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Trip02

Four brothers. Four wives. Four motorhomes. One dog. One cat. Two days. Three nights. Goblin Valley State Park. We had four adjacent sites reserved. Side-by side. It didn’t take long before the circle-the-wagons inspiration struck, and by the time the jockying was through, we had them all in a circle, with a great view of the cliffs to the immediate west. It was a good setup. Got to catch up on Tom and Kathy’s vacation adventures and new motorhome. It is a giant green beautiful craft. Hiked in a valley full of strangely shaped, eroded rock, goblin characters. Had a good slot canyon hike. Got the Jeep nice and dirty, but didn’t get any real four-wheeling done yet. The brothers helped me figure out what some of the switches on the new Bounder do. Some of them are obvious. Lights. Fans. Heater. Air conditioning. Some are unique to motorhomes. Generator start/stop. Some are unique to diesels. Engine preheat. Jake brake. Air suspension. But clearance lights? What does the clearance light switch do? It only works while you’re holding it down. It automatically returns when you let go. Know how when you’re passing trucks they will flash their headlights when you’re clear and you have room to move back over? Then you flash your lights back to say thank you? Clearance lights. It lights all the lights except your headlights. If your lights are off, it flashes them on. If your lights are on, it flashes them off. Cool. The utility light switch? This one was harder. The utility light is unique to motorhomes. It’s a big light on the outside of the motorhome that shines down to where the utilities are that you hook up to. There is a switch on the inside you have to remember to turn on before you go outside to hook up in the dark. The new Bounder has a utility light switch. But no utility light on the outside. You click the switch off and on, and nothing happens. Figured that one out too. When you open the utility hook-up cabinet, there is a bright light inside. This light is not controlled by the luggage light switch, like the lights in all the other outside compartments. It responds solely to the utility light switch inside. We couldn’t tell until we opened the cabinet to watch the light while we turned the switch on and off. Drove home. We didn’t get many chances to check the new Bounder for mileage. It has about an eight hundred mile fuel tank. We started out from Traverse City, Michigan with a mostly full tank. Drove through Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. Gassed up in Davenport Iowa. Gassed up in North Platte, Nebraska. Got eight miles per gallon, towing. Gassed up in Green River, Utah. Got nine miles per gallon, after towing the Jeep over the continental divide. And we get to gas up with $1.45 per gallon fuel. Not bad. Bet we could get ten miles per gallon if we weren’t towing. Annie relaxed more on the way home. She quit clinging to Judy and actually got several feet away from her. Several times. Made it home in time for Monday night football, packing up for the office move, and Tuesday night racquetball.
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Trip01

We decided on Friday. Saturday: Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa. Sunday: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Upper Peninsula. Traverse City. Michigan. 1,300 miles from home. 2002 Bounder diesel 39R. Two slides. Mint condition. Only driven 14,000 miles in two years. Our new mobile branch office for the business. It’s perfect. It’s ours. Did I mention the new business plan? We plan to extend our services outside the Denver Metro Area, to the entire state. A mobile branch office. Judy, Annie, Rags, and I will go anyplace that needs us. Annie doesn’t like the new motorhome much. Hydraulic levelers that creak and crunch scary noises. Air suspension that huffs and spits suddenly. Air brakes that do the same. Way too many scary noises. She just clings to Judy and won’t leave her lap. On Tuesday, on the way home, she finally relaxed enough to jump up on my lap while I was driving. She looked out my side window for a while, then decided to turn around so she could see Judy better. Problem. Her butt hit the horn button. The new Bounder has a horn. An air horn. I think I got off easy. My lap stayed dry. But it’s a good bet Annie won’t be landing in my lap again anytime soon. I have a problem with Nebraska. It’s too long. Not the letters in the name. There are eight. That’s OK. Colorado has eight too. It’s the miles. Four hundred fifty to get across it. That’s too many. I don’t think anybody should have more than three hundred fifty. You can start the day anywhere in Colorado and drive to another state in any direction. You could drive all day across Nebraska and still not get to the next state. I think we should break it up. We drove the Jeep. We stayed in motels in Sterling Colorado and Davenport Iowa. We stayed in a motel in Traverse City. As we pulled the car up facing our room, the family in the room next to us had their door open. They seem to have just gotten back from the pool, as they were in high spirits, running around, in and out of the room, laughing and playing, while Dad was out in the car getting something. The girl had considerable trouble with her towel. We got flashed. More than once. We met them outside the next morning as we were all packing to leave. Dad. Mom. Two boys. Wait! Two boys? Where was the daughter with the loose towel? Mom, Dad, two boys, and an empty twelve pack by the door. Mom was the one with the slippery towel. Who knew? We towed the Jeep home. A quick drive. A little business in Denver on Thursday, and straight on out to the great motorhome roundup in Utah…..