Comlara Park - Getting ready for Florida

Well it's less than a week before we leave for our Spring Break vacation in Navarre, FL. We haven't been able to get the new trailer out due to the weather here in Illinois but this weekend it was in the upper 70's to low 80's and we needed to make sure we remembered how to set up and use the different features of the trailer. So I hitched up the trailer while Glenda was still at work(I get off early on Friday afternoons) and off I went to Lake Evergreen(Comlara County Park) north of Hudson, IL. I had called a few days ago to see what the arrangements were for camping since it was still early here in Illinois and they said that only a small part of the campground would be open and the water was still turned off. So I stopped by the house on the way out of town and filled the fresh water tank after de-winterizing the water system. My first time to do that. I started filling and went inside to turn on the pump and the faucets but nothing happened. I couldn't figure out why the water wouldn't flow. I could hear the pump running so I looked under the sink area at the punp and I forgot to turn the valve that lets the water into the system. As soon as I did that...well you know what happened. I opened the hot and cold, flushed the toilet, ran the shower(both inside and out) and  everything began to flow. But I digress. When I got to the campground I was told that they had just opened up more of the campground and I could go look to see what site I wanted. So off I went. Well my luck was good. I came across a great site right on the lake.

Site #80

It had a great view of the lake and no one else next door. So I unhitched and set up , then drove back to the office to let them know what site I chose and pay. Two nights $36.00...not too bad.

The view from the camp site of the lake

I went and picked up Glenda in town and on the way out of town we stopped to pick up Subway since it was getting late and we didn't feel like cooking. Had a nice dinner in the camper and sat out in our bag chairs as the sun set. We decided to go for a walk around the campground and see who else was there. We saw two tent campers on the back loop and only three other travel trailers. Two of them were fifth wheels. We hooked up the TV and were able to find about 14 local channels on the antenna. I tried to get a fire going but I wasn't doing something right and I couldn't get a good fire for marshmellows so we packed it in for the night. Well our last trailer had a bed that folded out the back of the trailer(some canvas) but this BIGGER trailer has the bed inside. It felt great and much quieter.

Saturday

We decided to go to our home after eating some breakfast and do some housecleaning(Glenda's idea, not mine) and do our grocery shopping for the week. We got those things accomplished and around 2 pm we headed back the the campground. We took our bikes with us and had a nice bike ride after dinner. Just some snacks.  We rode for about 30 minutes or so in the campground and around on the county road outside the camp area. We built another fire and this time I used some Fire Starter gel. That did the trick. We had a great fire and I got to eat some marshmellows. There was a threat of some storms but they passed to the south of us so no harm.

Sunday

Got up and had some breakfast and built another fire with the last of the wood I bought at the camp office on Friday. I went out to drink my coffee by the fire.

After we cleaned up the breakfast dishes(oatmeal, OJ and coffee) we decided to take a little hike on some of the trails around the park.

Great scenery and some shade in spots

Once we got back it was getting time to think about lunch before getting ready to hitch up and go back to town. So I grilled some hamburgers and we had chips and soft drinks. Something about eating food with nature all around that makes it taste better. We sat out by the lake and saw some turtles sunning themselves. 

Five turtles sharing a log. Just after taking this picture they all slipped into the water. Guess they were a little camera shy. Well about 2:30pm we get everything together and off we went to the dump station before heading home. It was a great trial run for the trip beginning next weekend. Florida, ready or not, here we come.

Waiting for Spring

Well the weather has been fairly mild here in Central Illinois so I am really getting the itch to get the camper out. I just keep thinking that it won't be long until we are traveling down to the Panhandle of Florida for Spring Break. As you know we made reservations at  Emerald Beach RV Park in Navarre, FL. We were able to reserve site #64.    Here is the site map and a close up.

The beach is exclusive to park residents so we should have no problem finding space there.

 

Doesn't that look great?

                                                          

Well enough day dreaming.  At least tomorrow is Friday and I only work a half a day. If the weather is decent I may just stop over at the storage facility and say hi to the 22FB. I know she is lonely and I am looking forward to seeing her. I need to be getting some organization done since we really didn't have a chance to do that before storing her. I lurk in a couple of forums(Good Sam and Jayco Owners)to get some ideas on modifications. If anyone has any ideas they would like to suggest that would be great.

Tennis Balls

What in the heck does that mean? Well, I had bought an RV cover for the new trailer and we had it on for the last month since putting in our storage space. I was over at the trailer the other day and noticed that the rain gutter extensions had poked a hole in the cover in a couple of places. So I went on-line to the Good Sam Club forum and I noticed that some other folks had the same thing happen to them so they cut an X in a tennis ball and put them over each gutter extension. That way the sharp edges won't poke more holes or bigger holes in the cover.

While there we looked for any signs of mice(there weren't any) and picked up some the the literature the dealer gave us so I could do a little reading from the owners manual. I figured I needed to keep familiar with the operation of the different appliances and get ahead start on what do do to de-winterize when we get ready for our trip to Florida in March. So there is a good tip for those of you who may have covers and had some problems like I did. Weather has been incredibly mild so far this season. Wish we didn't have the camper covered and winterized. Oh well, it makes for some good dreams of things to come in the spring.

Happy New Year

A new year has begun. We spent time with the grandkids and daughter in Indiana for New Years Eve. #2 daughter got married. Very happy. Just a small ceremony in their livingroom. Just so happens the #1 daughter got married 2 weeks before in Chicago. They also had a small ceremony in the Chicago Marriage Court. Glad we could be there for both of the weddings. Long story as too why so informal for both.

Well it snowed some today. Makes me feel sad but it is winter here in Illinois. Not much I can do about it. Really looking forward to our trip to Florida in March. Counting the days in my head. Hard to concentrate at work since we made the reservations. I am so anxious to be able to get the new trailer out and use it.

Here it is as we are leaving the dealership about a month ago. It is about 7 foot longer than the old trailer so the Jayco Jay Flight 22FB fits us better.  Looking forward to sleeping inside the trailer instead of out the back end. Here is a photo of the old trailer from last summer at Bo Wood campground at Lake Shelbyville.

As I said in my last post, it was a good starter for us but since we really enjoy camping and we found out we could use more storage and larger holding tanks the new one was much needed. Now just bring on the warm weather.

I hope everyone had a great start to their year. Tomorrow I go back to work and dream of being on the road..

From the beginning

I have been reading so many great blogs from people who RV, camp, fulltime or do the weekend thing like we do. I thought I would try my hand at telling our story and give an accounting of our experiences as we begin our camping/RV lifestyle. We talked for years about getting a camper and enjoying the great outdoors in a little more style than in a tent(Glenda just won't do that). So we went to the Chicago RV show last February in Rosemont, IL and saw just about every type of camper, RV, trailer, toy hauler at the show. We didn't want to spend alot of money(I know that is a relative term) so we decided to go with a small hybrid trailer from Starcraft.

We purchased it in July and had a hitch put on our 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander(towing capacity 3500lbs) and off we went from the dealer. Well right away we could tell the Outlander was working very hard and that worried us a little. After a couple of short trips within 50 miles of our home we knew we loved camping and also knew we were going to have to invest in a bigger tow vehicle.

Fortunately we had saved some money and were able to buy a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7 L Hemi and 4 wheel drive. It had the tow package and sure enough what a difference. We felt much better about going out and traveling the roads with our truck. Well because we bought a small camper so we could tow behind the small SUV we found out that with a small camper there is very little holding tank capacity and storage. However we were happy. Then we joined a local chapter camping club through Good Sam Club. Everyone in the club had 5th wheels or 30 to 35 foot travel trailers. We had a 15 foot camper. We looked like midgets next to these homes on wheels.  Being a hybrid the bed was a bunk out on the rear of the camper. At least we were off the ground and we had a bathroom however it was pretty noisy at night with nearby road noise, wind and general activity outside. So, of course, since we now had a truck we began talking about more space and more storage which meant we could get a larger camper.

Long story short when we took the camper in to be winterized we saw a Jayco 22FB. Bed inside, pass through storage, 3 times the holding tank capacity, large refigerator and a sink in the bathroom . We bought it and brought it home the next week. I must say the dealer gave us back in trade everything we had paid for the smaller camper. Easy to do since the new camper was twice the price. We took the new camper to a local county campground overnight so we could get familiar with the amenities and then over to the storage facility until we can get it out again when spring begins to call us. That's the beginning and we are just getting started.