We started packing up about 8:00 AM at the Pueblo KOA, just taking our time but really looking forward to Chatfield State Park. As I was rolling up the water hose, Tammy came around the corner of the trailer and said “Did you know our fresh water tank is full”? Now, we never and I mean never use the fresh water tank. That is just extra weight that we do not want to haul, so we have always left the lever pointed to “City Water”.
If you remember in the last post, I mentioned that there was a steep climb coming to the Pueblo KOA. This was where I had mentioned to Tammy that the trailer felt heavier than usual. Well, this would certainly explain that feeling since a full water tank would add another 600 pounds to the weight of the trailer. The odd part of this was that when we hooked up the fresh water hose at the Amarillo KOA I thought it sounded strange as it was filling the water lines; and that the hot water tank had taken a long time to fill. I had just chalked it up to low water pressure. Obviously this is when something had gone wrong with the valve. Now the question was how are we going to dump all this water. Needless to say, draining it would be a slow process as the drain valve is very small; about the size of a drinking straw.
At first I contemplated just leaving the fresh water drain valve open and driving to the next stop while it emptied. However, that might lead to people on the road thinking that I was leaking gas, or some other fluid.
So I decided to take my black water hose and push it up over the open valve and then run it over to the dump station. My frustration grew as the time clicked by, first the AC, now this unexplainable mishap. It seemed like every time we moved the trailer something would happen. What would be next?. It took about 45 minutes for the tank to drain but since the next park was only 90 minutes away it wasn’t a big deal. It gave me time to talk to the guy parked next to me.
I did call our service representative the next day, and no one could explain how this water tank issue could happen. So, the solution for us was to leave the fresh water tank drain open. This way we could see if there was an issue as soon as we began filling the tank. Grand Design sent a new valve to our house on the freak chance it would happen again.
I told Tammy that if it did fill up again I would tear the panel apart at Chatfield State Park and try to figure out a solution. Oddly, for the rest of the trip we never had a repeat of this issue.
On to Chatfield!
Chatfield State Park
It is July 15th; Kendra’s 9th Birthday – She is a great dog, and a wonderful traveler and she is game for just about anything. Hannah likes to travel, but like our last White Shepherd, she is wound up pretty tight. The girls were probably happy that this was a quick ride to the campground because it really gives them more time to relax once we get there. From the Pueblo KOA to Chatfield State Park in Littleton Colorado it is only 91 miles door to door. This is great for me because I don’t need to look for gas stations, or rest stops; we just pack up and go.
Chatfield State Park
The registration process at Chatfield State Park is a little disjointed. You pull into the park and register first at the guard station. There you pay for your daily pass(es). Then you are sent to another building down the road where you actually register for your campsite. When we got to that building I was thinking it would be a long wait since there was a line of people coming out the door. Luckily for us when we approached there was a line for pre-registered guests and so we went to the front of that line.
These sites are paved and level; so setting up the trailer was easy. Oddly when I went to turn on the power for the satellite the GFI had tripped off so I had to reset it. I think this had happened one other time and I couldn’t figure out why.
This is a beautiful park, you will want to quit your job and move here. There isn’t a bad site in the whole park and the views of the mountains are spectacular. The grounds are well-kept which is great if you have dogs you need to walk. In addition there are laundry facilities there as well as really clean bathroom facilities. If there is anything negative about Chatfield State Park, I have no idea what it would be. For more about Chatfield State Park you can click here.
The Chatfield State Park
Chatfield State Park Campground
Now Chatfield is in Littleton Colorado which is near Boulder and Denver so there is plenty to do, and we were spending three nights so we planned on doing some site seeing.
Boulder and Pearl Street
Boulder Colorado has a mall area called the “Pearl Street Mall”. It is similar to Madison Wisconsin’s State Street; where a street has been converted to pedestrian traffic. It was an hour drive from the campground, and the drive takes you along the mountains all the way there – it is a beautiful drive.
The Mall area is a four block long (long blocks) stretch lined with shops and business and is at the heart of downtown Boulder. Finding a parking spot just off Pearl Street was not difficult, and the area is not hard to find although there were a few side roads closed due to construction.
The Pearl Street Mall
If you continue to walk west on Pearl Street, you will eventually come to some walking trails and parks. Eben G. Fine Park is located at the end of Pearl Street to the west. It contains portions of the Boulder Creek and Boulder Creek Path with a playground, open park area, and picnic areas. There is a pedestrian bridge that crosses over Boulder Creek which connects the park to the Red Rocks Trail and some other trails. One thing you will notice about this city, is that it is bike friendly. Everyone is either on a bicycle on the street, at the park, OR they are out walking their dogs.
Red Rock Path
We started hiking up Red Rock path, and found it quite difficult (unless we were on a different path, things were not well-marked). As you can see from the picture with Tammy, she is not at the bottom of the trail, she is part way up…and it only gets steeper and more slippery.
Red Rock Trail Looking Down at Tammy
This next picture is looking towards the trail as it disappears into the over growth. Again, this is very steep and on terrain that is not level, making me think that this just might not be the Red Rock trail, but the signs all point to this area. Reviews on-line call the Red Rock trail easy…there is nothing easy about this trail.
Red Rock Trail looking up Further up the trail
Eben Park
Eben Park is surprisingly large and open with the stream running through it. The stream has some small natural falls as it winds its way through the park. Just beyond the bridge that crosses the stream, there is an area where the stream opens up into a pond. This pond was apparently a popular swimming area in the park. I went down to the swimming area and felt the water; even though our air temps were high this water was cold so perhaps it is spring fed. On a side note, we discovered that months ago the Eben Park restrooms had been vandalized. They were not open, and no repairs were in process. A hundred yards from the restrooms were three porta-pottys that were not in good shape; in fact one door couldn’t lock – not impressive. For this size park, three porta-pottys are not enough.
Eben Park
West on Pearl Street towards the Parks and Trails
After our tour of the Eben Park and the Red Rocks Trail we decided to stop and have some lunch on Pearl Street. We had some great pizza from Nick-N-Willys, a Pizza business that had been there for years. They won’t bake a full pizza for you here but you can order a limited selection of slices to eat there; (or a pie to take home and bake). The owner brought our pizza to the table we were sitting at outside his front door. In addition he gave us a free order of hot wings – everything they served us was delicious. If you decide to have their pizza when you are in Boulder you will not be disappointed.
Back to Camp
After that it was back to camp for the afternoon. After returning to the trailer after walking the girls that evening, I slammed the door behind us; and we lost the satellite signal to the TV. My fears are then confirmed after glancing in the bathroom, the GFI had tripped. I tried to re-set it without success. The result means there is no satellite TV. Power to the satellite is in the outside storage area which is wired to that GFI.
There are a surprising amount of outlets that are affected downstream of this GFI. There are two in outside storage, one on each end of the kitchen island, both outlets in the bedroom; and the two outlets behind the recliners. So, the next morning it was another call to the Manufacturing Representative. The Representative told me that they would take care of the issue; but it was more than likely just a bad GFI.
If there’s a bad spot in Chatfield, I couldn’t find it
The next day we decided to go into Littleton to look for a hardware store where I could get a GFI. I figured that it might be easier if I just change the unit out. We went to an ACE hardware but nothing looked quite like the GFI I had in the trailer. So we added the GFI issue to the list of things to have fixed at First Choice RV in Goshen.
After giving up on purchasing a GFI, we decided to have some Chinese food before going back Chatfield State Park. After a quick google search we found Imperial Palace. The food was great and the service was exceptional.
The Next day we would be on the move again to Welikit Campground in Custer South Dakota.
To continue on this trip click here
To follow this trip from the beginning click here
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