Bev is on a Roll

Here we are on Christmas day parked outside the Denver Museum of Nature and Science waiting for it to open at 9am.  We are hoping the local police will leave us undisturbed for the night.

We’ve been on the road for a week and have gone 1000 miles from home.  However, we have actually traveled farther.

Travelling with two women of a certain age can have its issues.  Bev has been the recalcitrant one.  Perhaps Bev requires a slight description.  I purchased her on a whim without consulting Barbara.  1988 Winnebago Superchief 31RQ for $3500.  She started right away and I drove her home and parked her where Barbara was forced to see her every day.  Barbara refused to even look in her for two weeks whereupon she pronounced Bev to be “not as bad as I thought she would be!”.  We’ve done a little work on her since then.  By the way, her license plate issued by the state of Montana is BEV360, so she became named “Bev gets around”.

Starting our trip, the first stop was a short 37 miles down the road to a tire shop to have dynamic wheel balancers put on the front axle in attempt to eliminate a major vibration.  No luck. 

Then we went on to Frenchtown, MT to see cousins and handle some business.  Afterwards we went to Costco in Missoula, Mt to buy new batteries for Bev in hopes the furnace would run all night to keep us warm.  From there we went to dinner with grandchildren and then on to kids and grandkids house where they allowed us to plug Bev in for the night.

Next day we headed south, again with a stop at a tire shop a ways down the road to have dynamic balancers added to the rear axle to cure the vibration.  Again, it didn’t work, and while leaving the tire shop Bev gave us new worries about brakes and engine stuff.

Friends in Hamilton, Mt let us stay in their driveway for the night and I plugged in at their garage.  I did not notice until morning that I had not turned on the breakers in Bev so we used none of their power over night.  On the bright side, the batteries took care of us. We had made it about 180 miles from home.

Next morning, the local Chevy dealership said they would take Bev and try to fit her in and check out the brake and engine problems, oh, and yes, the headlight control switch problem. Meanwhile we hit the local Ace hardware store where we bought a hook for Barbara’s bathrobe and some cleats to keep the window blinds up.  I installed those while waiting for the verdict on Bev.  The light switch was made functional if you hold it just right when using it and no other problems were found.  Another night was spent in our friends driveway with the power hooked up correctly.

We had planned on traveling south on US highway 93 but weather always dictates a cruiser’s route.  A snow storm arrived over night which convinced us to tack back 50 miles towards home, then east.  The bonuses of this included lunch with grandchildren in Missoula, and, after another stop at another tire shop, on to Bozeman, Mt where we surprised children and grandchildren for an early Christmas.  Next morning, Bev went to yet another tire shop in hopes of fixing the dreaded vibration.  No luck.  However, while waiting, I studied the manuals for the refrigerator which had quit working and the wiring diagrams for the motor home and came up with an idea as to why the refer quit.  It proved correct and after a trip to the auto parts store to buy a $6.99 12 volt breaker and opening up part of the dashboard to install it, we have cold.  Given how cold it has been for days, you wouldn’t think that would have been important to us but it was.

We left Bozeman early on Dec 23^rd after deciding to head south by way of Denver.  All was going well until Livingston where we were hit by the notorious high winds.  Bev decided to try to take flight by unrolling a large portion of her 17 ft awning at highway speed.  Why it did not tear is a mystery.  It just flapped and banged against the side and roof until we could stop and get it rolled back in.  It did the same trick several more times before we stopped at a Home Depot in Billings, Mt and bought a ladder so I could go up and secure the awning.

After securing the awning and taping some leaky windows, we headed more southerly to Sheridan, WY.  We had a delightful overnight in a Walmart Supercenter parking lot.  Sam Walton knew RVers would spend money if they stopped and we did.  New non-skid area rugs replaced the dangerous old ones and we now have storage containers/bowls. 

Christmas Eve had us traveling from Sheridan to Wheatland, Wy.  However, I’m not sure how I did it but we missed the I25/I90 junction in Buffalo and ended up in Sundance, Wy before noticing.  This necessitated not only many extra miles but a bunch of back highways, sometimes very rough.  We began using the gps map system to help us get to Wheatland.  At one point, it took us on “the shortest route” around a town by back roads and under railroad tracks where we barely fit.  I guess it doesn’t understand we are a 30 year old motor home 11 ½ feet tall.

We arrived late at the only rv park open around Wheatland and were barely able to find room at the inn.  Our spot was level gravel.  It did have electricity available.  Across the street from us they had a nice laundry,restroom,shower facility.  The showers cost 25 cents for 30 seconds water. 

After showers, we hit the road south again and are now in Denver.  We’ll visit the museum in the morning and then have lunch with the nicest guy in Denver.

We are thinking we will head next through Amarillo and Dallas.  We are hoping the weather will be warm enough by Amarillo so we will be able to at last fill the water tank.  Bev was not set up for winter use so water and water lines would have frozen if we had already filled her.  It will be nice not to have to live with water sparsely provided by jugs.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!