Trip 3: Chatield State Park

Our next trip was another easy one, practically just down the street.   I planned on a 45 minute drive leaving plenty of time to setup the first day.  That plan was quickly erased can as someone flipped a cement truck on I-25 (he didn’t make it, BTW) which left many people exiting Colorado Springs waiting on Monument hill for about 3 hours.  We finally got to the top of the hill and were detoured onto a county service road.  A dirt road.  It was interesting pulling the pod on a dirt road that was barely wide enough for one vehicle – a fact made obvious as there were actually people traveling against the flow of traffic.  If you know that area you have to wonder who the heck they were – there’s not much out there.  The Hood River Edition has big ol’ tires so it did quite well.  There were many tiny sedans that had a bit more trouble.  But 25mph over eroding dirt was better than camping on a major freeway.

Once we arrived we discovered that Chatfield State Park is actually quite nice.  Lots of trees, paved roadways and paths for joggers and bike riders, a large lake with lots of boaters and hiking paths.  We also drove up Morrison road which is very windy and has a variety of places to stop and hike.

Unlike the last trip, it was hot and dry.  Not as hot as Trip 1 to Ridgeway State Park, but hot enough to need the A/C.  But not hot enough to bother anyone.  We had a great time.  The dogs loved it.  They got to swim.  A lot.

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What we learned:

• If you’re going to make a cool wireless mod out of the TV it helps to bring the wireless mod with you.  We had to make a side trip (only about 15 minutes from the campsite) to buy another bluetooth speaker or the night was gonna be pretty quiet.
• Along the same lines, if you’re gonna bring a camera to take pics because you have a lousy cell phone then do more than put it in the pod.  Take it with you when you LEAVE the pod.  All pics taken with the cell phone.  And why I was carrying that when no one ever calls anyone (and thankfully – I hate phones), I’ll never know.
• Reba likes to swim in cold water.  Not warm water.  That’s icky.  She waited on shore.
• Speaking of cold:  Put ice in large zip-lock freezer bags.  That tiny little ice tray is not gonna make enough ice for more than one iced tea.
• Sitting in the shoilet:  don’t drop the pants to the floor if you just used the shower.  Think about it.
• Bungy cords actually work a little better at holding the R-Dome to the pod than the small suction cup hooks.  Just make sure you bring some short ones and some long ones.
• The small wooden edges used to hold up the table when it converts from the dinette to a bed don’t hold much weight.  I suspect the legs of the table were meant for that, but I took those off for the dogs to sleep under the table as well as in the dinette/bed.  But the table broke those wooden edges.  So I’m going to have to put some kind of reinforced supports in their place.
• The mesh curtain we didn’t know what to do with last time is actually meant to slide all the way across the bottom of the pod.  There is a C channel there.  And it will really slide all the way across, even past the tires, with ease.  But you have to cut the mesh when it gets to the metal step at the door otherwise it covers the steps.  So the next time you need to make sure you slide it in the same way.  We’ll find out if I remember that on the next trip.