The Vacation from Hell

Did you ever have one of those vacations where everything seemed to go wrong?  Louise and I, and our granddaughter, Gabby, just returned from Colorado two weeks early because nothing about our trip was going as it should.

Our first sign was a lack of water.  For years, we have taken our RV up there empty and filled the water tank at White Star Campground near Twin Lakes, a small town near where we camp.  When we got there this year, we discovered that the US Forest Service had cut the bibs off the hydrants so no hoses could be attached!  Apparently, this is the way our government insures that they are in compliance with anti-siphon faucet regulations.  Instead of installing anti-siphon faucets, just whack the old ones up where they can't be used!

When we got to our campsite, we discovered that no one else was there except for the host.  This was on July 2, two days before the biggest summer holiday of the year and no one was there!  I occasionally like a little solitude but this was just plain eerie!  At any rate, we decided to stay for a week and there were a few campers who came and went during that period.  I should point out that the Forest Service changed their rules: you can now stay in their campgrounds only 14 days out of every thirty!  We don't understand this new rule; its certainly not because the campgrounds are so crowded with campers.

After a week in the Forest Service campground, we decided to move to a commercial RV park.  Gabby was a bit unhappy because there was no one to play with and we also needed to be able to hook up to water and sewer.  Our friends Tom and Alice were coming up and were going to stay at the KOA in Buena Vista so we got a spot there as well and paid for eight nights.

The first couple of days in the KOA were not too bad but then our dog, Buddy, got sick.  I don't know what was wrong with him, but he really was lethargic.  We were going to find a vet for him but he managed to recover on his own.

About this time, I needed to receive and send a fax in order to change over some insurance so I sent Gabby to the office to obtain the fax number.  "Fax Services" was one of the items listed on the RV Park's brochure.  She came back in a few minutes and said that the owner wouldn't give her the number, that I had to come up there!  Well, to give you the short story, my "Okie" temper kicked in and the owners wound up suggesting that we should leave the Park.  We decided to stay there just to spite them.

While Louise and I were contemplating what we should do next, Gabby was out riding her bicycle.  She slid coming down a steep hill, lost control, and slid on the gravel.  She had a pretty serious case of "road rash" on her knees, legs and arms.  Louise got her "doctored up" but she was pretty sore.

After the bicycle wreck, the three of us sat down and decided to come on back home, even though we had planned to stay a couple of weeks longer!  The trip home was uneventful and we sure are glad to be home.

As an epilogue, I should tell you that I decided to post a negative review about the Buena Vista KOA on tripadvisor.com.  When I logged on there, I discovered that there was already a long list of negative reviews about the owners of this place!  The moral of the story, of course, is to check the reviews before you go, not after!

At any rate, we survived and the next one will be better.