Longmont, CO: A Most ELK-cellent Day!

Late last night we found a leak in something called a check valve that prevents water that's been used from flowing back into the fresh water. Apparently it's been leaking for a while as the material under the combo washer/dryer is soaked. Turned off the water to the washer however it's still leaking.

So today I called Tiffin and they offered to mail me one or reimburse me if I bought one locally. Naturally I figured I could find it locally and get it repaired in the least amount of time. As you might have guessed, despite looking at several RV suppliers I was unable to locate this item.

The reason for telling you all this is not to make you an expert in RV repair, or even hint that RV ownership is problematic; it's nothing more than routine maintenance common to any machine with a bit of complexity.

No, my reason for telling you is to share what happened to us on the way back from our fruitless search for a replacement check valve. I mean, first the leak, the mess the leak had made, then the lack of success finding a replacement part. I mean, even Panera Bread was out of the chicken soup I wanted for lunch.

I mean, what else would go wrong? My rhetorical question was answered soon enough...

As we headed back up the mountain to our campground we found our route blocked by local authorities. For some undisclosed reason the road was closed for the next three hours and we were given some relatively vague directions on an alternative route. I had visions of wandering the back roads around the mountain for a long, long time...

As we wandered some of the back roads, not entirely sure we had made the correct turns, we suddenly saw a small herd of about 15 elk. These were the first elk we have seen since arriving in Colorado. MLA was incredibly excited as seeing elk has been a high priority.

We have been very confident we would see elk at some point on this trip however you wouldn't know it from how we acted when we saw this herd today. I sure we looked like rookie tourists.

I slammed on the brakes, slid off to the shoulder of the road, and dug for my camera, all at the same time.

MLA was no help at all. She was too busy screaming 1) about how many elk were in this herd, 2) about how beautiful they were, 3) about how large the rack was on the male elk, and 4) about how I could get the camera out of her backpack myself, she was going to keep an eye on the elk.
She said she was keeping an eye on them "For you dear, so you know where they are once you locate the camera". Somehow I didn't quite believe her....

In any case I dug the camera out, turned it on and even though they were some distance away and hiding in the bushes, managed to get a few pictures. Then I whipped the car around and pulled onto the shoulder on the other side of the road. I jumped out and was able to get a few more before some guy chased the elk away by getting too close to them.

I mean, this guy had one of those expensive cameras with a telephoto lens big enough to see a squirrel's grin at 500 yards but he insisted on getting closer & closer, probably within about 20 yards.

The elk clearly didn't appreciate this guy's enthusiasm however he kept getting closer so they took off. All over in less than two minutes. Very cool.

Amazing. What had been a series of disappointments throughout the day lead to one of our best memories so far. Just goes to show, you never know why things happen the way they do. However I truly believe they always happen for a reason that will usually be revealed to you.

So the next time it appears things are just not going your way, keep your eyes open. Something special could be just around the corner. I hope you spot your 'elk'....

See Ya!