June 15, Monday.
No major chores on my plate at home, in fact I managed to introduce a crack in Martha's car's windshield finishing the last chore. Dammit.
So, before I damaged something else, I went camping.
It was forecast to be a hot week in the Front Range of Colorado so Martha elected to stay home in the air-conditioned house. Go figure right?
I went back to tried and true Hugo SWA for some solitary time, just me and the cows out in the eastern plains.
The only annoyances are biting flies and cow patties left by the roaming herd of cows which grazes within this wildlife area.
The afternoon was spent re-learning lessons on dealing with the heat. It got up to 96°F (35.5°C) inside the URRV and about 92°F (33.3°C) outside at the warmest time of the day! Luckily, an ever increasing breeze came in late in the afternoon and cooled things up slight.
As the sun set, so did the temperature move downwards, thankfully. I think it was 71°F (21.6°C) or so when I got this sunset picture over at the north campsite area:
The ride for the sunset also verified I'd re-assembled the sidecar's shock absorber correctly over the weekend. It had been making a loud clunking noise when riding about the Turquoise Lake area and taking it apart and ensuring the shock's piston was fully retracted during assembly seems to have done the trick.
Tuesday, June 16
Another very warm day. Woke to a nice 63°F (17.2°C) around 6:30 AM, to a cloudless sky and a nearby visitor who was quietly munching away at the vegetation on the nearby hill.
Did some maintenance on Fiona: Burned out light bulb in tail light and re-attached the wooden block I use to increase leverage/pressure when actuating the brake pedal.
Way to hot to ride during the heat of the day, so spent time in the shade of trees, reading my e-books and enjoying the wind as it rushed by. The wind kept the bugs down so I was glad for that, even though the wind was strong enough to have the weather service issue a Fire Watch for said winds.....
After some discussions with RichardM, Iturned on the onboard 4KW generator and ran the air conditioner for four hours in the hottest part of the day. Quite the difference almost 20 degrees makes! Trying to get a feel for how much gasoline the onboard generator consumes while powering the air conditioner. After 4 hours, I couldn't tell if the needle on the fuel gauge had even moved! Perhaps its economical enough to run the generator to power the AC after all? UPDATE: just turning on the ignition to check the fuel gauge isn't enough, you have to actually start the engine to have the needle register correct level.
At the start of the "Golden Hour", around 7PM
Heading towards CR 2G and the SWA's northern entrance
Near the north campsite
Along CR 2G
Wednesday June 17
Managed to get geared up and headed out on Fiona while it was still below 80°F (26.6°C). Rode out to nearby Kinney Lake SWA but found only fishermen and clouds of biting flies that followed me as I cruised around. Left shortly after that and rode the highway to CR 2C, taking it eastward to CR36 which leads one to the southern entrance of the SWA.
Here's some views of the three ponds/lakes in the southern area of the SWA:
Here's the lakes/ponds in the Hugo Middle Area, where I like to boondock:
I ran the air conditioner and onboard generator for almost eight hours
I did run the temperature setting about 1/4 of the way from warmest setting, which kept the temperature inside at 81°F (27°C). The outside temperature would peak at 95°F (35°C) but it was nice and comfortable inside!
So, a nice discovery for me in terms of the economics of running the air conditioner via the onboard 4KW generator, it's not as thirsty as I had previously believed! So basically, the 4KW consumes about .4 gallons/hr of AC usage....a "medium" load per the generator's manual.
Last night of boondocking, I go home tomorrow to get some stuff done and we'll see where I go camping next!
Tonight's sunset was OK:
9 comments:
You choose some great places. I love the antelope photo. Do you have very many Colorado state parks/areas that you have not visited?
Thanks Oz and there’s plenty of parks remaining unvisited by me, most are few areas so likely to remain that way.
Time for some higher elevation or further north… In western Washington here it’s a very pleasant 77°F with a nice breeze. At the RV, it’s still only 70° with all the trees.
I completely agree RichardM!
Oz-both Dom and I have found that the Colorado State Parks while nicely maintained, are pricey and reservations require way more advance planning than either of us find enjoyable. And then of course, there is the issue of other people in the more populated campgrounds....
I like the second to last photo, sunset reflection on the water. Would be nice to see some more shots like that. I realize you have to get down to ground level for the best view. Hope you are better at that than me. Getting down is okay, it's the getting backl up that's a challenge.
Thanks CCjon, I actually missed a better shot at same location.....sun was a bit higher and showed better in the reflection.
Looks like solitude, Dom, and I mean that in a positive way. This is something you won't get in Europe, well, at least not in our neck of the woods.
Yes SonjaM, space usually = solitude.....continental Europe is filled with wondrous locations but definitely lacking a bit at times re unused but available open spaces.
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