June 19, 2020 Estes Park/RMNP, CO (Day 7)

It rained lightly, but steadily all night. After we got up, the rain stopped temporarily. The mountain views we obscured by low-hanging clouds.

The rain was welcome. The dust wasn’t as bad after the rain and the bus and the Jeep got a light washing. We’re thinking of changing Auggie’s name to Dusty because he is so full of dust and needs a bath badly. When we pet him, a cloud of dust goes up into the air. He’ll get that much-needed bath when we move on Sunday to our next location. Around 9:00, the sun peeked out for awhile. The clouds began to lift, but the temp hovered around 50 degrees.

Our plan was to spend this cooler, rainy day walking around town and doing some laundry. I did a couple of loads of wash in the bus and some light “house cleaning”. We had lunch and left for Estes Park around 11:30. We parked and walked the other half of the town, stopping in a few shops. The streets were busy with shoppers and lunch-goers.

I loved this poster I saw in one of the stores. It was so appropriate for the times.

Bob found a shirt he wanted and we stopped at Laura’s for some homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream before heading out.

As we walked to the Jeep, rain started to fall and the skies became dark. It rained on us on the way back and for another 30 minutes after we arrived back at the campground at 1:30. Auggie didn’t like the thunder that came with the rain. The thunderstorms moved on and the sky partially cleared. We could see that the storm that passed through last night left more snow on the mountains.

I finished two more loads of wash and then spent some time relaxing. Bob took care of some business with the repair that we had done this week. Our Coach-Net extended warranty service plan took care of paying for the service call and mileage. Rick, our repairman, made two service calls. One was on Sunday –time and 1/2 for $650 and one on Tuesday for $270) for a total of $900. Our portion was $17 for the fuse and $8 for the shop materials. In speaking with Rick today to find out how we should pay the $25 we owed him, he said to forget it and he would add it to the service bill. We would owe him nothing! We can’t say enough good things about Rick and his company, MDRI–Mobile Diesel Repair, Inc. We saved $900 in service fees through our warranty and he forgave the rest. He came to our rescue with prompt, above-and-beyond service. Thank you, Rick. Campers arrived all afternoon for the weekend and the campground got fuller and fuller.

We made plans for today to be a stay-at-home kind of day due to the weather, so everything worked out well. Around suppertime, the sun came out and the skies cleared.

Tomorrow would be a beautiful day that we planned to spend in the park. It would be our last day in RMNP and we want it to be a good one. After dinner, Auggie got a long walk since the day was rainy. His walks and time outside were cut short due to the weather today. Everyone in the campground settled in for a cool night in the mountains.