Durango Bound

Monday, December 23, 2013

Today, we got up and took our showers at the park facilities, then quickly got packed up and headed out.

Our site

Eileen at Campers World RV Park, Clovis, NM

We headed along Hwy 84 until it crossed I-40 at Santa Rosa. We then continued on our "normal route" to Durango. We choose to take 285 to Santa Fe, then join 25 as it heads back to Albuquerque. We then turn off at 550 at Bernalillo, and thus avoid Albuquerque traffic altogether. It's really only about 10 minutes longer, but it's so much easier driving.

Route from Clovis, NM to Durango, CO

We stopped for lunch outside of Santa Fe, and ran our fuel pump to transfer fuel. It was still going slow, but managed to fill. Back on the road, we made good time, and enjoyed the scenery through New Mexico. So amazing, I wish we had time to stop and explore.

Volcanic features covered with snow along 550.

More volcanic feature along 550.

I can see snow covered mountains!

Red cliffs of Durango

We arrived at the Westerly RV Park outside of Durango near Trimble Hot Springs, about 5PM. The park host was gracious and helpful. Unfortunately, the pull through they wanted to put us in was a difficult one to get into due to our length and its location, so we opted for a back-in site, instead. The park host helped guide Tony in, and he had no problems. Because it was getting dark very soon, he let us get our water and set up before settling the bill.

Tony worked on getting the fresh tank filled, and the coach de-winterized (flushing the RV anti-freeze from the pipes), while I set up inside. After we were set up, Tony discovered that the driver's side window on the truck would not go up! The button would not work, and it appeared to be loose or broken. With a flashlight and a small screwdriver, he was able to get the window up again. YAY! It appears that the plastic button broke within the module. Hopefully we can replace the button itself, not the whole electric window/seat control module.

Once we solved that drama, we went in and had dinner and collapsed for the evening. Kitties enjoyed the small Vornado tabletop heater in the bedroom, warming the turned down sheets.

Yay! We are happy to be back visiting in Durango, for Christmas. Last year we were here, but I go sick and we could not enjoy it. We are looking forward to a good time.

It's Christmas time, in the Mammoth

Sunday, December 22, 2013

We brought Mammoth home last weekend, in anticipation of our trip to Durango, Colorado for some skiing.

We had a number of small projects to do, including: replacing a broken closet catch, replacing the grab handle padding with rescue tape, replacing batteries in the keyless entry keypad, replacing the step carpets, and installing a new motion sensing porch light. We got them all done during the weekend, and I worked to get things loaded for our trip during the week.

We also completed a larger project since our last trip, dual sliding doors in the basement, so we'll have easy, quick access to the water pump, bypass valves, water lines and the AC/DC converter.

New doors closed

New door open 

We had out-of-town family visiting Friday and Saturday, but we managed to get Mammoth ready. The only problem was the weather was not. The panhandle of Texas was having snow and freezing precipitation, so we decided to take a different route.

Normally, we'd head to Amarillo, but instead, we took I-20 east and then angled NE up 84 to Clovis, NM. We pulled out about 9:15, and had no issues getting through the DFW metroplex.

We stopped for a rest stop about 45 miles past Weatherford. While there, an SUV pulling a long travel trailer parked in front of us. It was a Coachman, and a bunkhouse model. I saw the family exit and return, and then they took off again. Not long down the road, we saw this same SUV and trailer, flipped on the side if the road!








It looked like the SUV was Ok, so hopefully no one was injured.

The rest of the trip was fairly easy. We got to Campers World RV Park about 6pm, got checked in and set up. We decided not to use our water system, so we could stay winterized as we traveled the rest of the way to Durango.

The kitties did well traveling, the only fussed about an hour at the beginning of the trip, then settled in and slept most of the way.








One thing that we'll have to address, we noted that while filling the fuel tank via the external tank, it seemed to take longer than usual. After some research, we think our tank's fuel filter is getting clogged. Luckily, we picked up an extra before the trip.


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Another Great Rally in the Books

Sunday, October 13, 2013
Today, we got up and had breakfast, then started gradually getting ready to leave. We had nearly everything ready to go, and of course, others had to come by and say goodbye. Our friends Jay and Stella are headed to Beaumont for the South Texas Rally, and many others here are headed there as well. We just can't justify going to far, when Tony can't take off any time. We wish them all safe travels and I know they'll have a lot of fun.


We had a really good time at the Rally, and have to say great things about Nancy and Dave. They took on the WagonMaster role for the Rally. They ended up doing a lot of the work behind the scenes to pull the rally off, and they really made it go very smoothly. I hope that if the Chapter Leadership position opens up, that they will consider taking it on!


We finally pulled out about noon, which was checkout time. Kitties rode with me in the car, while Tony pulled the trailer. 3 rigs pulled out about the same time, but we turned right when they turned left.




Heading out


Eileen at Mill Creek Ranch Resort, at the Heartland North Texas Chapter Rally. Notice the Heartlands in the background.

We made it to Terrell in about 30 minutes, and I swung into a fast-food joint to get food while Tony headed home. Once we were fed, we proceeded to get the Mammoth backed into the driveway again. It took a few attempts to get the right angle, but Tony backed in fairly easily. (We have a few projects in mind before the weather gets cold, so that's why Mammoth is in the driveway.)

We then got the rig unloaded. Wow, what a difference in the temperature! Since rain was predicted, we had heavhy gray cloud-cover all day, but no rain yet. That made for a quick and easy unloading!

We hope to get another trip or two in before our big one this winter. Just have to see when we can fit it in.  Maybe we'll go see Jay and Stella when they are at Inks Lake again, park-hosting.

Rally between the rain

Saturday, October 12, 2013

I didn't sleep as well as I had hoped since Tony wasn't here, and the kitties stuck pretty close to me all night. In the morning, they got up about the time Tony had been... About 5:30! Too early! And they started pestering me for a feeding. I finally got up about 6 and fed them, only to find a kitty had hurled on the linoleum... With my foot. Ick! I'm awake now!

I tried to go back to sleep but wasn't able to. I finally got up about 7:45, but crawled back on bed and lounged until 8:15.

I started the roast cooking in the crockpot for the potluck, then worked on the newsletter until Tony got there, about 10:45.

At 11:15 we met the group at the dock for our picture. Clouds were starting to roll in, and rain was expected today, but it still seemed like a pleasant day so far.

The rally attendees

We all then headed over to Explore USA to look at trailers and have lunch, which they graciously provided. We had a good time looking at trailers. We were especially impressed with the new pearl colored Big Country front bath floorplan, except that I didn't want the dark Bordeaux wood color.

After our exploring ExploreUSA, we headed back, just before it startled to lightning and thunder... And then rain pretty heavily for a bit!

Tony took a short nap (as best he could during the thundering), and I worked a little.

We didn't see any rally attendees outside, so we stayed in and watched some of the shows we like on cable (History channel and A&E) like Storage Wars, American Restoration, and Pawn Stars. It rained a bit more, but then started to clear.

At 5:45 we gathered our pot roast and such and headed to the potluck dinner at the lodge. (No rain!) We had a great time eating, visiting and winning door prizes! We won another cyclone vent and a TST system, which we had been wanting for the pickup. (We have one on the trailer).

The HOC traveling sombrero from Michigan has now ended up with Terry and Carol Hershberger! They are attending the South Texas Rally in Beaumont next week, so I am guessing it will pass along to someone there. ;)


Terry Hershberger, Chapter Leader, new traveling hat recipient
After dinner, we visited a little more, then decided to head back to the rig. Tony was pretty tired and so was I, from being up early.

We watched a bit of TV then headed to bed. We say goodbyes tomorrow. The Rally was good but over too quick!


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Official Start to the Rally

Friday, October 11, 2013

Today Tony got up and out the door again before the sun was up. Kitties and I slept and lounged until about 8, then got up and got going. They watched outside, while I worked on the Heartland Highlights Newsletter.

Around 12, I walked the park to see who was out and take some pictures.























I then decided to head in for some lunch, and continued working until about 4:45. Tango was overseeing.




I walked around and saw no one out, so I waited a bit and called my friends Dan and Ann to see if they wanted to eat. Within 15 minutes, our 3 grew to 7, and we headed to Bakers Ribs for dinner. We had a good meal, except for the loud group of 10yr old girls and their fathers, apparently heading to a camping trip somewhere.

After dinner we returned home and prepped our snack items to go with ice cream, supplied by the club. We all met up at the lodge, and with close to 50 folks in the small meeting room, it was quite loud with all of them talking!

Nancy and Dave have been the Wagon-masters for this rally, (in other words, running all aspects of the Rally prep and setup) and Nancy did all the intros and announcements. I suspect we may have new Chapter Leaders, soon! ;)











I sat around and visited, then there was talk of a domino game... But it never surfaced. Instead I helped a few others put together a 250 piece jigsaw puzzle. With the three of us, and then a few more helpers toward the end, we did it in about 20 minutes. I find jigsaw puzzles frustrate me more than entertain, so I probably won't do another.

After the puzzle, folks were starting to leave, and thus ended up about 10 of us standing and chatting until just about 10pm. Someone outside of our room yelled and startled us, so that was the cue to leave. Turns out some unrelated young folks were playing with the Wii game in the lobby of the lodge, and that's where the yell came from. ;)

We walked or drove back home and I promptly went to bed. About 11 I chatted with Tony briefly, they were finally on the way home from the football game-- Terrell lost, 50-16. He'll come back to the RV park tomorrow, we decided it was better if he just crashed at the house after his football game rather than try to drive here so late at night.

Me and kitties settled in. For a queen bed, they sure know how to hog!!



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Canton out to lunch

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Today Tony got up really early to head to work. The cats got up with him, and got fed and fresh water. After he left, they can't back to bed and hogged his side, and we drifted back to sleep until about 7:30. It was chilly in the coach, but I turned the fireplace on for a bit and it helped. Kitties "claimed" they hadn't eaten, so I fed and put down fresh water. They are excellent actors! I got dressed and began working on a project for a customer. It was nice to have all the windows open for a change!

About 11:30, Dan came by and said a group was going to downtown Canton to eat and shop, so I said I'd go. We were gone most of the afternoon, and I felt guilty, but I'll make up for it tomorrow. The deadlines I had are still going to be met.

Lunch with Heartlanders

Will this fit in our ElkRidge?

After we returned to the park, I visited with the folks that had recently arrived. It was sure good to see them all! Tony got home about 5:30, and we visited some more. We finally sat down to eat about 7, and then watched some of our weekly tv shows. Both of us were pretty tired. Tomorrow evening is the first scheduled event, but I had a good day of Rallying today.





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It's Rally Time!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

First, a little backstory. Remember last trip we discovered a broken vent pipe? Well, we got Mammoth home and worked on fixing it. It took another trip to Home Depot, but we finally got it fixed, we think!

Before

Before... The pipe uses two 45 degree angles to negotiate under the drawer. One of the 45s was broken.

We cut the pipe in the middle of the long straight section, so we could remove it and aid in connecting the pieces back together.

With all pieces connected again.

To be safe, we ran water down to vent pipe to check for leaks and to make sure there were no obstructions causing the odor to enter the room. It ran fine and no leaks after some adjusting. ;)

Then, Tony installed a new cyclone vent onto the top of this vent, which is supposed to draw odors out by design.

Cyclone vent

We did a few other minor projects with the trailer, as well, but ran out of weekend.

Wednesday, I finished loading stuff and we got the Mammoth hitched and ready to go at lunchtime. We headed out after school was out for the 35-minute drive to Canton. When we arrived, most of our friends were out eating, so we set up and had dinner before starting to visit.

About 7, we walked out to visit with the group that was gathering, until mosquitos drove most everyone inside.

We finished getting set up inside, kitties settled in, and we surfed and chilled. Both of us were pretty tired, so we will probably turn in a little early. Tony has to get up even earlier to head to work the next few days.


Aaaaah, so glad to be here and see old friends, and meet new ones! More will be arriving the next few days. Should be 23 rigs in all!


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