A COVID Home Companion: The Maiden Voyage of The Titsworth (Part II, Day III - The Long Journey Home)

 August 25, Day Two at the Estes Park KOA.

We got off track a little here because I had a project on the house that took a couple of days and also that my recollection of the day's events felt hazy in the first place so I needed to get my ducks in a row with Laurie to make sure I didn't have things twisted because, well... even though you wouldn't know, I would and well.... if I'm doing a travelogue type thing, the pressure of being accurate is internal but real. So anyway.  

In addition to the stove challenge (it's a recurring theme in the trip), at some point there had been some damage done (rodents, probably?) to one of the fuel lines.  Of course it was to the line to the larger of the two gas tanks on the van, rendering it useless as you couldn't pump gas into the tank at all.  So parts of the previous evening and this morning were spent trying out various auto parts and hardware stores seeking a part to fix the hose – even if it were a temporary fix – to give us a range for the drive home greater than 100 miles.  Ultimately, it did not come to fruition, but the time searching did get us close to the Stanley Hotel, so we did drive up to it and get some photos in front of the Shining Hotel.  

Although we had made the appropriate reservations for a return trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, the circumstances overall prohibited it, so the Stanley was the morning tourist stop.  Following that, we grabbed some food and headed back to the KOA to eat and check out the last-ditch effort to get a patch for the fuel line.  The former was successful, the latter not, and the fast forward was that instead of extending their stay in the hotel in Estes Park, Laurie's parents decided to head back home a day early, so we spent the time up to their departure at the campsite.  

A COVID Home Companion: The Maiden Voyage Of The Titsworth (Part II - Day II - The Long Journey Home)

 August 24.  As I mentioned we ended up reserving the Moraine Park Campground for just the one night.  At the time The Plan was made, we had allowed for the three days in the Estes Park area, with the second two camps spending the night at the Estes Park KOA.  It's not that we were bent on staying at the KOA but The Plan required two nights of RV + tent capability and after contacting about a half-dozen campgrounds, it was the only place that would be able to facilitate.  In fact some of the RV campgrounds we contacted flat out forbade tents.  It was all still cool, though.  The first night at Moraine Park had provided us with a night off the grid, as it were.  It also got us a guaranteed entry into the National Park (we had reservations on the 25th but 23rd had been full up... except to campers in the NP).  

We also were introduced to another head-scratcher with the van on the morning of the 24th.  We had acquired breakfast foods with the idea to do them on the propane stove in the van.  Sitting at 8,160 ft above sea level (idk, maybe that's relevant, maybe it's not) it may have been my highest elevation sleep ever.  Don't hold me to that, but.... I think.  probably.  So history up to this point for anyone who may be a liquid propane (LPG) expert:  The van had sat for a while before it's shakeout journey to meet us.  At least 2 years at the home of Mr. Titsworth from whom we purchased it and idk time at the previous owners'.  Anyway, somewhere in the junction of all the moving parts, we were unable to get the stove lit on that morning.  While the altitude may have been a factor, the challenge intermittently persisted through the duration.  The grounds host at the KOA suggested that if the van had been sitting, it could be that the lines had dust or cobwebs that may be causing the difficulty... but we are ahead of ourselves here.

I want to spend another minute inside Rocky Mountain National Park before we head on our merry way.  Laurie and I spent that first night in the tent, and in the wee small hours we heard another elk bugling down in the small field that our campsite overlooked, so that was pretty cool.  Also of surprising note to both Laurie and myself, we saw a bunch of Magpies at and near the camp.  Neither of us could call to mind a time that we had seen Magpies stateside.  We did see a bunch of them over in the northeast of England (Newcastle, specifically), but also specifically not in RMNP the previous time we had been through it.  None of them helped to install my contractual obligation sticker though.  Bastards.  

 

(I know jumps on blog posts are so 2014, but well I kinda wanna keep the main page somewhat tidy, so just go on ahead and click that title up there to see the rest.  Also, if you didn't before, try it on the others.  You may have missed something.)

A COVID Home Companion: The Maiden Voyage Of The Titsworth (Part II, Day I - The Long Journey Home)

 Let's start at the very beginning.  In the Original Plan, we had decided to transport our tent, sleeping bags, and camping mattress on the plane (we are mileage plan members, so we get one free checked bag each) for use the first three nights which overlapped with Laurie's parents' stay after driving the first leg.  It was easy enough to accomplish in theory after we ordered bags large enough to deal with the length of the tent and the size of the mattress.  In theory.  Approximately 18 hours before our flight was scheduled to lift off, the Very Large Online Shopping Site cancelled one of our bags, leaving me in a small scale panic with regard to The Plan.  While it would certainly have been more optimal if we had received the roller bag that we wanted, we could get a second bag just like the other bag that did come same day delivery.  It then became a matter of principal to remove the same-day delivery fee as we were not the ones to cancel the bag in the first place but did, in fact, need a bag for successful execution of The Plan.  In the end not much was lost save for several hours waiting for the new bag to arrive which could have been used for a much more comfortable packing experience.  Ultimately it was no harm, no foul however as we, the tent, the mattress, the sleeping bags, and snacks to last until the apocalypse were packed and made our morning flight to Denver International Airport (AKA The Home of the Lizard People).  

It never ceases to amaze me, given how much we have traveled,  the extent to which we can push time to its utmost limits and still somehow manage to comfortably catch our flights.  I suppose, however, it is what it is and must be accepted as it certainly shows now signs of changing.  It's fine though... we made the flight with everything we meant to take and were wheels up to Denver.