July 6, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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.

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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July 6, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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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July 1, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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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June 18, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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)

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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June 18, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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 🙂

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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June 18, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is what the steps are supposed to look like.

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.

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. 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?
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.
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.
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.

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

June 17, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

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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June 17, 2013 by Lee and Tracy

Getting Started

Tale: Getting Started

Lee and I have been married and raising kids for a long time–a really long time. Over the years we have often talked about what we would do someday when the kids were grown and gone. One of our ideas was traveling around the country in a camper. My grandparents did it for years. They sold their house, bought an RV, and spent six months traveling the fifty states. The freedom of that was VERY appealing to me, and I’ll admit I had a completely romanticized view of what that would be like. As we grew older, and frankly more practical, we still talked about it, but the practicalities were a larger part of the conversation and through the teen years there was always something going on. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, our first romantic weekend getaway in 20 years. I kid you not, we had taken two vacations alone, but hadn’t had a romantic weekend alone since the kids were babies, and our oldest is 24, you do the math. We loved the weekend; we went to the Corning glass festival, stayed in a lovely B&B and really enjoyed each other’s company. But the weekend cost well over $800 and on the 5 hour drive home were lamenting the fact that we wouldn’t be able to afford to do this very often. The subject of camping came up again, and as we often had, we started to talk about how great that would be but the what the challenges would be. This time though the conversation was different. There were less challenges than ever before and oddly the idea seemed almost feasible. You can cover a lot of conversational ground in a 5 hour drive! I had taken an extra day off from work so we decided to travel to Campers Inn (a large RV dealer in Nashua, NH) and take a look to see what our options might be.

The next morning we went to the dealer and started with the very smallest camper on the lot. We wanted a shower and on board toilet, (I have to confess, that was my requirement. I just can’t stand the idea of walking, unshowered, to a public shower and then standing in someone else’s dirty water. It’s one of the reasons I’ve never been that interested in camping. It’s just gross. – Lee) so that ruled out pop-up style campers, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that there are tiny campers that have bathrooms that are just a little bigger than pop-ups, but aren’t pop-ups. We were also limited to the 3500 lb towing capability of our minivan, which kept us in the very-small-trailer category.

I am a bit claustrophobic so I would walk into a camper, walk in the bathroom and shut the door, and walk right back out again. Lee and Lance Simmons (an excellent salesperson who is an avid camping enthusiast himself) were very patient for the next 2-1/2 hours as we methodically worked our way through the various models and types available. (It was amazing how quickly both of us decided what liked and didn’t like.-Lee) Finally we walked into a travel trailer and I felt good. It was a “couples” trailer, designed for two people so it felt like there was extra space and I felt comfortable and at home. Two problems, though: it was $35,000 and it was over our 3500 lb tow limit. There was one I could have lived with, but it would have been a stretch versus the larger ones I actually felt comfortable in.

I told Lee we could buy a truck…trade in my car and get a new truck, so that problem was solved but we weren’t going to spend that much money to try something out. We were in luck, however. There was one used model that was similar to what we liked on the lot. A 2005 Keystone Hornet for $12,500; and despite having obviously seen a lot of use it was clean and most importantly, designed for two people. We decided to sleep on it (something else we have learned the value of as we have gotten older) and do some internet research.

That night I went online, typed the make and model into Craig’s list, and the EXACT same camper was available in my small town! What are the odds??? It was quite a bit newer, a 2010 model, and immaculately clean for only $15,000! This really got our attention; when the universe wants you to do something it generally sweeps barriers aside with remarkable speed. I won’t bore you with all the details but here is how the next four days went:

5/29: See the camper, meet the incredibly nice retired couple who have barely used it. (It turns out he hated camping!) Make a commitment to buy the camper.

5/29: Take out a 401K loan…takes literally 3 minutes online.

5/30: Go to trade in my car and buy a truck to haul camper, find out my company has a partnership deal and I get any truck on the lot at invoice price automatically. Find a truck and buy a truck, drive the truck home.

5/31: 401K Money gets direct deposited into our account. Lee gets the money, meets the couple, and buys the camper.

On Monday we talked about getting a little camper, on Friday we owned a “new to us” 32′ travel trailer and a brand new truck to pull it with.

Lessons Learned

It never hurts to look
Visit an RV dealer and go into every camper, starting with the smallest available size and work your way up. When you’ve found what you like, you’ll know it!
Sleep on it; don’t get pressured into an immediate decision
Comparison shop – Craig’s list is your friend
When the universe makes something that easy ..go with it

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