Denver and Back

[Ctgriffi]

We just finished a much-anticipated, week-long trip to Colorado. Two days driving each way, and some business to handle in Denver, so there was not a lot of time for sightseeing (or for snapping photos), but it was still fun to take the old rig out west, see a bit of that fantastic landscape. This US-of-A is just huge, obviously, but I still tend to imagine that 75% of the countryside looks about the same, if you squint... that's definitely NOT the case when you roll up on the Rocky Mountains!

 

 

We stayed in a few different campgrounds during the week, including "Cherry Creek State Park," which is definitely a unique spot: Cherry Creek is a couple square miles of woodsy and wild-ish space, basically right inside the Denver metro area. The park features tons of wide, smooth bike paths, which was great fun since we brought our e-bikes along on the rear rack. The campground area was beautiful and extremely clean, although I was a bit frustrated to find out that, even after paying the campsite fee + the daily vehicle fee, you still can't take a shower in the bathhouse unless you bring a credit card and pay that fee, too! That just ain't right. But I made-do with the onboard shower, which is a tight fit, in terms of height, but doable.

 

 

 

The Warrior held up very well, with no breakdowns and only a few minor issues: the coach water pump stopped working at one point due to a stuck pressure switch, which was a simple fix. More concerning, the 3.Slow began idling a little rough, once we got over 5,000 feet (this also happened when we did a trip to Santa Fe, NM, few years ago). I swapped out the air and fuel filters one evening at the campsite, which seemed to help matters a bit. But once we came back down in elevation, driving east through Kansas, the rough idle smoothed out and never returned. I did however notice a new, pronounced "tick" during the last few hours of our return drive, which I have since diagnosed and narrowed down to a noisy injector—pretty common occurrence in the 3VZE, apparently. I'm shooting some Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant in the fuel tank to see if it'll quiet things down. Overall fuel mileage for the trip was 12.7mpg, with two adults, two folding e-bikes, 65lbs of dogs, and quite a bit of gear + food.

 

 

Speaking of Kansas, they have some excellent highways that were a pleasure to drive. I-70 in that state was in terrific condition and, man, I harp on this every time, but it DOES make a huge difference! Preaching to the choir, I know, but road surface and tailwind-vs-headwind become all-important when you're driving a 30+ years, overloaded, little pickup on a long roadtrip. (Surprisingly, we came across some really rough pavement in Colorado, especially on the interstates, which I did not expect.) I know that not everyone loves the unending flatness of central Kansas, but I think The Plains have a pretty special feel about them. We enjoyed traveling through that area and spending a night on the lakeshore at Wilson State Park.

 

 

Overall, a very good, successful trip but just not enough free time to do what we'd like to do: cruise more back-roads, stop at small town museums and attractions, see more wildlife, etc. Retirement's still a long ways off, but maybe we'll make it back out there again someday, with more time to kill.  

Edited October 20, 2022 by Ctgriffi

[MaineJed]

Looks like a great trip. Was out there in 18, drove our Sienna through Denver into Vail, no place for the MH. Thinking of getting a Ebike, they look convenient.