Gunnison - 2020

We left the boondocking spot and headed to Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch outside of Gunnison Colorado. We will be staying here from 15-29 Jun. During the drive, the state decided to paint the lines on the road.  Instead of just painting one line, they painted both yellow and white lines at the same time and then lined the road with orange cones on the inside of both lanes.  Luckily they staggered the cones, otherwise I would have taken them both out at the same time.  Instead, I zig-zagged through the cones.  That must of been a sight.  When we arrived at the campsite, I noticed yellow specks on the RV.  Oh well, go figure. 

One of the things we noticed on the trip was our Wifi stopped working in the truck.  When we got settled at the campsite, I disconnected both batteries in the truck to reset and fix it.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again. 

Our dog Scout wasn't very happy the first night here.  I had to take him out in the middle of the night so he can do his business 4 times, and then a few more times the next day.  He was all better after that. 

Speaking of doing your business, when I was outside doing something the second day, I noticed the ground was wet under the sewer hose.  After some very short investigation, I saw the hose had splits in the hose in several spots (no pictures of that, thank god!)  So off to Walmart to get a new hose. I wonder if the Arizona sun was part of the problem? This was a good Rhino hose after all. Maybe 2 years is the max for full timing and sewer hoses.  I guess we will find out in 2022.  

So let's talk about the campground a little.  This is the second time we stayed here and had an idea of what to expect, like no or very little cell service, no over-the-air TV service, or a working hot spot.  But we are just across the street from the Blue Mesa Reservoir and it is a resort with pools, store, grill, and other stuff.  The first time we stayed, we managed to pick the worse spot in the park, but this time we got a much better spot and we had some ok'ish cable TV. This time we also opted to spend $24 so we can have slow and crappy internet access.  We did have a nice view and the site was a good size, unlike the other spot. 

While we were there, we got a 5 day fishing license with visions of filling the freezer with fish (like we had any room to begin with). 

On our first day fishing (Father's Day), I hooked myself a fish.  It was a 14 inch rainbow.  My son said that is the only day I'm allowed to catch one.  The next day, I didn't catch anything.  Terry got a nibble on the first day, but no fish. 

   On Wed, we decided to hunt for salmon.  I rowed that boat for almost 3 miles while Terry trolled.  She got a few bites and the after a while, she brought in the line to find out there was a small rainbow attached to it.  No wonder I had to row twice on one side to one on the other side.  We threw that 5 incher back in.  Later we went to a cove where we did some jigging and I ended up catching 3 small yellow perch rather quickly. We didn't know what they were so we tossed them back in.  When we got back to the RV, I looked them up and saw they were yellow perch.  Now I'm in trouble because I threw them back. She said we are to keep them from now on!  I said No! If we keep them, then I have to clean them.  She didn't want to hear it, so I guess we will keep any new ones catch.  On the last day we got nothing but a few nibbles.  I wonder if the algae bloom had anything to do with it.  Yeah, let's go with that. 

The next day, it was time to clean and store the fishing boat and gear. While I was putting the fishing poles away, Terry came out and said we lost power to halve of the RV, like the A/C, fridge and internet.  So I stopped what I was doing and went to look at the breakers.  I asked Terry to turn on the overhead lights, but they didn't work.  That told me we lost 12V power.  The 120V system was working fine.  So I checked the power to the main fuses by the batteries and I didn't have any power there, then it dawned on me that the fishing poles are right next to the battery disconnect.  Sure enough, it was switched off.  Once I turned it back on, all was good.  A/C came on, but the fridge didn't start, so we reset the beaker to fix that issue.  I then put a screw by the disconnect to hold the small strap tight so you cannot turn it off easily.  

   We have been having issues with our fridge where it would just stop cooling and we have to turn it off and back on to wake it up.  We talked about converting our fridge to a compressor style instead of its current absorption style.  Since we are having this issue and it doesn't keep a constant temp (normal for this type) we decided to get it done.  We were going to be in the neighborhood of the JC Refrigeration company anyway (Indiana).  When it's all said and done, we will have a 6 year warranty on it, much better than the one year warranty that we had on the Norcold when it was new.  The new system will run off our battery only. If you have questions on this let me know and I will answer what I can.   

Oh I almost forgot, we put our hummingbird feeder out.  Boy this park has a lot of hummingbirds.  Always fighting for the sugar water.  I even saw one on top of an antenna by the cabin behind us guarding his stash.  We would sit out in the late afternoon and get buzzed by them constantly.

Remember me telling you that our air compressor broke? Well, I decided to order one off of Amazon and had it sent here along with a new wifi system.  I didn't feel comfortable without a compressor.  The WiFi system we currently have sucks and my wifiranger router was bricked when I tried to update the firmware. I think it was cheaper to get a new system for $90 then to send the wifiranger back to get fixed.  Still might send it back, but for now the new system will work. 

Well that was about it for here, next stop is Boondocking just south of Jefferson Colorado where we will hang from 29 June to 9 July.   So nothing special happened while we were at Jefferson...Just kidding, a lot of things happened.  For one, we are still trying to get a stable internet connection.  But we knew it would be an issue. Also, our truck's internet was having issues again.  I think the tower was having the issues and we were just paying for it.

One night, the cows were on the loose and decided to invade our campsite.  Terry had to go outside numerous times to tell the cows to be quiet and go somewhere else.  Which they did, but not until they tipped over our little camp table.  THOSE COWS!.  I guess that is what's meant by Cow tipping.

Michael, Kara (his girlfriend) and his dog came up and spent the weekend with us.  That was a nice visit.  One time, the dogs were chasing this chipmunk.  The chipmunk decided that climbing up Terry's leg was the best get-away.  I don't know which one jumped higher, Terry or the chipmunk.  

Michael came up later in the week too for a night. 

One of the days, it decided to rain with a little hail.  Then I found out I had another leak on the roof.  This is the same spot as before, the shower skylight.  After the rain, Michael and I found the leaky area and patched it up with some Eternabond tape.  It shouldn't leak anymore...at least not in that spot. 

So Terry went crazy and used all her appliances making some yummy food.  Good think we have a big battery bank.  Not related to Terry's cooking, it looks like we picked up a hitch hiker for two nights before heading out.  Stupid MICE!  So we read on the internet (therefore it must be true) that peppermint oil can make the mice go away.  So the morning before we left, Terry broke out her Doterra Peppermint oil and some cotton balls and we put them everywhere the mice might have been.  Hoping this will work.  We will just have to wait and see.  If nothing else, at least it will smell like Christmas in the RV.