RV Trip: Hartsel Valley, Buena Vista and Independence Pass

This was an RV trip to test out cold weather mitigation techniques in terms of being able to use the fresh water tank.  Last trip out to Buena Vista, I thought I'd run out of water, turned out the tubes feeding the water pump had frozen (and maybe the pump as well).

This time, I used my old Honda EU1000i generator to provide power through most of the night so that I could turn on the heat pads that are attached to all three tanks: fresh, gray and black water.  Each pad uses 9 Amps of electricity when on so my battery couldn't handle it alone.

I'm please to report nothing froze overnight on Thursday, as I boondocked at a friend of a neighborhood friend's place near Hartel, Colorado.  I also woke to a beautiful sunrise:

After breakfast, I broke camp and headed a short distance away, about 30 miles to the boondocking spot near Buena Vista, CO.  I like this spot since it's never full and as I'm typing this, there's perhaps three other campers total in the site tonight.

After work on Friday, Scarlett and I rode up US24 North out of Buena Vista and were soon going up CO Hwy 82, aka Independence Pass Road which I was surprised to find was still open for traffic.

 I like this set to tunnels near the campground, they're

called the Midlands Tunnels

It took very little time to get to the summit of Independence Pass as traffic was very light for a Friday afternoon.  I spent a little time on top taking the following pictures:

 Looking towards Aspen, I didn't go there today.

 The requisite picture of one's ride at the Pass Sign

 The view of neighboring peaks as one descends back

down towards the town of Twin Lakes

I scouted some campgrounds near Twin Lakes, CO, making note of their cellular data signal for future use.  Of the three campgrounds I visited, the two National Forest campgrounds were closed for the season.

Scarlett and I hurried back towards Buena Vista but got to our preferred sunset picturing spot with plenty of time.

 Along County Road 361 just north of Buena Vista

The clouds showed much promise but by the time the sun

went down, there wasn't much left.

A fairly mild sunset with rosy pink pastel highlights for the most part.  Scarlett and I rode back to the campground in the gathering darkness with no issues.  We go home tomorrow I think, unless I make a stop at the Dexter Point Campground near Twin Lakes.  We shall see.