Onward to Winter

By this time in the trip I assumed I'd have everything figured out.  A place to live, some sort of income, a spot on the 2015 mountain bike world cup circuit.....Well maybe not the last one.  Part of me just wanted to keep driving, another part was ready for indoor plumbing.  This type of lifestyle has been an amazing experience. Teaching me about myself and what is really important in life on a daily basis.  I know it all sounds a little cliché but its true.  The people I've met and the places I've seen are irreplaceable.   A journey I'll remember for the rest of my life.   Though I'm in the process of shifting gears, Miles in the Mirror is far from over.

The San Juans showing their fall colors

Once the last of the Rampage patrons had left Utah I decided to head towards Colorado, in particular, Durango.  I figured this would be a good place to decide my next move and the community of vagabonds is second to none.  With a laundry list of projects on both the camper and the truck needing my attention I felt this town would make the perfect base camp.

Once I arrived in Durango I wouldn't say I went right to work.  The urge to explore hadn't slowed so I decided to head up to the San Juan National Park.  The fall colors were amazing and the views breathtaking.  I drove about an hour and a half until I found the perfect campsite.  It was difficult to access, throwing it in 4x4 to make the climb.  The road was one of the more difficult ones The Betty had traveled.  Treacherous enough the rear support leg dragged crossing a water bar, causing damage to the camper frame. 
It rained and snowed all that night making the access road an absolute mud pit.  The descent back to the forest service road was interesting to say the least.  It was more of an 1/4 mile long uncontrolled slide.  Making the escape from the Utah flash flood a walk in the park....  At one point the truck decided it wanted to go sideways down the road.  The back of the camper dragged through the ditch and along the embankment that I was trying so very hard to avoid.  I managed to skirt that disaster and a  very difficult(and expensive) recovery mission.  I'd also removed the rear support legs before I made my way down.  If I hadn't, they would've been ripped off or hung me up in the mud pits.   Definitely the farthest I've pushed this set up.

Now that I expended some "exploration" out of my system, it was time to get to work.  With a little Durango hospitality I found a back yard to tackle the next project.  The Betty was having trouble on cold starts.  It turned out that only 4 of 8 glow plugs(like spark plugs but for diesels)were operating.  The quote the diesel shop gave me was astronomical, I know, big surprise. So I decided to tackle it myself.  The whole project took about 10 hours to complete.  Removing the air intake back to the turbo, then removing both valve covers to access the plugs.  Replacing the glow plugs was the easy part, getting to them was the challange.  All in all it went well, starting up like she just rolled off the assembly line.

The tan boxes are the injectors. The glow plugs are located lower in the valley. It was a good excuse to buy some more tools and I learned a thing or two.

The next project I planned on completeing before winter was replacing the floor of the camper and tracking down a gray water leak.  The floor had started to get spongy and when I ran sink water it would drain out the underside of the camper.  For this I rented an RV site and took the camper off the truck. 
Once I dived into the task I realized the severity and the magnitude of the issue.  The interior floor and the belly of the camper are essentialy the same structure.  There were no floor trusses to differentiate between the the exterior belly and the interior floor. To make repairs, the entire camper would have to be gutted.  This project was over before it ever began.  The following Monday I filed a claim with my insurance company with intentions of a total loss situation.

In the mean time, it was once again time to leave Durango.  Snow was falling in Summit County and ski areas were beginning to open.  The draw of another winter in the Rockies was too strong to resist.
I headed to Denver to get things ready for winter and swing by the storage unit.  The plan to live in the camper was out due to the water damage so I was working on a "plan B". 
Once the insurance adjuster had looked over the camper he agreed that it was not worth fixing and totaled it out.  Though I was bummed about loosing The Betty it had a great outcome.  There had been a screw up with the previous owner with the model year of the camper.  When the adjuster ran the VIN, it came back as a 2005 instead of the assumed 2002  model.  When they cut me a check it was double the value I'd originally paid for it!  Just the stimulus plan I needed for the next rig!!!

I built the frame to leave enough headroom and enough storage height to slide those black and yellow totes underneath. The storage yard also doubled as my residence for the 10 days or so I was in Denver.

So I needed to move out of the The Betty and into the truck.  This was another head scratcher.  Last spring I downsized from a 30 foot RV to the truck camper.  Now it was time to go from the camper to a pick up. 
The first step was buying a topper.  With a little time on the never disapointing craigslist, I found one.  Reinstalled the tail gate, framed up a bed/shelve thingy and poof! a new home!  The Yakima box was mounted on the cab and the solar panel on the topper(future power for a heater).  Every inch of space was used up including both front and rear hitches.  A crew cab with seating for one.  The set up turned out great!  It was a liveable space that doubled as my Uhaul during my housing search in Breckenridge.

The last photo of the whole gang together...

From the time I rolled into Durango until I hit the road up to Breck spanned nearly six weeks.  The truck projects and the claim on the camper took a fair amount of time.   The biggest time killer, but most exciting, was purchasing the next expedition vehicle!! Securing a loan for a commercial vehicle to a ski bum living in his truck was no easy task.  But I will leave the details on this rig for the next blog! Onward to winter!!!