Steve and Judy's Travels!

After all, we have four wheel drive…. well, power to four wheels out of
six, does that count? Forecast for tomorrow morning, twenty-three degrees.
—–Original Message—–
From: Steve Taylor [mailto:spt@thetaylorcompany.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 7:24 PM
To: Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail); Tom Taylor (E-mail)
Subject: woodland park Bright blue sky all day today. Forty degrees. Almost all the snow on the
roof of the motorhome has melted. We’ve almost got all the ice and snow off
the slide awnings. Almost all the slide awnings retract. The forest floor
is still completely covered with snow. Not a problem. We’ve settled on the exit strategy.
—–Original Message—–
From: taylor234@comcast.net [mailto:taylor234@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Steve Taylor; ‘Tom Taylor’; ‘Bill Taylor (E-mail)’
Cc: Judy (E-mail)
Subject: RE: woodland park Sleep on it. Maybe the sun will come out bright and hot in the morning. Hey, maybe you should just break down and put your chains on. What? You mean
to say that you don’t have chains for that thing? Go figure. Okay, so you let some of the air out of the tires & get yourself a nice, fat
footprint… —
David Taylor
Red Oak Ridge Estates
www.redoakridgeestates.com
> I think I’d rather go wait for spring in South Texas.
>
>
> —–Original Message—–
> From: Tom Taylor [mailto:code-boy@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:27 PM
> To: Steve Taylor; Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: woodland park
>
>
> Maybe you should just wait for spring.
>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: “Steve Taylor” <spt@thetaylorcompany.net>
> To: “Bill Taylor (E-mail)” <billt4@earthlink.net>; “David Taylor (E-mail)”
> <taylor234@comcast.net>; “Tom Taylor (E-mail)” <code-boy@earthlink.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:49 PM
> Subject: woodland park
>
>
> >
> > A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
> > remainder. It’s going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig
out
> > of the forest campground we’re in. It’s a pretty forest campground, but
> > the
> > undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
> > fresh snow. I don’t think the fresh snow will be a traction problem,
but
> > there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery
> > section
> > that concerns me. We’ll talk that one through a few more times before
we
> > attempt it.
> >
> > Life on the road.
> >
> >
>
>

Bright blue sky all day today. Forty degrees. Almost all the snow on the
roof of the motorhome has melted. We’ve almost got all the ice and snow off
the slide awnings. Almost all the slide awnings retract. The forest floor
is still completely covered with snow. Not a problem. We’ve settled on the exit strategy.
—–Original Message—–
From: taylor234@comcast.net [mailto:taylor234@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Steve Taylor; ‘Tom Taylor’; ‘Bill Taylor (E-mail)’
Cc: Judy (E-mail)
Subject: RE: woodland park Sleep on it. Maybe the sun will come out bright and hot in the morning. Hey, maybe you should just break down and put your chains on. What? You mean
to say that you don’t have chains for that thing? Go figure. Okay, so you let some of the air out of the tires & get yourself a nice, fat
footprint… —
David Taylor
Red Oak Ridge Estates
www.redoakridgeestates.com
> I think I’d rather go wait for spring in South Texas.
>
>
> —–Original Message—–
> From: Tom Taylor [mailto:code-boy@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:27 PM
> To: Steve Taylor; Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: woodland park
>
>
> Maybe you should just wait for spring.
>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: “Steve Taylor” <spt@thetaylorcompany.net>
> To: “Bill Taylor (E-mail)” <billt4@earthlink.net>; “David Taylor (E-mail)”
> <taylor234@comcast.net>; “Tom Taylor (E-mail)” <code-boy@earthlink.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:49 PM
> Subject: woodland park
>
>
> >
> > A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
> > remainder. It’s going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig
out
> > of the forest campground we’re in. It’s a pretty forest campground, but
> > the
> > undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
> > fresh snow. I don’t think the fresh snow will be a traction problem,
but
> > there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery
> > section
> > that concerns me. We’ll talk that one through a few more times before
we
> > attempt it.
> >
> > Life on the road.
> >
> >
>
>

Judy was doing some work around the outside of the coach which involved
pulling out that heavy slide drawer in the outside cabinet. To get the
drawer open, there are two latches to work: a pull latch with one hand and
a thumb latch with the other. You have to pull really hard to get that
heavy drawer to move, but Judy was up to the task. She pulled on the pull
latch with one hand while lifting the thumb latch with the index finger of
her other hand. Her index finger, not her thumb. There is a reason why
they call it a thumb latch and not a finger latch. If you use your thumb to
hold it open, your hand just naturally follows the drawer as it rolls out.
If you use your finger, however, your hand tends to stay with the latch and
just gets run over by the heavy drawer. Four stitches in her left index finger, keep it dry for ten days, it’ll be
as good as new. Meanwhile, the pain reliever is beginning to wear off
tonight. The finger is starting to tingle. It won’t be long and that
finger will own her. Judy didn’t know it was called a thumb latch.

A warm day yesterday. A blue-sky morning today, then it snowed for the
remainder. It’s going to be an interesting challenge driving this rig out
of the forest campground we’re in. It’s a pretty forest campground, but the
undulating access roads are narrow in between the trees and covered with
fresh snow. I don’t think the fresh snow will be a traction problem, but
there is one short, steep, north facing, heavily snowpacked slippery section
that concerns me. We’ll talk that one through a few more times before we
attempt it. Life on the road.

Wow! Blue sky, moderate wind, and no degrees when we got up this morning.
Zero. None. Nada. Not a single Fahrenheit to be found. From inside, we
couldn’t tell. No ice on the windows. No cold air on our heads. The
furnace runs a lot. The inside of the windshield, behind the drapes, has
ice on it. But zero outside? This was the kind of weather that drove us
out of the Bounder. It was unacceptably cold and drafty in the Bounder at
zero, cold air falling on our heads, anything touching the walls wet with
condensation. That was zero and calm. This was zero, with gale force winds
rocking the rig. Engine block heater on for the night, the motor starts right up. Defroster
on the windshield, unhook the electric, run the slides in and out a few
times to clear the snow and ice off them, bang on the retractor with a mop
handle while Judy runs one of the bedroom slides in and out a couple more
times until the frozen retractor breaks free, and the slide awning rolls up
like it’s supposed to. The first hundred miles were a challenge. Snow
pack, slick, and windy. Mostly trucks on Interstate 80, the occasional car,
but mostly trucks. We picked a medium speed one and stuck with it, passing
slower ones, while the faster ones blew by. We were out of the dangerous
conditions by Cheyenne. No more snow pack, just wind. Another hundred
fifty miles south and we were in Woodland Park by dark. Tonight’s forecast, a balmy ten degrees.