Vacation ...??? Colorado Springs? I must admit I had worked myself into a real frenzy before we left. You see I work at an Airstream Community...and I hear all of the mishaps that occur. It was my great luck to meet a couple the week before we were to leave that had forgotten to raise the hitch post. Now if you have read our blogs. You will recall that Bill talked about almost driving off with the post down....and realizing it...he immediately stopped and corrected the situation. It shook me up royally! Then when this couple came in...with the hitch post at a perfect perpendicular angle, the Airstream had a huge dent in the side (he) couldn't back it up, they were getting a divorce, they had seen too much of each other, they couldn't unhitch. Gosh...it really made me think Bill and I had made a big mistake...we might not should have done this adventure. I kept thinking of ways to NOT go on such a long trip.
My dear husband is much more adventurous than me! He was sure (he does the driving) we could handle this! So early on a Saturday morning we begin our trek to Colorado Springs. Bill is an interstate driver but with Airstream in tow, he is enjoying the two lane scenic routes. I navigate with maps and GPS and i-phone. Usually on a trip I read....not this time. I was too busy making sure we stayed on the path and took it slow and easy. The nice thing about a GPS is that the speed you are traveling is right there in front of the navigator...(I didn't have to obviously leer over the dash board to see the speedometer). It only took me one shriek of "Bill you are going 70 miles an hour!" to get him into a speed I felt comfortable with.
We traveled along and made it to our stopping point before dark. Free parking in a city park in Dumas, TX. After circling the area a few times we decided the last place was for us! What a great thing, to have an electric hook up for free!
Next day we are out early and are into New Mexico and climbing the mountains at Raton Pass. This has been another fear I had worked myself into. Another blogger Cathy Olliffe had recommended that we watch the old Lucy movie "The Long Long Trailer" That was pretty funny.....but it left me a bit intimidated. I have been through that pass before and we thought nothing of it...of course we weren't pulling a long long trailer then either!
It was with great joy that we arrived at our chosen RV park. We had requested a pull through....unfortunately, there were none left! The gentleman assured me we had a lovely place along the creek. We were packed in like a sardine...backing up to the edge of the creek.
We called our kids, my son is in the Army at Fort Carson. We were finishing our "unhooking procedures...with check lists in hand" when they found us! Now three very curious little girls Trinity, Katie and Madison give us hugs and kisses and begin the exploration of the Airstream. After a thorough inspection, Katie wants to know where the stirring wheel is. I am not sure she can appreciate all we have been through.
Our evenings were filled with grand kids and visiting with George and Alison. It was great getting to see them and we enjoyed the view of Pikes Peak from the back yard.
During the day, we did the tourist thing and climbed rocks (loaded rocks into the airstream...like Lucy) and relaxed a bit.
Traveling home I was much more comfortable. I found that Bill was great at getting into parking spaces...with no one around us, was able to maneuver into the gas stations and out with no damage. He drove safely and carefully averaging about 50 to 55 miles an hour. We did great!
I am starting to believe he wanted to do this adventure just so he could show off his skills! He's pretty cool!
