(YouTube video is at the end of this post. Please consider subscribing to my channel on YouTube.)

Tiffin Motorhomes has a byline they place on the emblem they use for their motorhomes. It reads “Tiffin Motorhomes – Roughing it Smoothly”.

Well, our maiden voyage was a bit less than smooth! We took our motorhome up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days of camping at Moraine Park Campground. We’ve camped there before in a tent and in our older Class C, but it’s been a few years. It’s really a beautiful campground, but things didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped:

• We drove without incident up highway 36 to Estes Park, but chose to avoid downtown Estes by taking highway 34 to the Fall River Entrance. Next time I’ll remember to use the lane that’s NOT constrained between two buildings. I didn’t hit anything, but it sure was a tight fit!
• The Fall River Entrance road must not be used by large motorhomes as much because I hit an overhanging branch that apparently hadn’t been clipped before.
• Our site (26A) at the campground was pretty, but while it is listed as appropriate for a rig our size, it was NOWHERE NEAR level. I had to fully extend the hydraulic stabilizers to raise the front wheels off the ground and it still wasn’t level… also leaving us with a HUGE step up/down at the doorway. 
• We have a residential refrigerator (110V) and thus a power inverter to convert the four 6-V DC house batteries to 110V AC. I need to research this set up a bit more to understand it. Basically, things were fine the first 24-hours. We ran the generator for an hour after that to top off the batteries, but they went down overnight the second night so that we woke up without sufficient power for the furnace (it was 53 degrees in the coach that morning) or even to start the generator. We started the engine and then started the generator and ran it for about an hour and a half to recharge things.
• The BIG problem occurred after noon on that second day. We had arrived with only a partial tank of fresh water and partially full waste tanks, because I wanted to also try out the filling/dumping process. We drove down to the campground dump station and did all that without any problem. The problem came when I needed to return to our campsite. To turn around, I needed to make a left turn to go around a campground loop to head the other direction. You can see in the picture below the dump station on the left. I needed to head out of there straight across to where I’m standing taking this picture, then swing left to go up the loop road. Note the orange cones. They aren’t just cones. The one on the right is actually sitting on a protruding PVC pipe (for underground wiring). My exhaust pipe caught that cone and got pulled off its bracket and onto the ground. The rear wheel caught on the exhaust pipe and I was stuck. I couldn’t lift the pipe and couldn’t go forward. A ranger and another camper helped me (along with a bit of rope) to keep the pipe elevated enough to make it out the exit and onto the side of the road.
• I called Tiffin’s wonderful roadside assistance and they arranged for a tow truck (semi-size) to come up. Unfortunately, the tow driver got called to an emergency semi roll-over before he got to us and was unable to come that night. Se we packed everything we needed in the convertible and went home (an 90 minute drive away). We returned the next morning to meet the tow driver (Kevin from Reliable Towing in Longmont). He was absolutely wonderful. He looked at the pipe and told us he thought he could fix it and save us (and him) the stress of getting towed. He took the exhaust pipe off, straightened it, removed the bent bracket, and wired it solidly back into place for us. He then followed us down Highway 36 to Lyons at which point we parted company.

We decided that since we were so close to Loveland, and we had seen a nice RV park in Loveland on the way home the previous night, we would call to see if they had any openings. They did and enabled a wonderful two-night stay for us to finish out our first excursion and try out camping in a park with hookups. The folks at Loveland RV Resort were very helpful with “first-timers” and made us feel very much at home and successful with our first RV park stay in our new home. Some of the park sites are a bit close together, but there are lots of shady cottonwood trees, the park is very clean and well-kept, and the staff is unbelievably friendly.

We also got to visit the Benson sculpture garden in Loveland. It is a fabulous “walk in the park” featuring over 150 sculptures.

As this week comes to a close, I’ve thought a bit about all the events that transpired. In the moment, several of them seemed almost overwhelming, but in retrospect, we were always safe, we were surrounded by friendly helpful people, and we were able to accomplish our goal for the week, which was to learn what we don’t know about our motorhome. We met a very nice retired couple from Aurora (but originally from Illinois) who had some great stories and advice (in Moraine Park CG). We had a very nice lunch with my sister and brother-in-law, who came up to visit on our first full day. We met a very nice couple in Loveland who are from Albuquerque. The rangers, campground host, Tiffin customer service, tow driver, insurance agent, RV Park hosts – all served as reminders that God does not leave us alone but surrounds us with the help we need in the time that we need it.

When Jesus sent the twelve apostles out in Matthew 10, he said,

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13” href=”https://www.esv.org/Matthew+10/#f4-“>cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.“

This reminds me that I need to be willing to (1) receive help from those we encounter, (2) always treat them with gratefulness, honor and respect, and (3) make sure that every action and word of mine allows the peace and kingdom of God to be revealed. These people would not have crossed my path had not all the events of this week transpired exactly as they did! Thank you, God, for the opportunities you gave me, and forgive me, Lord, for the opportunities I missed! Help me to be aware, and make others aware, of your awesome glory!