Three hours later as we pulled out of our site into 40 to 60 mph winds I was thinking... this #%*^# hitch better turn this hurricane into a breeze or I'm packing it up and sending it back. I also thought about ways to murder Jim Stoll who recommended the damn thing. Why the vitriol you ask?
Actually it is my own ignorance and not Jim or Hensley's fault. At one point during this painful ordeal I pulled the pin that released the connection to the hitch ball and the entire hitch fell to the ground. As I jumped back to avoid the 200 pound chunk of metal, I recalled Bart (the installer) saying something like ... whatever you do stupid, don't disconnect this pin! Actually I added the "stupid" part because I'm sure Bart could not possibly envision someone being so... well, you get it.
As the hitch hit the ground I looked at my sweet wife standing nearby holding a wrench like a good nurse ready to assist. There were tears in her eyes. We have diametrically opposed ways of handling stress. Me...swearing and laughing. She... tears and quiet fear of certain failure. So there we are with the hitch at our feet not knowing if I can even lift it up to reattach it. We're 25 miles away from service, sans tools, knowledge or skill. So what do you think Jill does? She gets out the manual and starts to read... women!
To make short work of this, the manual helped as did my recall of a little lever that needed to be engaged to line everything up properly. Like most things, I expect hooking up will improve with time and practice.
We drove from Santa Fe to Raton Pass where we spent last night. The weather forecast was dead on... 40 to 60 mph winds all the way. El Gato purred. In 200 miles we probably saw 2 other RVs crazy enough to be on the road and both of those were 5th wheels which handle wind better that trailers or coaches. (We were not, however, without mishaps... at one point Jill discovered that the wind had torn off the cap on the storage bumper where trailers store the flexible sewer hose, and we were dragging ours down the freeway. Later a cross wind caused our folding step to unfold).
Eight thousand foot Raton Pass is on the border of New Mexico and Colorado on the main north south artery I-25. As a low point in the surrounding mountains it's also the place where the wind blows the hardest. Last night was a real rock and roll event. We were perched on a ridge line at the very top of the pass about 200 yards from the border. Frankly if we hadn't stayed hooked up to the Denali with the Hensley holding strong I think there's a good chance we'd have become a kite. Although it's hard to tell when inside, my guess is there were some 80 mph gusts last night.
Our planned visit to Chaco, Chelly and Grand Canyons has been postponed once again due to a business opportunity in Denver. We left this morning planning to wind our way through the southern Rockies and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately the wind increased from last night so we had to stick to the Interstate rather than climbing over a 10,000 foot pass as planned... although the Hensley would probably have kept us safe we didn't think it was worth the risk especially with snow in the forecast. We drove from Raton to Denver where we will stay until Monday. We have business meetings tomorrow and Saturday then on Sunday we'll visit with Jill's brother and family.
There's much to report in a later post on Santa Fe and Taos... stay tuned.
(By the way if you are concerned about the direction our country is heading you may want to visit this site. Remember when you open this that the basis of our laws, the 10 commandments, are no longer allowed on government property. http://islamoncapitolhill.com/)
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