Today's subtitle should be:
"Who knew we could learn so much in one short day"
Ray fixed a yummy camp breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast with coffee. I showered - TINY shower!!! The boys packed up their bedding. We washed the dishes and were ready to head to Asheville.
Um, remember I said this was a lesson learning adventure. It's time for a BIG lesson. Ray unhooked and we all buckled up and Ray headed out. Preston starts saying there is water sloshing out. I assumed there had just been a little water left in the shower after I was done. Ray stops so I can go look. NO the bottom of the shower is completely full with water - about 4 inches deep. Grey water to be exact. Remember we chose not to get a full hook up last night.? We have overflowed the grey water tank. Ugh! Ray starts to drive around this bumpy campsite to find the sewer dump site. With every bump and stop more water is sloshing out. Parker and I hold his towel around the bottom of the shower to try to prevent more water from coming out. We manage to dump and clean up a little. We are ready to strike out again.
Today we drive on to North Carolina. The temps are cooler and spring is slower in coming up
here. It's a shorter drive - only about 3 hours. We arrived at Bear Creek Campground mid-afternoon. Our plan has been for Ray's folks to drive up to meet us in Asheville on Wednesday night. They'll camp next to us and eat dinner with us then leave Thursday morning. We are more careful in selecting a site today. And we make sure they'll hold the slot next to us for the Sr Rowley's.After selecting the sites we head to K-Mart for a few things. (1) Coax - these places all have cable but you need coax to hook to it (2) Rubber gloves - these disposable gloves are handy when dealing with the sewer line or just cleaning the bathroom (3) Thermometer - I love knowing what the temp is so I found an $0.80 thermometer to put on the kitchen window, it adds a homey feel. While there Ray gets a message from his folks saying they are too busy and won't be able to make it.
Back to the RV. Ray backs in tonight! Parker and I are the designated spotters. We learn that our sewer line is very short. We have to swap sites to find one that is in the right location for us. We also learn that campgrounds differ widely in price. Our site last night cost $25, at this campground it costs $92 for 2 nights.
Speaking of costs. We filled up today on the way in. It cost us $99.50 at the pump ($3.29/gallon). Ouch!
I love being able to make coffee where ever. Yesterday I made it while we were on our way to Knoxville - how cool is that? While drinking our afternoon coffee today we learn our next lesson. A Travel Supreme pulls in right next to us. Follow that link! We learn we are chump change in the RV world. Oh my stars! Our RV is 31 ft. Theirs was 45 ft. It is a house on wheels.
After coffee I took a walk down to check out the bathhouse area. More lessons - it cost $1.75 to
wash a load of clothes and $1.75 to dry a load of clothes. Being the math major that I am I quickly figure that it will cost us $3.50 per load of clothes. Another ouch!For dinner tonight we were planning to grill out hamburgers but the weather is rainy and this campground does not allow grilling. No problem. We've brought the griddle so we'll grill the hamburgers inside. They are large, frozen 1/4 pound burgers. Ray gets those cooked and then I start to boil the water for the macaroni and cheese. I bought a large family box so I put the water in the 5 quart pan. 45 minutes later!!!! the water starts to boil. By now our burgers are cold. While we are cooking we sent Parker to the shower. We microwave the burgers and then our power goes out. Now what? We looked out the windows and other people have power. The huge Travel Supreme has power. Why don't we? We realize that we have tripped a circuit. You can't microwave and have the water heater on at the same time. After this eventful meal preparation we add a salad and some fruit. So for our simple meal of burgers and mac n cheese - it takes us 1:45 to cook it. Then we realize the burgers really weren't cooked through very well. Tensions are mounting since we are all hungry and the day hasn't quite gone the way we thought. We microwave the burgers some. Dessert is microwaved s'mores. Lesson learned - it takes a LONG time to boil water in the camper.
The boys play Wii then we head to bed. Parker sleeps in the loft tonight and Preston on the table. Ray and I sleep poorly due to the springs.
We are still having fun. As we reflect back on this less than perfect day we are more glad than ever that we took this "learning trip" before hitting the road for a full month. We are thankful for each lesson we learn.
Lessons learned today:
-With a family of 4 ALWAYS ask for a full hook up site
-Take Coax for cable hook up
-Get a sewer extender
-Campsites vary widely in costs
-It costs a lot to fill up an RV
-It is very expensive to wash clothes on the road
-It takes a LONG time to boil water in the camper
-It doesn't take much to trip the circuit in a camper. Either microwave or shower - not both
-Don't cook burgers inside the camper, if you can't grill 'em, skip 'em
1 comment:
Campers are fun aren't they?! You thought that the camper you rented is small....The one that Jody and I have is even smaller! I'm not sure how many feet ours is, but I know you had us beat in space! In ours, the bathroom IS the shower! Seriously! Sink, tolilet and shower, all in one. LOL!!! You'll have to come look at mine someday.
You are learning some great lessons though! Lots of things to learn about camping isn't there? I feel like I am packing my enitre house everytime we go out in the camper. I can't even imagine going for a month!
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