Greetings from Texas! :) 83 degrees today :)
I do not know how many of you have spend any time in new RV's, but we have learned some very valuable lessons.
One of the funniest ones happened the day before we left for Texas. The unit came winterized from the factory, which means they drain the water out of the lines and add some antifreeze. The day before we left, we decided to de-winterize it. The goal being to add water and let the antifreeze run out through the faucets.
After the boy realized he did not have a hose to reach the RV, he used a hair tie around the sink sprayer to put in the hole of our 6 gallon water containers used for long camping trips. He would haul one out to dump in the RV tank while the other one filled. He filled and carried out the water jugs about 6 times.
Once the water was in the tank he turned on the pump and we turned on the faucets. The boy turned on the shower and no water came out the head of the shower. It sprayed out around the handles instead of the shower head. He turned off the water and started taking off faucet covers to find the problem. (He had fixed many minor issues already found in the new RV). The problem, according to the boy, "was the factory had improperly winterized the unit and due to Colorado's wonderfully cold weather, the mixing valve had froze and cracked." Upon inspecting the valve more closely he accidently pulled it out of the wall, causing freezing cold pressurized water to spray all over him the bathroom, and even hit me in the bedroom. We both screamed like girls, and I burst out laughing upon seeing the boy soaked from head to toe. Upon calling a repair shop, the boy took the RV to town to try to get the part to fix the problem. I went into the house to finish cleaning up. I walked to the sink to start dishes, turned on the faucet and the sprayer lifted out of the sink and I also ended up with an unexpected shower thanks to the hair tie still on the sprayer.
However, the days of packing up the RV where filled with recreation time. I took my first trip up Pike's Peak. It is unlike most tourists, as I went up at night. Colorado Springs has a tradition of setting off fireworks from the peak on New Years. The Adaman Club hikes up Pikes Peak and does the fireworks. Several Colorado four wheel drive clubs come together and get permission to go to the top of the peak and bring down the hikers after the fireworks. Tradionally, the boy has done it for eight years with his family. This year he took me. I have been told very few people can go up at night, because the road is always closed at night. It was amazing, the night was crystal clear, and we could see the lights of Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and all the little mountain communities. It was 18 degrees with, 40 mph sustained winds, with gusts 80 mph. So with the winds, the wind chill was about -14. I got my new years kiss on a 14110 foot mountain with fireworks super close. I would love to do it again. It was so much fun!
Lastly, as you might have noticed the blog title has changed. It is all your fault as you have encouraged the boy. He got some comments on one of the photos that he took, and it went to his head. So he asked that he be added to the blog. Since we are to be married here really soon, I agreed. The nickname of "Mr. Man" comes from my friend ASH!
We got to the Alamo about 3 pm and waited a long time to get a photo of it without people standing in the way. We went inside, where no photos were allowed and viewed things like David Crockett's buckskin vest, book, and a legal note with his signature. There was also a log from his home in Tennessee. We both thought it would be bigger, but in fact it is a pretty small building.
We then went down to the Riverwalk, and ate some dinner, had some margaritas, had to walk awhile to clear our heads. Then headed back to the Alamo for some night photos.
I was doing some minor touch ups and tried a black and white, I like it!
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