Friday Oct 14, 2022 - Montrose CO to Sylvan Lake State Park

 

OK, big excitement today!! We picked up the new Dave & Matt van. We started looking at vans a couple of years ago, and our Vermont friends Mike and Ann bought one from this outfit in Colorado and have been very happy with their van. We rented one last December and used it a couple of days in blizzard conditions in Colorado and loved it too.

So why a van? I have crisscrossed the United States and Canada on motorcycle trips and have been most everywhere, but Deb has not. My motorcycle trips entail riding all day (it’s all about the moving, not the destinations, and the coffee of course), finding a motel (cheap is good), getting a shower, then finding a good taco salad and a cold beer every night. I see a lot of country, but never really settle anywhere for more than a night. The van lets us go long distances when we need to, stop for several days when we feel like it, and not unpack and pack bags every night.

We got on Rt 50 in Montrose, then 92 in Delta and then turned north on RT 133 over McClure Pass into Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, then interstate 70 to Gypsuum, where the van was ready to be picked up. More nice aspens and snow dusted peaks. We also hit stages that were kind of dry and dusty followed by more aspens and mountains. Colorado is very diverse. Stopped in Glendale Springs for lunch at Sweet Coloradough, which makes monster donuts and sandwiches. And yes we did get a couple of donuts, provided free by the entertaining cashier.

Ted (the sales guy), Chelsea, and Betsy greeted us and the van was in the garage ready to go, all shiny and new. Betsy spent a half hour on paperwork and then Drew went through every moving part of the van for the better part of an hour and a half answering all of my “engineer” questions. We had reserved a camp site at Sylan Lake State Park which is only 45 minutes from Dave & Matts. We got into the campsite with both vehicles by 4:30 or so, chatted up the nice folks next door, did a quick walk around the lake and then set to work with the waning sun moving and organizing all of our gear in the RAV4 into the van. We enjoyed a couple of celebratory drinks until the cloudless sky started to cool things off and then back into our cozy van.

It will take a while to get all of the systems going but I sit here tonight tapping this out looking forward to all the trips we three (Deb, me & Sally Ann) will take.

Nerdy engineers report:

The Wabasco heater worked great. We could not figure out what it was doing at first but it settled into turning on at 65 degrees, one degree below where we set it, and raising the temp to 68 before turning off. We have no window coverings (whoo-hoo) so that probably drains the heat out quicker. Not sure what the temp is this morning (nice not to know), Deb says it feels like 30’s after the bathroom run.

We have 200 amp-hour of batteries. Boiling a kettle of water (electric) uses 2-3% of the battery. The induction stove heating our soup last night took 2-3%. We have two 165 watt solar panels. According to Drew at dmvans, the fridge can be left on forever if the vehicle is parked outside. Stay tuned for more nerdy facts.