Our Travel Blog

An early wake-up call for us today. Most of the pack-up work was done last night, and we were on the road by 07:50.

The first 100km or so of the trip was on 2 lane and 4 lane roads with traffic lights and varying speed limits. After that we joined Interstate I-70 for the rest of the journey. Total distance to our new destination Wakeeney Kansas. Kansas is another new State for us.

I have to admit to being a little nervous about this trip given our past record, but the truck and trailer behaved very well. No warning messages, no power losses etc. The temperature was not on our side as it climbed to 39°C or 103°F.

We arrived at the campsite and checked in, we then drove over to our site and started to set up. When it came to moving the truck to disconnect it, it wouldn’t start!!! It was the old problem of losing prime in the fuel filter, which was easily fixed. In some ways I wasn’t too upset with this little set back; the heat under the hood must have been somewhere above 150°F. I suspect this was more a case of air bubbling out of the diesel due to heat rather than air leaking in from the filter seal.

We have managed to choose another site in the middle of nowhere, but this stop is going to be a “rest stop” without too much site seeing. The blogs may not be too interesting for the next week.

Last night was the first time since we arrived at this site that we left the air conditioning on. Obviously we woke up to a nice cool trailer. As on most Mondays (the day before we leave for the next site) we had very little planned for the day.

There were a couple of mundane, but essential jobs that needed doing, e.g. flush out the sewerage tank, but other than that we just sat around either inside or out depending on how hot we felt reading or solving puzzles.

After lunch we headed into Cañon City to get some pictures from Skyline Drive, I remembered the camera this time.

Views to the west, showing the road we had just been on.

View to the east showing Cañon City

Views straight ahead, who needs guard rails (Hazel, you would have loved driving this road!!) From there we headed to the far end of the city where Lyn wanted to do a bit of shopping, then we headed back to get some gas and to head into a do it yourself car wash. I didn’t want to wash the truck, but I did want to clean out the radiator, transmission cooler and fuel cooler fins.

As I have said before paranoia is setting in with this truck after I had the fuel pressure issue on the way here. After a lot of reading, I am fairly certain there is nothing seriously wrong, many other people with this model of truck have had the same problem. The issue can be made to “go away” by resetting the check engine light.

The problem appears to be caused by high fuel temperatures. I never realised how important the diesel fuel was, apart from powering the vehicle, that is. It seems far more diesel is sent to the engine than is required to produce power. Some is used to cool the fuel system close to the engine, some is sent around parts of the engine as lubricant, some is sent to the injectors to power the truck and some is not needed. The fuel used for cooling and lubrication as well as the excess fuel from the injectors is returned to the fuel tank to begin its journey again. Of course, during this process the fuel heats up, when it heats up too much, any air in the fuel bubbles out. This air finds its way to the filter where it accumulates and prevents sufficient fuel from getting to the engine. The engine then complains that there is not enough fuel to go galloping up the next hill with 12,000 lbs of trailer in tow, this in turn cause bells, whistles and lights to go off in the truck, which in turn upsets the driver.

Anyway, answer is, don’t panic, reset the check engine light and if need be slow down until the hill goes in the general direction of down!

Tomorrow we are off to a new State for us, Kansas. This stop will likely be more of a sit back and relax (and use the pool) rather than a busy sightseeing Stop.

Again, nice and cool overnight, but warmer than usual when we awoke. Today we decided to get in some much needed exercise so we headed off to a walk along an old railway line a few miles away. We made an early, for us, start to try and beat the heat. We succeed in the first goal and failed in the second.

By the time we got to the area it was already hot. Unfortunately the old line was a couple of hundred feet above the parking area, so a bit of a steep trek to get to it.

Once on the track we had a great view down at the Arkansas River, and also the rail line that we traveled on the other day.

With a name like the tunnel trail you’d expect to find the occasional tunnel

Some interesting rock colouring.

The river was active with rafters, it had been closed to commercial rafting for a few days due to high and fast water levels. I guessed these guys to be doing 10-12 mph floating with the current.

Some more flowers and cactii


and even a turkey vulture riding a thermal

There are many of these small lizards around, but they move pretty fast. I finally managed to get a picture of one.There were a number of geo-caches along the trail, but most involved some rock climbing, we decided to give them a miss, but we did find one cunningly hidden in a pipe!

After about 2.5 miles in 35°C temperatures, we headed off north to find the suspension bridge that we saw from the train. The bridge was located in a park area which had strategically placed fences all around to prevent you getting a view of the bridge, unless you paid an entrance fee. Unfortunately the rather high entrance fee also included free access to various rides and activities, all we wanted was to see the bridge, so that was a dud! I did manage a shot though.

Driving out of the area there was a no parking area next to a fire hydrant, this gave a better view, but also resulted in a caution that we shouldn’t park there!

On the way out there was a small dirt track with a cache at the end of it. The cache was called Royal Gorge for Free. We had to go for that one. Unfortunately we didn’t find it, but we did get a few more views.

Bridge and Canyon

Bridge and Gondola
Bridge and Zip Liners

We headed back to the camp site, and Lyn said their was an Amish store on the way that she’d like to stop at, we forgot it was a Sunday so the store was closed.

A little late on this blog, but we didn’t get home until nearly 10 PM yesterday.

As usual a nice cool night to bring the trailer temperature down. Fridays trip was a double header, we were heading out to Manitou Springs, just north of Colorado Springs, which was about 60 miles away.

Our first stop was at the Caves of the Winds. Normally I would expect to descend into caves, but on this occasion we had a steep climb of about 300 ft and 4 switchbacks to reach the entrance.

From Whence we Came

Once we got to the site we had to get tickets, and found out the next tour was at 2:15, about 30 minutes wait. That should work. We had another trip booked at 4 PM, and we needed to be there at 3:30. This was a 45 minute tour, so we should be out by 3 o’clock, 10 minutes to the next site, no problem.

We started the tour at 2:20, luckily we could enter via a tunnel, not like they did 100 years ago, using a rope ladder to climb down. The black marks on the roof are caused by carbon deposits where earlier visitors extinguished their candles, it was deemed unsafe to climb back up a rope ladder with a lighted candle!

First of all we had to have the “obligatory photo” a lot of tours now insist on this, they say it is so you can purchase a memento of your visit, but my suspicious mind thinks big brother may be behind this, trying to keep a record of who enters public places. What, me paranoid… never!!

Anyway the tour got underway, it was a pleasant 12° in the caves, but one thing was missing…. moisture. Nearly every tourist cave system I have been in has been wet, puddles on the floor, water on the walls, dripping from overhead etc. This place was really dry, and as we looked around there wasn’t really a great abundance of stalagmites and stalactites. The majority of the ones we did see were small, only a few inches in length. 

They did have a couple larger ones

There we also a couple of columns, where stalactite meets stalagmite

To protect the caves environment Colorado has passed a law that allows a fine of up to $2500 for touching any surface inside the caves except for the concrete floor and hand rails. In addition to this, the offenders (or offenders parent) can have their driving licence suspended for a year!

Below is a small area that has been provided for those that just had to touch! It is quite polished.

By 3:15 the tour was still in full swing, and time was not on our side. I spoke to the guide and she arranged to have some one come and escort back to the main area as there were still about 10 minutes left in the tour.

We made it out to the truck in record time, and a quick drive down the switch backs (no problem with new brakes!!) got us on our way. As we approached our destination along a one way street we hit a traffic jam, it turns out the jam was caused by people going to the same place and trying to get a space in the parking lot. Lyn got out and walked ahead to see what the problem was and also to pick up our tickets. The traffic started to move, and we eventually made it to the parking lot with about 10 minutes to spare.

This trip was on a cog railway up to Pikes Peak summit, 14,110 fee above sea level. Below is a cog train about 3/4 of the way to the summit

The train is similar to a normal train, but there is a cog wheel on each driven axle that engages a third rail.

The trip was 8.7 miles long, with a rise of approximately 8800 feet, at times the gradient was 1 in 4 (25%).

Below are some general views

Marmot close to the track

Below are some big horn sheep.

Above the tree line, looking back on the rail tracks

The summit station

Proof we were there!

We walked around the summit for a while, but the temperature was down around 5°C, and the altitude really made a difference to breathing up there. This was about 3,000 higher than we were a week or so ago as we crossed over the mountains. Below are some general summit views.

Back down at the base station we went back to the truck and headed off in search of food. We found a nice Indian / Nepal /Tibet restaurant in Colorado springs. The food was good, and there was enough left over for a good lunch today.

Today (Saturday) was a semi lazy day. I replaced a bulb in the truck and had to replace a cap on the trailer sewer system. This afternoon was shopping afternoon for food and other essentials. We combined this with a drive along a road known as Skyline Drive. This road runs along a ridge above Canon City and give great views, what a shame both cameras were back in the trailer! We did manage to find our first Colorado cache up there though. We’ll probably return with the camera before we leave.

As we got back late this evening I’ll combine today’s blog with tomorrows.

Another comfortable nights sleep, and clear blue skies and around 18°C when we woke up.

Today’s outing was a rail trip along the Royal Gorge through which the Arkansas River flows. The Arkansas is the 5th largest river in the US. We had one stop to make before the railway station… the hospital. The truck hospital that is, so the rear brakes could be replaced. The repair shop had offered to take us to the station after we dropped off the truck, which solved a lot of problems for us. Even better they offered to pick us up when the train returned. Well above and beyond their service requirements.

We got to the station and picked up the tickets, we were also told “no food or drinks could be brought onto the train, bags would be subject to search”. A little heavy handed I thought, but it seems the owners are trying to establish the train as a “classy” restaurant as well as a train ride. We ate our packed lunch on the station!!

There was an old steam engine at the station, it would have been neat if it was in use but I am not sure it would have enough pull to get all 16 carriages moving.

Instead we had one of these at either end and a power car in the middle!

The carriages were all ex- Canadian National Railways from the 50’s, some had been converted to open air ones.

Open Air Coach

Inside of Coach

As we left the station we passed the city’s first gated community, the local jail.

This establishment played a large part in the history of the gorge. About 125 years ago, inmates were put to work in the gorge to build a water pipe to transport water from the mountains into Cañon City. The pipe was built using redwood in sections similar to a barrel , instead of using hoops to keep the pipe together it appears it was wrapped with chord.

The pipe was in use until 1973 when it froze solid and left the city without water for 3 weeks. That was the end of the pipeline! Although there is now water in the city, the outlying areas are not connected to the system. In fact at this campground, there is no groundwater available, and a water truck delivers to the site every day.

Shortly after departure we were followed by a “drone”

We passed under a suspension bridge someway along the gorge, up until 2001 it was the highest suspension bridge in the world at 955 ft above the river. The bridge resulted as a bet between two Texans as to whether it could be built or not. Building started in 1929 and was completed in only 7 months at a cost of $350,000.

The black “blob” in the top right of the picture is a cable car that runs across the gorge.

Below are some general shots of the gorge trip

At one point the gorge narrows to 30 ft across, at this pint there was no land to build the railway on so they built a “hanging bridge” suspended from the rocky side to carry the tracks.

The first half of the trip was spent in the open air car, for the return we went back to our seats to escape the sun and heat!

Back at the station we phoned the repair shop who sent a van to pick us up. When I went to pay the mechanic asked me to go and look at something with him. Uh Oh, we had an estimate from yesterday, but I had a horrible feeling that it was going to increase. He wanted to show me the cause of the problem, the rear caliper had got suck in the on position causing the brake pad to wear. He was full of apologies, but there was no way they could have foreseen this when the gave me the estimate yesterday. I was figuring about $150-$200 more for the fix. In fact it was less than $50! As they could not reach me for approval to do the extra work, they went ahead anyway, they only charged me their price for the part and didn’t charge for the extra labour. What service!!!

The truck is now sqeakless, and stops very well.

On the way into town this morning Lyn spotted a quilt store,  so we headed there on the way home. It turned out to be one of the ones we couldn’t find yesterday. Although we put the correct address into the GPS it took us to the wrong location!

More trains tomorrow.

Woke up to a pleasantly cool morning. Lyn had some laundry to do and I had nothing (specific) to do. We sat around outside for a while enjoying the more reasonable temperature of around 25°C. After lunch we headed off into the Cañon City to look around and do some shopping. We also stopped in at the local railway station to book some tickets on a train trip up the Royal Gorge tomorrow.

Lyn had found a couple of quilt stores on the web, so we took a walk around to find them, but they no longer existed.

I wanted to get some shopping and get the truck fueled up and washed, and Lyn wanted to get her hair cut, so we went our separate ways.

I was going to leave the next bit out, but here it is anyway. Late yesterday afternoon after we had descended the mountain road, a squeak had developed in, I thought, the front left wheel of the truck. I wasn’t sure if it was brakes, wheel bearing or something else. Given the recent issues with the truck, paranoia has well and truly set in so, as we passed a brake shop I made a quick exit from the road onto the forecourt. One of he mechanics took it for a test drive, brought it back and put it on the ramps and checked the bearings. He said he could hear the sound, but like me he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. He took off the left front wheel and checked the rotor and pads, again all was well. He gave me a couple of plausible explanations for the noise, and assured me that all was well, but he’d take the rest of the wheels off and check all the brakes. A good call! The left back inner brake pad had worn right down and was the cause of the noise. I am a little confused as to why this had happened as I changed all 4 rotors and all 8 brake pads not too long ago. Seven of the brake pads were fine, just this one worn right down. It certainly didn’t seem to affect the braking, but it wasn’t doing the rotor any good. Bottom line, two new rear rotors and sets of brake pads. The truck goes in tomorrow while we are on the train, although the shop spent over an hour  diagnosing the problem they didn’t charge me for that, and the final bill for the parts and labour was very reasonable with only 45 minute labour for installation.

Back at the trailer the inside temperature had risen to A/C level, so we switched it on for a couple of hours, after about 7 PM the evening starts cooling down enough to switch off the A/C and go to “natural ventilation”

Another outside BBQ and dinner, tonight. Life is good!

An early start this morning, the cool weather from yesterday continued, and we woke up to a chilly 15°C in the trailer. Our well practiced packing up went well, and from falling out of bed, having breakfast and getting on the road took almost exactly one hour.

After the last few trips with broken pipes, tires etc I must admit to being a little apprehensive about this one. As it turns out, I had good reason  for the apprehension; about 15 minutes into the trip the check engine light came on! I have a “black box” in the truck that gives me the 4 digit code that caused the light to come on, but there is no translation into English. I can however reset the light, so i did that and all was well. If the light stayed off I reasoned it couldn’t be too serious! About an hour later the light came on again, same code with no adverse effect, reset it and all was well for a few minutes! This time it came on again, and the truck went into “Limp mode” which limited its speed to 40MPH. Limp mode cleared itself,and I cleared the light. We were about 6 miles from a major town, so we continued to McDonald’s to get some free WiFi and a coffee. The coffee for the nerves, the WiFi to decode the code. Problem code equated to lack of fuel pressure at the injectors. First and easiest solution was to get some fuel additive with injector cleaner in it and chuck it in the tank, so I filled up with diesel, chucked in the additive and off we went.

All was good with the world. We started climbing, and climbing, and climbing. Out of respect to the engine I dropped the speed down to 35 MPH on some of the hills, at that speed the engine was still generating over 270 HP to keep us going, but keep us going it did. No more problems with lights or limp mode so whatever the problem was went away with either new fuel, the additive or both. We finally stopped climbing at 11,300 ft. Another 700 ft and oxygen would have been required if we were flying! At this altitude the temperature had dropped to 13°C, and there was some snow just off the side of the road.

Some General Views on the way through Colorado
Approaching the Summit at 11,300 feet.

Plus a couple of lunch time views

We then started the descent, with 12,000 lb of trailer behind you care has to be taken not to overheat the brakes, and not let the speed build up too much so that the brakes stand a chance of stopping you safely! Eventually we reached more level land at around the 7000 ft level. Probably the hardest day of driving I have had!

We made it to a nice modern RV park in Cañon City Colorado around 4:30. We got the trailer set up and I went to move the truck, it started… then cut out. The old problem was back, but like last time it was a quick fix. While fixing it I noticed some air bubbles coming from around the edge of the fuel filter housing. If you remember a couple of weeks back I put in a new fuel filter, the instructions explicitly said to only lightly hand tighten the filter. I guess my hand tightening wasn’t tight enough, I managed to get another half turn on it, enough to stop the air bubbles. Thinking back, if air could be sucked into the filter housing, that may explain the loss of fuel pressure earlier?

A very comfortable nights sleep with the temperature around 20°C. We were woken up by a loud single clap of thunder around 4:30, followed by about 2 minutes of rain. At our proper wake up time the temperature was around 22°C, so off with the air and all windows open. The temperature stayed this way for most of the day. It did climb to 25°C for a short while, but then dropped to 19°C as a thunderstorm went through.

We spent the day at the trailer, both days we have stayed here have been good choices weather wise, cooler and overcast. Lyn caught up with some quilting, or at least tried to. It seems every time she sewed a whole load of squares, either the top thread or the bobbin thread ran out without her noticing. She was not a happy quilter at times, I think she “sewed” three times more than she needed to.

It’s amazing how many small jobs need doing around the place, just like home really. The infamous rear camera had been working pretty well, but on the last trip it kept cutting in and out then just plain died. First diagnostic showed no power getting to the camera, that narrowed it down to a break in 35 ft of wire running from the back of the trailer to the front, often buried deep in the under body insulation. As I was scouting around looking for any obvious issues, I saw a wire hanging down near the trailer wheels. This was not a welcome sight as my first thought was that the electric brake circuit to the trailer had become disconnected. Closer inspection showed that the wire was in fact part of the camera system. I am still baffled as to how the wire got broken, but at least it was in an easy place to fix. Camera now working again!

Next issue was the stereo, if we ran the radio music would come through all 6 speakers, as it was supposed to do. If we routed the TV through the stereo, sound would only come from the back two speakers. I took the stereo out of the cabinet, played with a few connectors, nothing seemed to be amiss, but it now worked…. put it back quickly!!

Final fix for the day was the bed room slider, It had not been fully retracting recently, one side stayed about an inch further out than the other unless assistance was provided in the form of a push from the outside. The other day I noticed some damage to the wood on the underside of the slider, and decided I had better investigate.

Not having a clue as to this contraption worked I employed the age old method of “rip it apart until you see how it works”. Luckily only three screws had to be removed to reveal the secret. The damage to the wood occurred where it slid over a roller. I am assuming the roller had been adjusted a little too high and was putting too much pressure on the wood. There was room enough to reposition the roller away from the damaged area, and with the help of a hydraulic jack I was able to adjust it a little better. Slider now goes in and out a lot better.

A lot of the above is written as a record of what I have done, should I need to refer back to it later, as a bonus you get to read it!!

As the afternoon progressed the temperature hung around the 20°C mark, with strong winds and thunder at times, very pleasant for a change. I have started packing some of the stuff away for a semi-early start for our trip to Colorado tomorrow.