Plan B (Not plan 9 from outerspace)

It was a travel day.  We were leaving the family campground on the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on our way to spend a week in Rifle Gap State Park in western Colorado.  The route was well-planned the night before as we anticipated the Rocky Mountain crossing.  We consulted Google Maps, our Motor Carrier Atlas, and our copy of Mountain Directory West.  We verified the route in our Garmin RV GPS unit.

As planned, we departed early in the morning and got through some road construction on I-25.

We were climbing Floyd Hill on I-70, getting outstanding fuel economy.

Yes, that's reading 1.7 MPG at 35 MPH

 As we were cresting Floyd Hill, an overhead sign stated "I-70 closed, Mile 140 Gypsum, Alternate Route Advised."

Overhead Signboard from our dash cam

Even blown up, it is hard to read

We reached the top of Floyd Hill and pulled off at the first roadside parking we could find. Conveniently for us, the exit was for the Genesee Hill buffalo viewing area. We had a nice show while we figured out our next step.  Sorry, no photos of the Buffalo herd were taken as I was "wrapped around the axle" trying to figure out our next step.

Elizabeth looked at the map and found that Gypsum CO was in stretch of highway between where we were and where we wanted to go.  Elizabeth found that the road closure was due to the Grizzly Creek wildfire. So, the interstate was not going to reopen in the next hour or two. 

It looked like the detour would add another four plus hours to our day as we would have to go back towards Colorado Springs. The detour included construction areas, and the roads might be rough and tight and filled with unhappy drivers. 

The extra drive time along with a forecast of smoky air and temperatures in the 90's for the upcoming week, prompted us to do an alternative campground search. Both Elizabeth and I were frantically searching for and calling campgrounds to find an alternate for the week we would miss at Rifle Gap State park. We considered turning around and heading back to Colorado Springs to stay a third week at the Air Force Academy Family Campground. However, we decided to head north on I-25 to Cheyenne, WY and settled on the family campground on Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.

We plugged our new destination into our RV specific GPS unit, and it started rerouting us.  I had to make a U turn at the next exit and then start our descent down Floyd Hill eastbound. As our RV is over 30,000 LBS we were limited to 35 MPH due to the 4.5 miles of 6% grade and the turns in the road.  Our as yet to be named bus did outstanding as I shifted between low and high engine braking. I only had to use the service brakes for a few short periods.  NICE!!!

As we were nearing the bottom of the hill, we hit a substantial bump in the road which caused an audible alarm to go off, adding another hiccup to the day.  Checking the dash, the jacks down idiot light was lit. WHAT???? Was I dragging a leveling jack??? Elizabeth was searching for a safe place to pull off the road. She spotted a truck stop at the next exit.  While there, a quick scan of the chassis showed all four leveling jacks were not deployed. That was a relief, but the HWH leveling system would not power up. That was the reason for the idiot light and obnoxious alarm.  I removed the fuse for the auditory cacophony.  This allowed me to continue driving the bus.  Repairs will be covered in a future blog.

As a treat to help calm my nerves we decided to stop at Johnson's Corner Truck Stop for lunch. For desert, Elizabeth and I split one of their gigantic cinnamon rolls.

Super Size Cinnamon Roll

We pulled out of Johnson's Corner to find an accident at a construction site where a box truck and a semi truck pulling double trailers were apparently trying to occupy the same space simultaneously.  The road went down to a single lane after the incident...

UGH!!!

Note how little room there is for our WIDE luxury apartment on a truck chassis. With the jersey walls on the left and the box truck protruding into my lane, I thought my right hand rear view mirror was a goner. I repeatedly asked Elizabeth if she thought we would clear, but from the passenger seat she cannot see that mirror.....  We narrowly squeaked through.

Note the damaged rear wheel and creased side of the truck and the driver in the road...

After all this, we got checked into our campsite for a week of exploration in south eastern Wyoming.  I had a proper drink after setup.