On May 18-20 we took our rig on its “maiden voyage”. We went to Double D Ranch Campground to join our camping club members on a weekend campout. The campground is about 10 miles west of Wetmore, CO at about the 9300” level over Hardscrabble Pass in the Wet Mountain Range. It has about 20 campsites on a 1000 acre working cattle ranch. It was a beautiful area; large green grazing areas leading up to pine covered ridges on either side. There were buffalo grazing on the ranch opposite the one where we were. In the late afternoon they were joined by a large herd of elk.
The rig handled nicely on the highway. Going up the pass we got behind a gas tanker and couldn’t get out of 2nd gear. Other than that, it was an uneventful drive. Once we got to the campground was another story.
About two miles from the campground we rounded a curve and noticed that the pavement was wet from a recent shower. We didn’t think too much of it as that is a common occurrence in the Rockies. As we entered the campground the ground was completely white with hail. About that time I felt the truck slide a little and noticed that there was no gravel or rock on the roadbed. The campsites were slightly uphill, so I decided that I needed to keep moving in order to get the rig into a site. We got about half way up the hill before the ‘drivers’ started spinning and we could go no further. About this time some of our fellow campers and the campground host came out and noticed our plight. They suggested we back down the hill and attempt to come up the hill on the grass beside the road. That worked a little better but we still came up short of the campsite. The CG host said that he would call the ranch manager and have him tow us into our site. He arrived shortly with a tractor and towed us into our site. I often wandered what purpose the front tow hooks on the truck would serve. We barely got the rig into the campsite when it started raining, hailing, snowing, you name it. Ended up with about 3” of white stuff on the ground that stayed through most of the next day.
The ranch manager was a stereotypical cowboy. He was about 6’2, a bushy mustache, a ten-gallon hat and one of the deepest voices I have heard. I found out later that he did voice over radio and TV commercials here in the springs.. He had two speeds, slow and almost stopped. A nice guy and great fun to talk with. The campground hosts were fulltime Rver’s from Connecticut. They have been full timing for four years. They winter in Texas and have been working at this ranch/campground for the past three years. He does mostly ranch chores and she serves as the CG host and runs the camp store.
On Saturday we hiked up a ridge where we could view the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west. There were a couple of fourteeners that were visible. In the afternoon we tried our luck fishing in a nearby pond. We didn’t have much luck so we went back to camp and started the ribs for our late afternoon potluck. In the evening the camp hosts started a campfire. We set around swapping stories and roasting hotdogs and marshmallows until bedtime.
I was a little apprehensive about the trip down the mountain with our rig. One of our fellow club members said that at one time he drove a delivery truck in the area and always dreaded the drive down. We broke camp about 10:30 a.m. and started the trip down. I took it easy going into the first switch back and got a feel for how the rig would handle. I just stayed in 3rd gear going down, braked hard going into the turns but otherwise just used the trailer brakes to keep the speed down. We made it down safely but I could see that an exhaust brake is in the near future.
All in all we were pleased with the RV and the handling of the truck and trailer. There are a couple of things that need to be fixed in the trailer but nothing major. We are looking forward to full time Rving.
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