There and back again, the rookies' tale...

Where to begin?  We took our maiden voyage up, up, up the mountain.  Up 7000' in elevation to the Flagstaff KOA and then back again.  It was nerve-wracking.  I was nervous and anxious both on the way up and on the way back.  Overall the five days and four nights we spent up north were excellent. The weather was cool, the campground was beautiful, the amenities for the kids were excellent.  We were outdoors for five days and it was brilliant.  With that said, there were many lessons learned.

1.) Sway. We had some sway on the way up.  We stopped frequently to tighten the sway bar and eventually thought we had it right.  But in retrospect, I think it was still too loose.  On the way home we made a realization about how to set the starting "tightness" and it worked much better down the mountain - which, from many accounts - is when there tends to be more sway.

2.) Weight!  We stopped at a truck stop and weighed our rig about an hour out from our current park.  The whole ordeal took over an hour in the blistering heat and we learned we are maxing out the capacity of our truck with the trailer tanks empty.  In other words, we have no room for carrying water for a future boondocking expedition.  Also, the tongue weight seemed too high by over 150+ lbs.  I felt that the weight in the trailer was not distributed well - too much near the front and too much at the back instead of centered on the axles.  Prior to our trip down the mountain I organized the weight better over the axles in the trailer.  I also started lightening the load.  I know we can do better.  When you are living in a trailer FT, you tend to bring too much stuff.

3.) Campground issues. Total rookie mistakes.  The campsite was NOT level.  We had to back up a hill.  We forgot to remove the sway bar.  We were burning up the clutch as evidenced by the smell. We didn't realize the sway bar was on until we finally got in position.  Late the first night after we were all set another camper pulled up and the guy was walking around outside ours all confused....he pointed out we were parked in his spot....DUH!!!  Yep, I parked us in the wrong spot.  I could provide a defense, but it is a poor one.  I blew it.  He was so totally cool and was only staying one night.  He said he would take our spot and no worries.  We swapped for the night and then had to move the trailer the next day.

We were packed in pretty tight, but the neighbor was so cool about me taking his site

4.) Dumping.  The site we booked has electricity and water but no sewer.  We had to dump for the first time.  Since we had to move the trailer on day two, we decided to try the dump station.  I accidentally parked too far away so we had to dirty our sewer hose extension for the first time.  Then the hose was too long and the incline was all jacked up so hubby had to lift the line to drain it even with the inclined hose support (which we have been very glad we have, even though it didn't exactly do the job in this situation).




To ensure we only had to dump one more time, on the last day, we used the public showers and toilets when possible.  I found the KOA campground to be very clean and well kept in terms of the ladies facilities.  Apparently the men's facilities were not quite as nice.  This morning, on our last day, we used the dumping station for the second time.  We were much better.  I pulled up closer, the hose support was very effective without the extension for the hose.  We completed the black tank flush effectively and then dumped the gray tank after the black.  It worked out well.

Beautiful view from our front door

5.) Laundry.  The laundry facilities were excellent.  I am VERY much looking forward to only staying at parks with laundry facilities from now on.  I took full advantage and ensured all laundry was caught up before check out.

6.) Amenities and outdoor space.  Like I said, the weather was awesome.  It was in the 70s during the day and it sprinkled on and off during our time there.  Despite the rain there was ample opportunity for the kids to play outside.  They especially loved the bounce pillow and playground.  There was also a club house with games.  Having outdoor activities and nice weather allowed us to enjoy the outdoors for the first time since we have owned the Hideout.  We left the windows open almost the whole time, except when the temp dropped at night.  There were hiking trails and lots of opportunities to enjoy the pines.  Being out of the oppressive heat of Phoenix was very welcome.

  

7.) Leveling blocks.  Like I said, not level.  The whole campground was one huge hill.  I bought leveling blocks on a whim before we left and I am glad I did!  The front of the camper looked like it was floating compared to the back.  I didn't get a good picture to show how bad it was, but it was bad.  It was so bad that we didn't even have enough leveling blocks to meet the stabilizer jacks in the front.  We tried to run to WalMart and get more, but they were sold out.  Clearly we were not the only people with this problem.  

We will be ordering a second set for future travels.  We managed this time by finding a relatively flat rock and using that in conjunction with the remaining blocks, but it was not ideal.

8.) Campground friends.  I didn't really prepare my kids for the temporary joy of campground friends.  At one point brother broke down crying because I would not collect the contact info from another family.  Sister cried this morning saying, "but I don't want to leave my friends!"  I felt bad because they had such a fun time with the campground friends, but on the flip side, I know there will be many more fun times.  These experiences teach us to live in the moment and appreciate the here and now. I tried to explain that to brother and I think he did understand by the end.  He said a very nice goodbye and we wished the friends happy travels.  I think we overcame a number of barriers on this trip and we put ourselves and our rig through many tests.  Was it all pretty? No, but we came out on the other side stronger and more experienced and ready to face the next adventure!