Ava and the Beast ride again – Wachs Across America

Thursday morning after a walk around Golden Ponds with my brother, the dog and I took the Beast up to get Ava. As we rounded the last corner the Beast bucked just a little bit as though he couldn’t wait to hook up with Ava again. Sheba was in heaven running around with the farm dogs and the cat while I hitched up for the short ride to Longmont to get Ava packed up for our little spring break trip to the western slope of CO and the Moab area. It has been dry as a bone and in the 70s most of March and the ONE day we’re going to be driving with a 38ft, 14,000 pound trailer over the Continental Divide the forecast calls for snow. Well, Friday morning came with pretty clear skies in Longmont and the forecast was clear all day. We pulled out about 9:00 and had smooth sailing the whole way. There was fresh snow in the mountains but I-70 was dry until right before Eisenhower tunnel where the roads were wet until Silverthorne…then again they were a little wet on Vail pass. Nothing slick, nothing scary. It really looked quite pretty with the fresh snow and the blue skies. It was a good drive and it felt good to be on the road again with the family…including our new addition, Sheba, our trusty pup. I’m not really sure what Sheba thought of the ride…she was very restless the whole way….just couldn’t seem to settle in and get comfortable. She is usually pretty chill in the car but I think the chucking from the trailer just made it a bit rougher than she likes. But she did fine as I think she was just happy to get to come along with us.

Back to the main characters of the story, the Beast in particular. We had a rough beginning, the Beast and I. You might recall how I got a great deal on our truck until I had problem after problem that delayed our departure last year and thinned my wallet tremendously. There were a few weeks when I hated that truck. However, we finally got on the road and had very few troubles for 13,000 miles. The Beast was a champ and pulled Ava around like she was a featherweight camper. But most of the time we were on the flats….no high mountain passes to contend with. Today though we were going over the continental divide and I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Well, I’m pleased to report that the Beast did great! He is not shy about using diesel but we went over those passes like they were nothin’. And coming down…I just let that Allison transmission do its job and I hardly had to touch the brakes!

As we dropped down Glenwood Canyon the temperature began to rise and it started feeling like spring. No snow around and leaves starting to bud on the trees. We stopped for fuel in Glenwood and ate lunch while on the road. Our destination of Fruita Colorado came early afternoon and we pulled into the James M. Robb Colorado State Park about 2:00, got checked in and found our site which was an easy, level pull through. We all remembered our jobs and had everything set up in record time. Ah, time to relax……”Huck there is water coming out of the faucet handle….like a LOT OF IT!!!”. I run out of the rig and shut off the water. On closer inspection it is not a burst pipe but seems to be a leak in the handle itself. So, since I can’t make it any worse (can I?) I decide to take it apart and have a look inside. Everything seems in tact but there was a gasket that seemed a bit out of place. I reseated it and put everything back together, turned on the water and even MORE water was squirting out. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to turn off the water to JUST the kitchen sink so we’d have to do without water for awhile while I try to find a replacement faucet. I disassemble the handle again but realize I hadn’t even gotten close to cinching the nut down all the way….doh!! So I cinched it down, reassembled everything, turned the water on and……WOOOHOOOO no leaks!!

What a great campground! Huge pull thru, full hookup sites at the front door of Colorado National Monument. We explored the playground, the 2 ponds and the Colorado river. We watched clouds go by…