We watched this little maple tree slowly turn crimson over the week we were camping at Alum Creek State Park in Lewis Center, Ohio. The park is due north of Columbus and is about two and a half hours from our home. That’s a nice doable drive for a camping trip. You don’t have to leave at the crack of dawn in order to get there at a decent time to set up and still have time to play and enjoy your first day.
We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. It did get grey and rainy on Thursday, but we spent the day indoors wandering around the mall and people watching. My poor Mr. FixIt about froze yesterday morning when we were packing up to go home. The man refuses to wear long pants long past any reasonable person would give in and wear them. It was only 46 degrees and his hands were wet and numb by the time we were finished. I turned on the heater for him and he was soon feeling much better.
When you buy a new camper, there will always be a couple of things that need adjusting or fiddled with. Such is the case with Big Bird. We noticed the Formica on the table was chipped along one edge. And one of the drawers seems to be off kilter. We also had a couple of questions for the guys at the dealership, so we stopped in on our way home. We were in and out of there in under an hour. They even adjusted our hitch for us. It was a little too low and the front end of the camper was angled down. They raised it up, and the camper was even easier to pull than before!
All the systems worked fine on Big Bird’s inaugural trip. We turned on the furnace to make sure it worked like it was supposed to. It did. One thing I love about this model, the fridge is bigger, has a small freezer, and it switches back and forth automatically from gas to electric. You have to do that manually on Birdie, which isn’t hard…it’s just less convenient. The fridge kept the food nice and cold without freezing it. We cooked a couple of meals on the propane cooktop. I prefer to cook any foods that have oils or strong odors outside when we camp. I don’t want the greasy residue in there, nor to I want the fabrics and bed saturated with any off smells. Our electric griddle or electric skillet would have been an excellent addition to this trip, but unfortunately, it was one of those things that didn’t get packed in the rush to get out on the road last weekend. We’ll be sure to bring it next time.
We picked Pumpkin up from the Kitty Hilton on our way home. They just love her there. They were talking about how sweet she is and when they take her out and love on her she just snuggles up to them. I’m glad they take such good care of her. We had one crate-sized space left in the truck in anticipation of picking her up. She talked to us all the way home and was so happy to get out and run when we got home with her. I was afraid she wouldn’t want to go in the building at dark, but she came running for her treats and her scritches behind her ears before she settled into her safe place. She has a heated bed, but nine times out of ten, we find her snoozing on the tractor seat when we let her out in the morning. She is a little over two years old now. How time flies, eh?
We set up the camper when we got home, cracked open the roof vent for a little circulation, and plugged it in so the fridge will continue to work. We brought everything in that we needed inside last night. We’ll bring the rest in today. And…oh, my word! You should see out living room. We dumped all that camping gear from Big TOW-Wanda on the floor in front of the entertainment center last Friday so I have my work cut out for me this weekend. Mr. FixIt has to close the pool and work on the brakes on his truck. I need to winterize both campers. Can you believe…we STILL have four campers?!?! What is wrong with us???
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“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”
James 5:7 ESV