April 29 & 30, 2023
Today is another travel day. The goal is to get Nancy by some water and get close to our summer home. We can accomplish this by staying the weekend at Lake Pueblo State Park. It is located in Pueblo, CO about an hour and a half south of Colorado Springs. The snow has melted and we packed up. I must admit that just about every time you travel with an RV there will be something come up. So far we have forgotten to secure the refrigerator doors or latch a shower door or some other item. Some times can lead to major consequences and sometimes you just say “Wow, that was a close call”. About 2 hours up the road I suddenly remembered that I had not secured the weather station outdoor sensor.
We have a weather station in the bedroom and it tells us the temperature, time, and humidity inside and outside. Normally we put the sensor on top of the wheels on the door side of the RV. It protects it from direct sun and from precipitation. Well, this morning I left it on the wheel. And obviously there was little hope of it surviving. Additionally, we were not going back to retrieve it even if it had survived. We arrived at Lake Pueblo and was not aware of the procedure for Colorado. We made our way to the Visitor’s Center. Just ahead of us was another fifth wheel. He did not know the procedure either. His wife had already went into the Center so we awaited the word. We found out that you go toward the campground and there will be a gate there. You will need to purchase your day pass for each day you are in the park. The cost is $10 per day. We were following the other fifth wheel. He pulled in and stopped and made his purchase. We were just behind them. We had to veer right slightly to go through the entrance lane. As the leader was pulling away, I happen to look up and notice a sign that said “Clearance 12 Feet”. I was hoping this was a mistake as our rig is 13 feet 5 inches high. I slowly pulled forward as Nancy had gotten out to spot. I was able to reach the Ranger window and they did confirm that it was indeed on 12 feet high. Nancy also confirmed that there was no way. The person in the gate house called for a Ranger to come down and direct traffic.
In the meantime, someone else in a large fifth wheel pulled in behind me. So Nancy was able to get them backed out so I could start backing out. I was not a happy camper (pun intended). To compound the problem, the right side of the road was about a 6 foot drop off. After a few minutes, I was able to move to the other side of the gate house and purchase our passes. I had mentioned to the gate keeper that it would be an excellent idea if that 12 feet sign was posted prior to entering that little drive. Her comment was that we were not the first ones to pull into and back out today. It happens a lot apparently. I was less than impressed with the lack of signage in the campground. It was tense to even find our campsite, but we finally pulled in.
I was able to leave the RV hooked and able to level it. As I was hooking up the utilities, I discovered that we had electricity only. I thought we would also have water. My bad for not checking. Fortunately we travel with a full tank of potable water just for such occasions. And we had lots of capacity remaining in our black tank. We would just have to monitor our grey tanks. After all of this, the view was spectacular. We spent the weekend looking out over the lake and enjoying the sunshine. A very relaxing spot. It was enjoyable to sit outside and listen to an audiobook and soak up the sun.
