First Night Out - What a Blast!

 

Once home we loaded it up with all of our camping gear.  When done we realized we hadn't even scratched the surface of the storage capacity ... coming from hauling everything in the back of the SUV for tenting, which looked like a lot of stuff, to the Pod is really nice.  Fired up the fridge so that it could start to cool down (figured out later that it really isn't worth it for just one night since it takes so long to chill), filled up the H2O tank since we would not have a water hookup close enough at the site to use, and then we had to run a quick errand before leaving (early voting).

 

4 hours later (yes, the voting lines were that long) we headed off to a local county park that is only about 5 miles away.  Small, about 30 back-in tent/trailer sites (though only 2 at most were suitable for a trailer) and another 15 drive-thru RV sites that were definitely better.  Having reserved a spot by phone and explaining that it was our first time with a trailer they gave us the best back-in spot, which was at the very end of the campground on a circle loop, and while it was very nice it certainly wasn't level front-to-back.  Got it backed in on the second attempt, as the first was pretty cockeyed (due to someone claiming jet lag from having flown in on the redeye that morning and needing more sleep ... whatever).  From there it was cool sailing to get the rest of things set up.  We had timed ourselves just out of curiosity, and it took us a total of 25 minutes from when we pulled up in front of the site to be done and on to our other chores ... M making cocktails and me making a fire.  This compared to the 2-3 hours it would take us to set up when tenting!

 

Because it was so much later at that point than we had hoped we decided not to try and put up the R-dome.  It is not something that we believe will be put up for just 1 nights stay, but we wanted to try and figure it out before we go for 4 days over Thanksgiving in a couple weeks.  Weather was nice anyways ... about 60 degrees & sunny, and around 40 degrees for the low that night.  Furnace worked fantastic, and we didn't notice it being loud or anything like that.  Slept like a couple of babies with the thermostat set at 60 and the window cracked.

 

Two things we found ... M noticed and commented that the lights seemed to generate a lot of heat and were getting hot to the touch which concerned her, at which point I brought up changing them to the LED's like others have done here, and she agreed that would be a good idea.  Sometimes sales is all in the timing.  The other thing I did find was that the gas stove top seemed to be loose, like it wasn't completely fastened tightly to the countertop.  Does anyone know if it is supposed to be that way, or should I tighten it up?  It worked fine and just wiggles a bit from side-to-side so I was wondering.

 

Started and kept a list of things we need to get/do/mod ... command hooks & shelves for cups/dishes in the cabinet, shelf in front left corner to put doggie stuff on while onsite, railing for the little front edge shelf along the dinette for books & cd/dvd's, bins & storage boxes, and so on.  Made drawings and took measurements of every space, shelf, drawer and enclosed storage area so we could get items that fit accordingly.

 

Packing up the next afternoon when we were ready to leave was easy as well.  20 minutes to disconnect, hookup TV and be ready to leave.  Packed it so that we could just drop it off at the storage place on the way home, and then it would be ready for us to use (other than food) for the next trip.  As we were starting to leave M asked if we could stop at the campground office so that she could make another reservation for coming back this next weekend ... Yes!!