Great Basin National Park Shakedown Cruise


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The newly renovated Das Bus was sitting pretty at Great Basin National Park in Nevada this past weekend.  The off-season, beautiful weather, and lack of crowds would have made this a perfect weekend trip.  Well, it would have been perfect, except for the mysterious water leak.  More on that later. Sigh…

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The hiking was spectacular. No, James isn’t posing.  That’s just how he stands.

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Definitely do the cave tour when you go!

The only problem: When we woke up Sunday morning, James noticed a big water puddle under the RV. Bye-bye perfect weekend! From there, he spent the next couple hours disassembling the kitchen to get to the water pipes, and I made myself scarce. I like my head bite-free, ya know?  On the plus side, I spent the time doing exercises on the picnic table, practicing balances on some boulders by the stream, and doing some sprint intervals through the park.  Fit your exercise in anywhere you can, friends.

In the end, the plumbing fix couldn’t be finished until we got home.  Sir Grump-A-Lot put the kibosh on the rest of the days’ plans (ghost town exploring) and we headed directly home so he could make several trips to Home Depot and Camping World. Let’s hope that our next trip will be RV-drama free.  I doubt it, though. Good thing James is handy with a traveling toolbox.

Still. I highly recommend the park, and I hope we can go back soon!



After 15 years as an educator in both the public K-12 setting and the University level in Special Physical Education, Stef made the leap to her true passion… the fitness world. She’s currently a personal trainer and wellness coach specializing in seniors, medical conditions, and injuries. Stef loves running, cycling, and being “Mugga” to her two favorite mini-humans — Punky and Marshmallow. ❤️


    6 thoughts on “Great Basin National Park Shakedown Cruise

    1. Richard Anthony

      James

      I have an Ekko since March 2022. I recently tried to winterize,and followed the procedures in the manual. After fully draining the rv, shutting off the drain valves and setting the panel valves in the winterize position; I could not syphon antifreeze into the unit using the pump.

      a Winnebago rep indicated a faulty pump which could not pull the antifreeze through a check valve on the city water inlet connection.

      Have you heard of othe ekko owners with this problem?

      Thanks,

      Richard

      Reply
      1. James

        I think I have heard of this before.
        On Facebook, try the “Winnebago EKKO Owners and Wannabes” group. I think that’s where I heard it.

        Reply
    2. Bob

      What was the original brand of your RV? I haven’t seen the full bath and side bench design. Seems like really good choices.

      Thanks,

      Bob

      Reply
      1. Stef - Post author

        Bob, Das Bus started life as a 2003 Forest River MB Cruiser. We agree, the design is awesome. We love how spacious and open it feels inside for a Class B; and the full bath across the back can’t be topped. It’s surprising nobody’s currently building this layout!

        Reply
    3. James

      OK everyone. This was actually the shakedown cruise for the newly remodeled Das Bus. Something was SUPPOSED to break. Seriously. I think we were pretty lucky we didn’t have leaky sewage, or rain pouring in, electrical fires, propane explosions, or who knows what else. It actually turned out to be a small plumbing leak underneath the kitchen sink. (The kitchen sink is a Euro-kind-of-thing with non-standard connections that go from Pex – to braided vinyl tubing – to the fixture. It’s a lot of transitions, so I shouldn’t be that surprised that something went amiss.) It’s fixed now. Anyway, after that, and one more leak – also under the kitchen sink – we’re solid.

      Reply

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