grashley
Well-known member
We just got home from our maiden voyage. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! All was wonderful while the camper was parked. I will make separate posts with more details on some parts.
Sunday, I'm sitting in the camper, planning top leave Tuesday, watching HUGE snowflakes fall. Delayed departure to Wednesday. Got the camper water system sanitized and packed. Knowing the camp did not have water at the sites, I tried to drain and fill the holding tank Wednesday morning. Drain went well. When I tried fill, the hose was frozen.
I drove the truck across the yard to hook up, only leaving small ? inch ruts. All is good. Because my yard is NOT level, I must do a double lift to hook up. The landing gear easily lift the camper. I put cement blocks under the frame and lower it back to get a higher lift point. The blocks sink a couple inches into the ground - and tip sideways. Lift, reblock and try again. I finally get connected to the truck. No trouble after getting it up high enough. Disconnect everything, get the GDD and DW and dog loaded up. Because of a Martin house very close to the truck, I back up slowly - until the tires spin. 4 Low, and stuck in my own back yard!!
Call Coach Net at 12:15. They had a wrecker with a winch here in 45 min. He got me out, but the back yard got "redecorated" Pix tomorrow. 2:00 we were on our way. 5 stars for Coach Net.
Pulling the camper was absolutely no trouble. Thanks to many of you here, I have a great FW with the right truck. We got to Giant City SP, IL about 3:30. Really nice campground. See separate post for details. Lots of trees. Some close to thread and curves. Had to unhitch, straighten truck and rehitch. I did chock a wheel. Got out of the tree with no further damage except to the ego. Forgot to grab the chock, which was between the axles. May it rest in peace, having given its' all. THEN we got into our chosen site without further problems. We were 100 feet to the playground, which Cora loved!!!
After setup, we had a great time! Other than an empty fresh water tank. The camp had water hydrants around, including the playground, so we just filled milk jugs for water and all was well. Breakfast with "level" eggs. The Webber Q I got for Christmas got its' first cookout. Worked GREAT! DW said first night, "this feels like home, now." We had a great time there!
Hookup this morning went flawlessly. Then we moved. The roads and sites are laid out nicely, but our site required a fairly tight turn getting out and a continued tight turn to get onto the exit road. Remember, lots of trees? Very tight tracking inside a turn. After backing away from the tree, straightening up, then backing to go out the other direction, another tree said HELLO to my ladder. Then we got out okay, but we were 10 ft off the road, carefully missing a light post on the RF of the truck and coming within a foot of another tree with the camper on the left. THEN it was home free!
We get home without incident and pull into a higher part of the yard by a different route. I pulled in as far as I could before the tires started spinning - in 4High. Steps will not unfold. Remember that tree as we pulled out of our site?
Final toll I hope: All three slide covers got a firm rubdown with tree bark. I get to replace my left side scare light. I also get a new light by my steps. There are several surface scratches and a couple spots needing further study. I have not looked at the ladder or roof - yet.
AIN'T CAMPING FUN! ;D 8) :-[
Sunday, I'm sitting in the camper, planning top leave Tuesday, watching HUGE snowflakes fall. Delayed departure to Wednesday. Got the camper water system sanitized and packed. Knowing the camp did not have water at the sites, I tried to drain and fill the holding tank Wednesday morning. Drain went well. When I tried fill, the hose was frozen.
I drove the truck across the yard to hook up, only leaving small ? inch ruts. All is good. Because my yard is NOT level, I must do a double lift to hook up. The landing gear easily lift the camper. I put cement blocks under the frame and lower it back to get a higher lift point. The blocks sink a couple inches into the ground - and tip sideways. Lift, reblock and try again. I finally get connected to the truck. No trouble after getting it up high enough. Disconnect everything, get the GDD and DW and dog loaded up. Because of a Martin house very close to the truck, I back up slowly - until the tires spin. 4 Low, and stuck in my own back yard!!
Call Coach Net at 12:15. They had a wrecker with a winch here in 45 min. He got me out, but the back yard got "redecorated" Pix tomorrow. 2:00 we were on our way. 5 stars for Coach Net.
Pulling the camper was absolutely no trouble. Thanks to many of you here, I have a great FW with the right truck. We got to Giant City SP, IL about 3:30. Really nice campground. See separate post for details. Lots of trees. Some close to thread and curves. Had to unhitch, straighten truck and rehitch. I did chock a wheel. Got out of the tree with no further damage except to the ego. Forgot to grab the chock, which was between the axles. May it rest in peace, having given its' all. THEN we got into our chosen site without further problems. We were 100 feet to the playground, which Cora loved!!!
After setup, we had a great time! Other than an empty fresh water tank. The camp had water hydrants around, including the playground, so we just filled milk jugs for water and all was well. Breakfast with "level" eggs. The Webber Q I got for Christmas got its' first cookout. Worked GREAT! DW said first night, "this feels like home, now." We had a great time there!
Hookup this morning went flawlessly. Then we moved. The roads and sites are laid out nicely, but our site required a fairly tight turn getting out and a continued tight turn to get onto the exit road. Remember, lots of trees? Very tight tracking inside a turn. After backing away from the tree, straightening up, then backing to go out the other direction, another tree said HELLO to my ladder. Then we got out okay, but we were 10 ft off the road, carefully missing a light post on the RF of the truck and coming within a foot of another tree with the camper on the left. THEN it was home free!
We get home without incident and pull into a higher part of the yard by a different route. I pulled in as far as I could before the tires started spinning - in 4High. Steps will not unfold. Remember that tree as we pulled out of our site?
Final toll I hope: All three slide covers got a firm rubdown with tree bark. I get to replace my left side scare light. I also get a new light by my steps. There are several surface scratches and a couple spots needing further study. I have not looked at the ladder or roof - yet.
AIN'T CAMPING FUN! ;D 8) :-[
