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First Holiday – Day 3

Woke up pretty refreshed this morning.  We have been trying different things with the bed since the mattress is hurting my back and last night we took the air mattress from the couch and put it under the light, thin mattress that came with the camper. It actually worked pretty well, although being up so high was kind of weird.  It’s not the ultimate solution, but worked better than anything we have tried so far. Next time we are going to bring the mattress topper from our home and give that a try.  All the good solutions seem to be in the $500 and up range, and since I am nothing if not thrifty, I am trying everything else before making that investment.  Lee’s been pretty patient with the whole thing.  He, of course, could sleep on a board. (And I have. You should try it, it’s awesome. – Lee)

We decided to go exploring and stopped at the McDonald’s on the way.  (Intrepid, aren’t we?- Lee) I love their iced tea, it’s cheap and tastes great, and I took in a half-gallon decanter to ask how much it would cost to fill it.  The thought being I could keep it in the camper fridge for a cheap beverage.  The manager only charged me $1 stating they had free refills.  Say what you want about McDonald’s but they are consistent, and generally the staff understands customer service.  Next stop, Big Lots to look for a cheap mattress fix.  I worked for Consolidated Stores for 7 years when the kids were young and they are a great company, filling a need for a low-cost alternative for many people.  They often carry name brands at really low prices so I thought, why not give it a shot?  They had a 3″ egg crate foam pad which was exactly what I thought would solve the problem.  I should note here Lee said all along this would not work.  The saleslady was very helpful and we got to feel the foam but I quickly saw Lee was right (drat!!) and it was too thin.  We bought some other miscellaneous stuff (100 bamboo skewers for $1.50) and headed on our way.  Mattress problem not solved but more information in hand.

As we came out of the Big Lots we saw a sign for the Saugerties farmer’s market.  One of my ideas is to get local produce at the farmer’s market and try to incorporate it into that night’s meal. It was very nice, although small, with a cool selection, and we bought a few things including a tiny jar of local honey.  Someone I work with told me that the natural cure to allergies was to buy local honey.  The idea is that because it is made of local nectar it would provide some immunity.  I took a teaspoon (it was raw honey and tasted incredibly good) thinking even if it doesn’t work I got a nice treat out of the deal. I have to say it did seem to work.  My nose was much clearer although after about 5 hours I had to take another spoonful (no hardship there).   Personally I am sold and will try this wherever we visit.

Since Roadside America  was such a hit yesterday we decided to try it again, but in the interest of “Get off the interstate Ben Stone” (Doc Hollywood reference – great movie) we took a detour to a nearby historical lighthouse.  The lighthouse was a loooong walk down a semi-shaded path,  but at the end there was a lighthouse that also serves as a B&B.  Pretty neat if a person likes to stay in historical places.  Back on our path we passed by a rocket in the front someone’s yard.  Wouldn’t go far out of my way to see it but it was very close to the Catamount People’s Museum which I really wanted to see.  The Catamount People’s Museum is a very cool sculpture shaped like a giant bobcat made on a vacant lot out of natural materials, right in the middle of town.  I thought it was great, although it seems from the literature it’s a constant struggle not to have it torn down by the city.  We stopped for a few minutes and took some pictures and then off we went to our next adventure.

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I should probably mention here that it sounds like we were “drive by’ing” and to some extent we were.  I have perfected this skill (learned from my mom) of getting out, seeing something, and moving on.  I will say though that it is important to mix in really  spending some time at a place if it’s interesting, but you can pack a lot in a day if you stop, take a picture, and move on.  Figuring out when to stay and when to do a quick stop has been a delicate marriage negotiation over the years, but I think in generally we have come to a healthy compromise.

Finally, we wanted to see Woodstock.  I am not particularly interested in that piece of history, but it was right there, so we drove through.  Woodstock was packed.  It’s a funky little town with a lot of new age shops and aging hippies everywhere (no offense to those aging hippies out there… good for you for sticking to your guns).  It just wasn’t our scene, so we slowly drove through town and then had lunch at a little Chinese place outside of town.  I just wasn’t in the mood to fight the crowds, plus we had decided to do some streamlining in our camper.

We initially over packed the camper.  Not surprising, because we didn’t know what we would need and we finally both felt ready to get rid of all the excess.   It required some delicate maneuvering for us both to work in the small space, but we covered the dining room table with “extras” to go back home and reorganized the cabinets.  I definitely recommend this activity after a few camping trips, because most things now have a permanent home and we freed up a lot of space for anything additional we wanted to add in the future.  I like having some open cabinet space just in case and truly there is plenty of it after the rearranging.

One nice thing I wanted to mention about the campground Saugerties KOA is at 4pm on Saturday they have a fire truck rides for the kids (and several Dad’s).  It was a nice extra and everyone on board looked like they were having a great time.

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Finally it was time for dinner and I wanted to try a new recipe… pizza on the campfire!  Honestly I was dubious that it would work out but it looked fun and challenging.  The pizza turned out great!!!  Lee loved it and said it tasted just like fancy, artisan pizza.  This made me pretty happy because I am only having about a 50% success rate on the new recipes I try and I haven’t hit a home run since that first fish dinner we had.  Anyway, this recipe tastes great, and is fun to make (kids would love getting to make their own custom pizza) so please see the recipe below and give it a try.

 Lessons Learned

  • Putting the camping mattress on top of the air mattress works
  • Try Big Lots/Odd Lots before spending full price
  • 1 tsp of local honey helps with allergies and if it doesn’t work it still tastes great
  • Roadside America is a great app
  • After a few camping trips reorganize and remove anything you don’t need to free up space
  • Pizza on the grill tastes yummy

 

Grilled Pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 roll of Pillsbury Pizza Crust 
  • Pizza sauce
  • Mozzarella Cheese
  • Olive oil
  • Toppings as desired (for a cheaper alternative get just the right amount of pepperoni from the salad bar at the store)
  1. Heat the grill over the fire making sure it is clean of any residue
  2. Open the roll and lay the pizza dough on a flat service
  3. Cut to the desired size
  4. Using an old towel folded and held with tongs well oil the grill with olive oil
  5. Lay pizza dough flat on the grill
  6. Cook for 2-3 minutes until underside is marked and top side is bubbling a little (do not walk away from the grill as this must be closely monitored)
  7. Flip the dough and cook an additional 2-3 minutes on the other side
  8. Remove dough to a cookie sheet
  9. Place pizza sauce on the dough and top as desired.  Lightly portion the toppings
  10. Place pizza’s on a griddle covering with foil and ensuring the foil does not touch the cheese
  11. Place back on the fire cooking for 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted (again closely monitor)
  12. Plate and serve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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First Holiday – Day 2

Apparently I was very tired….I slept in until 10:30 this morning… can’t remember the last time I did that.  What was great was Lee shut the door and I slept through him going about his normal morning routine.  I wouldn’t have thought that was possible in such a small space, since I am a very light sleeper (many years of child rearing have programmed me)… not that I plan on sleeping that late often, but it’s a nice option to have.  When I woke up and got some coffee I was a bit agitated, but Lee was completely relaxed.  I don’t mean somewhat relaxed, or sort of relaxed but completely 100% relaxed.  Now my husband is a pretty intense guy… not in a bad way but he’s always working on something and I rarely see him just sitting.  He was outside on a chair, hair all messy, completely relaxed.  I can probably count on two hands the number of times I’ve seen him look like that and it was really nice.  He was also very frisky, you know, kissing and stuff, which was also nice.  Who knew that camping would  lead to  kissing and stuff … let’s just leave it at that since my kids will probably read this 🙂

After a nice big breakfast we decided to head out to Kingston.  I had poked around a bit on the web and had heard from a couple of people Kingston was nice and we headed down that way expecting a quaint little resort/tourist town.  Kingston used to be the capital of New York  and sits on an outlet of the Hudson River so we were expecting something like Lake Placid.  Unfortunately that is NOT what we found.  There are some beautiful old houses but they are really run down and Kingston is definitely a city in decline.  Even the waterfront area looked dilapidated and there was nothing worth getting out of the car for. As a matter of fact there were places I wouldn’t want to get out of the car.  This was a real bummer as I didn’t really have a plan B, but I pulled up this new app Lee had got me Roadside America and took a look for the nearest weird attraction.  As I’ve mentioned before I am a girl who would go out of her way to see the giant ball of string and Lee found a website full of just such attractions.  The website is free and the Iphone app was only $2.99. I saw that the giant fork in the road was only 25 minutes away.  In regular life I would have skipped it because it was an hour round trip, but Kingston was such a disappointment I wanted to try to see something.   This is where Karma comes in.  Karma and taking the road less traveled because you never know where it will lead you.

We were driving to the fork ( Lee was way more patient with my navigation struggles) when we saw a sign that said Historic home of FDR.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt is my favorite president and we had recently watched the movie “Hyde Park on the Hudson” so it suddenly clicked that we were very close to Hyde Park.  We made a right and I scrambled on the Ipad to find where we were headed and what was close by.  Hyde Park is a beautiful town.  Everything I expected Kingston to be, actually. As we were driving to FDR’s house, Lee saw a sign for a Vanderbilt mansion and we decided to turn in.  I have visited the Breakers and Marble house in Rhode Island and the Biltmore in NC so I was very excited to see another Vanderbilt house.  Because Karma was with us we arrived at 2:45 just in time for the 3pm tour.  The tour was fantastic and because this house was donated as a federal park (at the behest of my guy FDR) it only cost $8 for the tour.  We finished just in time to drive down to FDR’s house and take a quick look at the grounds and see he and Eleanor’s grave site.   The grave in particular meant something to me and held the same gravity of moment that I felt when I visited John F. Kennedy’s grave.

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We had gone far off the path but found a wonderful way to spend the day, so we grabbed a quick bite and headed to the fork in the road.  I have to say that the fork was the best part of my day.  Completely tickled my funny bone and Lee said I was wonderfully weird, probably because I am equally impressed by a mansion,historical grave, and a goofy fork statue.  The fork statue pic is below… seriously don’t you love it.

Lessons Learned

  • Roadside America is a great app
  • Don’t be afraid to take the road less traveled; you never know what you will find
  • If you see a giant fork in the road stop and take a picture

 

 

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First Holiday – Day 1

 

We were so excited about camping and visiting local sites that booking the fourth of July kind of got away from us.  Even though we knew better I waited until 2 weeks ahead and unfortunately most of our first choices were booked.  We have a four-day weekend and wanted to go a bit farther afield, so ended up at the KOA in the Catskills.  Even though we hadn’t visited the KOA in advance, the nice thing about KOA is you can have a certain expectation, so we were glad when they had an opening.

Finally we felt like we had a routine so Lee went to the camper the night before our trip to turn on the refrigerator.  Unfortunately the marine battery was totally dead.  It’s brand new so it was unclear what had drained it, but he unhooked it and brought it back to the house and put it on a charger and we hoped we wouldn’t need to fork out another $100 for a battery. (The culprit is the clock in the stereo/DVD player, and a few other minor things that pull a constant low voltage. After three weeks, it had drained the battery. – Lee)  It’s important to me at this point that costs kind of settle somewhat.  The whole reason we decided to do this was for inexpensive weekends, but thus far with all the one-time purchases we have spent quite a chunk of money.   Luckily when Lee woke up (he’s a VERY early riser) the battery was charged and he was able to take it back to the camper and start the refrigerator.  Even though the refrigerator runs off propane it requires an electric spark to get it going,  but it all worked out great and the refrigerator was cool by the time we took off.

The next important thing was the grocery store.  I had been clipping recipes for a week or so and had some things I wanted to try but didn’t wan’t a huge grocery bill…again with an eye towards inexpensive.  I “stole” liberally from what was in the house and came up with a relatively short list of items needed and was absolutely thrilled when we only spent $80.  Before you judge, food is expensive in New England and we regularly spend $200 at the grocery store so $80 was a bargain…although I can still remember many years when I fed a family of 5 on $80 so I can’t call it a total victory 🙂

Hooking up the trailer went great.  We used walkie- talkies which worked MUCH better thank yelling obscenities back and forth at each other…plus I got to say cool stuff like “Copy that”  and hitching up the trailer was a breeze.  We also managed to avoid the big killer rocks on the way out.   Perkins for the win!!!  The campsite is three hours away and for the first time it was mostly freeway driving so we were excited to see how that would go.  Not so great, unfortunately.  It was very windy so Lee really had to focus on his driving and the gas mileage was terrible.  We have a brand new Ford 150 XLT with an Ecoboost engine and we were only getting 6.9 mpg.  It took an entire tank of gas (about $125) to get us there which was a bummer.  One great thing was we found a Cracker Barrel for lunch. The meal was fantastic and we found a place to park our truck and trailer relatively easily.  Cracker Barrels generally have HUGE parking lots.  The food was great and thus fortified, we continued on with our journey.

Once we arrived we were pretty disappointed.  The sites we could use are more less pretty stacked right on top of each other, with no trees between them, but at least they are staggered which was a bit of a benefit and it was HOT!  95° and about 95% humidity. Setting up went flawlessly but we were both drenched by the time we were done.  Luckily the campground has a nice pool and we threw on our swimsuits and walked down.  An interesting side note…Lee doesn’t like pools particularly, but he gave it a try and found it really refreshing. (People pee in the pool. ’nuff said. – Lee)  Cooled down…with the AC on inside we started a fire and I started to make dinner.  I’ve been trying out new recipes and many are duds…you won’t see those in here, but this was fine and it was quick (only 20 minutes) and filling.  Sitting outside with our hair messy and full of good food, we were pretty content and definitely relaxed  so overall it was a very nice day.

Lessons Learned

  • Disconnect the marine battery when finished camping so it doesn’t drain down while the trailer is sitting
  • Walkie-Talkies are a must have for communication
  • Pulling on the freeway does NOT give you better mpg than 2 lane highways
  • Cracker Barrel is a great place to stop and have lunch in an oversized vehicle
  • Don’t forget your bathing suits

 

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Local (near Keene, New Hampshire) Campsite Research – Day 2

Much better today from a communication standpoint and the weather was beautiful, but it still took overall roughly about an hour per site (8 campgrounds in 8 hours) and we did get lost a couple of times, but not nearly as much.  When you get lost, using good old-fashioned street addresses works great btw.  We went old school 🙂  The reviews are listed below.

Tree Farm Campground –  53 Skitchewaug Trail, Springfield VT

The campground has decent signage and a super friendly  group of folks were hanging out with  their dogs when we pulled in.  The sites are only $33 a night ($600 for a month) and all of them have Electric/Water/Sewage.    A lot of seasonals but also many open sites with lots of space between them .  Lee characterized it as “extreme separation” between sites which is great for us.  Numerous  pull throughs some as double the size of other sites we have seen.  We saw no kids at all, which for us was a bonus… not that we don’t like kids but it was cool that this appeared largely adult only.  The campground was super quiet, we could hear lots of birds in the trees.   We saw several large RV’s or  5 th wheels fitting comfortably on sites and got  super excited.  Lee said he could see being seasonal here and liked that each site has two mounted metal trash cans on it.  We drove around, picked our favorite sites 19, 22, 23, and 17 in order and then booked a weekend.  The campsite is cash only and required a deposit but it was only $30 (one nights stay) because we are Good Sam members.   Another nice benefit is check in is at noon and  if no one else is booked in your site you can stay a little later on Sunday.  Perkins Rating: Reserved a site

Caton Place Campground – 2419 East Road,  Cavendish VT
Things were going so well so we of course had to get completely lost.  Somehow the wrong address was entered (ask Lee my version was just fine)  and we ended up on a dirt road where I kid you not some coon dogs saw us and ran after the car for about half a mile.  We finally asked a woman for help and her accent was so thick I couldn’t understand the directions.  Lee did and they took us under a railroad bridge, over a railroad track, and past numerous ramshackle houses.  Finally we got back on the main road and made it to the right location.  The signage wasn’t very good to the spot (even after we had the correct address) and there was no full-time person at the office.  Doug ran up and helped us, he was very friendly gave us a map and told me to make a circle and then go up to “snob hill”.  This was not a good sign to me as that kind of division in a small campground did not bode well.  They had a big meadow area and several smaller sites which were wooded and would work well for electric/water only campers.  Most of the seasonals were on the hill and they seemed to have all the best sites.  There was a pool which people were using and a swimming pond which looked pretty gross.  Overall not a friendly vibe.   Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

Crown Point Camping Area –  131 Bishop Camp Rd,  Perkinsville VT
The campground was near a very nice reservoir with nearby state park trails.  The signage was pretty good and there were several “please excuse our mess” signs as they are trying to improve the campground.  Wood was $10 and it was unclear  how much you could take but it looked like a lot.  There was a big carved eagle in the campground which was nice and it is  next to a cemetery.  This doesn’t bother me in the slightest but I know it might creep some people out.  There were very few full service sites but they were large sites and pull-throughs and Lee felt they were “gigantic”.    Site 117 was our favorite  although 112 and 114 would also work.  Overall it was very quiet although we did hear one barking dog for a little while.  The town of Perkinsville is 4 minutes away but there were no stores or restaurants so it would be a bit of a hike if you needed something.  Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Running Bear Campground – 6248 US 5,  Weathersfield Vt
The campground had good signage and was close to the main roads.  Surrounded by a nice community  with local restaurants  and a grocery store.  We saw  beautiful views of hills and when we pulled in the stop sign said “WHOA”, which I liked.  They were also Good Sam Club members so I was feeling great.  It all went down from there.  First an elderly woman parked her car right behind us and blocked us in even though there were tons of parking spaces available.  When we drove through the campground we saw the campers were all right on top of each other. Literally about 8-10 feet between them. Honestly I don’t get that why for the same price people would be packed in like sardines.   There was a huge meadow area and the back was wooded but it butted up against the interstate and we could clearly hear and see the cars going by.  One thing I did like is since many of their sites have no sewer they were pulling a dump tank around with a tractor and people could dump into it. There were many permanents with extra cars which I can see as a benefit if you have family in the area, but it made the overcrowding problem worse.  There was a pool and we saw several large groups of people so I can see how it might work for a family gathering of some sort.  Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

Crows Nest Campground – 529 S Main St,  Newport Nh
The campground is near a big golf course outside of the small town of Newport  which has several local restaurants.  The location has a pool and a big meadow field with lots of campers. When we pulled up to the office a sign said “Please wait we will be right back” so we did and only had to wait 5 minutes or so.  The campground has a huge play area and a fishing pond.  There is a wooded section with several very nice river view sites unfortunately these were water and electric only and a bit on the small side for our camper.   The people we saw seemed to be cranky and the lots with sewer in the wooded area are right on top of each other. Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

North Star Campground – 43 Coon Brook Rd,  Newport Nh
This campground had good signage and was relatively easy to find.  Unfortunately it only has three rentable full service sites and all of the rest are seasonal.  The three sites 22, 21, and 20 (in order of our preference) were spacious and in a wooded area.  There were some great sites along the Sugar River but these were unfortunately for a smaller camper and water/electric only.  Although the woman at the front desk seemed annoyed to be bothered, we stopped a man who “helped out there” to ask a question and he was very friendly.  I also liked that you could get an “armful” of wood for $4.  The campsite is only 15 minutes away from Sunappe Mountain which has all kinds of great activities in the summer like zip-lining, excursions, and an aerial challenge course.  Because the sites were good and it’s proximity to the mountain. Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Tippicanoe Campground – 1295 Brook Rd Gothenburg NH
Outside of a nice little town with its own tiny grocery store  and very close to Keene.  I love the cool name personally and gave it extra style points for the name alone 🙂  It has  summer and winter camping on Rand Pond and their were lots of smiling people  and a very helpful person at the desk.  They are in the process of adding new sites right along the lack so it was a bit challenging but we did see three sites with a lake view that could be rented for a weekend.  All of the locations are full hookups and it’s  mostly seasonal with some very expensive trailers on the sites.  Terrific beach and the pond has sailboats, canoes, and kayaks.  There’s also a beach playground and a nice swimming platform.  Although the sites are very close to each other, I really wanted to try something with a view, thinking it wouldn’t matter so much how close you were if you were facing the water.  Overall it was a very creative use of space and they were trying there best to create many premium sites.   We finally picked a site (they weren’t numbered yet so I can’t really help there) when at the last-minute she mentioned they were completely non-smoking.  This made us change our mind…not just because we are smokers, (although obviously this was a big part of it), but I could see all the improvement was part of a larger plan to create a seasonal community.  That’s not really what we are looking for so we passed.  If you are looking for a nice seasonal (around $800 per month) this might be your place though.  One thing to keep in mind is I had absolutely no cell phone coverage there…which is another deal breaker for me,.  Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

Woodmore Family Campground –   21 Woodbound Rd Rindge NH
We decided to try one more even though it was getting late and since Rindge is close to Keene and in a very nice area, Woodmore seemed like the perfect stop.    The GPS  had trouble finding it, there is a S. Woodbound Rd which gets you to Woodbound Rd which the campground is actually on.  The campground is in a nice neighborhood and has a nice store.  The office was incredibly busy, but they had two polite young women working the counter and they were helpful.  There is gate access to enter and the place was packed on a Sunday at 5pm.  Lots of kids, lots of campers (both seasonals and not) and unfortunately they were right on top of each other and the trees were thin enough you could see into the neighborhood house from the sites.    Huge playground and a pool made it kid friendly and they allowed multiple cars on the sites which didn’t help with the congestion, but I think added to the appeal.  It is $5 to visit per person and that fee was strictly enforced.  They had more remote sites down near the boat dock but only had electric and water.  Those would be great for a pop up or tent camping but unfortunately too crowded for us.  One cool thing is you can buy a “bucket” of wood for $7 and they deliver it to your site.   Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

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Local (near Keene, New Hampshire) Campsite Research – Day 1

Lee and I didn’t have any camping arranged this weekend, which made us sad… so Lee had the idea for us to visit local campsites and see for ourselves what was in the area.  Great idea in concept, really tough to execute.  We spent from 8:30am until 7pm and only saw 10 sites.   Of the 10 sites only one was an absolute winner. The others were a mixed bag.  Along the way we struggled with navigation (despite two iPhones, and Ipad, and a GPS), did a pretty lousy job of communicating, and generally got on each others nerves.  Keep that in mind when you read the reviews, we definitely weren’t in the best frame of mind.  That being said, we didn’t give up, and the very last one we visited was fantastic. So we are going to try it again tomorrow (Clearly we are gluttons for punishment and slow learners.-Lee) but I am going to route our map this time 🙂  The reviews are as follows and they are in the order we visited them. 

Hinsdale campground – 4 South Street, Hinsdale NH
Hinsdale is an old mill town and the campground is outside of the town on the back side of a trailer park.  The campground is separated by a manned gate and Passport America is accepted at the site.  The area also is monitored by CCTV cameras and the amount of security made me believe there had been issues in the past.  The big draw of the site is numerous ATV trails and there were numerous campers there.  The sites are all level  and clean and every one has a lamppost in front of it with the site number on it, which makes it like a little neighborhood.  Tons of very friendly seasonal people  who were talking to each other in the common areas.  There is also some tree division between every site. It is right across the street from the Connecticut river although there is no direct access from the campground  If you are looking for a reasonably pried seasonal ($2100) or are into ATV ing this might be the place for you.  Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

Forest Lake Campground -331 Keene Rd, Winchester NH
Gated entrance for after hours.  We received some unfriendly stares when we first pulled in but others were overly friendly.  I say overly friendly because as one guy noticed one of our headlights was fogged up and discolored, and told Lee he could fix it with toothpaste.  We were definitely being “checked out” by the residents.  The campground is right on a nice lake  with many seasonal sites with semi-permanent structures attached to them. There is a small meadow perfect for a large group  and some nice lake view sites if you are ok with just water and electric.   Tons of golf carts and most of the sites are really on top of each other although most are at different elevations so you get a bit of a view.  Visitors have to have a code when they are leaving to stop guests from taking advantage of the lake and not paying their day fee.   Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Mileage May Vary

No Name -100 Athol Rd Richmond NH. Big field,  no office,  wooded on the edge and open in the middle.  We saw several tents and some RV’s but where you would pay I wasn’t sure.  Power hookups but no sewer.  Perkins Rating: No Way 

Laurel Lake Campground (No website)  – 340 East Lake Rd Fitzwilliam NH
Fitzwilliam is a little spit of a town whose big distinguishing feature is that John Wayne used to vacation there.  The general store was closed with a paper sign on the door, but we also saw a sign for canoe race on beautiful Laurel Lake .  This campground was a huge disappointment.  It is a beautiful piece of property with terrific lake views that has completely fallen into disrepair.  The website is tremendously misleading, showing the only piece of the property that was somewhat well-kept.  The permanent trailers are falling down and scary looking, and there were numerous big pieces of equipment strewn throughout the campground which is being over taken by weeds.  It reminded me of a nice big piece of property in the country where the owner had cars up on blocks in his front yard.  The caretaker was polite and  let us wander.  Unfortunately none of the sites have sewer unless you’re seasonal and all the paths and roads are overgrown.  Again such a shame because it was a mostly wooded piece of property.  If I had a ton of money, I would buy it and fix it up.  Sadly that is not an option so … Perkins Rating: No Way 

Cold Springs Camp Resort 62 Barnard Hill, Weare NH

On the drive to Weare, I saw a man walking a horse down the side of the road…gotta love that, it’s always a good sign.  Weare is a nice country town with locally owned restaurants and businesses.  The campground is close by and has a nice entrance sign and three very nice pools (one with a kids fountain and another for toddlers) right at the entrance.  There were hundreds of  golf carts and a hayride was pulling out as we pulled in.  Also there was a DJ at the pool and he was announcing the day’s activities.  By the time we pulled into the store area, Margharittaville was playing poolside and I was entranced.   It’s very clean and obviously family oriented and the place was packed.   Tons of professional staff and many very nice seasonal sites.  What appears to be the older section of the campground has lots of  wooded sites although they were a little on the small side for us.  Our favorite site was W14A  although W14 would also work well.  In addition we thought we could make 149 and 151 work as they were on the larger side.  This campground would be great if you are a grandparent and want to bring your grandkids as they have a lot of activities and wonderful seasonal spots.  Their prices are on the high side $60 for Super Sites and a seasonal rate of $3,400 but if you can afford it and needed a kid friendly place this would definitely be for you.  Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Autumn Hills Campground  – 285 S Stark Hwy Weare, NH
Nice sign with a  nice entrance.  Large  group play area for kids and they were playing some water balloon games and there was a decent pool.  There are  several non-seasonal full hook ups at the campground and huge lots that are not right on top of each other.  Very wooded as well.  A few of the lots have a water view and our favorite (94) was very close to the lake entrance which would be perfect to launch kayaks or a canoe.  Unfortunately a metal chain link fence separates the sites closest to the water from the lake so you can only gain entrance in one central location.  Not sure what the purpose of that is, but really cuts into the experience.  Other sites that would work for us were T5 (elevated with a lot of trees), 90 (smaller site but with a view of the water), and 14 and 11 which are close to the kids area but nice big lots.  Essentially a nice basic campground without a lot of frills reasonably priced at $42 a night.  This was my second favorite site  Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Mile-Away Campground 479 Old West Hopkinton Rd, Henniker NH
A small Book store with 30,000 books close by the entrance got my attention and the sign stating 2 cars per site really sparked it.  I would like my daughters to be able to visit me and the second car could come in handy.  There is a heated saltwater pool which seems to be a big attraction and the campground is made up of mostly seasonals who seemed nice.  The camp allows no outside wood, which is a huge drawback since I am looking for something local and there were only two sites that could work for us since most of them were very small.   Nice miniature golf course, numerous golf carts, a beach with boats for rent and sites 20 and 21 are pull throughs right near the beach.  That being said most of the sites were very small and kind of on top of each other.  One site we liked, Lee pulled out a surveyors wheel and showed me how much room the trailer would take and it left little to no room on the site for hanging out.   This was Lee’s second favorite of the day but I am on the fence about it.  Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Sandy Beach RV Resort 677 Clement Hill Rd, Contoocook NH
All sites are full hookup and the people are very friendly.  Lots of seasonals and any of the sites can be seasonals or rentals if there is no seasonal currently in them which I like because the weekenders aren’t all batched together in the “crappy” part of the campground.  Neat, clean and tidy sites with a lot of trees but the sites are very close to each other.  Almost all the sites close to water are taken by seasonals but we saw several large sites are favorites being D30 and D35.  There’s also meadow parking if you prefer and the beach is nicely laid out and there were a ton of people in and around the water.  This campsite seems less communal than others, although it may have just been the time of day we toured it and we wouldn’t want to try it unless we got one of the larger sites.  Perkins Rating:  Worth Trying

Keyser Pond Campground 1739 Old Concord Rd,  Henniker Nh
The address wouldn’t work in GPS and  google maps took us to the wrong place also.  We called the campsite and got not great directions and finally flagged down a very nice policeman who showed us where the site was.  Once we found it we thought the people seemed nice.  It has a great playground and mini golf  and a couple of the sites have water views.  Site 82 is great but has a steep incline and would be very tough for us to get our 32 footer into.   Most of the sites were wooded, the seasonals were a bit run down but it was quiet and the small beach looked nice.  Essentially if you had a smaller camper it would be a nice place to go especially if you like to canoe or kayak.  Perkins Rating: Not for Us – Your Miles May Vary

Oxbow Campground 8 Oxbow Rd Deering, NH

Just when we were about to give up, we decided to try on more and it was outstanding.  By far the favorite of the 10 sites we looked at today, the campground has a little bit of everything.  Good signage,  nice people at the desk , and a lot of seasonals but interspersed throughout the campground.  There is a side meadow if you prefer that type of camping but numerous wooded sites, some near a dam and others near a babbling brook.  It was spacious, neat, and clean, and most importantly the sites are not on top of each other.  The sites have really nice fire pits, a swimming pond,  fishing pond, and a boating pond.  There was a party house and a graduation party was happening and the people seem to know each other and are friendly to each other.   There are several level sites either in the middle or on the edge away from folks.  Like I said a little bit for everyone.  Our two favorite sites were 121 and 118.  We liked it so much we rented 118 for a few weeks from now.  120 would also work fine and if you wanted something different site 62 has a babbling brook next to it and site 38 has a great view of the landscape.   Really like the campsite and can’t wait to give it a try. Perkins Rating: Reserved a site

Time to make the route for tomorrow…hopefully we will see more like Oxbow.

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Maiden Voyage – Rainy Day

Maiden Voyage – Rainy Day

On day three we had our first experience with rainy day camping.  We were somewhat prepared as the weather channel said there was a chance of showers, so we saved a couple of Lake Placid activities until the second day.  We took a gondola ride up to the top of White Face mountain and drove the auto road and had lunch at the summit, both of which worked just fine with the rainy weather. (It’s like we were on two different trips. She bought herself a nice Cabela’s rain coat thingie, while I was left to fend for myself and got pelted by rain, which in the mountains is much larger and I think has tiny little needles on each drop to punish you for being outside. All I had was a ridiculous rainbow umbrella, which I used; but I was in constant fear of being mocked and ridiculed by people who weren’t carrying rainbow umbrellas. – Lee) 

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But then we were done and went back to the camper.  First off: the outdoor rug? Awesome purchase.  Although the ground was sandy, the rain was coming down so hard that there was a lot of standing water, but our rug soaked most of it up and we had a relatively dry path to get into the camper. The rug also gave us a small dryish space to sit outside under the canopy, which was nice.  Thankfully, we had brought some movies to watch.  The camper has a built-in DVD player and we snuggled under our flannel blankets and watched a movie with the rain falling outside. (Lies, all lies, big… fat… lies. SHE snuggled up under her very nice flannel blanket, while I was made to suffer and freeze using the sad and entirely inadequate bedspread from the bedroom, which is decidedly NOT made of flannel. I think it’s made from the tears of dying kittens. I have ordered several of those nice flannel blankets for myself, and I intend to hide them in various places in the camper so I never have to suffer again. – Lee)   It was nice, really; inside the camper the rain is very muted so it doesn’t feel like you are inside a tin can at all, and when it got too chilly we would pop the heater on for a few minutes to take the chill off.  Also, one great thing about the rain was it washed the pollen away.  There had been tons of yellow pollen everywhere… no wonder I was sneezing so much, and my nose was unstuffed for the first time that weekend.

When the rain finally slowed down and the bugs started to come out, we used the tiki torches.  I have to say, these were an outstanding purchase.  (Another great idea, brought to you by Lee.™) What I thought of as merely decorative was great for keeping the bugs away from the trailer.  We have been positioning them in a semi-circle around the canopy and as soon as we light them bugs stay outside that circle.  That, coupled with spraying the screens in the morning with heavy-duty bug spray (facing to the outside, of course), works really great for fly/mosquito control.

We have a grill that attaches to the camper’s propane tank for rainy days and Lee made us a couple of steaks.  I prefer campfire cooking, but the wood was a bit wet and it was an easy alternative.  That night I did start a nice fire and we sat outside and roasted some marshmallows. All and all it was a nice lazy camping day. Update:  we hated this grill and eventually replaced it.  It was too big, took up to much space, and didn’t work consistently. 

The next morning we woke up and started to tear down the camper to leave.  This time we hadn’t bought the additional day, so we had to be done by 11am, which made things a bit more difficult.  When you’re up at 7:30 that seems like a lot of time, but we are still new at this and I started to feel the pressure.  When under pressure I tend to stop talking and I’m all inside my head.  Lee, to his credit, noticed the signs and had me stop and communicate.  But it didn’t go that well.  We were done in time, pulled out with three minutes to spare, but we kept running into each other and the division of labor was not that clear.  In the spirit of our new adventure, we did talk about it on the drive home and decided to make sure we stuck to the inside/outside plan for tear-down.  Lee also mentioned a great point: setup is fun; you’re all excited and having a good time, and looking forward to the camping.  Tear down is more like work. At the end you just get to go home. If home were so awesome, why bring a portable version of your house to the woods?

Compared to the couple next to us though, I’d have to say we did pretty well.  The woman sat and texted the entire time and her husband did all the work.  When he gently said she might want to learn some of what he was doing she said, with a tone, “The camper was your idea, not mine.”

This bugged me–normally, I try not to make judgments, but I was outside at the time learning about sewer draining (not my favorite thing) and heard the comment.  I couldn’t resist saying cheerfully to Lee,  “That’s not so hard, it’s just two levers.” That shamed her a bit.

Campers are a significant investment, and hey, if you don’t want to camp, (especially with little kids, which they had), I get it.  But if you’re going to try it, at least actually give it a try. It’s not very fair to make your spouse do all the dirty work. Tempting? Yes. Fair? No. (Well sure, but hogging the flannel blanket, well, that’s just allowed, isn’t it??? – Lee)

Lessons Learned

  • Have a rainy day plan
  • Bring extra movies just in case
  • Tiki torches are fun and functional
  • Stock up on flannel blankets.

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Maiden Voyage – Day 2

We like to get up and out the first full day of camping.  It seems counter-intuitive and certainly your miles may vary, but for us, getting out and seeing things when we are fresh works.  Since we were at Lake Placid, we decided to look at the Olympic sites.  (Luckily, they were already there. It’s like they knew we were coming. – Lee) One of the nice things about us as a couple is we always like to try new things and we never say we are ‘too cool’ to do something.  We pass on things because they are too scary or physically demanding, but never because we are too cool.  Giant ball of string? I want to see it. Cornhenge? Let’s go take a look.  (You can skip cornhenge. We might not be too cool for it, but you almost certainly are. – Lee).  Sometimes these roadside attractions are lame, but generally we are delighted by what we get to see.  

When we went to the first Olympic site they were selling a multi-pass to four different events for $32 a person and I felt a twinge.  I am trying to keep budget in mind during these camping trips, although it’s tough with all the one-time purchases we have to make.  Lee felt it was a good deal and, as much as I hate to say it, he was right. (This is a common occurrence, me being right, and her hating to say it. – Lee)  Coming from the Midwest, I need to guard against being penny-wise and pound foolish, as my grandmother says, and Lee is great at balancing our money.  (She misspelled a word in there, she meant to type “Lee is great at spending our money.” It’s true, I rock at it. If there were an Olympic event, I would be unable to stand from all the gold medals around my neck. I should get a statue, or a parade. – Lee) Suffice it to say, it was a bargain and gave us enough relatively cheap and interesting activities for 2 days.

We went out and about the first day seeing the sites and doing a little shopping.  We bought our second magnet for the fridge; I spent forever deciding which one to buy. We also bought a little sign to hang on the front of the camper. This was a major decision 🙂

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Having learned our lesson from last time, we  got back in plenty of time to start the fire and cook the chicken.  One really fun thing for me was stopping at one of those roadside stands and getting additional wood.  The wood at the campground was pretty cheap (only $5.75) and came with a fire starter, but I always wanted to buy bundles from a roadside place–I know, I’m weird like that.  You have to have cash, though, and exact change; luckily I had $4 in my purse and we grabbed a bundle, which made me very happy. It’s the small things in life.    The only downside to the day was when my allergies really kicked in.  It’s high pollen season here in the North  and sniffling all day was a bit of a drag.  We stocked up the medicine cabinet and the over-the-counter medicine helped some but I’ll definitely keep this in mind for next time.

One other thing that was a bummer was the lack of a decent Wi-Fi signal.  The campground says Wi-Fi but it’s largely unusable (kicking us off after a few minutes every time we tried to use it) and although I don’t want to spend a ton of time connected…it’s a nice option to have especially on a rainy day (more on that tomorrow).    It really wasn’t a campground issue in this case but an area issue because cell phone coverage was extremely spotty as well.  As much as I enjoy getting away, not having GPS or Google Maps forced us to go old school with navigation.  Let’s just say we are a bit rusty and got lost a lot. (I don’t recall ever being lost. I was sightseeing. – Lee)

There is raging debate–ok, maybe that is an over statement–over the relative merits of independent sites versus KOA campsites.  I’m going to give the newbie perspective but fully reserve the right to change my mind at a later time. Both seem to have advantages.  The independents are cheaper and have the seasonal residents.  I like the seasonal folks a lot, generally people who are retired or semi-retired and have a place at the site.  They keep an eye on everything and there are definitely fewer kids at these sites probably because they have less kid related activities. KOA campsites, on the other hand, have more employees, more family activities, and guys in little carts constantly monitoring the site.  Both seem pet-friendly, although I did see more big dogs at the KOA site.  In both cases they had nice helpful people at the front desk and an assortment of those immediate necessities you might need.   In a nut shell, more weekenders with kids at KOA and more seasonal folks and fewer kids at the independents.

I think, given a choice (and there often isn’t one, believe it or not), I would choose the independents because we don’t have kids and I really like talking to the seasonals, but I have one major caveat.  We often see independents with no websites, and we had an opportunity to drive through and scout one of those on this trip. It was pretty scary. I’m sure there are many nice independents without web sites, but this place was scary.  It was pretty wild and unkempt and the full hookup area was a wide field, which we are not really interested in.  So for me, unless personally recommended by someone I trusted,  I would stick with independents with websites, and that significantly shortens the list of available places.  I am glad KOA sites are an option because you do always know what you are going to get, which is comforting.

On a totally different note: we worked out the showers.  You have a limited hot water tank so you need to take a few minutes and talk about how you are going to handle showers.  There are basically three options: take extremely short showers, use less water in the shower, or have a break between showers. We went with a combination of the first two.  Lee gets wet, turns the water off for soap and shampoo, then turns the water back on.  I take a pretty quick shower.  So everything works out fine.  The main point is: communicate about this in advance.  One more thing–if you both like a morning shower, make sure you save the breakfast dishes until after the showers are done! (Personally, I had a fool-proof plan which involved both of us taking a shower at the same time. Sadly, this would be impossible because the shower is very small. Our next camper will have fewer couches and a larger shower. – Lee)

Lessons Learned

  • Carry cash
  • Allergy season is different in different places, so be prepared with your medicine cabinet
  • Allow for extra time in your meal prep time calculations to get the fire hot
  • Chicken takes an hour to cook on a fire (no way around it that I’ve found, yet!)
  • ‘Wi-Fi’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘usable Wi-fi’
  • Be extremely cautious when going to a campground with no website
  • Have a shower strategy and avoid the fight that happens after someone uses all the hot water
  • Save the breakfast dishes until after the showers are done

Campfire Wishbone Chicken 

  • 1/2 cup Wishbone Italian dressing
  • 5 chicken legs

1.  Pour salad dressing over chicken and let sit overnight in the refrigerator

2.  Get the campfire started and build up a nice base of coals

3.  Cook chicken on a flat grilling pan over fire for one hour, turning over at least every 10 minutes

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Maiden Voyage – Day 1

Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain KOA

Finally! The day arrived for our maiden voyage.  I traveled for work quite a bit in the interim, but Lee snuck in lots of time to work on the camper.  I can’t list every single thing he did, but suffice it to say I have the best husband ever.  One of the things he did that I absolutely loved was put some additional shelving in the pantry cabinet. The original cabinet is tall, and very deep (24″!) but only had three shelves. Lee added two more shelves to make more reasonable heights and significantly increase the food storage.

Here’s the original pantry cabinet, with some stuff in them to give you an idea of the scale. And because Lee is Lee, he added lighting.

There were also lots of little touches and during the first day of setting up it was like having a ton of little presents.  Small touches like a wood soap container that matched the interior that really made the day special.   We did find the time on our no-camping weekend to go to the Container Store.  I highly recommend a trip just to get ideas for storage.  The best purchase was a case of plastic shoe boxes  at $1.69 each.  All loose items are safely stored in these boxes, they fit great in any storage space in the camper, and they are clear so it’s easy to open the door and quickly find something.  This was actually my idea, and I was pleased to see it work well.

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My other favorite purchase was a condiment/vegetable tray that holds ice in the bottom  and has a lid so you could keep snacks outside longer. It’s a bit of a frivolous item, but a bargain at  $14.99  because it made me so happy.

After checking out the improved camper, we hitched it up and Lee maneuvered it out of the storage area.   I think we were so excited that we had successfully managed that part that what happened next was sort of inevitable.  Lee was getting ready to turn onto the main road and we were talking when we heard a big crunch.  I looked out my rearview mirror and the wheels of the trailer were going up and over a pretty big rock.  Lee was upset; I started laughing.  Yes, I know it’s an odd reaction, but when we bought the camper the daughter-in-law of the couple who sold us to it gave me one piece of advice.  She said the first time we dinged the camper not to get upset.  It was going to happen and it was just a camper.  This flashed into my mind and I admit I felt a little relieved that the first ding seemed so minor.  We pulled off at the first place we could and Lee checked the camper.  The stairs were slightly bent and one of the panels was crunched a bit, but nothing too major.  Lee didn’t take it quite so well.

(Well, duh. First of all, I was just minding my own business,  driving out of the parking area, and this seriously large rock, a boulder, really, with a major attitude problem leapt off the side of the road and bit right into our sparkly new camper. You can see the perp in the photo below. 

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Doesn’t it look like a thug? I was going to teach it a lesson, but you have to be careful. These street boulders travel in gangs.

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Seriously though, I was worried I might have done real damage to it, and in the first few minutes of our first real trip. Luckily, it was only a slight bend to the steps that I was able to straighten our with some pulling and grunting (see pulling and grunting below) and a judicious kick.

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This is what the steps are supposed to look like.

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And this is the new-and-improved, modified version.

As you can see, the affected step brace now has an arch to it. Engineers say that an arch is the strongest architecturally,  so if you think about it, I improved the design and made it stronger. Some of the skirting, which is just cosmetic also came loose, but it doesn’t flap while driving at highway speed, so it’s really just art. My ego, on the other hand, damaged beyond repair. – Lee)

Once we were back on the road, the traffic surprised us a bit.  We thought we had left in plenty of time, but the drive was on mainly two-lane highways and it is construction season so the roads were often down to one lane. I only mention it because I always have to be on time. Why it matters being on time to a campground for vacation weekend, I have no idea, but I need to have a healthy dose of “we get there when we get there” for these trips.  Why start off stressed? It turned out to be fine since check in started at 3:00 and despite some unexpected delays we still arrived at 3:15.  (I chalk this accomplishment up to my almost supernatural ability to manipulate time and space. It’s eerie, really. – Lee)  In our previous travels (without a trailer) we saw tons of places to pull over and shop or maybe have lunch, and indeed we saw tons of those places during this trip, but very few have a parking lot that accommodates a truck and trailer. (And of course, now that I was aware that there are roving gangs of boulders wandering around looking for innocent campers to attack, I didn’t want to take any chances. – Lee)  Once we got closer to the campsite, I made some mental notes of places to visit,  and we circled back later in just the truck once we had dropped the trailer, but mostly the little shops along the way are something that you might have to give up.  Lunch was another challenge.  If you are on interstates there are truck stops along the way, but since we were on less traveled roads it was more of a challenge.  Luckily I had bought a phone app for $10 called AllStays which shows your vehicle on the map and what facilities are coming up. This was really helpful for finding gas stations that could accommodate trailer height and upcoming turnarounds or pull offs to take a quick bathroom break.   As a side note, the ability to stop and get into your trailer to use the bathroom is pretty awesome.  At first I felt kind of weird about it, but no more scary public restrooms for me–you bring yours with you!  We ended up stopping at a small Citgo truck stop which had gas and a small deli inside.  (Eat here! Get gas! – Lee) I would have preferred one with a restaurant of some sort, but the food was cheap and did the trick, plus, as I said, options were limited.  One word of advice: start thinking about where you will stop at least 30 minutes in advance.  The app was very helpful in this case because you can look ahead along your route.  It’s definitely a mindset adjustment if you are used to just being able to stop anywhere.  Plus, setting up the camper is physically demanding and a good solid lunch is key for later on.

After lunch it was  my turn to drive.  This was my first time driving a trailer of any kind and I was pretty nervous, but the only way to make this work on longer trips is for me to take a turn so I took a deep breath and pulled out of the station.  Below are my takeaways from the experience.  I didn’t get comfortable on that first go, felt a lot like a brand new driver, which, in a way, I was.

  1. Make wide turns and look at the lower side mirror on the side you are turning (left mirror for left turn and right mirror for right turn) to watch the trailer tires to make sure you clear.
  2. Obey the speed limit.  I found every time I crept above the speed limit even 5 mph I started to struggle.  Apparently the speed limits are for bigger vehicles and are pretty accurate–who knew?
  3. Watch for sway.  The truck we have gives a message on the instrument panel to slow down if the sway becomes too bad. This is great, but you can sway over the middle line because of the wind if you’re not careful.  I had seen people driving and swaying and always thought they weren’t good drivers… shame on me.
  4. Stay to the right.  The middle lane is way too stressful with having to watch both sides almost constantly.  In the right lane, people can easily pass you and generally you have a lot of extra space to play with on the right, so it’s much less stressful.
  5. Take your time.  If you’re one of those people plodding down the road, so be it.  People can get around you if they have someplace to go and you’re new at this, so don’t be pressured into speeding up.  Plus, you’re the big vehicle so they can be more agile than you if needed.

We made it to the campsite and signed in.  Again, the people checking us in were super nice–mostly older, semi-retired folks who seemed generally pleased that we were newbies.  The setup went pretty easily, although Lee had reorganized and I wasn’t sure where a lot of things were.  (Hey, I can’t help it. Things needed to be put where they needed to be put. I had an orientation class, but she didn’t show up. – Lee) There were a couple of challenges. We didn’t have enough sewer hose to park where we wanted.  Lee ran down to the store and bought another twenty feet of hose, so now we have forty feet in all. (If I keep buying sewer hose, eventually I will have enough to just run the hose from the camper to our house. – Lee) Also, either from going over rocks or something else, a black plastic hose with wires inside had rubbed against the tire and some of the wires were bare.  This is where I am really lucky to have Lee in my life because he repaired the wires. (It is astonishing to me how often it comes up that she is lucky to have me in her life. I should get a medal. Or a statue. Or at least a parade. So, like she said, there’s this little bundle of wires that are attached to the slide-out. When the slide-out slides out, the wires go along with it. And when it’s not slid out, there’s a spring that’s attached the to bundle that is supposed to pull the slack that is created up under the trailer. Some genius engineer designed this whole thing and put it smack in front of the trailer tires. You know, right where it would flap against the tires if the spring broke, allowing the tires to rub away the protective sheath, then the insulation around the wires, and eventually, right through the wires themselves. When we got to the campsite, my eagle eye caught this and I tried to figure out what the wires provided power to. Everything worked, so I can’t imagine what purpose the wires served. I didn’t have a multi-tester with me, but I did put together an “I don’t know this camper very well so I better be prepared for weird things to happen” kit. Luckily, that kit included some wire, and wire nuts. I was able to splice the mess together and for the return trip I used baby bungee cords to stow away the slack loop.

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Back home I will have a few weeks before I drive over another boulder to figure out what the wires supply, and install a better splice, and a more robust slack-wire-retraction device. – Lee)

Lesson Learned

  • Leave extra time for construction traffic
  • Invest in an app that shows camper resources
  • Don’t leave lunch until the last-minute
  • Make wide turns and look at the lower side mirror on the side you are turning (left mirror for left turn and right mirror for right turn) to watch the trailer tires to make sure you clear
  • Obey the speed limit
  • Watch for sway
  • Boulders are dangerous, sneaky creatures,  and are not to be trusted

Easy and Delicious Baked Fish

Ingredients

  • 1 cup herb season stuffing mix (finely crushed)
  • 4 Tbsp butter, melted
  • 1  7.6 oz portion of grill flavored frozen fish (2 portions)
  • 2 tsp lemon juice

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2.  Combine stuffing with butter, tossing well until mixed

3.  Lightly grease a baking dish

4.  Place fish portion in bottom. Sprinkle fish with lemon juice

5.  Place crumb mixture lightly on fish and extra around the sides

6.  Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork

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Trial Run – Sunday

Trial Run  –  Last Day

Sunday morning came and with it the realization we needed to depart by noon.  (This is another one of those weird things you would never think of, but it’s just like a hotel. They need to clean the…..dirt ground, I guess, for the next camper. – Lee) It had taken forever to get set up so we weren’t sure how long it would take to tear down. (It ended up taking less than 90 minutes, not bad for our first time).  After some brief discussion we decided to pay for an extra day. This would give us an unlimited amount of time to pack up and finish organizing and would give the kids a chance to visit and see the camper.   Another really good decision.  I think it cost us an extra $48, but at this point it was well worth it.

(At some point during the day, Trace called to me from inside the camper “Something’s wrong.” in a tone that could only mean a spider had somehow gotten into the trailer, or the grey water tank had filled up and was starting to back up into the shower stall. It turned out it was the water in the shower stall thing. Really disgusting smelly water. No big deal, though, I had purchased a sewer hose kit at Camper’s World the day before. But I hadn’t hooked it up yet, because I figured we wouldn’t need it until it was time to drain the tanks when we were ready to leave. Apparently, we use a lot more water than most people, because we had filled that sucker up in just two days, without even using the shower!!! Or, it could be that it wasn’t empty when we started. Hard to tell. So, I hooked it up. Word to the wise, even if the valves are closed when you take off pipe cover, a little of that water is going to leak out. Onto your hands. It is not pleasant. If you have a small child, ask them to take off the cover. Or wear gloves. I washed my hands off, and then set about hooking up all the pipes. The good news is, it’s pretty easy. The bad news is, however much hose you have, you need more. I strolled down to the office/camp store/ice cream parlor/craft center and sure enough, they had a fine selection of the stuff RVers need. I bought another hose kit, and hooked everything up. Once the tanks were drained, the shower smelled better. – Lee)

My oldest daughter stopped by on her way to work and parked her car in our drive.  There were signs stating visitors had to register, but since it was going to be a very quick visit I didn’t think they applied.  Not 2 minutes after she pulled up, a roving campground employee stopped and politely told her she had to move her car to the main office parking lot, and sign in at the main office.  I was surprised, because folks had largely left us alone and I didn’t think anyone was paying attention. At first I was a tad annoyed, but then I thought about it and it makes sense.  The seasonal folks are there all the time and the temporaries like us probably bend the rules all the time.  It’s quite an investment for them, like a summer home, and I don’t blame them for protecting their environment.  Needless to say when our youngest daughter came, we had her park at the office and went down to get her. A quick word about the office/store.  They have a great selection and the prices aren’t that bad.  Toilet paper in particular has to be a special kind and you can’t find it anywhere but a camping store or Walmart.  Obviously there are certain things you do not want to run out of, so pay a little extra and get what they have for the convenience.   Also wood.  I didn’t know that you can’t bring out-of-state wood to a campground.  Because we were close we brought some of our own, but I didn’t have enough small pieces.  Lee got tired of seeing me struggle and bought a bundle.  It was $8 a bundle and very dry, but I still need to look for a solution to that problem.

I want to talk a minute here about division of labor because I think it is very interesting.  Because it is a small space, you are on top of each other unless you divide up the jobs.  We naturally gravitated to the things we were best suited for which in our case tended to be very traditional.  Basically I took care of the inside and Lee took care of the outside.  (I would like to point out the inherent unfairness of this. Assuming your reading this inside, take a look around, and get a feel for the size of “inside”. Now go “outside” and compare. Outside is much, much bigger than inside. Seems unfair to me, I’m just saying. Also, there are less mosquitoes, and dirt and gunk and stuff inside. And it hardly ever rains inside. -Lee)

I found this interesting because in our everyday lives, Lee and I have always shared the various household roles.  When he had a job where he traveled, I took care of the kids, cooking and sort of doing the cleaning 🙂  When I started traveling a lot, the roles switched and he took the primary role with the kids and house.  It’s worth mentioning that Lee is a better housekeeper than I could ever be and has organization in his DNA, but I do think I was a more inspired cook when I was taking my turn in the early years.  Because he is a master organizer, I left organizing inside of the cupboards to him and I think you will agree that the results were fantastic.   Having a husband who can do a little bit of everything is really a huge benefit. (It doesn’t hurt that he is also clever, and handsome, and manly. – Lee)

Lessons Learned

  • Pay for the extra day if you feel you need it so you are not rushed with your first time packing up.
  • Check the fill level on the Grey water tank and Black water tank regularly to avoid unpleasant surprises
  • Wear gloves when messing with the sewer hose (yes we actually had to learn this lesson)
  • Divide the duties based on what you are best at and try to work as much as possible in separate physical spaces during the tear down.
  • The visitor rules are for real; follow them.
  • You can’t bring out-of-state wood to a campground.
  • Make sure the trailer is firmly on the block of wood when you park.

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Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  Search Amazon.com here

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Trial Run – Saturday

 Trial Run – Day Two

It’s a good thing we went to bed early because we got up early. Very early. As in, the birds asked us to keep it down because they were trying to sleep. Excitement coupled with a desire to get started got us going.  I should say here in complete honesty Lee got me going.  (Yes, that’s true. – Lee) Lee is a very early riser, so for him a 5:30 rise time is normal, but for me on a weekend, not so much.  We got up and walked outside and it was so quiet.  I mean really quiet, like you never get to experience in a town, and I took a deep breath and smiled.  I had forgotten how much I liked the quiet.  Raising three kids and working at a job that requires non-stop communication with people (I am a project manager/efficiency expert) doesn’t allow for much genuine quiet.  It was a great feeling, but then the practicalities kicked in.  We had no coffee. No food. Some people can roll with these kind of things, but for me these are pretty basic requirements. So we got in the truck went back home and took showers and grabbed a bite to eat.  I know what you’re thinking, at this point we had spent precious little time actually at the campsite.  You would be right and it actually gets worse before it gets better!

Refreshed and ready to face the day we went back to the camper.  Of course it wasn’t even 8am yet, so I puttered around double checking the list and Lee worked on whatever it was that he needed to do. Finally it was time to go back to shopping!  We had picked up a lot of what we needed at Target, but it turned out that there a lot of things specific to a travel trailer that Target didn’t have. We needed to go to a store that specializes in camping and RVs.

The nearest camping store was 1-1/2 hours away in Chichester, near Concord, but we decided to make the drive and go to Camper’s World.  Camper’s World is definitely the place to go for RV camping specific supplies!  We had gone to outdoor/sports places and they have items but mostly these are for tent camping and the hard-core adventurer.  (As you are learning, we are not hard-core adventurers. – Lee) Camper’s World is for the RV traveler and our wish list got MUCH longer once we saw what they had to offer. One thing I want to mention here is their Good Sam club membership. It includes, for $69.95, tow assistance for both your vehicles and trailers.  Even if you have tow assistance on your current vehicle it may not cover the trailer, and I thought the coverage they provide was definitely a bargain for the corresponding piece of mind.  I also want to mention that this is where we blew our budget.  We had spent the bulk of the initial $1,000 on “household goods”, but Camping World had RV supplies, really a completely different category and I’ll be honest we completely blew the budget.  By the time we were done with initial expenses I think we hit about $1,800.  Also, measure everything before you go.  Spacial relationships are different in a camper than what you’re used to, and you’d be surprised how often things won’t fit. Below are some of the more interesting things we saw:

  • Carpet for the steps – Apparently camping is a bit dirty…who knew?  So as I was sweeping for the umpteenth time I realized we needed both mats and carpets steps to minimize the dirt. The people in my family will laugh to hear me say I was sweeping (I am not known as the cleanest person in the world) but it’s a small space and keeping it neat just makes sense.  But step carpeting for the RV was #1 on my list.  Unfortunately we hadn’t pre-measured so we had to delay this purchase until later
  • Electric jack – when we had the incident with not being able to get the camper unhitched poor Lee was cranking the trailer up and down and up and down.  I tried but it’s pretty hard to do, so electric jack is definitely high on our list of things to buy in the future
  • Paddy O’ Room –  This is a way to enclose your canopy.  VERY expensive and we did not buy one, but it did go on our wish list
  • New mattress – the mattress was really not working for me, but the ones they had for sale were in the $600 range.  Too much to spend without some comparison shopping and some thought.  While Queen sheets may work on a Queen short the mattress has to be specially made in order to take advantage of the storage space underneath.  It was good to know there were options, but this was something we would chew on.
  • Pioneer Grill – I love the fact that the camper has a three burner stove and an oven, but I wanted to try cooking on a campfire.  We had done some of this when we took the kids tent camping, but I love a fire and the challenge was appealing.  I did remember however what a pain it was to cook on uneven heat and saw a product I just had to try.  The campfire grill looked great in the box, but older and wiser now I knew it was a long shot.  Imagine my surprise when it worked great.  It is very heavy-duty and has a stake that sticks in the ground.  You can adjust the grill up or down over the fire and it comes with its own nice carry bag.  This product was great and absolutely lived up to its packaging. (Update:  we love this product.  It has totally held up and works at almost every campfire ring we have had.)

Finally done, it’s getting late again and by the time we stopped at the store it was 6pm.  I decided to try something simple, that I had never done before so I made chicken legs, corn on the cob, and sliced tomatoes.  We grill out a lot; hamburgers, steak, beef products, but never chicken, so I was in uncharted territory.  It took 1-1/2 hours to get the fire hot enough and cook the chicken but it tasted great and it was an easy start to my cooking adventures.  I should mention here that the camper has a real table and 4 chairs.  This was a huge selling point for Lee as he doesn’t like the little booths and we were both very happy sitting down to our first meal. (Seriously, take a look at the picture. Doesn’t that look better than some weird booth that turns into a bed? Who wants to sleep where people eat? Who wants to eat where people sleep? Give me a proper table and chairs, and I’m a happy man. – Lee)

 

Lessons Learned

  • Coffee, food, and showers are a minimum requirement (at least for us)
  • A trial run 15 minutes away was once again a brilliant idea.
  • Budget for the money you will need to equip the camper
  • The lighter, cheaper, less expensive option is often best
  • When purchasing always think about storage and space
  • Don’t skimp on the can opener
  • Know what matters to you and don’t skimp on those items.  Everything else bargain shop
  • Invest in trailer roadside assistance.  The piece of mind is worth the price.
  • Be prepared to go over budget.
  • Measure everything in the camper (interior and exterior) before going shopping.

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Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  Search Amazon.com here