First Spring Trip to Burleson Recreation Area!

Well, since nearly every camp ground in the state of WI and IL are booked for the holiday weekend, I decided to reserve a site in our backyard; also known as Burleson Recreation Area.  There's always room and the showers are hot!

 

 Before I set up camp, I gave the teardrop a wash.  I also protected all the rubber gaskets with a UV protector so that they'll stay pliable and keep the moisture out.  

 Before

After

One of the things from last year's list was to replace the screws on the door and hatch handles.  The problem was that they are at a severe angle and I tried installing them with my drill; it tended to strip out the phillip's head screws causing a very painful scratch every time you opened the door.  So, thanks to the guy at the hardware store, I found these very cool angle drivers.  

 

Angled driver.

 

Stripped screws!

 

Wish I had known about this tool a long time ago!

I'm actually quite glad that I opted to stay 'at home' on this trip.  It gave me the opportunity to take care of a lot of items from last year's list and some that weren't on there that should have been.  For example:  last year I added the stone guard foam pad to the front of the teardrop.  We had lots of problems with water getting caught between it and the skin of the teardrop.  So, I added a strip of aluminum and caulked the heck out of it to ensure that the strip remained affixed to the skin of the teardrop and 'sealed' the neoprene.  (I did not put any screws in the aluminum, so the caulk/adhesive was all that was holding it on.)  Well, it worked well, but I was less than perfect about how I applied the caulk/adhesive.  The result was a less than lovely 'line' where the aluminum met the skin of the teardrop.  In addition to that, the caulk, which was clear, turned black when dirt collected on it.  So, I decided to mask off the area and use my hammered paint to 'cover it.'  It worked perfectly and looks a million times better.  

This was also my first 'trip' in which I used my CPAP machine in the teardrop.  I learned that the 'fault' I kept getting on my AC Converter was due to the fact that it requires the DC Battery to be at 12 volts or more in order to properly convert it into AC power.  I am probably going to want to add an AC 'direct' plug in the cabin so that I'm essentially going directly from the Marinco power inlet to my AC device.  I'm not sure how to deal with this when we are off the grid.  I'll need to look into this for future trips for sure.  I know that there is an available battery system for the CPAP, but it was prohibitively expensive.  I've seen some devices at Harbor Freight that would work just as well, but are much less expensive.

 

Here is one I was considering from Harbor Freight.  Could be useful for all kinds of camping trips; especially when the battery on the tow vehicle dies like it has on us several times!

I've got several more tiny items on my list that I want to try to accomplish before making the 'long' trip back to the concrete pad where the Carpe Diem rests.  In the meanwhile, here is my view this morning from the teardrop's open door.

 

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

First Night

We made the 500 mile trip north to Sault Saint Marie, Michigan yesterday. Crossing the river in the ferry and breathing the cool air reminded us how much we like it here! The trailer pulled well; no trouble at all handling or otherwise. It did impact our miles per gallon: we usually get about 26 mpg; our towing mpg was closer to 19 mpg. Granted, a lot of that was on freeways going pretty fast; 70+ mph. When we were on two lane roads, we seemed to get better mileage. Note to self: slow down and take the back roads when possible. It will slow us down, but make us focus a little more on enjoying the journey.

Welcome to Michigan!

 We are spending a couple of days here with family and then my wife and I are heading north to Canada. It's funny because sitting on the deck, I can see Canada across the river! We are heading up to Lake Superior Provincial Park. It looks beautiful. The east shore of Lake Superior is rocky and rugged. The website for the park describes one of the canoe routes as being, "...crystal clear waters in which you can see 60 feet down where boulders the size of houses line the bottom."

Last night was our first night in the completed teardrop. I had spent one night in the teardrop before fully completing everything. My wife was thrilled. She said that she slept really well. I did too. She said that she, '...didn't even know I was there!' The vent provided just enough 'white noise' to drown out the sounds around us. The cool night temperature made sleeping heavenly. With the vent pushing air 'out' there was a delightful cross-breeze created by the sliding windows. At one point my wife closed hers. Amazingly, the mosquitos, which are legendary and HUGE here, were relegated to the outside of the cabin. We had a couple of stowaways in the cabin, but once they were killed, we enjoyed a bug free night.

 A few notes on our first night of sleep. The curtains were welcome; they gave us just enough privacy from nephews walking around the cabin while we were still resting. I do want to add some velcro tabs to the corners of the panels so that when the cross-breeze is pulling air into the cabin that the curtains will stay in place. They tended to blow in and not provide much 'privacy' when doing so. We need to add some velcro hooks for hats, keys, etc. We may need to make some kind of labels for the storage bins in the cabin. As of now, all our stuff is sort of stashed in there together. It made it a little tough to find our things when we wanted them. We found the reading lights to be almost 'too' bright. One light was enough to illuminate the whole cabin. I might try to find some lower wattage bulbs, if there is such a thing. Or, maybe there is a way to 'coat' the bulb to knock down some of the wattage. Where we are 'parked' right now, we don't have a picnic table or other 'surface' to put the stove, etc. I know now that I really want to make that side table so that I can use it to heat water for coffee, etc. I may find some way to do it tomorrow morning. I was missing my coffee made in my french press. I think we will end up purchasing a pop up shelter with sides to give us a little more 'space' outside the camper.

Make shift hat rack on the edge of the curtain rod.

Our first overnight camp site.