Boulder Departure

We returned to Red Beard after a few weeks visiting family. Red Beard has been sitting in Boulder, in front of our friends’ house. Obviously, there were a few bus projects that needed doing, so Jason spent a day replacing windshield wipers, re-installing our front license plate which Hurricane Odile had removed back in Baja, replacing the cracked brake hoses, repairing the speedo and installing our 3rd set of speakers. Thanks to Scott and Blakely for hosting us, again.

Early the next morning, we packed up, said goodbye to our friends and headed out on the open road. We only made it about 5 miles. Red Beard apparently wasn’t ready – a steel brake line sprang a leak. We rolled into a parking space and Jason got to work on that. It was our fault – when replacing the flexible lines, we must have pushed one of the steel lines against the CV and wheel and it wore through. Bode and I went to Pearl Street for a coffee.

After calling around, no one seemed to have the part we needed. But someone suggested using a European generic brake line and using an extra loop to make it fit. Jason walked 3 miles for the part, and it worked!  So, by noon we were ready to roll–again!

We needed a ‘before’ photo so, we drove up to NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). The location high above Boulder is stunning, but the building itself is a true piece of art.  It was designed by I.M. Pei (the Louvre pyramid guy) in 1961. Inside there are exhibits on weather, climate change, ocean pollution and a scale model of the building.

Upon returning to the bus, we could only get a quick photo because Bode was eager to get to work on the MineCraft version of the NCAR building. He worked on it diligently until we made it to our first campsite of the trip. We didn’t make it far, Horsetooth Reservoir – but what a great spot for our first night.