Wrapping Up the Season ... For Now

Our reward for waking up early on a cold morning at Mueller State Park was a delightfully colorful sunrise. At least the temp had risen from our overnight low of 24F to 32F. Inside the Cruiser, we were cozy and ready to begin breaking camp.

We were on the road by 9:15a. The temp had risen to 38F ... and it warmed up another degree or two by the time we descended 2,000 feet from the mountains to Colorado Springs.

Debating whether we should postpone winterizing the Cruiser for another day or two, we checked the weather. Nope ... too many hard freezes in the forecast. Best to just get it over with.

Mui used to dread winterizing the Phaeton as it took a while to do so and the process wasn’t necessarily easy. Not so with the Cruiser. Basically ...

1. dump and clean the tanks
2. dip a short hose into the jug of antifreeze and hook the other end to the water intake
3. switch the water valve to the winterizing mode
4. turn the water pump on
5. open the faucet at each sink — and run the shower and toilet flush — until “pink stuff” (aka antifreeze) runs out
6. make sure the p-traps are filled, letting the overflow go into the grey and black tanks

And voilà! The Cruiser is winterized. I’m guessing it took Mui 20-25 minutes to complete the process ... at a leisurely pace ... checking to make sure he did not miss a step.

We’re still considering a winter trip somewhere south. But we’re going to wait and see how the pandemic is progressing through the cold months. If we decide to get on the road, it will be easy enough to de-winterize and re-provision the Cruiser. In the meantime, we have the peace of mind that any hard freezes will not damage the plumbing system.Read more