Aug 16th to 18th - Canon City

Aug 16th – Tues – Canon City
We got going early this morning to get the 5th wheel into the repair shop at 8. Then we stopped at WalMart to get coffee & doughnuts and went to a nice city park to enjoy them. We walked up & down the old historic downtown area of Canon City but some stores didn’t open until 10 so it didn’t take us too long.
Next we went to Colorado Springs to pick up replacement tires. We were waiting for insurance approval to get wheels in Denver but didn’t hear anything so stopped at Costco for lunch & shopping and came on back. The problem with the mag wheels is that our design is no longer made. The repair shop found one in Elkhart, Indiana but the cost of the wheel and the air freight to get it here in less than 3 weeks was prohibitive so the service manager asked the insurance company to buy 5 new wheels for less money.
We hung around the repair shop when we got back – I sat in the shade and read a book and Terry put pressure on the employees by hanging around & pacing. They pulled our 5th wheel out beside the shop so we could stay in it overnight. The gate is locked at 5:30 so we walked to the nearby WalMart and got chicken for dinner. We do get some TV reception here but not very good and few channels. But our cell phones and wifi access work!!

Aug 17th – Wed – Canon City
Again we were up early as the repair guy said he would arrive at 7:30 and he did. The manager’s daughter was going to pick up the wheels in Denver so we went for a drive west to Salida. Just past the RV park where we were staying, the road drops quickly to the level of the Arkansas River which runs through the Royal Gorge. It was a lovely drive to Salida where we stopped at a tourist information place and then went for breakfast. They also had a “historic” downtown area so we parked to see what was there. The first thing we saw was the Arkansas River running right along the edge of town with a little bridge with a cement rail perfect for leaning on and watching kayakers practice rolls in rapids. We continued on up & down the street, wandering through several fun stores and buying nothing.
We still had lots of time to kill so we made a loop south then east to Westcliffe, Wetmore & Pueblo. We had just filled up with diesel in Pueblo when the service manager called and said the insurance company would not approve the new wheels and told him to “buy one that matches the best”! One we got headed back, I called the insurance rep only to be told that she works 7:30 to 4 EST and it was now 2:01 so I got her voice mail.
Back in Canon City, we found out that the wheel fender & decal had not arrived today so they pulled the body guy off our rig since it couldn’t be finished until tomorrow anyhow. So more reading & more pacing and we are back in our rig in the repair facility lot. Terry is outside right now probably rehearsing what he will say to the insurance rep tomorrow.
I don’t think I mentioned that the “n” in Canon has an accent ‘ ᷃ ‘ (which I can’t get inserted in the blog) which makes the name pronounced “Canyon” – like the ‘pina’ in front of ‘colada’.

Aug 18th – Thurs – Canon City
This entry will sound much like yesterday’s. Up early to be ready to pull in the slides when the mechanic showed up at 7:30, then try to call the insurance rep and then try to figure out what to do all day. We had received an email from the insurance rep which didn’t help much so we left to go to Cripple Creek to the casinos. About 5 miles down the road I suggested that maybe an email would get through so we turned around, got our computer, sent a response and continued on to Cripple Creek. When we got there and had cell coverage again, we had a voice mail from the insurance rep but of course got her voice mail again.
Thursday is Senior’s day at one casino so we took advantage of bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast & coffee for breakfast for $2.22 each before we proceeded to lose our allowances. We headed back to Canon City and the repair shop for reading & pacing. Do you see a pattern here?
About 2:30 we decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream and of course go the phone call we were waiting for as we were driving. Terry stated our case to the insurance rep and she agreed that they would pay for tires and she would look into the wheel situation. We went back and told the service manager about this development and then went for ice cream.
The wheel fender & decal arrived but the molding around the hot water tank arrived with bends in it so another one should be here tomorrow. The side metal is installed & painted, the wheel fender is installed and we are back in the parking lot for the night. We are on the opposite side of the repair facility and we get 6 clear TV channels and are plugged into 30 Amp so can run the air conditioner. Considering that it is still in the high 80’s at 8 o’clock, that is a good thing.
We have high hopes that we will be out of here late tomorrow afternoon.