Getting it Done

May 16-17, 2012
Wednesday- We went exploring this morning to check out some other campsite options. We did not bring the dogs because Cassie was stiff and shaking again. First we went to the West Fork campground. This would be another pay site like where we are. Developed sites, but no hookups. We pretty much ruled it out a third of the way into the drive. Huge ruts and pot-holes would have made travel with the fitty all but impossible. But we still went to look because Missy wanted to see what the campground looked like. It was described as being beautiful, but I don't think the views were all that great. I joked with Missy that we're getting spoiled with our scenery requirements when we reject something that's in the woods and has mountain views. We'd kill for a spot like this back in MN.
After leaving that campground, we stopped to hike up to Treasure Falls. This is a roadside way point, so it got a lot of traffic while we were there. It was a fun hike up to what was labeled as the "mist zone bridge". Back at the parking lot, we noticed the chipmunk population (est. 100) was very friendly. So I got some snacks and fed some of them. It was strangely appealing to feed the cute little babies, but the giant adult was a tad creepy.
After our hike, we went into town. We stopped at the ranger station to look for maps of the area we're in. Unlike some of the other National Forest campgrounds, this one didn't provide maps of nearby trails. Since we're going to be in the area for a while, we wanted to get some maps for possible hikes. After the ranger station, we went to check out an option for a dump site for later.
We stopped for lunch at a place that advertised Old Fashioned Burgers and Shakes. It was pricey, but pretty good. The restaurant had a flier posted for a Whitewater Festival for ….May 19^th! This Saturday! I think the levels are way below normal for this time of year, so I'm not sure if the events will all go on as planned. After lunch we walked through town and over to the developed whitewater features We saw one playboater trying to make something happen in a feature. It looks like the only options for the rodeo will be spins and maybe a cartwheel or 2. Perhaps I should enter the completion and try out my left spin…it's only been 8 months since I landed it in competition in Wausau.
Thursday – Cassie was stiff and shaking again this morning. Missy was worried that she might have Lyme Disease. We looked up vets in Pagosa Springs and got her an apt for 10:30. The verbose vet said that they didn't see Lyme in that area at all. He thought that she might have gotten a whack to her spine and her morning stiffness was her way of dealing with the pain. So we got a prescription for an opiate which we'll try for a couple of days. If she doesn't get better, then we can call for a prescription of antibiotics to address Lyme.
We got back to camp at 11:30. Today is our moving day. We're going 4 miles down the Forest Road to the free boondocking site we found before. (I drove down last night to make sure all the sites weren't taken). We got packed up and ready for hitching. Previously I had thought that we'd have to pull forward as far as we could, and then unhitch and re-position. But upon further examination, it seemed possible that we could get out without unhitching. While I did have to back-up twice, we got er done! Yay us!
We drove supremely slowly down the bumpy dirt road. I'm still anxious about the compromised tire on the fitty. It's still doing well, as far as not losing any psi, but it's still a ticking time bomb. We made it safely to our chosen spot, and pulled into position. We used our newly purchased plank to help make the leveling ramp, and we got it parked an unhitched in no time. The slider bar arm is doing great these days…perhaps the WD40 is finally worked into all the moving parts. When we went in to relax for a bit, the level seemed off. Uh-oh. Since we're on grass, when we put the slides out we sunk a little bit. We debated doing nothing, but eventually decided to try to fix it since it's not good for the slideouts to be unlevel the way we were. Missy wanted to try hitching up and then just making adjustments with the legs. This seemed to work, until we realized that one leg had all the pressure of the rig on it, and the other had none. When we tried to correct that, the legs would not extend. It made a horrible sound, like it was stripping the gears. Shit. And we couldn't just hitch up again to take the pressure off the legs because we'd need to raise the rig to get hitched. Missy finally thought of getting the jack and using it to take off some of the pressure. We got out the heavy duty jack that Jeremiah got before. But we couldn't figure out how to use it. So we just got out the regular jack from the truck. Missy got it assembled, cranked up the jack to support the leg with all the weight on it, and Voila! The retracting mechanism worked again! Got er done!
After dinner, I asked Missy if she wanted to get the scooter loaded. (We're going to go kayaking tomorrow! Just the town run, which is a 2-3…but still, it's been a LOOOOOOOONG time). We had a lot of troubles with this simple task. First, we could not get the locking pin back into place on the motorcycle ramp. We lubed the lock parts and tried and tried. Finally, after about 20 minutes, I realized that the spacer tube part was poking through too far. We fixed it, and got er done! Missy got the scootie up and onto the ramp, all on her own. First time since the lift was removed, and she said it was so easy now. When trying to ratchet the scootie, one of the ratchets failed. Crap. We think it got rusted from being in the truck bed. Expensive lesson on treating your gear right. Luckily we have a duplicate set of ratchets for tying the scoot down in the garage, so we just used those. Got er done!
After getting the scootie loaded, we just sat back and enjoyed our surroundings. It's unbelievable to me that we can camp here for free! It's on the river, with soaring cliffs and pine trees all around. And right now we have it all to ourselves! (This open clearing is so big that we suspect that 1 or 2 more people might camp here on the weekend). We have no reception at this spot, so don't be offended if we are out of touch for days at a time. We're going to stay here until we run out of water or fill our black tanks. (10-14 days, hopefully). We'll be in town for kayaking tomorrow (the town run launch is right behind the malt shop), so I'll be able to get this posted.