Weekend Trip 6/11-13, ORSF #64

Mike and I took the Aliner and not much else and spent the weekend at Otter River, site 64. It rained most of the weekend, but that was okay because the Aliner not only kept us dry it kept us from getting damp. And because it was only the two of us we were able to go off and explore some places that we never took the time to because the girls wouldn't have much interest in these places....wine, antiques, gardens in the rain. Although when we were exploring we decided the girls might like some of them. We went to Cathedral of the Pines, it was rainy and wet but still sweet. No lines in the rain :) They lost a lot of trees in the ice storm a couple years ago. We picked up a Cats Meow of the Pines for Joey and Diane, they loved it. We stopped at a wine warehouse that we've passed a million times and found some good deals, we will definitely go there again (near Rite Aide in Templeton). And we stopped at Country Mischief which is somewhere I've wanted to go for as long as I can remember. Endless rooms and nooks full of antiques and treasures, we spent a long time there and had a nice lunch right there after we were done exploring. Very homey and unique. We also went to a hippie house that made pottery too, fun :) And we wandered through Lake Dennison as we usually do. This weekend there were two other Aliners there. The first one we came across was Tom and his Expedition, they were from Townsend maybe...Mike will remember. And Chuck had a double bed set up....can't remember the model. Because of the rain neither made it over to Otter River, but I'm sure we'll see them again. We decided we'd take the girls back to camp on site 87. It looked neat with a little camping area behind the site itself, a path to the lake and a little wooden bridge. Mike is going to take the girls up on their own trips with him during the weeks coming up while he is still home.
We admired the Mariah awning on Tom's unit and Chuck had an EZ-Up set up in front of his. We didn't bother with a tarp at all this weekend just being the two of us. So we came home yesterday and started looking at awnings a bit more and decided we are going to order a canvas tarp and install turn buckles on the outside frame of the Aliner and make our own. We already own great poles and ropes and this way we can make it our own. Tom liked his Mariah awning a lot but pointed out it did sag loosely and collected water in the outer corners. Chucks EZ-Up was nice, had a screen and all.....but he said it took 4x longer to set up than the Aliner itself. We're going for quick and easy here. And I gotta say this past weekend was the easiest camping I've done in a long time.....probably since my parents used to do all this work for me, lol.

June Update

Maybe I should change the title of the blog now that the camper is pretty much done? Not that these things are ever actually done, done anyway. Someone on the Yahoo Aliner group has a 2000 that they rebuilt the ceiling panels on. (link will only work if you're a member, sorry). Looks like something we could do down the road too. Their work is a good baseline, but I would change a couple things....like add a layer of plywood, and use glue made for adhering foam to metal and plastic. But that is what's great about other people sharing their experiences online. I had contacted the factory about buying new panels, but at $1000 each (at least for the front....the back is probably less....no fan, less windows) we're all set. We spent less than that doing the rest of the camper over. Our panels aren't that bad either, just a bit of delamination at the seams near the bubbles. Plus the new panels have a lot less windows, which might be good for less chance of leakage down the road, but I want windows. The windows are part of the reason it doesn't feel as small as it is.
I made Mike a little pouch to put his stuff in at night, glasses and so on. He said he wanted a pouch like in the tent, lol....he has a hidden cabinet under the side table this pouch is on. That's okay, a dollar ball of yarn and a couple of command hooks. I also crocheted a band with a button on the end of it to hang the paper towels off the wall lock over the sink (inspired by someone elses camper diy...sorry no pic yet). And I picked up this little shelf that is made to stick to the wall of a shower with suction cups. I got it off the clearance rack for $7 at Lowes and it fits perfect on the small triangle corner window. I'm going to put a little plant there when we're set up. Next week I will try to blog about the graphics we've been looking at and designing to replace the old tired and peeling graphics on the Aliner now.
Mike and I are going out to camp for the weekend alone. I don't think we've gone out alone since before we were married! Thanks to the simplicity of throwing the camper on the hitch and going, thank you very much. So later gators, hope you have the chance to get out there this weekend too!