Colorado

We are in Colorado, making it state number 10 on this trip and number 15 in total!! And, very important indeed!!! we have just passed the 10,000 miles mark in our journey!!! This is a remarkable moment that deserves celebration. This is equivalent to 16,000 km for those who use metric system.

Colorado….. How can I say it… we have mixed feelings about our visit to Colorado; we had so many expectations about the national parks and cities we were told we should visit, let alone driving on the highest roads in North America. Well, that didn’t happen.

• No Aspen
• No Telluride
• No Mount Evans scenic byway
• No Pikes Peak highway

Instead, we had to face mechanical issues right from the moment we entered the state. The transmission of our tow car burnt. I have to say…. the issue of towing a car for thousands of miles ( we had done 9,000 already at the moment of failure) was something kind of worrisome for us. We followed the operations manual, we stopped every 2 hours to let the engine lubricate the transmission, we didn’t exceed 65 MPH, and still the tranny failed miserably. This happened in our first stop, Denver. Once the car goes to the shop, it meant we had to continue our journey without the toad. Could we survive? Well, many people do it!! They just travel in the RV by itself.

Now without our mobility in town, it was just a matter of enjoying our staying at a lovely state park… Cherry Creek State Park

Part number 2 of issues: To make it more interesting, what about some spicy weather report? What about some hailstorms in the recipe? Well, that’s what was reported on the news; even people injured as a result of golf ball size hail in the area. There was going to be a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater and it was cancelled!!

We had some hailstones, but quarter inch size, not bad!!

Part number 3 of issues: we left Denver headed to the mountain…. Telluride! One of the most scenic cities in Colorado

The city we WERE going to visit

The plan was to spend just one night in a mid point between Denver and Telluride so we decided to visit a campground in Pueblo, Colorado. And here’s the second surprise: I saw a puddle of green fluid underneath the engine… oh no!!! the water pump had failed.

This meant to lose 6 days waiting for parts and repair the cooling system. This changed the whole plan; and let me tell you: even though it was Scotty’s fault, this RV was sooooo good that it didn’t let us down on the road; it happened right after we came to a complete stop at our site at the campground. Scotty is unique!!

But not all was bad at Pueblo!! We had a great surprise… that weekend there was going to be a classic car show. OMG… look who’s happy… a complete 1,000% lover of classic cars. There we were calling Uber to take us from the campground to the Pueblo fairgrounds. So many beautiful cars, so many fanatics !! This was a neat event which I always wanted to watch and participate at least as a member of the public, as one more spectator

Go back in time 50 years and imagine you’re going to the office driving this car….

A visit to Pueblo reminded us of San Antonio TX with its River Walk!

And it was time to celebrate Claudia’s birthday!

Nearby Colorado Springs

Back in Denver it was time to pay a visit to a very beautiful National Park… Estes

Once again the bad road quality is to blame for the loss of another ( second one) wheel hub cap in the highways of Colorado.

Here’s me measuring the part to be ordered… aghhhhh !!!

Ok, so back to the Ford’s transmission; we had to take the decision to move the tow car using a dolly so we had to rent one for now. It makes a change indeed, as now the front wheels don’t touch the road while travelling.

Spending a night in Burlington, CO

Back in Kansas??? Why??? We have found good enclosed storage units in Wichita, so as Expedition #2 comes to an end, it is time to come back to Kansas from Colorado and start working on the preparedness of the units for a long storage. Meet our new friends from Wichita, Judy & Neil. They were our temporary neighbors at the Spring Lake RV Park; pleasant conversation about airplanes as Neil is retired from… you guessed it… Cessna!! Such a nice couple. Now their Newmar and our Fleetwood are also neighbors ” in storage mode”

Arriving late at Hamstead, KS.

Next day will be Independence Day in the US, so preparing to watch some serious firework display.

And yet another surprising good news coming out of Wichita… a Classic Car show!! There we go!!!

I had a Buick Century back in 1,998 when we were living in Venezuela. It was a 1,995. The picture below is for another Century but from 1967!

The one below is a modified Pontiac. With my brothers when we were kids, we had a collection of maybe 150 Matchbox cars; the first one I’ve got was the same Pontiac, same color. I wish I kept them all!

Okay, time for you to meet my new friend Paul from Scotland!!!

Tremendous surprise to bump into this very funny personality showing off not only his eye catching sign but also the three classic cars on display. It was a hilarious conversation that we had. Great man.

Some new friends that we met at the Independence Day fireworks display ( Dona and Gene) had recommended us to visit Yoder, an Amish Community of population 165. We went there and were surprised how interesting the town was!!

It doesn’t always happen that your next door neighbors are friendly and kind. This time (again) we were lucky to meet Madeline and Mallory from California. They are also touring the country for a few years now driving RVs such as this beautiful Entegra Anthem. Nice!!

Time to plant not one tree but three trees!!

It was the kindness of Nancy, owner of Haggard’s RV Park in Pueblo CO who not only allowed us to plant a tree but she even donated 3 trees for us to plant!! We’re sure she will be exceptionally protective of the new “forest”.

Tree number 15

Tree number 15A

Tree number 15B. All of them being Willow trees

Yep!! The moment has come to give a good wash to Scotty and put him in storage in Wichita, KS. Being Kansas a central state in the country, it makes sense to nominate Kansas as our base from which we depart / return on our travels.

We leave Kansas in the midst of record braking hot temperatures in the country and a few natural disasters in other states. Luckily we were well treated despite the circumstances.

Expedition # 3 will find us in spectacular and varied landscapes… the pictures will give you an idea of where we are headed next!!

And finally, an updated map of our travels…. so much done already!! Almost half the country visited. Mind you, these are the largest states in area; at some point we’ll make the eastern side (especially north east) and these are very small compared to those in the South and Midwest states.

And viewed from a different perspective; the white spaces are the states we’ve done already

Stay tuned!! We shall be back in a few months to continue the adventures of Mr Scotty the RV