July 4th, 2011, ORSF #50

We spent the long 4th of July weekend at Otter River State Forest (our favorite) on site 50.  We never stayed on this site before, at least not in our adult camping lives.  It was really nice and a big site.  The bit of rain we had wasn't too bad and nothing really was in the path of water.  The solar panel got enough sun to keep the battery close enough to full.  One empty tank of propane and I'll need to restock things after this trip.....writing this here as a bit of a reminder, things like forks and paper towels and so on.  Mike went out early and is staying one extra night so we packed up a few things and I brought them home as I have to work tomorrow :(  Mike picked up a new dutch oven and made homemade baked beans, yummmm!  Bad luck fishing was still better than sitting at home or work, as always.  A fairly ordinary trip but still wanted to mention it :)  We'll go again in a couple weekends, but no set plans today.  Next planned trip will be the Rainbow Girls trip next month.  We're second guessing a host trip this year because another family is coming in when we wanted to do it, but that's our own fault for procrastinating on final paperwork and plans.  Until the next trip, happy camping!
PS.  My little homemade light below is too dim, although it is cute as hell.  I'm thinking of wiring up my own LED with a bulb from Radio Shack.  Stay tuned for V.1.1!

Burlingame SP, Charlstown RI # 416

Mike and I spent the weekend in Rhode Island at Burlingame State Park at site 416.  This place is huge!  My dad says this is the first place I ever camped as a baby.  It's pretty much a village with something like 700 or 800 sites.  The ones away from the water are best because they are spread out and bigger.  I don't like being right on top of other people while camping.  If you don't mind that then a site close to the water may be okay for you.  The lake was perfect.  Mike caught one fish there and one in another we found roaming around.  It'd be great for the canoe if we brought it.  They rent them out too.  We didn't feel like working so hard this weekend though.  We saw two other Aliners.  One was maybe an 03 or 04.  A couple of ladies were camping in it.  They came in right after us and slowed to look at ours but when we went by and said hi they didn't seem to into being social so we went on our way.  The other one we saw was an 09 Classic and it was a couple camping with their grandson.  He was pretty happy to tell us his story and listen to ours.  I guess sometimes you get the vibe that someone wants to tell or not.  We always want to tell, lol.  We don't mind show and tell at all.  Everything about this campground was great except the showers.  They were pay which was fine but there was no way to adjust the temperature or to shut it off when you were done.  Thankfully I only put in 50 cents and I was well done and gone before it shut off.  It never warmed up to anything that resembled warm in any way.  The people in this part of the state/country seemed pretty grumpy and short too, but we still enjoyed ourselves.
We'll be going back out in three days.  Well Mike, Kenzie and the dogs will go out Thursday and I'll be out with Taylor Friday after we're done with work.  We'll be at Otter River site #50.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011, ORSF #28

Memorial Day weekend, from Thursday the 26th until June 1st. We had a quick thunderstorm on Saturday and a bit of a shower Monday morning, otherwise it was a gorgeous, sunfilled, warm weekend. The new LED lights and solar panel did great. The battery kept a full charge (at least according to the simple gauge mounted inside, forgot the digital voltmeter at home). I am sure the LEDs had a lot to do with it too. The LEDs were a bit dimmer and we may need to add a reading light but that shouldn’t be too hard and well add another LED. I think even some of those solar powered landscape lights would do the trick. A lot of them are pretty nice. Or an LED strip, people seem to be outfitting their cars with them, it would work well in the camper.

Mike went out on Thursday and I came out and helped him finish setting up after work. My dad came up for the afternoon too, so that was nice. I was back out Friday after the kids went to school and we went to Mackenzie’s Memorial Day function at school. Then they didn’t come out until after her school dance that night. Mike was in his cast and sling all weekend but he still did some cooking and got some fishing in. It had to be the quietest Memorial weekend ever at Otter River, it was wonderful. I guess the party animals found somewhere else to go other than state parks. I wish I could have stayed longer but the girls and I went home Monday evening and Mike stayed out until today (the first). He had his cast removed yesterday and is really sore so I am going to leave work early to pack up whatever the girls and I didn’t pack up the other day before we left. He kept Deogee with him and we have Haily. It’s pretty pathetic how much they miss each other, even though they saw each other yesterday when Mike came home for his doctors appointment. Mackenzie called me this morning to let me know Haily was acting funny again, depressed.

We are planning on host camping in August, then we have the Rainbow girls for a weekend at camp too so we will probably do both trips back to back so we’ll just move from the host site to the group site. I’m hoping Mike and I can get a few weekend trips in too. I’m gonna end up using most of my vacation in August for the host trip, but that’s okay, I’ll work when it’s snowing out this winter!

Myrtle Beach, 2011

We took the Aliner on it's first long trip since we've had it and redone it. It did well thanks to new tires (see previous post). We were there a week, this year it was also their Spring break, usually it's not so there were a lot more younger families. We met another couple with a 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember) Aliner. They camped with their two younger children and small dogs, God bless them! Their camper was in great shape except the floor was going soft. They asked us to check it out and there was some discoloration near the door and in one of the baggage areas (the other baggage area had been fixed by the previous owner). We told them about the floor petifier DIY on the AOC site and pointed them toward our blog to see how we dealt with it and so they could see our case was the extreme.

Here is a snapshot of the Aliner set up in the be

autiful green forest of Myrtle Beach State Park.

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.

First Trip!

I'm not there yet :( but Mike is! And she looks right at home. Tomorrow at this time I'll be on my way, can not wait!

Gearing Up for the Aliner's "Maidain" Voyage

Here's my list from a few weeks ago....

• seal up any holes around gaslines.
• coat bottom.
• install one regular outlet.
• install 12v plug.
• replace upper foam weatherstripping.
• fix any left over outside caulking.
• replace broken vent (purchased already).
• finish curtains.
• install new curtain rods.
• install cabinet door clasps.
• install cabinet handles.
• finish bed panel.
• sell fridge (dometic rm 2310....$250 if you're looking).
• celebrate and go camping!

I can deal with that! The left over caulking is very minor, probably over doing it even...so when we get to it will do. Curtain rods, maybe today....probably tomorrow. And the door clasp can wait too. It's just one and I am packing clothes in that cabinet. The fridge is still available. I've had a couple people ask about it, no one follows through. Not really a biggie on my list anyway, someone will take it when they need it. Celebrate and go camping :) that's this weekend! Mike heads out Thursday with Deogee, we head out Friday. I hope Taylor will be okay about missing drivers ed Friday....I bet a lot will be out anyway. I can not wait to go camping, period, Aliner or not. But this trip will be special! I am "repacking" for the Aliner. I'd like to able to load her up and leave it, but some of tenting gear is going to have to be shared, plus the girls will be tenting. Some things will stay just for the Aliner....I do need to stop picking things up here and there though. Even I am getting tired of hearing myself say "this will look cute in the Aliner", lol.
Add to my list...take some finished pics!