Moving On....Down the Road a Bit

Well, y'all know what happened last week with the campground up in Monument, right?  We got there and it sucked, to be perfectly honest, plus, they had not reserved us a 50 amp site, as we had requested.  They were perfectly willing to put us on a 30 amp site, but it was a risky ride to get up the hill to it, it had overhanging pine boughs, and, I did not know this at the time.....it also had no sewer connection!  Whaatttt?  And for all that, we were asked to pay the normal rate, PLUS an extra $8 for the privilege of 50 amps.  Which we weren't going to get.  Sooo, we begged our way into the Air Force FamCamp for 3 nights, which allowed us time to explore the Academy campus (see my last few posts for more detail) and figure out a place to stay for the remaining 8 nights of our original reservation.  We couldn't stay in the FamCamp because they were sold out, starting today, due to a huge Canadian reunion this weekend.  So we asked our good friend Google about camping near Monument, found nothing, asked about camping near Colorado Springs, found nothing available, went to Military Camp app, found Cheyenne, WY, only about 2 hours away, but no answer when we called, so left a voice mail.  Then we found a little RV Park down in West Pueblo.  It was reasonably priced, and they had a spot for us for the dates we needed!  Score!!!  They seemed really nice and appeared to be appreciative of our business.  Only thing is, they repeatedly warned us about the high iron content of their water, so they advised bringing a water filter.  That would be no problem for us - we carry our own filtration and water softener.

This morning dawned, bright and early.  We had no problems packing up the camper and hitting the road.  Well, let me rephrase that.  We did notice one little problem.  But, there was a plan in the works, so it didn't stop us from packing up and moving down the road to our temporary campsite.  This was our view as we began our merge onto the Interstate this morning. 

It only took us about an hour and a half to get to the new campground, and we got settled in quickly.  The owners here are so very nice and wanted to make sure we were happy with the site before they would accept any money!  We've never had THAT happen before!  But here is the view out our side window.  Not half bad, eh?  At the other end of the park, there's a crystal clear inground pool, there is fast and free WiFi, a lending library, AND the biggest doggie park we've ever seen in a campground!  Plus, there's a bunch of sites to see nearby, AND natural mineral hot springs!  That's where we'll head tomorrow.  Oh, yeah, and on Saturday, the park is supplying burgers and dogs for a cookout!!  FREE! What's not to like??

So, I mentioned we had one little problem this morning, right?  But, we had a plan.  The plan involved going back to Lowes, which was only about 10 miles away.  We had passed it on the way out to the park.  Leaving the park, this was what we saw.  Mountains close enough to enjoy the view, but we were in the flats enough to keep my fear of heights in check.  

We also saw the Big Bear Beer and Liquor store, where we could stop on the way back.  We're still looking for my Seagram's Fuzzy Navels.  Just a side-note, I think we're going to have to give up on that...we just can't find them ANYwhere.  We did end up purchasing a 6 pack of Smirnoff's Raspberry something, and it was ok.  Not a Fuzzy Navel, but it was ok.

Alcohol-infused ice cream?  Oh yeah.  It's a good thing they were out of Maple Bourbon and Mudslide, else we might have had to buy a pint!

Here we are at Lowes, getting a half sheet of plywood cut to specs.

Here's why.  Can you see the crack?  It's hard, I know.  It runs from the closet wall, on the right, through the grout line, almost all the way to the left edge of the photo.  The crack is from the plywood subfloor cracking underneath the tile.  When it gets stepped on, you can feel it give way a bit.  One of the things they stressed on our factory tour was that if you ever experience a floor issue, you should bring it back to the factory, because they will have the special grout and the experience to repair it. Dang.  I really didn't want to go back to Indiana anytime soon.  We'll call Newmar tomorrow and see if they can send some grout to NIRVA out in Phoenix, and let them do it.  We have extra tiles from this dye lot in the basement, so that won't be a problem.  I know if we can use those, it will be a much better match than what they did in the old coach!

Here is Driver installing the new plywood so that we don't fall through to the engine compartment.

And here's my splinter prevention!  We had purchased another small rug to put over it, but the darned thing was a whole lot smaller than the stated measurements.  What's up with that?  The label said it was 24" by 30" - our board was 30" by 36" so we knew there would be SOME shortage.  It was WAY to small to cover sufficiently.  Thank goodness we have extra towels!

Dinner was done and we were watching Master Chef when we happened to look out the window.  This was the stunning sunset that we got to see!  It only lasted a few moments, but it was magnificent.  We are so thankful we decided to leave Amarillo a day early and take 2 days to get up here.  We arrived early enough to discover the other park's shortcomings, and we were able to get a site in such a sweet park as this one.  That's Dick Luck for ya!

The hot springs we are going to tomorrow are clothing optional.  Yes, yes they are.  WE plan to wear our swim suits!  I'll let you know how it goes!