An Unpleasant Surprise June 18, 2018, 12:47:33 pm Cyndy and I are traveling and exploring in Colorado. Pagosa Springs (Pagosa Riverside RV) was beautiful, in spite of the Durango fires. We filled with good water there.Mueller State Park was absolutely beautiful with wonderful roads to explore on the motorcycle and trails to hike. We filled with great water, through the filters, there.Buena Vista KOA, on the other hand, was a bust. Between the dirt and dust, off level sites, tightly packed sites, lack of pressure (or no pressure) in the showers, we found one more horrible shortcoming: The faucet at the site gave us brackish water.I normally add filtered water at each site prior to leaving and then only use the water in the tank. I never directly connect to the water at the site. As a result, I didn't realize that I had filled with salty water until we were at our present site. It tasted TERRIBLE at the first swallow!We are presently at the most beautiful park, Black Canyon RV Park and Campground in Cimarron. The tap water tastes just fine here.I always carry new filter elements, a 10 micron sediment and a .5 micron bacterostatic and carbon filter. I tossed the filters that were used at Buena Vista KOA and replaced with new. I drained the Lazy Daze and refilled with clean, filtered water, and flushed the lines.That was an unpleasant surprise and unexpected. We will get a late start exploring this area, but at least we have clean water again. We will not return to Buena Vista KOA. It was our worst experience at a KOA in decades.Harold 3 Likes
Re: An Unpleasant Surprise Reply #1 – June 18, 2018, 08:57:29 pm Mueller State Park is wonderful. Fond memories about that park. Not so fond memories about driving the toad up Pikes Peak. I didn’t know my fear of heights had gotten so bad. About passed out by the time we reached the top. Going down was much easier.Never stayed at a KOA in our 14 years with Ruby. No interest in sardine can packed “camping” for a mere $50 per night or so. You get a Lazy Daze so you don’t have to go to such places!!!! 1 Likes
Re: An Unpleasant Surprise Reply #2 – June 19, 2018, 12:51:44 am Goes to show that we are all different. Our ride up Pikes Peak was one of the highlights of the trip. We did it early in the morning on our motorcycle and the tight turns toward the top without traffic were taken at a "sporting pace". My young bride was on the back, riding with no hands in order to take photos and when I skimmed the edges of the pavement, she took photos of the road below. It reminded me of riding the passes in the Alps.When the freshwater is low and the holding tanks are full, it is nice to have hookups for the night. Getting a tank full of brackish water was an unpleasant discovery. 1 Likes
Re: An Unpleasant Surprise Reply #3 – June 19, 2018, 06:02:05 pm Blueox25, I'd sure agree with you about the Buena Vista KOA. I've never stayed there, but I have used their RV dump on multiple occasions. The place is a real dive. I prefer to boondock.Just FYI, if in the future you are in the area and need good water, the Buena Vista Public Works department has a nice water station for a low fee. The water there tastes great, unlike many of the other sources of water in Buena Vista, which are fed by hot springs with sulfur and other minerals. Here are their coordinates: 38.82512, -106.13929They also have big dumpsters for recycling, but not for garbage, unfortunately. 2 Likes
Re: An Unpleasant Surprise Reply #4 – June 19, 2018, 09:15:57 pm Thanks Jan,I'll put that in our travel notes in preparation for a future visit.The hot spring information makes the foul water taste make sense!Harold