Ready For Our First Night Camping!

[Mary F]

Originally Posted by DeanCHS1980

BTW, when we hitched up to leave, we backed up, hooked up the sewer hose and managed to empty the black tank and gray tank without any drama!

That's how we do it on the rare occasions that we have a site with sewer. I always figure folks who have their stinky slinky in semi-permanent set up mode, have either been there awhile (camping in one spot for weeks at a time), or don't know it's not a good idea to leave the holding tank gates open. We don't want to expose our slinky to the elements (sunshine or being kicked). What you did is what we call the more elegant solution to the problem. YMMV.

Congrats on your first camping. Obviously you are going to love many more to come!

[Evergreengirl]

Congrats on your first real camping trip! Everything will get easier and quicker with practice. I sometimes think short weekend trips are more work than long trips. After you get everything into your trailer for your trip you're good to go for weeks or months on end!

[DeanCHS1980]

Hi All,

BillE, I have definitely practiced the hitching/unhitching routine many times and recognize the importance of locking down a routine. I have learned a bunch since November.

Dave, you know me, I wil do my "research" on trying to diagnose the problems with the reefer. Yup, with a little practice, I think we will figure out what to leave in the Casita, so I don't have to continue packing and unpacking the same item over and over.

Kevin, I recently stopped by My Old KY Home State Park. Between back-in sites and some unlevel sites, there will be opportunity for learning and practice!

Jon, love your approach to coffee. A good cup of coffee helps get the day started right. Would have loved to have seen the wild burro!

Mary, I like your reframe of my "elegant solution". I thought I made a mistake. Instead I was doing "best practice" and didn't realize it!

Kathy, I agree. I was talking with Laura that it seemed like packing for a short trip was potentially the same as packing for a longer trip.

Take care,

Dean

[SactoWendy]

I can relate to your checklist and excitement. I have taken two weekend trips in the past month with my new baby egg. The first weekend, the door blew open on the freeway. And I cooked a lot of sausage for a potluck in the Scamp. It smelled like sausage grease for two days. I bought an electric skillet yesterday so I can cook outside next time. The next weekend one of the stabilizer jacks fell back down as I was leaving the campsite. I heard something scraping. A camper was running behind the car to tell me about it. Aren't campers great?! I am learning so much. Now I wrap a little electrical tape around each stabilizer to secure it to the bumper.
Have fun. No matter how much planning, there are always little details to learn.

[Riley1506]

We have totes for our gear that stay packed and ready to go. When it's time to pack for a trip we only need to worry about clothes and food.

[Cathi]

Dean, congrats on the big first go-round! The hitching will become easier and easier until you will wonder how you took so long in the first place. And what the heck are you packing? LOL. You'll find much easier and faster ways to do that, namely, as others have said, clothes and dishes only.

We took hours at first and now we are much faster. Can't forget the walk around, looking up at what is on the roof that needs retracting and down underneath at what needs retracting! And look around the site after pulling the trailer out, and you should be good.

[DeanCHS1980]

Hi,

Wendy, door blowing open, sausage grease, and a scraping stabilizer jack on a recent trip. Thanks for sharing. Let's me know that we are all learning together!

Riley, we now have our gear organized in totes as well, so I think packing will be easier next time even though there will be other efficiencies to learn.

Cathi, yup, I think I will get more efficient hitching up. I also think packing will be easier next time since we have figured out what basic gear will go on the trip every time and have stowed it in containers. So, we are moving toward only needing to pack food and clothes.

Thanks to all!

Dean

[donnaNJ]

I am watching your adventure with excitement. Our first trip is still three weeks away. So far we have driven around the block, and managed to get our Burro back into the driveway (good thing you can roll it by hand).


Donna

[DeanCHS1980]

Hi Donna,

LOL! I like your rolling it by hand comment. Whatever works! Love the Burros. Where is your first trip? Looking forward to our first out of town trip to the Smokies in two weeks!

Take care,

Dean

[donnaNJ]

We chose a NJ state park an hour from home for our first trip. No freeways to get there, and we can run home if we forgot something really important.