We made it!

The morning sun - Winding River RV Resort, Grand Lake, CO

We made it to Colorado! Of course, not without our normal RV travel shenanigans. We left off in Oakley, Kansas after going through that horrible storm. We hunkered down for the night in this little western Kansas town and I was woken in the middle of the night by Shawn because the horrible storms were back, and he was clearly still suffering from post traumatic driving in that storm disorder. We quickly grabbed the ipad to see what we were dealing with, but apparently storms like that are so normal there, that there was really nothing to report. Shawn said he felt like we were in the middle of the ocean with a storm approaching and we weren’t in a good boat. So that’s great. I was glad to hear that’s how he felt. (Guess who was already online researching heavier RV’s?)

We made it to Colorado and at my father in laws suggestion, we grabbed gas one last time before getting to Denver because gas stations for RV’s can be hard to find after that point. About 2 minutes after pulling out of the gas station, his parents called and said that our tire on our Tahoe looked flat, so we pulled off the next exit to take a look. When Shawn got back in the RV to report that yep, it was flat with a big ole nail in it, all we could do was laugh. You really just can’t make this stuff up. So, what now? We need to find a tire repair shop. Shawn’s dad was able to use his built in air compressor to pump it up, so Shawn unhooked the Tahoe and I drove it slowly into Denver.  

We took it to Les Schwab tires and in 45 minutes, we were as good as new. I have to share the name because the service was so insanely awesome. When I went to check out and get my keys back, the guy just handed them to me and said, “have a great day!” I asked how much it was, to which he replied, “It’s free. No charge. I hope your luck turns around.” Totally true story here. They just want loyal customers who will come back, and even though I don’t live in Denver (although I would be totally fine with that), they still did it for free. Amazing. And truly an unusual bought of good luck for us Boyers.

So that just made a long day even longer. I perhaps added to that a little when we were finally about 90 minutes from our destination (we did a solid 10 hours in the car that day), and about to approach the mountain to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park, I decided that the visions I had of us falling off the side of the mountain during our ascent, were not healthy for me. And likely wouldn’t be healthy for our marriage for the next 90 minutes. So once again, Shawn pulled over and unhooked the Tahoe and I grabbed the boys (clearly not staying in the RV without me) and we headed up the mountain first. I didn’t even want to watch. Macy was with my in-laws in their coach, but since he is an experienced RV’er and had driven that drive many times, I was okay with it (sort of). It ended up not being as bad as I had expected and Shawn did great and we all lived. (Although both the boys screamed and cried the last 30 minutes but I figured that was a small price to pay to ensure our lives.) We did see a huge number of female moose on the way in, so the tears suspended as Jude said “wow, wook at doz big deers!”

We finally got everyone to bed super late, 11:30 on their central time clocks, and we woke up to the most beautiful setting here in Grand Lake, Colorado. The mountains are just breathtaking and many peaks still have snow on them. There are lots of fun things to do here for both the big and small kids. All 3 kids rode some steroid induced ponies, they were massive, and walked around the little animal farm. My parents arrived mid-day and we all left for what we thought was going to be a quick hike, which ended up being two hours long. The kids did great (not so much mom and dad!).

This morning Shawn went bounding off to the ATV Rental building like a pot head to pizza hut. As I type, he is on his 2nd 2 hour outing, and I am glad I am not witnessing his antics. He is literally covered in scars across his stomach and legs from the dirt bikes he owned as a kid and I truly don’t think he’s much more careful as an almost 43 year old with 3 small children, as he was when he was 9. The kids all got a turn riding with my dad (whom my mother would murder if he went beyond a snails pace) and even I got to hop in for a spin. I have to say it was a ton of fun and it is one of those things I really look forward to doing as a family when our kids are bigger.

The only major set backs to the RV lifestyle (all of the mishaps aside!) have just been the ages of our kids. There are not many things that we can all do together at this point, Jude still really needs a mid day nap, and with the way campsites work, there is always a car path around your site, so I cannot let the boys out of my sight for a minute. They always want to be outside and I always need to be inside cooking or cleaning something up!

Speaking of cleaning, Ed didn’t come through for us in Kansas City to fix the washer. So then I found Craig in Colorado. I called him a few times before finally reaching him and he informed me that he no longer works on RV washers. However, Craig did go to school and spent one whole week being trained on how to fix this specific brand of washer, and he knew exactly what was wrong with it. Really? For the love – PLEASE COME HELP ME! But no. After spending about 15 minutes explaining to me all the technical ways we might be able to fix it, I finally had to interrupt him and let me him know that my husband and I are not even able to hang a towel rack. So this sequence timer suspension thingy was not gonna happen. Thankfully my mom had an unusual amount of quarters so I am well stocked for the Laundromat for the weeks ahead. A few more nights here and we are off to Wyoming!

Comments