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Our first camping trip of 2008! The kids are on Spring Break, and I had planned to spend it at Taylor Beach Campground, but the water does not turn on until April 15, so we dedided to hook up the camper and go! I was over the week before to flush the water system, and check everything. Good thing I did, because the safety chains were too short.
We decided to go to Sleepy Hollow North of Lansing, the water was on there, and it was close enough Amy could visit.
Amy and the kids went over to the camper Sunday afternoon.. a beautiful sunny day. I came over after work, and we spent the first night in the camper. So far so good! It was really nice to have room to move and all the conviences of home. Next morning we woke up early and had breakfast. It was suppose to rain that day, but it turned out great. Got the trailer hooked up and took off. Stopped to put some air in the tires and got on I-96. The GPS took a different route up M52, and that saved about 20 - 30 miles over going to Lansing and heading North. So we arrived at the campground by 11am. Mitchell and I filled up the water tanks and Amy scouted for agood site. Not too hard as there were only a few people there. She found a site at the end of a loop where I could pull around and basically back straight into the spot. It worked great and with her direction got it backed in without problems. A few minutes of setting everything up and we were in business! Monday was a perfect day, warm, sunny. The wind picked up in the afternoon, and by evening it was cooler. We spend the night inside and that was great... XM radio playing, heat on. The kids played for a while and then went to bed, and I stayed up for a while reading.
Tue morning it was cold outside.. we had breakfast and just hung out.. the kids played and I laid in bed until after 10 reading. In the afternoon it cleared up a bit and we went for a walk around the Island. In the evening we had dinner in the dutch oven and the first campfire of the year.
The Campground had just opened on Friday and there were only a few people there including people in tents (first night was 38 degrees, second night RAIN.. gotta hand it to people in tents). Everything was gray, and did not see any DNR people around. The campground was fine, the bathrooms were open... and while I saw workers here, I am still not sure if they have been cleaned since last year. The campground is only 1/2 open. The ground is still quite wet, but not too muddy.. just soft.
Tue night/Wed AM we had RAIN.. thunder lightening and LOTS of rain. I got up at one point and realized we had no power.. went back to bed but got up at 4am to went out and reset the breaker and we were in business again. The rain stopped but then became very windy. We got up and got our stuff packed up. Hooked up the trailer with minimal problems and headed back to Taylor Beach. This was the part I was worried about.. pulling in throught the trees and backing up with only the kids to help. But it went fine... took about 20 minutes.. but no problems. I just went slow at it to make sure I didn't run into any trees.
Over all we are very pleased with the new camper. Everything took longer than it should.. but it is a learning process.. Sunday I realized the fridge was running on gas.. after about 30 minutes of trouble shooting.. trying to figure out why that outlet had not power and most of the rest was fine.. I discovered the GFCI breaker in the bath was tripped. Little things like that, which took some time (and instructions) to figure out, but next time we will know.
Very pleased with the truck.. we finally got to use it to tow a camper which was the reason we bought it. It performed great. The brake controler I wired the week before was great! Mirrors were helpful, but still trying to get the passenger one adjusted just right.. and the Swift Hitch camera system I bought was great... highly recommended!
This was the first in what I am sure will be many adventures in the new camper.
