Travel to Pagosa Springs, CO

May 13, 2012

Woke up early, just in time to watch some morning thunderstorms come in.   Rained for about an hour.   It ruined my plans for one last hike on a new trail.    Oh well.   We cleaned up the rig and got it ready for hitching.    I unpacked the new air compressor and read the instructions.   I checked all the tires on the truck and half on the fitty (one side is tough to do when the slides are out).   I decided to wait to inflate until after we were hitched up.     We took advantage of the free (electric) hot water for last showers.   Then we held our breath, and went for the hook-up.    Yay!  Success!    I checked all the tires and added some air to all.    When we were filling up the back fitty tire (one that was previously blocked from view by the slide), Missy said “what’s that?”.   

Sigh.   And…..GODDAMMIT!

There’s an inch long razor slit in the tire.    We inspected the tire carefully.   It clearly was holding air, since the psi was the same from the last check.   And there was no air leaking from the slit.   So it appeared to be superficial.    We decided to travel with it as is, because both of us are so sick and tired of tire problems that we’d rather die from a faulty tire accident then deal with it right then.

You know….the rest of the day was so eventful that I’m going to have to switch to bullets.

-          -We headed north from Taos to Colorado.    The roads were fantastic!   Many miles were newly paved.  The drive could not have been more scenic.   We passed gorgeous red rock cliffs, and more desert mountains, and headed into forest territory.

-         - We picked a COE campground from a list of possible places to dump en route.   This campground was approximately ½ way via miles, but only about 1/3 of the way time-wise.   It was a near campground, hidden down a hill from the highway and overlooking a reservoir.    As we were pumping out, a campground employee drove up and said the dump was for campground guests only.  Oops!  They are no longer open to the public.   He charges us $10 for the cheapest campsite and went on his way.    Missy decided we may as well fill the freshwater tanks here (no water or electric where we’re going).     

-          -We meandered at our slow mountain fitty pace into Colorado.   Got to the first turnoff for the campground we picked at around 4:20.   100 feet off the road, there’s a sign posted that says that this campground is now a group site only.   Drat.   Now we have no choice but to travel the 2 miles up to the campground anyway and turn around.    As we approached the campground, we could see it was gated.   Double drat.    It was tight, but the entry way area was big enough for a u-turn.   (If you went through the mud).    We stopped to walk the dogs, and then got back in the car to look for the next option

-          Uh-oh.   Missy’s carefully saved Firefox tabs got closed when she had to re-boot the computer.   Now we’re flying blind….no deets on the possible campsites.

-         - We head into the city of Pagosa Springs.   A Christmas Miracle!     We got 3G randomly on the side of the road.   We pulled over when it was safe, and Missy was able to reload the pages.   Right after they loaded, the phone lost internet signal.    Phew!

-          -We decided to go to the East Fork Campground since it was getting late, 5:30.   It’s $18/night, and there are boondocking sites listed nearby…but we can’t scout them with it being so late.    This campground is neat….lots of GIANT pine trees, and plenty of privacy between sites.   I found one that was a pull thru that could work.   But Missy wanted to try a back-in site that was riverside (San Juan River) and on the edge of the campground so there are no neighbors.    We decided to go for it.

-          -Picture almost 2 hours of trying to back the fitty in.    Soooooooooo frustrating.  We actually did get it backed into the spot, but not at the edge we wanted.   When we tried to get it level, the blocks kept sinking into the soft earth.   We accidentally spun holes in the dirt with the tires, and once we had those divots, there was no getting the rig up onto the tri-level ramp needed for a side-to-side level rig.   We said fuck it, let’s deal.   We unhitched, put the slides out, and went in to eat.   (It’s now 7 o’clock).    It becomes painfully obvious that we cannot simply deal with such a dramatic tilt.    We try to buck up, and agree to re-hitch and try again.

-          -Another 30 minutes of trying and trying, and finally we get it to a spot where we can try a new ramp.   Missy did a great job of building the ramp, using all our blocks and the scootie ramp.    We gunned it, and got the rig up on blocks.   Completely level!   Yay us!    We had a small issue getting the slider bar arm out…had to reverse the legs and back the car up a titch before it would come free.   But we got it done.

-          -As we were parking, a ranger came by.   She said that they don’t have the water on yet, so the fees are half-price!  Score!

-          -We took the dogs on a short walk in the fading daylight.   It’s stunning here!    We’re high above the river (which might be a run?!!!   It looks fun…we’ll have to check on AW) in the tall trees.   Cassie is in heaven!   Lots of chippies, and no dangblasted cactus.

-          -We’ll decide tomorrow how many nights we’ll stay here.   Probably will take a drive to look at the boondocking sites.

-          We do get 1x phone here…so I might try uploading these 2 posts I’ve got ready to go.   Will have to wait for another 3G xmas miracle before getting pictures to load.