There and Back Again

February 13, 2021

Our plan was to leave on Sunday to pick up our new our RV on Tuesday, if the inspection went well on Monday. We allowed ourselves some additional time in case the inspector found something that had to be fixed.

We left Golden, Colorado at 7:40 AM. The sky was blue and the temp was in the 40’s F. US I-70 would provide a straight shot almost to Trenton, OH and we planned to stay on it there and back again.

The sky clouded over as the high plains rolled past, dotted with windmill farms. The temperature started dropping.

By the time we reached Kansas City, it was dark and the weather was awful. The temperature had dropped to 14 degrees F. The roads were icy and snow was flying about. We had to watch for the I-70 signs through the tangled streets of downtown Kansas City, as well as dealing with snow covered curves. We were grateful there was almost no traffic, as we wound through Kansas City. We realized we didn’t want to come back through downtown Kansas City with our new RV.

The temperature dropped to 8 degrees F. Ice was accumulating on the windshield, the headlights, and the side mirrors. Every so often, Bruce would pull over at rest stops, gas stations, etc. and he would scrap off the ice. The DEF indicator came on and he was going to put DEF at the next fuel stop. The next fuel stop turned out to be a station outside of a Walmart. The lock to get to the DEF was frozen. I pointed to Walmart, and said, “Walmart will have DEF and bathrooms.” Walmart had bathrooms, but they were sold out of DEF.

For dinner, we pulled into a truck stop and bought dinner and Bruce bought 2 1/2 gallons of DEF. He had to fill the DEF tank half full in the bitter cold. (The DEF tank takes 5 gallons.)

We stayed at a hotel near Odessa Missouri. We got up, grabbed breakfast, carried it back to the room, and ate. After eating, we headed back onto I-70. The water we brought with us in the truck cab was frozen. The temperature was 13 degrees F.

We drove past farmsteads standing in splendid isolation on the snow covered fields. We saw miles of train cars. Black dots in the snow covered fields turned out to be cattle. We drove over both the Missouri River and the Mississippi River.

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We made it safely to Trenton, OH and found a hotel 12 miles away in Madison, OH.

When we got up, there was 5 to 6 inches of snow and threating more snow. It is funny how 23 degree F feels warm after 13 degrees F! After breakfast, we cleared the snow off the truck and headed over to Couch’s RV Nation. You can see how that went here: https://retirementrvdream.com/2021/02/09/we-did-it-we-own-an-rv/

The roads around Couch’s RV Nation were covered in snow and very slick. The truck slid a little in one spot. Once we made it to the interstate system, the roads were clear. We took the ring road around Cincinnati, OH and head up I-74 to Indianapolis, IN. We picked up I-70 in Indianapolis. The temperature dropped as we headed west and it floated between 12 degrees F and 14 degrees F.

We made it part way through Missouri before stopping for the night. We reviewed our maps to see how to get around Kansas City. The next day, we headed out. When we got to Kansas City, we took I-470 south to I-435 to Kansas state highway 10 back to I-70. I managed to get a picture of the Welcome to Colorful Colorado sign, but the large bump in the road made the picture a little blurry. The miles just rolled by and we made it home just after 7:00 PM Mountain Time.

Nox was delighted to see us. She was such a wiggly dog, it was hard to pet her!

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