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Old 08-19-2021, 04:28 PM   #1
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 240
Colorado Trip

Just got back last week from a great trip to Colorado!

Spent about 9 days out there. First half was at Mueller SP near Colorado Springs and then drove on to Ridgway SP near Ouray.

The weather was great and I must say, the new tv did amazing on those mountain roads! That diesel engine hardly even downshifted on the uphills and the engine brake made it so I barely had to touch the brakes. Even took it 4-wheelin' out on Last Dollar Rd (well, never actually had to put it in 4WD but it was a rough road and felt like 4-wheelin'!). I think the suspension in the 2500 is not meant for back-country roads and I'll probably rent a jeep or something similar next time.

The only down side was the haze from all the fires. Fortunately, we had a day or two at both sites that were relatively clear but much of the time it was difficult to see the next mountain range over. Instead of enjoying the fresh mountain air, it felt like I was suffering from allergies for most of the trip. I don't even have allergies in the midwest heat and humidity so that was a bit unpleasant.

Oh, and the highways coming in to Colorado (I-70 West from Kansas and 24 heading to Colorado Springs) were awful! The camper took a beating as did we! Shook loose crud from the water heater and clogged the toilet valve. Had to make an impromptu repair that the friendly folks here on the forum helped me out with (Thanks all!). I also have a door that won't latch right since getting home. The latch is too low compared to the hole in the door frame so something got tweaked. Not sure what or how I'm going to fix it, yet.

Had to stop for the night on the way back home as that drive felt longer than I expected. Could've made it in my younger days. Guess I'm just gettin' old!

I know it sounds like I'm complaining a bit but we really did have a great time and I would go back in a heartbeat. This was the longest trip we've had this camper on (over 2,000 miles!) and was a shakedown cruise for the new truck so I'm really pretty happy with how everything performed.

Now I just have to figure out how to tow the camper to the Caribbean!!
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Old 08-19-2021, 04:42 PM   #2
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Oh, and I forgot to mention..
I didn't get to try out my new solar setup as I didn't have it quite finished before leaving. I did get my new 100AH LiFeP04 battery installed and it did quite well. The camper's charger kept it at about 80% the whole time which is about what I expected. We tried to use the A/C on a couple of occasions as it got a little warmer than we liked on a couple of the last days we were there but it turns out that A/C doesn't really work at altitude (at least ours didn't). I'm assuming it was the super low humidity since air conditioners basically work by pulling moisture out of the air and there was no moisture to pull out!

Either way, we just opened the windows and let the breeze come through to keep the camper cool inside. We were mostly outside anyway and as long as we stayed in the shade, the temp was very manageable.

So, without needing to run the A/C, I think we could have used the solar without having to plug into shore power. Time will tell once I get the rest of the system hooked up.
We were able to manage our FW, grey and black tank levels just fine between the two campsites, never running out or overflowing.
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Old 08-19-2021, 06:29 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daebado View Post
Oh, and I forgot to mention..
I didn't get to try out my new solar setup as I didn't have it quite finished before leaving. I did get my new 100AH LiFeP04 battery installed and it did quite well. The camper's charger kept it at about 80% the whole time which is about what I expected. We tried to use the A/C on a couple of occasions as it got a little warmer than we liked on a couple of the last days we were there but it turns out that A/C doesn't really work at altitude (at least ours didn't). I'm assuming it was the super low humidity since air conditioners basically work by pulling moisture out of the air and there was no moisture to pull out!

Either way, we just opened the windows and let the breeze come through to keep the camper cool inside. We were mostly outside anyway and as long as we stayed in the shade, the temp was very manageable.

So, without needing to run the A/C, I think we could have used the solar without having to plug into shore power. Time will tell once I get the rest of the system hooked up.
We were able to manage our FW, grey and black tank levels just fine between the two campsites, never running out or overflowing.

AC don't care about moisture . AC should work great at alt . only difference is a little less air for the fan to push . if your ac isn't working right could be a bad one lots of those out there now .
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Old 08-20-2021, 08:56 AM   #4
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A/C works fine at home both before and after the trip so I'm not sure what's going on, there.
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