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October 10, 2009, a Saturday
Laramie (WalMart), Wyoming, to Fort Collins (E&SilJ), Colorado, USA
— Moved on down the road and visited E&SilJ
It was 10°F (-12°C) when I got out of bed around 7:05. There was about 4 inches (10cm) of snow on the ground, and it was snowing lightly. The hot water was inoperative. :( The water pipes to and from the hot water heater exit the insulated shell of the RV and enter a separate insulated shell for the hot water heater. They're exposed and uninsulated for about two inches (5cm), and when the outside temperature drops to about 14°F (-10°C) for a while, the water in at least one of them freezes up and we no longer have hot water. One of my jobs for the summer was to insulate those pipes, but the summer got away from me. Fortunately, the weather forecast for later in the week is for temperatures in the 50s (that's °F, or 10-15°C), so I'll tackle it then.
I had Quaker Natural Granola - Oats & Honey & Raisins with water instead of my usual Post Raisin Bran with skim milk because we were out of milk and would only be out for one breakfast in the RV, so it didn't make sense to open up a box of UHT milk. (You may read more about UHT milk on my blog entry for September 1, 2009.) The cereal wasn't too bad with just water because it makes its own sauce.
I went online to check the road conditions, and all of the major highways out of Laramie were closed. I worked up two blog entries while we waited for the roads to open. US-287, which is our preferred route from Laramie to Fort Collins, was open by 10:28, but it was reported to be slick with drifted snow. Because it's a winding road with several grades, we decided to wait until I-80 and I-25 opened. The sun started coming out around 10:30, so I went up on the roof of the RV to clear off the snow so we could generate some solar electricity. It had warmed up to a balmy 30°F (-1°C) by then too.
Had lunch of a Genoa salami and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye with Grey Poupon Country Dijon mustard with a glass of Coca Cola Classic, followed by a banana and an apple. We prepped the RV to move because I-80 and I-25 were open, and left at 12:03.
Shortly after we got on I-80 heading east, the RV's check engine light came on — oh joy. :) We have a service appointment later this week for the RV, so that's one more thing they can take care of. The new, special, "winter" wiper blades that I installed last night weren't working at all! The visibility with the accumulating road spray on the windshield was almost as bad as with the ice-encrusted blades yesterday.
We exited I-80 at 12:25 to put the old wiper blades back on. I couldn't free the passenger side blade from the arm, so I just left the "bad" blade on it — J didn't really have to see. :) We got underway again at 12:31.
The new, old wiper blade on the driver's side worked much better, and very soon the windshield was clean. Surprisingly, the old, bad, blade on the passenger side started to work.
We got on I-25 south at 1:05. We weren't certain that it would really be open because the warning signs on I-80 indicated that I-25 would be closed. After we turned onto I-25, most of the traffic was exiting just before the road closure gate. By the time we reached the gate, it was open, and we continued on our way south. :) We reached Colorado at 1:15.
I dropped J off at Lucile's in Fort Collins at 1:56 so she could pick up some fresh tea before they closed at 2:00. I circled the block then picked her up.
We had some time before we were to get together with J's daughter E and SilJ (that's "son-in-law-J"), so we drove to a convenient place to park the RV which happened to be the Advanced Interiors parking lot on Mulberry. I unhooked the Jeep while J showered, then I showered. I did some computer work. When we were ready to leave, the Jeep's battery was dead and the Husky emergency battery didn't provide enough juice to turn over the engine either, probably because it had been cold-soaked. We didn't have a set of jumper cables in the Jeep like we thought, so we left at 4:19 in the RV and ...
Went to WalMart at 4:25 to buy jumper cables.
We returned to the Advanced Interiors parking lot, jumped the Jeep, and departed at 4:35 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.
I parked the RV near E&SilJ's, then we went into E&SilJ's and had some wonderful freshly-baked zucchini bread made with patty pan squash instead of zucchini.
We went to The Crown Pub in old town Fort Collins to celebrate both E and SilJ's birthdays. I had a pint of Guinness to go with their special Duck, and J had their New Orleans Pasta. I had a second beer after SilJ got a second drink, and we had some nice conversation after eating.
We returned around 9:25, and J and I went directly to the RV.
I had Quaker Natural Granola - Oats & Honey & Raisins with water instead of my usual Post Raisin Bran with skim milk because we were out of milk and would only be out for one breakfast in the RV, so it didn't make sense to open up a box of UHT milk. (You may read more about UHT milk on my blog entry for September 1, 2009.) The cereal wasn't too bad with just water because it makes its own sauce.
I went online to check the road conditions, and all of the major highways out of Laramie were closed. I worked up two blog entries while we waited for the roads to open. US-287, which is our preferred route from Laramie to Fort Collins, was open by 10:28, but it was reported to be slick with drifted snow. Because it's a winding road with several grades, we decided to wait until I-80 and I-25 opened. The sun started coming out around 10:30, so I went up on the roof of the RV to clear off the snow so we could generate some solar electricity. It had warmed up to a balmy 30°F (-1°C) by then too.
Had lunch of a Genoa salami and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye with Grey Poupon Country Dijon mustard with a glass of Coca Cola Classic, followed by a banana and an apple. We prepped the RV to move because I-80 and I-25 were open, and left at 12:03.
Shortly after we got on I-80 heading east, the RV's check engine light came on — oh joy. :) We have a service appointment later this week for the RV, so that's one more thing they can take care of. The new, special, "winter" wiper blades that I installed last night weren't working at all! The visibility with the accumulating road spray on the windshield was almost as bad as with the ice-encrusted blades yesterday.
We exited I-80 at 12:25 to put the old wiper blades back on. I couldn't free the passenger side blade from the arm, so I just left the "bad" blade on it — J didn't really have to see. :) We got underway again at 12:31.
The new, old wiper blade on the driver's side worked much better, and very soon the windshield was clean. Surprisingly, the old, bad, blade on the passenger side started to work.
We got on I-25 south at 1:05. We weren't certain that it would really be open because the warning signs on I-80 indicated that I-25 would be closed. After we turned onto I-25, most of the traffic was exiting just before the road closure gate. By the time we reached the gate, it was open, and we continued on our way south. :) We reached Colorado at 1:15.
I dropped J off at Lucile's in Fort Collins at 1:56 so she could pick up some fresh tea before they closed at 2:00. I circled the block then picked her up.
We had some time before we were to get together with J's daughter E and SilJ (that's "son-in-law-J"), so we drove to a convenient place to park the RV which happened to be the Advanced Interiors parking lot on Mulberry. I unhooked the Jeep while J showered, then I showered. I did some computer work. When we were ready to leave, the Jeep's battery was dead and the Husky emergency battery didn't provide enough juice to turn over the engine either, probably because it had been cold-soaked. We didn't have a set of jumper cables in the Jeep like we thought, so we left at 4:19 in the RV and ...
Went to WalMart at 4:25 to buy jumper cables.
We returned to the Advanced Interiors parking lot, jumped the Jeep, and departed at 4:35 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.
I parked the RV near E&SilJ's, then we went into E&SilJ's and had some wonderful freshly-baked zucchini bread made with patty pan squash instead of zucchini.
We went to The Crown Pub in old town Fort Collins to celebrate both E and SilJ's birthdays. I had a pint of Guinness to go with their special Duck, and J had their New Orleans Pasta. I had a second beer after SilJ got a second drink, and we had some nice conversation after eating.
We returned around 9:25, and J and I went directly to the RV.