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May 29, 2010, a Saturday
Pawnee National Grassland to Fort Collins (E&SilJ), Colorado, USA
— No Swift Foxes today
I got up earlier than yesterday, and because J didn't want to go out to the blind earlier than yesterday, I had my normal breakfast of Post Raisin Bran and a cup of LavAzza Gran Filtro Dark Roast coffee. It was good to have "real" coffee after having the instant so much lately.
We went out to the blind by the Swift Fox den around 6:30. No foxes were out and it was windy. We waited, and waited, then waited some more. There was nice light, but the wind kept getting stronger and Swift Foxes don't like the wind. There were still no foxes by 8:55, so we packed everything up so we could leave later today. What a disappointing way to end our time in the Pawnee. We had originally planned to arrive in the Pawnee about five days earlier than we did, but we changed our plans to accommodate the trip to the east coast for my step father's funeral. We didn't want to cut short our time in Arches or Canyonlands because the wildflowers were near their peak, so we condensed our time in the Pawnee. Even though we were only there for a short time, we got a lot of great images of the Swift Foxes. Of course, it would have been better to get even more images.
We returned to the RV and I took a look at the steps to the side of the RV. I forgot to mention that they had stopped working when we arrived at the Pawnee, and we used a small stool to help us get in and out of the RV while we were there. Without the stool, it would have been about a 33-inch (84cm) step down, and with the stool it was still about 25 inches (63cm). It was a minor inconvenience for me with my long legs, but J didn't like it at all. Because my right hand was getting back to normal, I thought I could look into it this morning. (You may read about my sprained right thumb on the blog entry for May 22, 2010.) I checked the power to the control unit by the motor, and it looked like it was getting the correct signals. Then I checked the power to the motor, and it didn't look like it was getting any power. The contacts in the plug to the motor were corroded, so I sprayed them with some DeoxIT contact cleaner. Then I sprayed the linkage between the motor and the steps with some WD-40. The steps still didn't work when I stopped working on them, but I couldn't think of anything else I could do out in the boonies.
Then J helped me repair the blind over our sofa. One of the cords in the blind broke and had made it inoperable. It was fairly painless to remove the blind and then replace the four cords in it. Then J took down and replaced the four cords in the blind for the window on her side of the office because one of those cords had stretched making that blind hard to operate. J wanted to do all the work by herself, so ...
I had lunch and trimmed my fingernails while she restrung the blind. Then I reinstalled the blind with J's help which was harder than expected because the mounting clips had to be adjusted. We prepped the RV to move, then I turned it around so we could hook up the Jeep to tow. When I opened up the the side door of the RV to get some gloves to wear while hooking up the Jeep, the electric steps deployed as designed — fantastic! I guess the WD-40 had had enough time to loosen up the frozen linkage. We got underway around 2:00.
We went to Schrader's gas station in Fort Collins to dump, take on fresh water, and load up on propane. The attendant filled our tank all the way to "F," not just "3/4" like most folks at a gas station. :) After that, we moved the RV to a level parking area behind the gas station so each of us could take a shower. I started to work up a blog entry before we left, and I used the computer mouse with my right hand for the first time since spraining my thumb.
We went to E&SilJ's (that's J's daughter E and son-in-law J's) place around 5:00. I had some Rogue Chipotle Ale with the appetizers which included some sushi — mmm. E&SilJ's friend P, whom we also know, came over to join us for the evening.
SilJ made and grilled some excellent burgers and the grilled corn on the cob was good too. We had a good time visiting after dinner.
We returned to the RV around 10:35 and went to bed shortly thereafter.
We went out to the blind by the Swift Fox den around 6:30. No foxes were out and it was windy. We waited, and waited, then waited some more. There was nice light, but the wind kept getting stronger and Swift Foxes don't like the wind. There were still no foxes by 8:55, so we packed everything up so we could leave later today. What a disappointing way to end our time in the Pawnee. We had originally planned to arrive in the Pawnee about five days earlier than we did, but we changed our plans to accommodate the trip to the east coast for my step father's funeral. We didn't want to cut short our time in Arches or Canyonlands because the wildflowers were near their peak, so we condensed our time in the Pawnee. Even though we were only there for a short time, we got a lot of great images of the Swift Foxes. Of course, it would have been better to get even more images.
We returned to the RV and I took a look at the steps to the side of the RV. I forgot to mention that they had stopped working when we arrived at the Pawnee, and we used a small stool to help us get in and out of the RV while we were there. Without the stool, it would have been about a 33-inch (84cm) step down, and with the stool it was still about 25 inches (63cm). It was a minor inconvenience for me with my long legs, but J didn't like it at all. Because my right hand was getting back to normal, I thought I could look into it this morning. (You may read about my sprained right thumb on the blog entry for May 22, 2010.) I checked the power to the control unit by the motor, and it looked like it was getting the correct signals. Then I checked the power to the motor, and it didn't look like it was getting any power. The contacts in the plug to the motor were corroded, so I sprayed them with some DeoxIT contact cleaner. Then I sprayed the linkage between the motor and the steps with some WD-40. The steps still didn't work when I stopped working on them, but I couldn't think of anything else I could do out in the boonies.
Then J helped me repair the blind over our sofa. One of the cords in the blind broke and had made it inoperable. It was fairly painless to remove the blind and then replace the four cords in it. Then J took down and replaced the four cords in the blind for the window on her side of the office because one of those cords had stretched making that blind hard to operate. J wanted to do all the work by herself, so ...
I had lunch and trimmed my fingernails while she restrung the blind. Then I reinstalled the blind with J's help which was harder than expected because the mounting clips had to be adjusted. We prepped the RV to move, then I turned it around so we could hook up the Jeep to tow. When I opened up the the side door of the RV to get some gloves to wear while hooking up the Jeep, the electric steps deployed as designed — fantastic! I guess the WD-40 had had enough time to loosen up the frozen linkage. We got underway around 2:00.
We went to Schrader's gas station in Fort Collins to dump, take on fresh water, and load up on propane. The attendant filled our tank all the way to "F," not just "3/4" like most folks at a gas station. :) After that, we moved the RV to a level parking area behind the gas station so each of us could take a shower. I started to work up a blog entry before we left, and I used the computer mouse with my right hand for the first time since spraining my thumb.
We went to E&SilJ's (that's J's daughter E and son-in-law J's) place around 5:00. I had some Rogue Chipotle Ale with the appetizers which included some sushi — mmm. E&SilJ's friend P, whom we also know, came over to join us for the evening.
SilJ made and grilled some excellent burgers and the grilled corn on the cob was good too. We had a good time visiting after dinner.
We returned to the RV around 10:35 and went to bed shortly thereafter.