Trying It again

[Gerry]

I hope this Tuesday's camping trip goes better then the last one.
Every Tuesday One other camper and myself meet at one of the NH White Mt. Camp-grounds for a night of camping.
Last time I went the temps were going to get down into the teens so I grabed a bunch of pine log fire wood from my house, hooked up the Boler 13 and was at the campsite at 5:00 PM.
Friends do not arrive until around 8:00 as they own a resturaunt to make sure is running smoothly before they leave.
The furnace on the Boler was acting up again and would'nt ignite so I resolved myself of a cold night with just the pilot light and a good sleeping bag for heat.
It is amazing how fast half a truck of pine slabs will burn when your trying to stay warm at 17 degrees and by 8:00 was wondering if I was going to get in my truck to stay warm until my friends arrived with all the hardwood.
They showed up and I was unloading thier hardwood before he even had his trailer backed in his site.
Well we talked and had a good time around a GOOD HOT fire until around 11:30 and then off to bed.
Low and behold my furnace worked!!! YIPPIE
The night started with me dreaming away in nice cozy camper.
I woke up sometime during the night and the furnace still working but HMMM I was getting colder not warmer.
I got up and the door was wide open.
The old latch had let go because I had not put the stabilizers down in the back, Just left it on the ball of the TV.
I secured the door with bungee and crawled back into bed after a walk to toitie.
The furnace came up to temp and shut down and, I do not know how long it had run during the night but battery was not strong enough to ignight and it was now darn right cold.
I got up again and plugged TV into camper and truck battery got furnace to run again so I was fine but had to think about a dead truck battery in the morning. (Temps on turck read-out was 9 degree)Brrrr.
List for trip tonignt is now like this:
Full truck of pine slabs
extra propane bottle
extra deep cycle battery
generator / with gas
Electric heater if propane furnace is finicky again.
I think that will take care of things.
Wish me luck.
Gerry

[Mary F]

Wow! Good luck!! (And have fun!)

[james kent]

Hey Gerry
Didn't you get hit with that foot or two of snow last week?
I heard that the East Coast had a doosey. Are you far enough inland to miss it?

[Roy in TO]

I'm starting to think that Gerry has been watching too much Survivor. Bob from Maine has been doing pretty good this season, possibly motivational that those from Maine have some sort of super power when it comes to roughing it?

[james kent]

You got that right Roy.
Winter is a time to PROCRASTINATE and HIBERNATE.

[Bruce H]

You got that right Roy.
Winter is a time to PROCRASTINATE and HIBERNATE.

I say winter is a time to PROCRASTINATE and HIBERNATE and
go to QUARTZSITE.

[Greg A]

What's "winter?"

[Pamela H]

What's "winter?"

Come up to wyoming today...I'll give you a good description...

http://wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/WYO...2TetonPass.html

Pam

[Gerry]

This trip was much better then the last. The temps were only down to the upper teens and no wind to speek of. There was a problem with the way the sites were plowed out and they didn't even plow the last 2 inch storm we had so camping thou-out the winter may pose a problem for my friends who have a 29 footter.
I had my hands full trying to back up the trailer 100 feet, in the dark, by myself, with only about 2 feet on each side of the trailer.
I hit the snow bank a few times and had to pull foward and start again but haveing nobody to guide me was a pain.
Maybe back-up lights on the trailer is a good thing to think about or make sure I arrive before dark next time.
The furnace worked fine this time out and there were only a couple of tent campers in the whole campground.
My friends would have liked to run thier generator all night but with other people there they didn't and ran out of battery power, thusly no furnace at around 5 AM.
At 7:00 he was out getting it running again and the tenters were packing up so they didn't mind.
Talking about more snow for the weekend so we'll see about next weeks outing.
Gerry
A few picts of my Lady-Bug on site.

[Gerry]

another picture

[lloyd cicetti]

Gerry, We are about to pick up our first rv (or egg for that matter) on Dec. 30. I recently posted a question about "egging in winter". I am relatively new to the Forums and I noticed that Winterizing was a common practice as well as storing for winter. The whole reason behind getting an egg (for us anyway) was to be able to camp in conditions that make "tenting" a bit rough. With a furnace, I figured that left the door open all winter. It could potentially give us another season (unless furnaces don't really work in single digits). We plan on using good down bags anyway. Since we have never tried it, we are guessing that we can do this as long as we haul our own 5 gallon jug along for water. Don't want anything running in the pipes.

Good for you and happy ColdKamping.

Lloyd

[Pete Dumbleton]

Maybe back-up lights on the trailer is a good thing to think about or make sure I arrive before dark next time.

I have several times almost added a tractor light with wide beam to my egg's rear bumper, using the center wire on the 7-way to get power to it from a switch in the truck.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/st...rue&cFlag=1

[Time K]

I got up again and plugged TV into camper and truck battery got furnace to run again so I was fine but had to think about a dead truck battery in the morning.

Gerry, a tip from an old Casita Club member who's knowledge and humor many of us had a lot of respect for was to use a portable battery jumper to be used as either a quick jump for your tv (intended purpose) or as a battery extender, example: using it as a house battery to squeeze in a couple of extra days of camping. I've got a cheapo brand that we've used twice over the last few years to extend dry camping (just to keep the lights on and the water pump working) by a day and the occasional good Samaritan jump start along the way.

I think any automotive store would supply a variant of it.

[Alf S.]

You got that right Roy.
Winter is a time to PROCRASTINATE and HIBERNATE.

Hi: James... We're FIBERNATING... Trailer's in storage... fire's in the fireplace!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Alf S.]

What's "winter?"

Hi: Greg... Winter is the other season of the year... following "Construction"!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Gerry]

Hi: Greg... Winter is the other season of the year... following "Construction"!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

hey Alf, aren't we lucky, we get to have a winter season 2 times each year.
tucked inbetween is.
Frost heave season: when the bumps on the road will make your camper look like a jig-saw puzzle.
Mud season: where backing into a site you may bottom out your TV and Trailer.
Black Fly season: when you have to sit in the 13ft Boler 23 hours out of 24, only getting out to do....
Summer season: 1 or 2 weeks of purrfect weather
Leaf Peeping season: you take your life in your own hands avoiding cars on sides of roads or
comeing to sudden stops because they see a swamp maple all abloom.
Ahhh, then winter again (around Sept 30 till April 15) when camping is good at best.
Gerry the camoebuilder

[Pete Dumbleton]

Friends in New York State have only two "fly" seasons -- Snow Flies and Black Flies!