You've seen my many posts preparing for some trip, we'll here it's going... not much text, just pics.

http://homepage.mac.com/toddtrout

Don't let the cold put you off a trip, the Lance is amazing and crowds are nonexistent
so far.

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Hey those Chicago photos bring back memories when I was an International Harvester Co. employee and walked around some of those same areas. I have even boarded the train at the LaSalle Street Station!! The photo from the Sears Tower of Lake Michigan and the buildings downtown... Lake Michigan Avenue... Ah, the memories!!

Thanks, Bill

'03 Lance 1121
'03 Dodge 3500 DRW CTD

Glad you liked that Bill. I was really surprised by Chicago, it's not all that bad,
great museums! People are real friendly there.

Learning a few tricks on this trip, we are going further between dump and fill up's than in the summer. Stopped to wash the rig at a high clearance coin pressure wash place and dumped the gray water while washing.

Currently near Denver at about 8,200ft, had a bunch of kids setup a tent next to us last night, it was 6 degrees. They were
not geared up for that kind of camping and finally abandoned the idea at 4:00AM.

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Oh and Chief Hosa campground outside Denver is very nice, no sewage hookup but power and water are of good quality and the showers are
very nice. Really pretty place.

Windy City Campground, closest to Chicago, not so good but they have the only game in town for the winter, the water smelled like sulphur
and it was very soft water on top of that. Probably not bad in the summer.

Other than that it's been all Walmart's and anywhere else we could guerilla camp.

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Please be careful dumping at coin wash stations. One near my home recycles the water. Another no longer lets campers/RVs use the station due to people dumping both gray and black tanks. I was getting gas one night at one of these places and over heard the owner yelling at some guy with an RV who had just dumped both his holding tanks. (What a mess) The owner was going on about how he now had to clean his whole car washing system. I know gray water is no big deal, but non-RV'ers don't know the difference and think it all is coming from the toilet. There and plenty of places with dump stations. I often use truck stops or Flying J gas stations.

2001 Lance Lite 915 / 1993 Ford F-350 CC / Rancho 9000 / HappiJacs

Thanks Paul!

Well, finally out of snow country and into Santa Fe. Lowest temp experienced was -6. That night I packed the access door to the dump valves with three of those 12hr pocket heaters! Also, same night, went though 1/2
a bottle of propane. As far as I can tell nothing froze/broke but I'm doing a good look
for leaks in the morning.

Mesa Verde Colorado is great in winter!! The road in is slick though.

Camper/Truck traction in winter on Michelin LTX's. Well, lots and lots of snow over dirt, it goes over it like nothing. Packed ice on the roads, a little harder to handle. Chained up once, dual rear chains with ice bars, was I ever amazed at what a difference that made!

Unloaded dually driving without camper on snow, did it once, never will do it again, I've flown hang gliders and bungie jumped from
helicopters and didn't get such a rush.

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Yep, we've visited Mesa Verde this time of year... in a Ford Bronco 4x4. We left the 2-wheel drive dually at home! The snow is OK, but even with the single rear tire 4x4, we still got some cheap thrills on the ice!

We toured Canyonlands and Arches NP on the same trip. That country is beautiful under a layer of snow! It looks completely different!

Bill

'03 Lance 1121
'03 Dodge 3500 DRW CTD