Day 63-66 - Two months!

 So, it's been a wild two months. We are loving exploring where we currently are, and having flexibility to make plans, and change plans. We booked Utah for January 13! We were originally thinking about going to Alaska this summer, but I think we are pushing it back to next summer at some time. We will explore Southern California, and a few other states, then maybe find our way back to Colorado but in a different area.

Let's see... what has happened since the last time? Alanna slept over Dana's house. They went to dinner, roller skating, and then on Saturday Alanna went to a Junior Derby practice. They are dorks, and I love them!

She loved it! Brandon and I had a free night Friday, so we went rock climbing, to dinner, and then over to a friend's house to play darts. We went to downtown Loveland for dinner at Henry's. While we waited for our table, we walked down the street to The Pour House and had drinks and appetizers. The appetizers were phenomenal! Chicken Cordon bleu poppers and really good ragoons of some sort (I can't remember, two martinis were involved). It was nice being the two of us! We got home way too late and paid the price Saturday. I'm too old for some things like not being in bed by 11pm the latest.

Saturday afternoon we went to pick up Alanna from Dana. We went to get tacos with Dana, then headed home. We saw dark clouds in the distance and thought we should go before the storm hits. Well, Colorado storms are evidently different. While driving the storm caught up to us. This was the first time I have ever been in a hailstorm where the hail was the size of golf balls. We tried to outrun the storm, but it was moving too fast and would catch up to us. What we should have done was let the storm pass. Lesson learned. There are some small dents in the hood of the truck, but no serious damage. It really sounded a lot worse than it was. 

Sunday Brandon and I went climbing again, but it was terrible. We both climbed really hard on Friday, and on Sunday we were so sore we couldn't climb things we did two days ago. But we got a workout in, so still winning. Alanna didn't want to go with us, which was fine. When we came back, she surprised us by cleaning up the RV. This is the second or third time she has done that. It is really nice that she is taking the initiative and being responsible.

Monday was a case of the Monday's. Brandon got in the truck to go to the gym and the check engine light was on, along with the DEF light. He turned around, came back, and called around to GMC dealerships. Luckily, he found one that had their diesel mechanic in today. All of the other shops were about two weeks out to getting us in. The diagnosis was the diesel exhaust fluid valve. Great, sounds good, here is our warranty information. Just kidding! That isn't covered under our warranty. So, almost $700 later Shakira is all fixed. Almost never a dull moment! 

Things we learned:

• Storms are crazy, and fast here. At least the few we have been in
• DEF valves are not covered under warranty
• Recovery takes just about two days for me
• Alanna loves roller skating

Much Love and Happy Times,

The Blackshire's