Jim

I am the Jim part of Jim and Rene. I just drive.

Lessons Learned (Vol. 42)

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digital trailer brake controller installationIf you’re going to spend just a couple thousand dollars – or the rest of your life – in a travel trailer, do yourself a favor and invest the extra money on a decent electronic brake controller. You might just save yourself from a complete brake system overhaul.

We discovered the hard way that a good digital controller can make all the difference in the world, compared to the cheap pendulum based controllers most RV dealers will install upon purchase of a trailer and hitch. Why they don’t try to upsell unsuspecting fulltimers – like they do with the special toilet paper, levels, wheel chocks, fridge fans and all the other “necessities” – is simply beyond me. But buyer beware, a good brake controller is well worth the money!

After we replaced the brakes on our truck, and discovered we had cooked them, I adjusted our trailer brakes tighter thinking they might be worn out. The opposite was true … we hadn’t been using them!

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Beware of Nazi Park Rangers

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colorado park ranger calls for backup to issue citationDid we happen to mention how we nearly got arrested in Denver? Twice.

We were pretty preoccupied after leaving Denver, and while René is still trying to put the incidents behind her, It’s about time I share our encounter with the cops and a certain authoritative state park ranger.

First off, we headed out after setting up our home for the week and quickly got pulled over by a Colorado state trooper. Needless to say René was totally freaking out. But luckily, this brush with the law was just that. René was doing nothing wrong, we were only guilty of being Californicators.

The officer walked up and immediately explained how he read the expiration tag on our California license plate wrong. He proceeded to run Rene’s license anyway. Thankfully she has no warrants, and we were on our way. OK, so no big deal. That was the next day back at Cherry Creek State Park.

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Lake City Fishing Report

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lake fork of the gunnison river fishing catch and release flies onlyOK. Life must go on I suppose, as lonely as it is without Jerry …

But enough about my hay stories. By now, I’m sure you’re as tired of the hayin’ as I was when we finished. How ’bout some fishing?

This isn’t exactly timely anymore, but consider it my summer fishing report for Lake City, Colorado – from the Vickers Ranch fish ponds, to their upper ranch mountain lakes, to the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River.

A fun time was had. No gear was broken. And a few fish were caught. But not too many.

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American Earth A Must-Read for the Green-Conscious

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We were recently asked to review the new Library of America book, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Edited by Bill McKibben, this anthology covers environmental writing from Walden Pond to global warming.

It sounds like a great read, and we’re honored to review it. But that might not be very soon since we’re on the road again. We’ll have the book forwarded as soon as we have a steady address for a while, or we’ll pick it up at Thanksgiving.

Until then, check out this overview from the publisher and see what major publications have to say about American Earth …

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The Vickers Hay Chronicles

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The Vickers hay Chronicles features The funny short film Hay Country! with Larry Vickers mowing the hay field and workamper Jim helping Paul get the John Deere out of the mud. Part two introduces the fifth generation of Lake City ranchers and workamper Boll Weevil. In part three, meet old Perk Vickers and find out how life on the ranch used to be.

The hay is in the barn.

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What does a gay horse eat? Haaaay-aaaay!!!

Rocky Mountain Hay Meadow at Vickers RanchYou probably gotta hear that one to get it. Or have gay friends. But the point is, ya gotta have a good sense of humor when it comes to hayin’ because things can go wrong which may ruin your day, or entire season. And when you’re a hayin’ there are an awful lot of things that can go wrong.

We actually got all the hay in the Vickers Ranch barn a few weeks ago now. But with so much that happened to halt the hayin’ this year, its amazing we got it in at all. In fact, according to the Vickers we still finished earlier – and with more hay – than any ever before.

Jim tying hay bales on the stackerCollecting and stacking hay is hard work, but first it must be baled. Before that it has to be raked into windrows. But to do that it must first be mowed.

All of the above depends upon the weather. Oh, and the equipment working properly. And nobody getting hurt.

Luckily no one got hurt, which is amazing in itself. But apparently, the weather was on our side this year. Holding out just long enough for us to deal with each of the myriad mishaps…

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