Double Trouble!

I-25 Northbound with gorgeous mountain views

      Tuesday, April 11, 2017, we awoke to a chilly 42 degrees in Trinidad, Colorado, after listening to fierce winds late into the night.  At one point we discussed getting up and pulling down the roof-mounted DirecTV satellite and pulling in the one slide-out we had extended to get around the bed.  We apparently were too tired and too cold, so we fell asleep and hoped for the best.  The Walmart parking lot was otherwise fairly quiet.

Wooden barns are sadly being replaced by metal buildings

      Since this store had no restaurant, we turned on the generator and brewed coffee, walked the dogs, and prepared to start the last leg of our trip to the Denver area, roughly 245 miles.  George checked the slide topper and satellite, then washed the windshield so Valerie wouldn't complain that she couldn't get good photos through the bug carcasses which had collected during the previous day's drive.

Is someone building a miniature Stone Henge replica?

      Valerie did her final walk-around inspection after George prepared the RV and the car for the road.  As she re-entered the rig, the low air alarm sounded and continued, indicating we were not good to go.  George checked the cables to the car to see if there was a potential problem with leakage at the connections, and we sat, idling the engine and recalling that we had encountered this problem once before during cold conditions.   Finally, after 15-20 minutes, the gauges began to rise and the alarm silenced.  George suspects one of the compressor valves may be sticking.  We will definitely need to get that checked out.

Artificial mule atop this one

      The trip north on I-25 was fairly easy.  Today we had an audio book to pass the time.  We didn't encounter much traffic until we reached Pueblo. We stopped at the Pinion Rest Area for lunch just beyond there.  George got a quick nap and the dogs got another walk.

Fields full of lined-up cars south of Colorado Springs

      We passed through Colorado Springs and traffic continued to build.  The campground options for a three week stay near Boulder became limited due to 14-day restrictions, lack of full hook-ups, and one option uncertain when they would turn on their water, so we opted to spend the extra money and stay at Dakota Ridge RV Resort in Golden.  We got checked in and escorted to our pull-through site.

Pinion Rest Area provided a welcome break!

      George got the sun shades up with Valerie's help, and Valerie started a load of laundry in the Splendide, turned on the television and began washing a few dishes in the kitchen sink.  Just as her phone was ringing, there was a knock on the door by our neighbor letting us know that water was leaking out of the side of our coach.  Valerie apparently didn't hear the water over the water, because it was also leaking onto the kitchen floor.

View from our window at Dakota Ridge RV Park in Golden, Colorado

      Interestingly, Valerie had expressed concerns over a good amount of what appeared to be water below the rig before we left Albuquerque on Sunday, and George had noticed a smell, but we dismissed it as just condensation, although it had not rained and there was little humidity in the air.

Not a good sign!

      Now we have lots of dirty, wet towels, and the storage bay below will need to be aired out during daylight hours tomorrow.  George discovered the culprit to be a broken drain pipe which empties water from the kitchen sink and the washer/dryer combo, and left a message for a call back with a local service tech.  Hopefully we'll get an early fix, or the wet laundry will need to be attended to first thing in the morning, and Valerie dumped the remaining dish water down the toilet and gets out of washing any more dishes in the meantime.  Paper and plastic and this needed fixed yesterday!

Water everywhere!  What a mess!