Adventures in Yellowstone: Spring 2021

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Betty, I lived in Spearfish, South Dakota in the summer of 1978. That summer, we did a trip to the Tetons, driving through Casper, Wyoming on our trip west to the Tetons. We returned home driving a bit north, going through Yellowstone and coming out the east entrance and then through Cody Wyoming.

It was a beautiful drive!

Keven, thanks for the running commentary. I think it really adds a lot! We have stayed at Rifle Falls back when we had our trailer. It is a beautiful park. Last year there was a flood that damaged the road to it. I would be hesitant to drive our motorhome there now.

We have been to Mueller State Park many years ago. It is too close to the big cities (Denver and Colorado Springs) of the front range for our tastes.

We have not yet camped at Ridgway State Park, but will have to check that one out. It looks very nice.

In my telling of this story, I have really not had a chance to say just how great it was to be able to make this trip. We really did have some fun amidst all the challenges of trying to make our motorhome behave. I plan to post some stories about those fun things later in this thread!

We were boondocking in Yellowstone for the first 3 weeks of the trip. That means we did not have any power, water, or sewer connections. The motorhome had to be self sufficient. If we ran out of water, we would need to break camp and head to the dump station, where we could empty the gray and black tanks and fill up with fresh water. We really wanted to avoid doing this because it was a challenge to get the motorhome parked at our campsite.

That campsite is rated for a 30 foot total combined vehicle length. If you had a typical SUV that is about 18 ft long, then you could have a 12 foot trailer.

We, of course, had a 38 ft motorhome and a full-size van to fit on the site. On our first trip to Yellowstone with the motorhome, we thought it would fit in that specific campsite, because we were familiar with the site and had measured things carefully. It turns out that our motorhome does just barely fit, but requires quite a bit of back and forth to sneak it into position. Once it was tucked into the site, there was room for the wheelchair van behind the motorhome.

But, it really is a chore to get the motorhome into that site, so we did not want to have to break camp to dump and refill with fresh water. So, we were careful to conserve water so that the 100 gallons of fresh water we started with would last the entire 3 weeks. Our gray water tank is only 40 gallons, which means we could only put 40 gallons down the sinks, shower, etc.

In our efforts to conserve water, we would run the faucets at a slow trickle when washing dishes, etc.

When boondocking, water pressure is provided by a water pump, which should turn on whenever sufficiently low pressure is detected in the motorhome's water lines.

One night, after my wife had done the dishes, she went to wash her face and discovered no water came out when she turned on the bathroom sink's faucet. Rats one more time.

It soon became obvious that the water pump was not turning on when there was sufficiently low pressure in the plumbing. We had encountered this before on our fall 2019 trip to Yellowstone, but each previous time this happened, the outside temperatures were well below freezing. We had it looked at by the repair shop at the end of that trip and they assured us the water pump was working fine and that we probably just had a minor ice blockage in the lines.

Apparently, the repair shop was wrong! I really did not know what to do, so in desperation I cycled the power to the water pump, leaving power off for about 30 seconds. That did not fix the problem. We turned the water pump off and finished up the evening using bottled water. We went to bed a bit dejected by yet another failure.

In an act of wishful thinking, I turned the water pump on when we got up the next morning. The water pump worked!

This scenario repeated itself several times throughout the trip. Each time, it seemed to be after we had run a sustained, slow trickle of water from a faucet. Through trial and error, we discovered that when the pump failed, if would work if we turned power to the pump off for at least 5 minutes and then restored power to the pump.

We still don't know what is wrong. It is likely that we need a new water pump. Replacing it is a significant job (lots of labor) because of where it is located. It appears the pump has been replaced once before (there is a code in the serial number indicating it was sold through a retail outlet rather than to the motorhome manufacturer). And, it is a special, high-volume pump that is no longer manufactured. There is no comparable pump on the market today. So, we don't want to just replace the pump to see if that fixes this intermittent problem.

This failure caused moments of panic, but did not otherwise interfere with our trip too much. We were just glad that it worked well enough to get us through the trip.

Steve
 
Steve, I would suggest you check the psi on the water accumulator tank, which has an internal bladder that needs to be at around 30 psi to maintain pressure. However, you mentioned that your coach has a high volume water pump, and I’m not sure, but I don’t know if those pumps require the accumulator tank.

We had a similar issue but the psi was too low on the tank, and once I inflated it to the correct psi the water flow returned. Glad that it didn’t significantly hinder your use.

That is too bad about the road leading into Rifle Falls SP. we liked it because it was so tucked away, small, and very scenic. Ridgway is quite nice, and they have three campgrounds to choose from. Kevin
 
Okay, okay, I know I’m chiming in here way more than I should, but your adventures are bringing back such (mostly) great memories of our years on the road that I can’t help myself. I can picture everything so clearly from your posts, and it is giving me great joy. Forgive me if I am posting too much.

Being the consummate researcher and planner that you two are, you probably know this, but two websites we found invaluable was the Allstays Camp and RV app, which shows most all the public and private campgrounds with detailed descriptions of each one, and campsitephotos.com. This is a great site that has ground level photos of each campsite in many public and private parks. Not all, but many. It was incredibly helpful for us to be able to see each site and pick one that met our needs (shade, spacing, whether level or not, etc.)

When we would visit Yellowstone or the Tetons, one of our favorite areas to spend a few days before going there was the Bighorn National Forest. Most folks skip the Bighorn and head right to the NP’s, so it is so much less crowded. Several great NF campgrounds (we liked Sibley Lake because I liked to fish), and plenty of boondocking spots off FS roads.

I have a slightly different definition of boondocking than you, which I consider camping on public lands outside of designated campgrounds. When we boondocked for a few days in the Bighorns, we would stay for a day or so at a private park in Buffalo and then scout out all the Forest Service roads in our vehicle for a good site.

Keep the posts coming, Steve. You’ve made my week! Kevin
 
How very exciting😲! I do so enjoy "armchair" 🪑traveling❤️.
Get some well deserved rest, 🛏️, then keep-on🚐- keeping-on 😊. B😷
 
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Kevin, I really appreciate your posts and your insights into motorhomes. I am so glad that these posts brings joy into your life.

I was aware of the potential for an expansion (accumulator) tank to be involved in the water pump issues. A compounding problem is that we have a large expansion tank that is needed for our super dooper toilet. That tank was replaced last summer. Accessing it requires removing the washing machine, which was very labor intensive. And, yes, our motorhome has a washing machine. Not something we will ever use and we have considered permanently removing it to provide for more storage and easier access for plumbing repairs. Our water pump problems existed with both the old and new expansion tank, so that reduces the odds that the expansion tank is the problem.

I have spent time in the Bighorn National Forest. We did a climbing trip in the Bighorn mountains when I lived in South Dakota way back in 1978. It is beautiful country.

We use a variety of websites for trip planning. I will add the two you suggest to our list.

Beauty4everyone, I am glad you are along for the journey.

Now, to resume the story of our travels.

As I wrote in my previous post, we were making a serious effort to conserve water so that we could make it through the trip without refilling the fresh water tank. Staying clean was a bit of a concern.

When we are in Yellowstone, I normally take showers at the Old Faithful Inn. For a modest fee they will allow visitors the use of a shower. They have a wonderful accessible shower on the first floor that suits my needs very well.

Unfortunately, the Old Faithful Inn was closed due to Covid. In fact, all the places that had showers were closed throughout the park and most outside of the park were also closed. The only place we found was a hostel in the town of West Yellowstone, which is 14 miles west of the Madison campground.

My wife used the shower there, but insisted it would not be safe for me to make it up the rickety stairs to the second floor of the very old building to access the showers.

Thus, I would need to use the shower in the motorhome.

The motorhome's shower suits my needs pretty well. While small, it does have a hand-held shower head and a seat where I can sit.

When I turned on the water for my first shower, it was quite cold, as expected. As the hot water reached the shower valve, the shower became warmer and then was scalding hot. No matter what setting we used, the water remained scalding. I am willing to take a cold shower (have done some many times), but obviously could not do one with scalding water.

One more failure to deal with. I decided not to investigate this issue further until we were in a campsite were we had water and sewer connections. We had one such night planned, the night between our 3 week stay in Yellowstone and our 1 week stay in the Tetons.

So, I went the first 3 weeks of the trip without a shower.

When we arrived at the Flagg Ranch campground (between Yellowstone and the Tetons), we were able to connect to power, water, and sewer. This allowed me to turn off the water heater and comfortably release about half the water heater's capacity of hot water down the drain. I was then able to take a shower with less than scalding water. That was the only shower I had on the trip!

As I researched the problem, I found that this is a very common occurrence with the valve our shower uses. We simply needed to replace a part (the balancing spool). We ordered one and when we got home attempted to replace it. Of course, the old one was seized and could not be removed. We had to take the motorhome in to be serviced before we could look at it further, so we still don't know how we will get the old balancing spool out so we can install a replacement.

I am close to the end of our list of problems we encountered. I have a few more to tell you about and then will switch to sharing with you some of the wonderful things we saw and experienced.

Steve
 
OMG Steve, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one trip with so many issues. We might have had one or two relatively minor things on each trip, but then again except for a few days days boondocking we usually stayed at public or private campgrounds with at least electric, usually electric and water with sewer hookups at the private parks. I am totally flabbergasted. The good news is that I imagine most all of the campers were a bit ripe with the showers closed!

I am a little surprised you have both a water heater with tank and the hydronic heating system. Our aqua hot was the water heater, so no separate tank.

You’ve basically encountered pretty much everything that could happen to the house part of the coach, with a couple of engine issues thrown in for good measure. Holy crap...it’s time to hear about some fun stuff! K
 
Kevin, We have a 10 gallon Atwood water heater. It will allegedly run off of propane, electricity, the Hurricane hydronic heating system, or heat from the engine. We have tested it with propane and the Hurricane hydronic heating system.

It was an "eventful" trip, for sure. I hope future trips have fewer "events".

Really, I think we are just going through the shakedown period after buying a motorhome that is now 19 years old. I am confident we will get everything sorted out and enjoy a more normal motorhome experience in the future.

Steve
 
Thot of you finding the Boulder WY campsite!!!
 

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Betty, I needed a sign like that on the way to the campground near Boulder, Wyoming!

Steve
 
Eagerly awaiting trip photos, Steve!
 
I think it is time to take a break from relating our tale of woes with the motorhome and talk about some of the wonderful things we saw and were able to do on this trip.

First, it was really remarkable to be able to take a trip after being isolated for over a year due to Covid. I was anxious to get out and see the world and so was my wife.

We took our two siamese cats with us on this trip, as we usually do. They celebrated their second birthday on this trip. They are someplace between the rebellious adolescent and young adult stages in life. They are great cats, but sometimes they seem to get into a lot of trouble. We love them both!

As I have described previously, we spent our first night in a campground just outside of Boulder, Wyoming. It is about two thirds of the way from our house to the campground in Yellowstone. When we got up in the morning, I found the cats lounging on the motorhome's dash.

We had good weather for the first 3 days we were in Yellowstone. We spent those days in the Upper Geyser Basin, where the famous Old Faithful geyser is located. It has an amazing assortment of geysers and other thermal features that make it a favorite of mine.

We slept in late the first day, so did not venture out until about 2:00 PM. When we arrived, I was able to get in the wheelchair and roll over the endless miles of paths and boardwalks. I have included a picture of Lori walking on the path near Daisy geyser

We saw numerous geysers and ran into people that we have met on previous trips.

I was able to take a few pictures of riverside geyser erupting. It is a particularly picturesque geyser, because it erupts over the firehole river. I have included a picture of my wife watching that eruption.

It was amazing to be out in the sun in one of my favorite areas.

Steve
 

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Yippee! That’s what we’ve been waiting for! What adorable kitties (and Lori, too, of course). Thanks Steve.
 
I'm loving every moment of this tale! Thanks Steve!!!!
 
Absolutely fabulous pictures, Steve (as usual!). I'm following along with bated breath- this trip seems salted liberally with "Oh sh*t" moments. Your cats are lucky to have you convey them around in such a luxurious chariot.
 
Love the pics Steve. I consider the ones of Lori and and the fact that you are here telling your story to be proof you both somehow survived this adventure! I'm very much enjoying living vicariously through you guys. Thanks for continuing to share...Jon
 
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