Today was our last day at the CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming. John & Cheryl pulled out at 6:15 AM, so we did not get to see them off. We had a leisurely morning prepping the rig for travel, and pulled out of the Boxelder RV Park around 10:15. Our destination was Peter D’s Campground in Sheridan, Wyoming, where would be joining nine other rigs (16 people) for a two week Habitat For Humanity RV Care-A-Vanner build coordinated through the HFH BOF of The Escapees RV Club.
The 103 mile drive was “high plains scenic”, and the first glimpse of the Bighorn Mountains was exciting. The terrain was rolling and some of the grades were steep, albeit not steep enough to require special signage. The last 30 miles of the trip one of the pyrometer gauges (Left) started exhibiting a new behavior. On downhill grades, both pyros drop to the bottom of the gauge (300 deg F) as the engine is using very little fuel and getting lots of cooling. As I started up the next grade, the “R” pyro would instantly start to rise as the engine burned more furl, but the “L” pyro would sit on 300 for 3 – 10 seconds and then jump up to and indicate a temperature close to the “R”. (Note: the left pyro has always indicated about 150 – 200 deg F less than the right one.)
We arrived at Peter D’s RV Park around 12:30 PM. Peter D’s is easily accessed from I-90. It is not a fancy place, but it is nice with clean restrooms/showers and laundry room. The sites are a bit narrow, but they are all pull-through with full hookups and 20/30/50 amp power. Out site was close to level and long enough for our bus and car.
I was a little concerned about the pyro readings, so I e-mailed my mobile mechanic and three fellow bus nuts, to see if they had any suggestions.
Before we left Gillette, Nick Russell gave us a bundle of latest issue of The Gypsy Journal to distribute during our travels, so we dropped off copies at the campground office.
Our HFH RV CAV / SKP HFH BOF team gathered at Jack & Shirley Krohn’s Airstream Sovereign trailer at 3:30 PM for the initial team orientation, led by Steven Gullette. We were joined by Matt, the Executive Director of the Sheridan HFH affiliate, and Brian, the construction supervisor for our builds. We learned that we would be working on two different houses, both within a mile of Peter D’s. We had a late addition to the team, so we will have 11 rigs and 18 people.
Our HFH RV CAV / SKP BOF team opening dinner.
We gathered at the Krohn’s again at 5:00 PM for the pot-luck welcome social. Matt brought a grill and the meat and team members brought side dishes. A bit to our surprise, there were several things we could eat (besides the dish we brought). We were barely finished eating when a thunderstorm blew in and we had to gather up our stuff, head back to our rigs, and secure them against the coming storm. At that point we hunkered down for the evening.
BTW: The Rescue Tape holding the two halves of the roof-mounted searchlight worked just fine at highway speeds.