We drive through Ludlow when we go up to our place. Okemo ski resort is a great place!

Skied there many times.

Hope you make it East.....with the pod?

Jacked up one side and placed wood blocks front and rear, did the same for the other side. Removed both wheels. Cut Ty-wraps on brake wires. Loosened all four bolts (two on each end) holding axel to frame. Placed jack under one end of the axel, removed the two bolts, lowered the axel with the jack just enough to insert the riser. Bolted the riser to the frame and axel, but left these bolts slightly loose. Placed jack under other end of axel, removed bolts, lowered the axel with the jack, inserted riser. Installed all four bolts for this end, but left them loose also until I brought the axel up tight to the frame with the jack, then tightened them. Back to the other end with the jack, jacked axel up to bring riser tight to frame and then tightened these bolts.

Ty-wraped brake wire back in place, jacked up camper enough to get one wheel on, ditto for other wheel. Done!

All the nuts have distorted threads, so it makes it difficult to remove and install them. Good workout for the arms! I found it helped to clamp a large pair of Visegrip pliers on the nuts while removing and replacing them. Did final torque with a box wrench and ratchet with a socket (bolts and nuts are 15/16"). I don't have a torque wrench that goes to 120 foot pounds as recommended, but feel confident they are adequately tight.

 

 

I wonder if you could use one of those plastic/acrylic cutting mats as a splatter guard.  You could attach it to the wall using the Scotch 3M adhesive strips, or maybe even the Velcro strips.  I may try that because I have a set of 3 already.  I bought the set from WalMart so I could use one of them as a cutting board (mat) on the top of my stovetop cover. 

 I am thinking I will look at our Walmart (thanks) for that towel rack (sometimes they have different stock here in Canada). We will mount it on the inside though because I still think the mirror will do better on the outside and too much humidity to dry the towels in the shower stall will not be a problem here in Alberta. I think we will shower with the door open and just the curtain pulled most of the time.  We are keeping our shoes in that cargo net area under the fridge so I don't see us needing the extra shoe pockets.

  That organizer tacked to the outside of the shower beside the bed has become the 'desk'. It holds pens, notepads, and all the instructions that came with the pod for future reference. The little cupboard over the bed became the library as we did not feel a TV was important. We will have our laptop with us on long trips.

The oven liner on the wall idea fits well and the sticky stuff sticks to the liner (my worry) but it won't stcik to the wall! I will try the extra command strips there as they seem to stick everywhere else.

B

 

During my walkthrough, I was told the only thing inside the bathroom that was not waterproof was the door itself.  So, I figured if the drawn shower curtain protected the door, then it would also protect the mirror, but we'll see won't we?

 

A Pod warming party --- how fun!

 

Diane

Do you think the mirror will be damaged by the moisture inside? I'll let you know if the oven liner sticks as I'm going to do it this afternoon. We are having a pod warming party this evening!

B

  We're back from our first trip! We picked up the Gastropod Saturday morning as planned and headed directly from there to Miquelon Provincial Park-maybe 50 km. (30 miles). The goal was to see how it towed and check out some of the systems before we ventured too far from home.

  Tom found the towing easy enough after he relaxed a bit but the gas mileage! He is not used to seeing that needle drop so quickly.  He'll get used to it.

  There was still snow and meltwater around the campsites and we ruled a few out due to excessive mud ruts but found a nice one with a wide driveway and Tom was able to back into place pretty easily. It may have helped that we often tow a small cargo trailer so he pretty much knew what he was doing. Since we were only staying one night, we did not break out the r-dome but will leave that for 24th of May weekend. We had fun taking stuff from the van and finding places in the pod for it. Sally checked inside but preferred to be outside. I think the "new" smell was a bit hard on her even though she has the worst sniffer of any dog we have ever known.

  The stove worked well-after we remembered to turn on the propane outside. The refrigerator came on fine but we decided to dispense with the middle door shelf to leave space for taller juice containers. We cooked inside to try it out although it was a beautiful Alberta blue day.  Steak in a cast iron pan and baked potatoes done in the mircowave were on the menu. We soon discovered grease splatters were going to wreck the kitchen walls but have decided to use a tin foil oven liner lightly tacked to the wall with Scotch reuseable tabs. (Something like a clear sticktac square). 

  While cooking, we discovered the first rule of cooking in the pod; take out the smoke detector battery, the second rule is put it back in afterwards! We apologised to our neighbours after supper.

It seemed no amount of venting or fans was going to stop that thing from shrieking.

  We slept comfortably under the new quilts I made during the winter while waiting for spring and camping season. The heater was noisy but we soon got used to it.  Sally went from dinette bench to floor several times and we have decided to bring an old sheet for her to sleep on to keep her fur off the bench. She is an old dog and needs her comfort.

  We went for "the long walk" in the middle of the night. We had no water for the toilet so that system will wait for another time. There was a hard frost so it was cool, but we heard coyotes howling and yipping and admired the stars.

  In the morning we cooked bacon and eggs outdoors and watched the cow moose and her calf browsing nearby. Sally was not excited by them at all. She was too busy staring at the collie next door.

  We have decided to create a moving-on checklist to be sure we don't overlook something. We nearly forgot to turn off the propane. We think we may lend the Gastropod to our sons occaisionally and they will need it.

  During the day we watched thousands of snowgeese heading north. Is it just me or do they really sound more cheerful in the spring? We stuck a few command hooks near the door for things like the leash, hats and flashlight.

  The Gastropod handled well on the expressway coming home. Nothing moved inside but I noticed the upper kitchen cupboard came unlatched. Tom thinks the latch just needs to be squeezed tighter.

  So much for the first adventure of Tom, Bette and Sally (don't we sound like a first grade reader?) in the Gastropod.

  Mods are going to be a mirror on the bathroom door, and a counter cover for the stove. We already bought the TV tray. What a good idea that was! I like the clock Hodge-Podge put up too.

 

Yes, love the Adirondacks, did a bit of backpacking up there in the 70's and 80's.

 

Iteach5th, I'm guessing your a 5th grade teacher. My lady is a 5th grade teacher also.

 

The girlfriend was away at a rug hooking show in Fairfield Ct., so she was unaware.

Got it all set up before she got home. She was pleasently surprised!

Yes, she's a hooker.  A rug hooker, that is. 

 

Ordered pizza, ate in the pod and toasted to many happy camping excursions!

 

Time to start the mods.

 

Recieved an email from my sister in Vt. There has been bad flooding up there and there's still snow pack in the mountains. They just lost the last of their snow four days ago. We don't expect to get the pod up there until late May or early June. Waiting for a driveway report from the brother-in-law. Suspect the driveway will need some work before we can go in with the pod.

At least this gives me some time to get the pod ready. Axel risers first!

 

I suspect we'll be making a weekend trip with it somewhere before taking it to Vt. Can't wait!

 

Love Seatle pabloa3, climed Mt. Rainier back in 88.

Our camping season is as long as we want but personally I am not into winter camping. One of my sons has done quite a bit of it though.

 Typically, camping season starts 24th of May weekend. (Queen Victoria's birthday) and runs to mid-September.  Naturally the campgrounds are busier during summer holidays so lots of empty nesters like us prefer the shoulder seasons -fewer bugs too. Spring is very quick in Alberta. One day it is snowing and we are all in parkas;  the next we are without coats and boots and wearing shorts. Today we have just a few snowdrifts left in the yard but we could be out with just a warm sweater or hoodie if we weren't all glued to the tube watching the wedding!.

 

Perfect name snowbound. I think I have name envy. I wonder if you could retrofit "The Gastropod" with skis and pull it with a snowmobile?  How long is your camping season up there?

 

I agree with you that everyone is so friendly and I hope to meet some of these folk in person in future.

I am axiously waiting to pick up our pod tomorrow and have a pile of stuff to pack into the van tonight. We are going to a campground for the night direct from the dealer. We can install a few things, then bring her home Sunday knowing what else we will need. Tom doesn't want to carry water as it may still go below freezing tomorrow night. How low will the water system go before freezing?

Bette

 

 

Got in the truck this morning to move it and discovered a puddle of oil under it. Looks like it may be the rear main seal. Leaking pretty good. decided not to risk towing with it, though I may have been able to get away with a short trip.

Still went to the dealer for the walk through. I pretty much knew everthing I needed to know already, thanks to this forum. But it neaver hurts, especially having never owned a camper.

We live about 10 miles from the dealer, so they are going to tow it to our house next Tuesday, no charge. I have a tractor to move it around at home.

I took the truck to a garage that will look at it tomorrow. I'm pretty handy, and if I had to, I could deal with it myself, but I really hate working on auto's.

 

Just lucky I'm not sitting on the side of the highway somewhere!

The farmer next door keeps the field cut for us.

 

Countdown; 3 hours and 30 min. to the walk through with the dealer!