We Head South and West for the Winter
While in Jernigan Land we have a replacement seatbelt delivered and Jeff installs it. It’s not exactly the identical model but it works and I can now safely buckle up.
Meanwhile another locked-in and locked-out emergency occurs, making this the third time we have endured this and the first time since we had the original lock replaced.
campingworld.com
Calls to Forest River customer service keep routing us to local authorized dealers who offer no help so we pay a locksmith to break the lock and we order a new one from Amazon.
We spend 2 extra nights at Cherry Creek State Park waiting delivery and the lock arrives in the late afternoon of day 2. Jeff successfully installs it and we are ready to go tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, per the advice of the locksmith, we decide to contact our insurance company and I begin composing a love letter to Forest River!
At last, we head back to Lake Elsinore on October 5th, deciding to postpone our National Parks’ adventures in Utah. We’re ready to settle in for the winter since we’ve been traveling non-stop since August 1st.
We take I-25 South out of Denver and cut over to Highway 160 for a beautiful drive through the Rio Grande National Forest.
We spend the night outside of Pagosa Springs, CO.
Llamas…
What is that towering rock in the background?
A close-up shot from my iPad…
The next day we enter Utah and the landscape changes.
Jeff finds a State Park near Mexican Hat where we plan to spend the night. We have potable water in the fresh water tank and the gray and black tanks are empty. State Parks provide electric hook-ups, at the most. Highway 160 becomes 163 in Utah. We drive toward, through, and beyond Bluff, Utah until
we turn north on 261 for about a mile,
and then turn west onto 361, the almost 4 mile paved access road to Gooseneck State Park.
And then we arrive at the edge of Amazement!
wandering gypsy Laurel 