Trip 12 - Mahoney State Park

We really didn't anticipate our first trip of 2009 to take place in January but we were having a terrible case of CABIN Fever. After a several emails between Valerie and I on Friday afternoon, "should we", "I dunno", "maybe", "could be fun" etc. etc. etc. we decided what the heck, we were game for adventure. I don't really thing people who don't have a trailer or do much camping really understand but, its kind of like a "sickness", this camping thing, and you can only go without the antidote for so long until you gotta get your "Fix". I'll forgo all the details but its not just as simple as hooking up and taking off especially when spontaneity is involved. Our destination was a mere 30 miles away and we started working on making it happen late afternoon and finally backed into our spot at 9:30pm Friday night, then there's quite a bit left to do after getting parked but NONE THE LESS it was all worth it.

I didn't "unwinterize" due to the fact that I didn't want to have to "re-winterize" it again but that wasn't really a problem as we picked a spot close to the modern restrooms where their were showers and toilets, oh sure a little inconvenient, but not a big deal at all.

I was really surprised how warm the camper stayed, I mean granted the nights were only going to get into the high teens or maybe low twenties so I guess in retrospect I really wasn't that surprised. We used a couple of electrical ceramic heaters and it kept it REAL toasty in the camper. We have a propane furnace that works well but since we were hooked up to electrical why waste the propane. We did run it to help quicken the warm up process but once it got up to temp it was maintained with the space heaters. Propane also causes a LOT of condensation inside your camper and with electric that wasn't an issue at all.

This was our first pull out of town with the new F350 and I REALLY REALLY REALLY am happy with it. We set the cruise on 65 and many times going up some of the hills on the way to the park the truck never even downshifted at all. The power that thing has is OVERKILL for my trailer but how great is that. The old CHEVY did okay and at the time I thought it did a great job but looking back it was like a YUGO at the INDY 500. There was a point on one of our trips last year into a headwind where the CHEVY really struggled and I got down near 7MPG. No struggling here and although I didn't figure mileage cause we really didn't go far enough to get an accurate reading I know it isn't much worse with the trailer than it is without it. I know exactly what people mean when they say the towed something and "didn't even realize it was back there."

We didn't do a whole lot during this trip, we didn't have a big agenda, sat around the campfire a lot of the day on Saturday, Valerie and Alyssa played a couple of games, we napped, went sightseeing in the park, had a HERO's season TWO movie fest and really relaxed and it was very peaceful and excellent.

The Phillips 19" flat screen SANTA brought the family worked very well in the camper and really turned out to be a BIG space saver. Counter space is at a premium in the camper anyhow so we are very glad to have it. Just need to figure out how and exactly where to mount it IF we mount it.

It's kind of ironic, Santa also brought me a new air compressor specifically to take camping, and we had a low tire on Sunday morning. "WOW BOSS, I get to put the new compressor to use already!!" low and behold I had everything I needed except for the correct chuck to fill the tire. I had taped it and put it onto a quick release valve a couple of weeks ago and set it on my workbench at home, never making it back to the compressor or into the camper. Fortunately it wasn't ANY lower or I would have had my first experience with changing a tire on the camper. We made it up the road to the Flying J and all was well again.

Winter camping has a many advantages compared to camping in a FULL park in the Summer. There were a grand total of TWO of us in both campgrounds (over 100 sites) and the other guys was a full timer in a motor home who had been in the park since October. I guess there aren't as many in this neck of the woods who had the same thoughts as we did and in all reality they missed out on a great weekend of camping.

Photos from our first trip of 2009...

Happy to be there... :-)

New small flat screen - Thanks SANTA :-)

Our Site - Little Creek Campground #46

Hanging by the Campfire

Marina

View from Lakeside Campground

Ice Skating Rink - (Probably 75 people skating)

Lower shady part of the campground

Was still a LOT of snow where the sun doesn't shine directly

Marina

Solar powered facilities including washer and dryers

YES, Sam and I had a good time too...

UNTIL next time.........

PS: OH YEA, our trip to the MASTERS will be here before you know it. :-)

Trip 1 - Mahoney State Park - FINALLY

We knew it might be chilly, we knew it may even snow, we knew it may be windy and cold but we KNEW we couldn't miss the opportunity to get out and get going this past weekend. School was out on Friday and Monday for Easter and Valerie and I both took Friday and Monday off, so needless to say we were going come hell or high water ( or snow, or sleet, or rain or.....)

ONCE we got to the storage unit and hooked up the the Trailer everything went extremely well. We hooked up pulled out and were off to Mahoney State Park, we took a bunch of advice to stay close to home on our MAIDEN VOYAGE and did just that. We were backing into our spot less than an hour after leaving the storage unit.

We basically had our pick of the park and one of the two campgrounds even had shower and toilet facilities that were heated and open all year round. I had contemplated filling our fresh water tank and becoming fully self contained but ended up NOT taking our own water and using the facilities there that were less than 50 steps from our campsite. The last thing I wanted to do is have something freeze up or have to run antifreeze back through the system after our trip. It wasn't bad and we didn't miss a beat without running water or a toilet. I am sure after we get a few trips under our belt I will be a bit more at ease with the whole process, who knows we may even go in Dec/January sometime. :-)

Mahoney has always been more of a tourist trap in my opinion than a camp ground. We've stayed there before in tents and the cabins and it really doesn't seem like much of a place to REST AND RELAX and get away from it all (in the SUMMER that is). This time that couldn't have been further from the truth. During the peak season its always packed and good luck finding a spot, if you don't reserve a cabin a year in advance you probably wont get one and with the water slide and the non stop activities it feels like a busting metropolis at times rather than a comfortable, peaceful, relaxing place to "take a load off". I have a whole new respect for the park after this trip. The jury is still out until we make the trip out there during the busy season.

One of the things that's kind of ironic about the whole trip is that at the top of the hill in the middle of the park they have an outdoor ice skating rink. Camping and ice skating don't usually cross paths in conversation very much so I kind of got a kick out of that aspect of this trip.

We saw deer galore running throughout the park and when I finished backing in our spot I got out of the truck and looked around and had one within 25 feet of me just looking at me. I am sure he was thinking "who's this dumb bunny invading my territory in this 30 degree weather". I am sure he couldn't wait to tell all his buddies what a dumb human he just saw. :-) We even had a couple of other visitors as Eric and Rocky stopped by and went exploring with Alyssa and I.

We took off Sunday morning for Easter services and lunch at SIL's house and simply locked up the TT and left the dogs there with the heat set at 65. 8 Hours later we made it back and it was just like coming home from the office for the dogs. Everything was fine and we were back at this thing we call camping.

We worked out butts off for a bit of the time stocking the trailer and putting everything in its place. The first time always is the hardest, heck now the trailer is stocked so it will be more like; grab you fresh undies, lets go... (or maybe not quite like that for Val and Alyssa BUT, it will be easier and quicker).

One thing I underestimated was the amount of time it took to get ready to leave once we decided we needed to head out, part of that's our first trip newness and part of that is not having running water and part of that is that we brought the KITCHEN SINK for this first trip. We'll learn...

BACK to my initial statement about everything going well ONCE we got to the trailer. I backed out of our drive way and MASHED the neighbor boys car on the way to pick up the trailer. Lots of "closeness" on our street and cars on both sides of my driveway and HIS directly behind my driveway BUT none the less I absolutely didn't see his for some reason. OH well, you live and hopefully you learn something every single day.

The two main things I learned are that this is going to be a GREAT and WONDERFULLY fun time for me and my family (heck we spent more QT together this weekend than we had in quite some time) and friends AND I need to pick up some EAR PLUGS for Valerie and Alyssa just in case I MASH my neighbors car again.

B