Winter Camping Wraps Up Two to Travel’s Phaeton Journeys

Friday, 1 March 2019
Our Stix & Brix in Colorado
Temps: 50F (10C) / 24F (-4C)

It’s a bittersweet post that I write.  Although we plan to continue traveling around North America in a motorhome, it won’t be on a full-time basis anymore.  Nor will it likely be in the Phaeton … we really won’t need a 40-foot motorhome to travel in now that we have a stix & brix home once again.

I’m not ready to share photos of our new home yet, so I’ll just intersperse some random shots from this past month to add color to this post … starting with this one from Peregrine Pines, the famcamp at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs — the site of our winter camping adventure.

Site 93 is the same one we stayed in last July …
it looks considerably different in the winter than it does in the summer ;-)

Those of you who read the story of last summer’s road trip know that we spent a great deal of time checking out old haunts as well as new ones in our quest to decide which location would suit us best as a home-base.

We’ve always known that we’d land back in the west when we were ready to settle down.  Always thought it would be in Washington or Utah … two states where we lived during our early years in the US … two states that captured our hearts in different ways.  But the reality of the urban sprawl and overcrowding over the past 30 years made us quickly realize that it was going to be very hard to reconcile the changes with our memories of what things used to be like.

I think I’ll be needing a lot of scarves … good thing I picked up knitting again as a hobby ;-)

So we went to Plan B — Colorado.  A state that we’ve enjoyed visiting and exploring in the past.  A state where we could make memories anew … ones that did not clash with old ones ingrained in our minds.

Mui had already done an extensive amount of research before we embarked on last year’s visit to Colorado.  His pre-work made the final decision to settle in the Centennial State an easy one once we arrived in Colorado Springs and checked out a few things in person.  We even managed to go to contract on a new-build and make all the design decisions before we left the state last July.  Construction of our home began while we were overseas, with the builder keeping us informed with weekly email updates and photos, and conference calls at various milestones in the process.

this rainbow over the prairie …

… was the good omen that led to this photo the next day.

By the time we returned to Houston at the beginning of January, we had a closing date — 27 February.

A whirlwind week-long stay in Houston saw us taking care of medical appointments … including Mui’s one-year post-surgery all-clear from the cardiologist.  Finally, we were ready to head north.  The Phaeton got its annual check up at CoachCare Houston on 14 January and that afternoon we were on the road … beginning our mad dash to Colorado while the going was good.

Three nights on the road … three campgrounds.
And a bonus photo of Trinidad Lake iced over … not many RVers see this scene.

Mother Nature — which has been so harsh in so many places around the US this year — cooperated with our plans.  We had the perfect window of opportunity — clear skies, comfy temps, and excellent road conditions with not even a hint of rain, snow, or ice — to travel from Houston to Colorado Springs.  On January 17 we were settled into Peregrine Pines … beating a forecasted snowstorm by just a day.

A quiet night at Peregrine Pines … with lightly falling snow.

Winter camping is not easy.  But it wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be.  Sure, our propane bill was hefty.  But we stayed warm … as did the water pipes in the Phaeton.  Sure we had a couple of snow events that dropped maybe 10-15 inches (25-38 cm) in total during our six weeks of camping.  But when the sun came out — and it was out a lot — the soft, fluffy, powder disappeared within hours, the roads cleared, and life quickly resumed its normal pace … if it stopped at all, that is.  Except for a couple of nights when it dropped to 1F (-17C), our temps were not bad for winter.  We even saw plenty of daytime temps ranging up into the high 50s and low 60s (14-18C).

We’ve always said we’ll take cold and dry over hot and humid, so no complaints on our part.  Besides, if we get tired of the snow at some point … well, we will just have to find warmer climes to enjoy during the winter months.  There certainly are plenty of places that would fit the bill.

Colorado DOT does a good job of clearing the roads … the sun takes care of the rest.
(Looking towards the USAFA Visitor Gate from the Santa Fe Trail.)

The weeks between our arrival in Colorado and closing on the house were busy ones.  There were lots of visits to the house during the final weeks of construction.  It was fun to track the progress in person … to plan what would go where … what we would need to buy … which household goods we had in storage in Winchester might be repurposed.

Doesn’t look like the great room will be ready for closing in two weeks, does it?

We also did a bit of light hiking and exploring from Peregrine Pines.  And I worked on plans for our summer/fall trip to Europe … especially exciting this year as we have a family wedding to celebrate in Turkey.

Approaching the USAFA Cadet Chapel from the trail that starts at the Visitor Center.

Left: The Chapel is said to be the most visited man-made attraction in Colorado.
Right: Colored glass fills in the space between the tetrahedrons of the ceiling.

No reason to stay indoors just because there’s a bit of snow on the Santa Fe Trail.

Thus we wrap up our Phaeton Journeys and put this blog to sleep.  Not sure when we will trade in our gently and lovingly used coach for a smaller one.  We’re not in a terrible hurry to do so.  But if the right opportunity presents itself … well, we are not averse to considering a sale now either.

(If you know anyone who is looking for a 40-foot motorhome … we have one that fits the bill … drop us a note or leave a comment here on the blog.)

Cheerful smiles … a sign of our pleasure in deciding to settle in Colorado.

We end one journey and begin another one.  Time to wrap up this bittersweet post — sniff, sniff — and go mop the floors in the bedroom now that our new SleepNumber bed is all set up … our first sleep in the new house is just a few hours away.

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