Happy Campers Again!

Yes, that’s right—a couple weeks ago we took possession of a 2015 thirty foot Hideout with a marvelous floorplan and only very lightly used. We actually found it at the same dealer as the last two we purchased so all in all felt we got a good deal. I absolutely adore the rear kitchen; it is so spacious with a full pantry and so much counter space. Plus, the trailer has huge picture windows on both sides. The only thing we are unhappy with is the furniture—it’s uncomfortable, not our style, and the huge U shaped dinette is a giant waste of space. We intend to rip it out completely, go with a free standing table and two chairs and probably (if they will fit) replace all else with just two nice recliners. We don’t have need of a hideabed or any extra bed space for that matter.

We managed to get away to a county park fairly close-by last weekend to try things out, where we proceeded to act like total newbies! Marc went off in such a hurry that he forgot half the stuff he needed—no generator, no CPAP 12V connection, no leveling blocks. That involved another trip back home to retrieve things and much wasted time for him. The weather wasn’t very conducive either, being rainy and windy most of the time. We had actually counted on having an electrical connection but all of those sites had reserved stickers on them. We still ended up with a lake view site but with no electric and fairly uneven as well. It’s probably not a campground we’d choose to go back to.

I have a bone to pick with it and many other campgrounds’ reservations policies. We talked with the ranger who said that on January 1st when reservations open for the year, some folks call in and reserve every major holiday and all the weekends! Unfortunately, when they have no plans to come, they don’t have the courtesy to call in and cancel so the site remains vacant and reserved so others can’t use it. This was the case during our weekend, when all the lakefront sites went beggingly empty yet we were unable to use them.

We have decided unless it’s a major holiday or somewhere special we have to be, we will look only for campgrounds that have at least half their sites first come basis or better yet, those campgrounds that offer no reservations. We figure with Marc’s ability to get off by noon on Fridays we should have no problem finding a site in this type campground. We’ve also decided never to leave home without the generator! Better prepared than sorry since Marc must absolutely be able to run his CPAP every night. 

I’ve been taking some time to scout around, trying to find suitable campgrounds within a two hour radius of home. I found a couple of nice county parks yesterday and also got in some nice fall foliage along the way. One county park has electric at almost every site and is mostly empty this time of year. It’s on a nice sized lake with many amenities. The other is much more remote; buried deep in the county forest, where the sites are tantalizingly close to the water, which is about a 250 acre lake. This would be very convenient for us with either of our boats, the aluminum or the inflatable as there is also a boat launch and dock right there and the boat could be left right beside the RV.

Our next outing will be next Friday-Sunday when Marc can get some more comp time off. He’s been really on the go, often driving 1000+ miles per week and working 14 hour days. We’d like to get in a few relaxing weekends for him before the snow flies. 

I continue to work on making more baskets for future sales for the shelter. We’ve been deluged with rain so the grass continues to grow rapidly so I’m still mowing every week. We are just seeing a real change in temps so it won’t be long before first frost more than likely. This trailer has an enclosed and heated underbelly so maybe we can extend our season just a little if the snow holds off. Many campgrounds close by Oct. 30th, though some stay open into Dec.