Summer of Camping

Yet another long stretch of no posts.... It's been a busy summer, and I can't believe it's almost September already. So what have I been up to? Work mostly, but that's a boring blog post. Every other weekend we've been camping which is one of my favorite parts of summer. We've been all over the place, and I'm getting ready for next weekend that I'm off and we can get away.

We're thinking Sandusky, OH and a weekend at Cedar Point. There's a nice campground up there called Crystal Rock that we both like. We were there early in the year, and have been looking forward to going back. Last weekend was close to home at a local KOA. Nice park, but a little pricey. We tried out a new KOA in Mansfield over the extra-hot weekend from hell. I think it was 100 degrees that weekend, but we still had a good time. I don't think I've ever heard of a campground that has a wine tasting - that was pretty cool.

We also made our annual trip to Mosquito Lake State Park which is always nice. I was pretty tired that weekend, but we had a good time. I also have some vacation coming up in September that we are trying to plan a longer trip... Not sure where to go just yet. Cincinnati, Harrisburg, PA, Finger Lakes and even Columbus are all still on the list. Don't want to spend the whole trip driving, but it would be cool to do somewhere new. Any suggestions?

Cleveland RV Show 2012

On Saturday we went to the 2012 Cleveland RV show. It was fairly busy as each RV we went into already seemed to have folks hanging out inside. There were quite a few dealers, RVs, and some campgrounds there as well. A lot of it was stuff we've already seen before, but there were a few things of interest.

Something we've noticed is that once you walk into about 20 RVs they all start to look the same. A few were different. One started on the outside. I thought it looked like a shuttlecraft from Star Trek. The inside was pretty nice too - it looked modern and clean. I think that one was called an Element. We also liked the Visa by Gulf Stream. It was light weight and the layout was interesting. The bathroom was actually separated a little so that the bathtub/shower was on one side of the trailer and the toilet/sink was on the other. That might not sound like much, but in a sea of shiolets anything different is good.

The other one we liked was the V-cross Vibe. It had the shape of a horse trailer but definitely didn't look like one. It used the V shape in the front for extra space while still being more aerodynamic. Of course there were the usual gargantuan RVs - the fifth wheels and coaches that were huge. Some of them are gigantic as well as very expensive. Many of them look a lot alike. Overall we had a good time and saw a few campgrounds that we might try out next year. Of course it doesn't help with the camping bug that has struck already

Mosquito Lake State Park

Our first trip with the new camper started today at Mosquito Lake State Park.  Contrary to the name, there really aren't that many mosquitoes here – especially compared to another recent camp out where I came home with about 20 bites!  The campground is mostly wooded, facilities are recently updated, and there are a lot of activities here.  I think there is even a band playing tomorrow night at the marina.

So far camping with the new trailer has been great.  It towed well on the way out, and set up was a breeze.  Pretty much unhitched, pulled out the awning, plugged it in, and that was that.  We ended up spending some time at Wally World getting a few supplies.  Mostly we got a bunch of plastic totes to hold everything in place in the cabinets so it doesn't turn into a mess while we tow.

We did have to stop at the dump station on the way in which was new for us.  Obviously nothing to dump yet, but we filled the freshwater tank up.  Although we thought we’d look like total newbies and mess something up, it was pretty self-explanatory and easy.  Just go easy when you get to the top of the tank so it doesn't spray back at you.

The New Trailer

Today we picked up the new camper - a Sportsmen Classic.  It's  a 14 foot trailer with a rear kitchen.  The fourteen footer seems close enough to a tiny travel trailer without being too tiny.  When we first got there they were trying to sell us on a 19' trailer, but going from a teardrop to 19 feet seems a bit of  a big jump.  And neither of us wanted to tow it.

So all went well on the drive home.  The only really interesting part for us was backing it into its parking spot.  With the teardrop we just got it somewhere in the driveway, and then maneuvered it into position.  This one being about 1100lbs more heavy, it's just not as feasible to move it by hand.  We also had to set our trailer brake controller - a Prodigy P2 that we got at eTrailer.com.  Very fast shipping, btw, and their prices were way better than anything we could find locally (most places wanted the same amount for a really cheap brake controller as we paid for a much nicer one).So setting the brakes wasn't hard - you just have to set them so that at full braking they won't actually lock up.

Now we're just excited to get everything packed and ready to go camping.  We took a long look around tonight to figure out where we're going to put everything.  It sure has a lot more storage than we're used to.  Should be fun!

Tears for the Teardrop

Last year we bought a teardrop camper.  What a great upgrade from tent camping!  At night you’re not on the ground, and you have a way to attempt to control the climate inside.  It’s also nice to not have the car jammed with everything you need for a weekend (or more).  The unit we bought was great, well-constructed for the most part, and was just what we thought we needed.  We used the heck out of it camping almost every weekend that we could.  It saw several states and seasons, and we were excited to use it again this year.

But the more we used it we found that there were things we wished were different.  One things was just that we had to almost completely unpack the teardrop just to get in.  This meant a lengthy process at the campsite to get set up.  We still had to set up an easy-up, the expandable kitchen, cooler, etc.  Sometimes when ya go camping, you just want to get there and enjoy it.  Also, if you want to just stop somewhere for the night, you’re stuck either loading everything into the car or leaving it outside.  We also wanted to be able to stand up.  Unless you are 2 feet tall, this is difficult in a teardrop (unless you have a “standie”).

So we started looking at a-frame hardtop popups.  We liked them because they were lightweight and unique looking.  But they also came with a price – as does just about any travel trailer (TT) that is built to be lightweight.  One weekend we went to a local RV dealer to see a newer line of lightweight TTs – we were convinced.  It had everything we wanted and more.  Plus it was light enough for us to tow it and not going to break the bank.  We think we found what we’re looking for…