Saturday and Sunday - Home again, home again...It was lovely to see btggraphix and LaDawn again. Once again we all had to head our separate ways.
We headed first to dump our tanks in Golden, then on to refuel and return the camper. I talked them through a list of things that needed attending, and things they might want to consider in future. The manager admitted that this van, even though only just over a year old, would probably now be sold - it was just too much money trying to keep on top of the maintenance on these RVs once they were more than a year old. If you think about it it isn't like your own RV, where you know how it works, look after everything and are careful with it. These are driven by people who haven't a clue about many aspects of the camper. This is probably why our pump failed. Someone probably left it running dry until they next filled up with water, thinking "what is that noise coming from the back of the camper?".
Once everyone was happy, and once the second taxi company called actually turned up, we took a ride into Denver to the Crowne Plaza in down town which I had booked with all the points I have. Sally was impressed when they announced that as a gold member of their loyalty scheme we were due a free cookie on check-in. She was even more impressed when they upgraded us to a suite too:
We wandered around down-town - they had a music festival on and it was really lively despite being Memorial day weekend:
I wanted to buy a new hold-all bag. I should have bought one in Marrakesh where they were going for $50 for a hand made leather bag, but stupidly I didn't. Btggraphix had suggested REI's flagship store in Denver, so we walked up there. The confluence of the river was full of families enjoying the hot weather:
Wow, what a store. I could have spent hours there:
I did find a very nice bag that was perfect, and we went back to the hotel to relax.
Sunday morning I phoned reception, who extended check-out until 2PM for us. We then went out for breakfast:
And wandered around the civic centre part of the city. I love the illustrations on the drain covers:
After checking out we killed time in the Denver art museum - a really good museum with a great range of art from the Americas, especially native American art.
All too soon it was time to pick up our luggage and head for the airport. Conveniently we got an upgrade on the return flight (useful since it was an overnight flight) and I managed to get some sleep. Sally didn't. Instead she watched films all night, and was still jet-lagged a week later.
In total it had been a great journey. We had seen some spectacular sights, enjoyed perfect weather and met some great people. We may not have had our beloved truck camper with us, but we still thoroughly enjoyed our camping experience despite all the little problems we encountered.
All the best,
Steve & Sally.
