As many of you, we have been waiting since our? RV Thanksgiving trip last year to get out into the world again.? ?After winterizing the motorhome last November my wife and I sat by the window waiting for the first chance to get outside without frost bite.? We are finally going on our first RV trip for 2018 to a local campground about 20 miles away.
We unplugged from house shore power, cleaned the drains, and removed the cob webs and drove about 20 miles away to Lake Guntersville State Park RV campground.? ?This is our favorite local campground as well as a good place to de-bug anything that may have happened over the winter.
As expected, we had a few issues but nothing to diminish the thrill of being back outdoors. ?Our site had a great look at the lake on one side and the mountain up to the Lodge and golf course out the other side.? What we didn’t plan on was this being the states “Spring Break” for schools and there were lots of others who had the same idea.
What went wrong
Our only incident that caught us by surprise was a small water leak coming from our ice maker.? My wife noticed the carpet was wet in front of the cabinet that had the ice maker and I immediately unloaded the cabinets and turned off the feed valve.? ?It turns out that it just needed a refresh of the silicon plumbing tape around the inlet.? I just happen to keep enough plumbing tools and spare parts with me for this very reason.? While I was at it I replaced the water pressure regulator at the faucet as well.
After we fixed the leak
We tested for other issues that may have been caused by winter’s cold temperatures.? We checked the toilet, washing machine, and all the sinks, toilet, and shower.? Then, our Ubiquiti wi-fi amplifier system? pulled in seemingly unlimited internet bandwidth for streaming our favorite news and sports channels on directvnow.com.? ?Our site was? .4 miles from the wireless access point and it got enough signal to browse and stream TV.?? Something we do when RVing is to play games like scrabble or cards.? Those things are a lot of fun, but we don’t seem to find time when we are at home.
The wife and I went on several nature walks and saw one huge buck at the golf course late in the evening, and as much as we could in the low light we think we counted 18 deer in and around the lake area.
We didn’t do much cooking or lounging outside because it was still a little windy and cool to be comfortable.? ?However, we sure did enjoy our first adventure for the year.? ? Our wonderful experiences have made us look forward to doing this at least a couple of times per month.? The RVing season in our area is usually from late March through late November.? ?Until the temperatures turn back to? freezing and force us back to our homestead we are “On the Road Again”.
See you out there somewhere soon!
After leaving Arab at 4:30pm on Friday June 3rd, we stopped at a Walmart in Marion VA for a free dry-dock and it was quiet, restful, and very safe.?? There were a couple of Semi trucks and other campers of all varieties, including a 5th wheel that took the liberty of using their slide-outs.? But there was plenty of room for everyone.
?We arrived Friday night and got setup early enough to find our way to Mt. Rushmore for the nightly lighting and flag lowering ceremony.? It was AWESOME.? They had all the military in the audience come down and participate in the flag lowering ceremony and it was an intensely reverent few minutes.? Then they lit the monument and had a film documenting the reason each president was chosen to be honored and memorialized.? We then went back to the campground and slept soundly with plans to see Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop road on Saturday…… keep tuned.