Getting the camper out of the mall was a lot easier than getting it in there. When I took it in, it was facing in the opposite direction of where I wanted it. And, when we made the arrangements to display the camper in the first place, we all failed to take into consideration the full length of the camper plus the hitch and the truck. There was no way I could make enough three corner turns to get it turned around on my own.
The maintenance man came to the rescue with a wooden pallet and a floor jack with a fork lift on it. We unhitched onto the pallet and he manually turned the camper till it was where it needed to be….which happened to be in exactly the perfect spot to hook up to the truck and pull it out.
I had such a blast driving it through the mall. There are tons of walkers there in the mornings and I was there bright and early to avoid the crowds. I waved as I slowly drove behind the security guard who walked ahead of me making sure everyone knew I was coming out with this monstrosity behind me.
I was really glad to see it was raining and warm yesterday morning. It would have been a real mess if it had been snowing. I got on the interstate at around 10:00am. I had a reservation already made at the campground, a hot cup of coffee, and my GPS. I didn’t need directions to where I was going, but I like knowing how much further I have to go when I am towing.
It rained like crazy while I was driving down here. At one point, as I was crossing a river, I could barely see through the rain. Luckily, I wasn’t driving very fast when I hit some standing water and felt the camper fishtail a little bit. It is very important not to hit your brakes when you feel that because you can easily hydroplane out of control. I took my foot off the brake and the camper came right back in line. I dropped my speed an additional 5mph and let people go around me if they wanted to.
The staff at the campground were waiting for me with warm greetings. One of the nice things about camping in the off season is people have the time to chat a spell. Mary was delightful. There was a young man in a golf cart to escort me to my site. I was a little disappointed in the price of the campsite, but pickings are slim in this neck of the woods so I took what I could get. It is a full hookup site which doesn’t do me any good other than the electric since the camper is winterized. I am conveniently located near the bathhouse which is handy.
I was up very late the night before and awoke early yesterday. I had to unhook in the pouring rain so the first thing I did was get the heater going. I had to remove the propane tank when the camper was on display in the mall. Whenever you hook up a new tank to the gas lines on a camper, you have to bleed the air out of the lines till the propane gets through. This involves turning on a burner on the stove and holding a long handled lighter flame to the burner till it catches. Then you turn on the second one. Once you turn off the burners, you can start the furnace and it should light right up, which it did.
The next step was to turn on the refrigerator in preparation for getting a few groceries later. But first, I was chilled to the bone so I piled the blankets on the bed and crawled in till I was nice a toasty. Around 3:00, I went to the Piggly Wiggly for some food to get me by for a couple of days. I will turn in the camper on Wednesday and head back home.
As I am writing this, there is a gentle rain falling and bigger drops falling from the trees overhead. I love this sound. I have my electric blanket on and this wonderful rechargeable lamp from FLI Products is casting a warm glow to the room giving it such a homey feel. When I first saw the wallpaper in this camper, I have to admit…I was slightly taken aback. But I have come to absolutely love it! It’s so cheerful with the colors and patterns and I think Janine did a tremendous job. Spoonflower has over 750,000 patterns to choose from and I never would have thought to put these patterns and colors together. But they really work. I will definitely keep them in mind the next time I decorate a camper and make it my own.
Today is all about writing and cleaning out the camper. It is a bittersweet day, but I bought myself something special to cook in my Hot Logic Mini portable cooker so I’ll have a yummy dinner waiting when I’m done!
❤️
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NIV