We left Catalina State Park, returned the rental car, and did a loop south of Tucson. Almost immediately the bus didn’t feel like it was running quite right, with power a little weak and some popping when going downhill, but I really had no idea what the problem was. We continued along until we hit some steep hills at which point we really lost most of our power. I rolled off onto the shoulder of the way too busy I-10 (which is literally the only road across this area) and started fiddling with the carb, and even the timing, hoping to sense some change. Virtually out of ideas, I took off the air cleaner to have a peak inside the carb, and immediately found the problem. The choke had been stuck. I’d been running super rich since starting up the bus at Catalina. Ugh. I asked the family to never, under any circumstances, allow me to touch the engine without first removing the air filter and looking inside the carb. I always seem to find my answer there. The rest of the drive went off without a hitch.

Roper Lake is up at 3,000′ elevation in the shadow of the 10,700′ Mount Graham. It’s a nice quiet place with a beautiful backdrop.

Since reaching Grammy’s we’ve been trying to slow our pace down a bit. We spent about a week at Roper with just one quick pop into town for groceries. The kids found lots of trails for bike riding, including some secret spot that they have both managed to keep from telling us the location of. There were a few trails around the area for family walks. But for the most part we just hung out, got a couple projects done around the bus, and worked. Pretty relaxing stay.

We have no idea why they decided this lake needed these massive buoys to delineate the swimming area. It’s visible from outer space.

We accidentally discovered that our one remaining gas heater on the bus actually worked. We ran it a couple times and it was a nice little addition in this cold weather. Of course, it almost immediately stopped working. Right down the road into town was a propane shop, so we swung in. I wasn’t sure at all that they would fill the tank on an old bus, but they didn’t say a word about it, and we were off again in no time. The heater worked once or twice more, but the problem it seems isn’t with a lack of propane, it’s with the electronic ignition not sparking up, so we just end up with cold air blowing through.

All in all, a pretty nice spot.