  The campground has electric 30 amp hookups with some of the sites having 50 amp electric.   Most are back in sites, but there are about 6 or 7 large pull throughs.  We are in one of the pull throughs with 50 amp service.  There is a dump station on one side of the campground and a freshwater fill station on the other side.  The City of Lakewood Parks Department manages the place and there is a campground host on duty.

That is us in the center of the photo.

Other campsites with the cabins in the background.

That is a VW SUV on our site.  It is a rental while the truck is in the body shop.

We stayed here last year when we met Dee and Dennis, who were campground hosts at that time.  Dee and Dennis are camp hosting at Chatfield State Park, about 20 miles south of here.  They were hosting the C Loop where we stayed for two weeks before coming here and it was great to see them again.

There is not much else to write home about.  Rosie is having a great time with her hiking buddies every Thursday.  I have a couple of work assignments that I am doing.  Other than that it is just calm and peaceful around here.  I took my truck into the body shop on Wednesday and hope to have it back by next Wednesday.  It will be getting close to tank dumping and water replenishment time by then and I don’t think the VW SUV is up to the task of pulling the camper to get that accomplished.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to have something to write about after we leave here on the 25th.

It Is Good To See Green Again.

It is sooooo nice to see green lawns and green leaves on trees again.  We were so tired of sand and cactus.  Yes, we are in Colorado at a State Park on the edge of Denver.  The weather is wonderful; not too hot, not too cold, just right.  Experienced a thunderstorm one afternoon, with more expected today and this week, but you will get no complaints from us.  We are busy visiting friends and, of course, Rosie is in heaven with her former hiking group getting together. 

I met with the Allstate claims adjuster at their claims center in Lakewood.  All went well and I have scheduled the truck repairs at the body shop on June 12th.  That will give them up to 14 days before I will need the truck to pull our home to our next destination.  They estimate it should take a week.  I have been with Allstate since 1989 and they sure take care of their long time customers.

Here are the numbers for May:

Camping – $494.00  ($15.93per night)

Diesel Fuel when pulling – $79.00

Truck Service/Repairs – $632.00 (Set of tires w/taxes)

RV  Repairs/Service – $0.00

Generator Gas/Propane - $24.59 (all propane)

Metered Electricity – $0.00

Satellite TV/Radio – $107.25

Campground Pet Fees – $0.00

Laundry – $20.00

Total = $1356.84

Thanks for stopping by!

It Coulda Been Worse!

I think it is better to try to look on the bright side of mishaps.  Tuesday we were traveling up I-25 headed for our destination at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO.  As we approached Castle Rock, CO, with the cruise control set at 62 mph, I hear the unmistakable sound of a tire separating.   A quick glance at the right side mirror shows a big hunk of tire tread falling behind our travel path.  Uh Oh!  I thought one of the trailer tires had shredded.  I pulled over to the right side of the interstate at the top of an off ramp.  We get out to take a look and walk to the middle of the trailer to check the tires.  They are both fine, thank you.  So I look a little forward and see the right rear tire of the truck was completely missing it’s tread, BUT, it is still inflated with all the steel cord showing.  How lucky is that?  So I put on the emergency flashers and very slowly drive down the off ramp, turn right, go one block, turn right again and go 2 blocks to a convenience store/gas station with a large concrete parking lot.  I park the trailer and the truck in one corner of the lot and call Good Sam Emergency Road Service.  They promise to have someone there to change the tire within the hour.  When we get out to take another look, I realize all the damage that was done to the right rear quarter panel on the truck:

  

So while we are waiting I unhitch the fifth wheel so the tire can be changed and then I call Allstate to report the claim.  Thankfully this is considered a “comprehensive” claim ($100 deductible), not a “collision” claim ($500 deductible).  So what is the bright side of all this.  We were near an off ramp to a suburban area; the truck was driveable; the deductible was low; the tire changing guy was there within an hour; and we continued on our way.  We made it to our destination by4:00 pm.

Wednesday morning I go into a nearby Wal-Mart to tell them their tire came apart and show them the damage that was done.  To make a long story short, I ended up with a new set of $160 tires with a total discount of $150 off of the price of four tires plus the usual extras like stems, road hazard, and lifetime rotation and balance.  $750 minus $150 = $600.  That takes care of my deductible.

Thursday morning, I take Rosie to the home of one of her hiking buddies so she can participate in the weekly Thursday hike with all the girls.  Then I have a medical appointment with my former Primary Care Physician in Conifer, CO, to see what can be done about my ever increasing blood pressure.  I take my blood pressure three times a day with a small wrist unit.  It has been creeping up over the past 2 to 3 weeks despite my being on blood pressure medication.  After an examination and relaying all my current medical ailments and meds, the Doc gives me a prescription for an additional blood pressure medication.  After only two doses, my blood pressure readings are improving, still not great, but improving.  We shall see.

Rosie had a great hike with her friends in Roxborough State Park.  Here are some pictures:

   

Today, Friday, was a very productive day for us.  I replaced the air filter on the truck and reassembled and stashed all the tire changing tools.  Rosie vacuumed the camper.  I straightened out the basement.  Chatfield State Park is quite large, with long pull through sites with level concrete pads and 20/30/50 amp electric hookups for $20 per night.  Full hook ups are available for $24, but cheap ole’ me says $4 times 14 nights is $56 that I would rather not spend.  I will hitch up and go to the dump station once to save $56.  Here are a couple of pictures of our site:

  Big site with fire pit and steel table

The view out of the door.

We have a busy couple of weeks here before we move about 10 miles to a City Park for another 2 weeks.

Thanks for stopping by.

Colorado At Last (Well Almost)

Yesterday we arrived at Raton Pass Camp, formerly Cedar Rail Campground.  It is located at the top of Raton Pass, about 7 miles north of Raton, NM and about a 1/4 mile from the Colorado border.  We could walk to Colorado from here.

This is a smaller RV Park, but very nice.  Full hookups with 50 amp electric for a base price of $32 per night.  After a couple of discounts (Good Sam and cash/check) we paid $27.32.  The sites are on a nicely graveled upper level with views to die for.  The laundry is clean and only $1.25 for a wash and $1.25 for a dry.  They also have a huge book and DVD movie exchange.

It is so nice to see pine trees again.  There are also some patches of grass.  Sammy and Annie are going crazy eating long blades of grass and finding trees to pee on.  I don’t think they liked the desert any more than we did.

This is the view from our rear window over the kitchen sink.
 

After having to be stingy with the water for a month, it was a luxury to take a shower and let the water run through the whole process.  At our last place we filled up our waste tanks every 10 days and had to hook up and go to the dump station.  It only takes an hour or so, but it seems like such a hassle.  Camp site sewer connections are the best.
 

We have been in the desert southwest since January 10th.  We like not being frozen and not having to trudge through snow up to our kiesters, but we are getting very tired of looking at sand and cacti.  The interior of the camper is covered with a layer of fine sand from all the wind storms we have been through.  We are finally in an area where there is soil and pine trees; not a cactus in sight.  This is good.
 

We ended up here because all the State Parks in New Mexico and Colorado were booked up for Memorial Day weekend.  In the short time we have been here we have met 3 wonderful couples.  Bill and Marlene are from Riverside, California.  They spend a lot of time traveling in their 1995 Hitchhiker II.  Bill is close to eighty and still going.  I learned he has had A-Fib since he was 65 and has adjusted his life very well to the medication regimen.  Dan and Denise are from Littleton, CO and are very familiar with our next destination, Chatfield State Park.  They have two great dogs that travel with them in their motorhome.  Mike and Laurie are from Laguna Beach, California and have been full timing since December and having a great time.  It was fun listening to their adventures past and planned.  They may be in the area when we are camp hosting in Oregon and will come by to say hi if they are.  You can meet the most wonderful people in a little RV Park in New Mexico.
 

Tuesday we will travel to Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO, a suburb of Denver.  We are really excited about visiting with old neighbors and friends.

A Tram Ride

One of my brother’s drove from the LA area over here to spend a day with us.  Thursday evening we went to the buffet at the nearby Casino and put a few bucks in the slot machines.  Rosie won a couple of bucks on the penny slots.  We are such big time gamblers .

Friday, Roger and I took the tram ride from the valley floor to the top of a nearby mountain.  The tram guide told us this is the longest tram in North America and the second longest tram in the world.  I am not normally squeamish about heights, but I got some butterflies on this one, especially when you pass through one of the two towers during the ride.  There is a little “dip” when you pass through the tower connector.  Here are some pictures of the event:

Approaching the first tower on the way up.

It was snowing when we got to the top.

Snow on the deck leading to the restaurant.

Our car to take us back down.

You can see all of Albuquerque from up here.

The first tower on the way down.

As one car goes down, the other car comes up.

Our destination at the bottom.

Here I am at the top.

 

Here I am at the bottom.  About 3/4 of a mile difference in elevation.

I vaguely remember the last tram ride I took was in Palm Springs in the 1970’s.  Nowhere near as long or dramatic.

Two more weeks in Albuquerque and we head for Denver.

Thanks for stopping by.