Vixen - The Beginning - Week 2

Week 2 - Unlimited Electricity and Crowds

We finish up our time in the Delaware State Forest and head to our next destination, Promised Land State Park. Here would be a bit more crowded than the forest, but we had electric hook up, water near by and plenty of trails to hike.

Daily Logs

Day 8 9/21 Mon - Delaware State Forest Up 0500. Temp 32. Wx: calm, cold, frosty, clear Batt: 92% @ 0511 Tanks: F-E, B-1/3, G 1&2-E

It was a frosty morning with the thermometer hovering at the freezing mark. I turned on the coach heater and it warmed up fast.

Around noon we headed over to Promised Land again and was able to check out the site again. Our hope of extending our stay in the forest was dashed when we were informed that everything was booked, but we decided it was possible to get into the site and we will be able to park Dilly's truck in one of the vacant spaces nearby. We went to the beach area and got some water and dumped trash.

After a hot shower for 50 cents we headed back to camp. We were going to take Dilly's truck into town for some resupply and pizza, but his battery is dying. We went in my truck and got what we needed then returned to camp.

Promised Land Lake

The sun is behind the trees again so the cold has arrived. Inside for our last night in the forest, listening to music and talking, then to bed. The checklists start in the morning.

Day 9 9/22 Tue - Travel Day - Site 357, Promised Land State Park
Up 0600. Temp 31. Wx: calm, cold, frosty, clear
Batt: 92% @ 0600
Tanks: F-1/3, B-1/3, G 1&2-E

Another frosty morning with a little bit of heating in the trailer in the morning. The black tank TLI def not working. I did a visual and it looks pretty full. I thought the maybe there was just a turd tower down below, so I used our faithful fire poker to do a little bit of tower knocking and the water level went down a bit, but the Tank Level Indicator in there is unreliable, so I will just count days of use to gauge its potential fullness. I retired the dirty poker back into the think woods.

Dilly headed out to get a new battery and run some errands and would meet us at the new site. We started the process of packing up for departure and we are already pretty fast at it. We planned on leaving around noon, but at 1000, just a few more steps were needed to be ready to go.

We decided to head to the dump station around 1030ish and will take our time there before heading to the site. It was a short, easy trip up the road to the state park. We arrived at the dump station and positioned the coach at the drain. We had dumped tanks before, but this was the first time we would be dealing with shit. We had gone as long as possible before using the on board toilet for the trusty number two. Everything flowed like clock work and we had empty tanks in the coach and were ready to go to the site.

We backed into the site like pros, but we are still learning the process. The pre-scouts we had done at the site let me plan the approach and pull in ahead of time. Not something that will happen a lot.

A tight fit, but a good fit.  

We set up camp and not too long after, Dilly showed up. He parked across the road and set up his tent in our space. The park will be pretty empty until the weekend and the camp hosts said it was fine to park there as long as no one reserves the space.

We went for a short hike to a little waterfall, then I prepared Instant Pot Lasagna for dinner. The evening was much warmer this night and we didn't have to retreat to the trailer as early as the last couple of days.

Lasagna ready to go into the pot

We settled into our new home for the week and before long, it was time for bed. We actually have a few tv channels here, so we can watch the boob tube without using data from the hotspot. There aren't a lot to choose from, but it is nice to have something showing on that black mirror on the wall.

Day 10 9/23 Wed - Promised Land S.P.

Up 0448. Temp 50. Wx: calm, cool, clear

Batt: 100% Shore Power

Tanks: F-F, B-1 day, Gs-E

The night was much warmer and the temp not near freezing in the morning, but there is still a little nip in the air. Ginger and I did a nice morning walk, checking out the boat launch and walking the whole dog loop.

Today I turn 58. After a good breakfast we went off for our days hike. Dilly went to do several miles to Bruce Lake and we took Ginger to Conservation Island for a nice 1 mile hike or so.

Hiking Conservation Island

Next we checked out the small store inside the park and then went to the wildlife observation area. They had a display showing the size of an Eagle's nest and Ginger found a large frog that just kept swimming around her in the shallow water.

LoGear and Ginger added for size comparison of a replica of an eagle's nest

Back at camp we relaxed a bit, had some lunch and I took a nap before Dilly returned from his hike. The rest of the day was spent around the fire. Ginger treed a chipmunk and spent a lot of the time looking for it and his friends. LoGear cooked hamburgers, zucchini and tater tots on the fire and everything was delicious.

Chipmunk in a tree

After dark, we retired into the trailer and watched some Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle and I was ready for bed when Hogan's Heroes came on. It was a good day to spend in the outdoors.

Day 11 9/24 Thu - Promised Land State Park
Up 0600. Temp 52. Wx: calm, cool, clear
Batt: 100% shore power
Tanks: F-2/3, B- 2 days, G 1&2-E

The night was pleasant again and I slept good. On our morning walk, we went to the boat launch and Ginger started her new favorite pastime, hunting frogs.

Dilly got up and stated packing up. He was heading out on his own next adventure in Tionesta, PA. Soon, it was just the three of us again.

We both took a bike ride today. I headed north to the other campgrounds in the area. At the end of one is an eagle's nest. You can't get close to it, but we had heard an eagle calling from this area, so I was hoping to get a glimpse of one as I rode around. All I saw were signs saying the area behind the sign was off limits.

I rode up to the equestrian camp to check it out. There was a tent up and two people were heading into the woods on their horses. The water tank for the park is up by the camp.

Water tower

Back at camp, it was LoGear's turn to take a ride. She went down to the Park Office, but said her gear shift was acting up again. I checked it out and it appeared to work, so...

The rest of the day was just hanging around camp. Making a fire and cooking stuff on it. The camp had pretty much emptied out in the morning, but that wouldn't last long. In the afternoon, the trailers started arriving and quite a few sites near us now have weekenders in them.

Several walks with Ginger and a nice long, hot shower in the bathhouse rounded out the day. I filled up two of the six gallon jugs and topped off the fresh water tank.

The evening was pleasant again, but we didn't make a dusk fire tonight. We once again watch some old fashioned tv and I was ready for bed around 9.

Day 12 9/25 Fri - Promised Land State Park
Up 0430. Temp 54. Wx: calm, cool, some clouds
Batt: 100% shore power
Tanks: F-F, B- 3 days, G 1&2-E

On our morning walk, we once again heard the eagle calling. Going down to the boat launch, all we saw was ducks and robins. They are out there somewhere.

Calm morning on Lower Lake

Today we went for another hike on the extensive trail system in the park. It was listed as a 1.75 mile loop. We altered it a little to go past the Masker Museum, which is closed for the season. Ginger had a problem with the CCC worker statue outside the building. She wouldn't go near it and growled at it once.

The park continued to fill up for the weekend today. It was interesting watching all the trailers and RVs working out how to all get into their spaces. We put up the hammock and I had a nice nap outside.

LoGear heard our neighbor across the road discussing our solar setup and the guy came over to ask about it when I came outside. His first question was are you full timers? I guess the solar marks us as such.

Ginger is getting used to all the people, but sometimes she just likes to bark. As her emotional support humans, we can't be out of her sight for too long.

Dinner was once again cooked on the fire. We are still working on the zucchini that Dilly brought and still have a zucchini and yellow squash we bought at the store. We had tenderloin as the main meat and it was delicious.

In the evening it appeared my jetpack had finally run out of data and I couldn't get online. I think it may be throttled now, but still passing data at a slow rate, but last night I guess it was too crowded.

We once again finished the night watching some tv on the local channels and I was ready for bed early. Another beautiful day out in nature.

Sleeping on air

Day 13 9/26 Sat- Promised Land State Park
Up 0430. Temp 55. Wx:
Batt: 100% shore power
Tanks: F-2/3, B- 4 days, G 1-1/3, G2-E

There were clouds in the morning sky, but we weren't expecting any rain today. We went out to the compass course we had found a few days ago and followed the directions to find 16 markers on trees using a compass and counting our paces. It was fun and let us tromp through the woods for a bit.

Next we stopped at another trail head and did another short loop. The last trail was wide and grassy and we started picking up wood near the end. When we got to the other trail head I dropped my load of sticks and LoGear and Ginger waited while I walked the final road walk back to the truck. It was quite an uphill trek and I was tuckered out when I got to the truck. I picked up the other two and loaded the wood into the truck.

Back at camp we had lunch then relaxed (read napped) for a little while. I got out the dominoes and we have played a few games. I'm the current leader in the series at 2 to 1.

When we were outside we felt some wetness falling out of the sky. I wouldn't call it rain. More like a fine mist. It did that off and on until we started getting ready for dinner. We cooked chicken on the fire along with yellow squash and potatoes in the cast iron skillet. We are getting tired of the squash side dishes, but we still have one zucchini left.

Dinner

After clean up we hung out inside for awhile then went out by the fire at dusk. Eventually, we retired into the trailer. There wasn't much on tv, but I found my phone, while roaming, was still working pretty well (probably because T-Mobile now owns Sprint) and I could watch YouTube videos while laying in bed.

The jetpack we have is working pretty good, but I wanted to determine its limit. It looks like we have used up all of our high speed data for the month (with 20 days to go, oh well). We watched two Steelers games and streamed quite a few shows, but we will have to figure out how to make the data go a little bit further. With that said, I still have a little bit of connection. I can check my email and a few other things, but no streaming. The speed reminds me of the old dial up days.

Day 14 9/27 Sun- Promised Land State Park
Up 0430. Temp 65. Wx: calm, wet, overcast
Batt: 100% shore power
Tanks: F-1/3, B- 5 days, G 1-1/3, G2-E

We had some sprinkles overnight and the sky was overcast when we went out. We reversed our morning walk and I saw a trailer down at the dump station getting ready to head out. I mentioned their early departure and they said they were heading to Maine, an eight hour drive. We will be taking about three days to get up there in a few days.

Breakfast

No hikes were planned today, but we were hoping to see the Steelers game on our phones. We couldn't get it on YouTube TV, but LoGear discovered that the NFL site was showing it for free. The game was good and we had a happy ending. 3-0, the opposite of last years start.

The camp cleared out a lot today. One of our neighbors gave us his left over wood. We now have a lot of wood to burn before Tuesday morning. I also picked up a couple pieces on our walks around the loop.

After the game, I got a fire going and tried to cook buffalo turkey burgers on the grate. Not such a good idea, but what I scraped off the grate tasted good, but I need to work on the ingredients.

I built up the fire, but was tired for the day's drinking, so I laid down to watch some YouTube videos and then we played a game of dominoes before I called it a night.

Vixen - The Beginning - Week 1

Making the Leap to Full Time RV'ers

The day had come. We were finally ready to hit the road as full-time RV'ers. All arrangements had been made. Mementoes, gear and favorite furniture stowed in the 10 x 10 storage unit. Lots of trips to the "Recycling Center". A few items sold on the Interwebs. We were ready...

We had decided on a bit of a north trip to start this latest Adventure in our lives. Up into the state of our births, PA for a while, then a trek into Maine to visit Acadia in the fall. We were not sure what the weather would bring us, but we were committed to taking each day as it is given. Living closer to the natural world, subject to temperature fluctuations, rain, sun, what have you.

Vixen, our 28' travel trailer would be our refuge from the weather. Our new home on wheels. Everything we would need to live out here is carried in her or the back of the truck. We don't need much. Backpacking has taught us that.

Our first weeks would be a full mixture of camping styles. Boondocking, RV park, Solar, Shore power, parking lot overnights. We would run the gamut, and learn a lot during this phase.

Below are my log entries from the first phase of our new life, "The Beginning".

Piney Mountain

The Daily Logs

Day 1 9/14 Mon - Travel Day - Piney Mountain, Michaux State Forest Depart 11:11 Arrive Piney Mtn 13:34 81 miles

Morning came and we finished those last few things and were ready to hit the road. We drove out of the driveway and headed north. There was a minor slowdown on the beltway due to a brush fire or something and the rest of the drive was nice.

We arrived at the parking lot up on Piney Mountain and went to check the field. There was only one other camper in the field And they were packing up. We found a good spot and backed the trailer into it. We set up and relaxed, taking a short walk as we waited for Dilly to show up. Eventually he did and set up his tent.

We had burgers for dinner, made a quick fire and waited for the Steelers game. We had ok signal up on the mountain, but when I attached the two small antennas for the MiFi, it worked much better. We were able to watch the good game and drank a lot of beers. I didn't get to bed until midnight.

Day 2 9/15 Tue - Travel Day - Site S5, Delaware State Forest
Up 0613. Temp: 43 Wx: calm, cool, clear
Depart 11:41
Arrive S5 15:20
167 miles

I slept in until a little after 6. Did the morning routine and checked emails and stuff. Everyone else eventually got up and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Around 1000, Dilly and I headed out. We parked his truck down in the park and I drove him to Boiling Springs. I headed back and we finished up the departure checklist and started off.

Dilly ready to hike some AT

The drive wasn't bad at all and we decided to skip the stop at Loves for a break and had enough gas to make it to the campsite. The GPS took us a weird way, but we were able to find the site easily. We pulled in and looked around to figure out where to put the trailer. After some maneuvering we had the trailer facing east and relatively level. Once again we set up camp. This time for a week.

Site S5, Laurel Run Rd, Delaware State Forest

Signal was spotty here and I wasn't able to do much. There were no ota tv channels coming in at all. We took a short walk, then took a ride to check out the other campsites and go into town to find the Walmart, seeing three turkeys along the way. We found a Weis first and got some groceries. As we were looking for gas we found the Walmart and their gas was very cheap.

Back at camp, we made dinner of chicken and rice and a salad. I fired up the MiFi and got great signal. We watched Big Brother and then headed to bed.

Nice creek

Day 3 9/16 Wed - Delaware State Forest
Up 0445. Temp 41. Wx calm, cold, clear
Batt: 84% @ 0825
Tanks: F-2/3, B-E, G1-E, G2-E

A cold, dewy morning led to a beautiful day. We took walks up and down the road, seeing some bears that were up in a tree. Next we headed to the Pecks Pond picnic area to get some water. We circled around first and then parked and asked some sawyers where the faucet was. I asked for a couple of their logs and scored six.

We drove back to pass through Promised Land State Park and stopped at the beach area to check it out and got a map of the park. Back at camp, we relaxed and kept the fire going. Making quesadillas for lunch and LoGear cooked some fish and rice for her dinner. Back in the trailer with darkness and cooling and we watched a show then headed to the warm blankets of the bed.

Day 4 9/17 Thu - Delaware State Forest
Up 0345. Temp 45. Wx calm, cold, some clouds
Batt: 77% @ 0400
Tanks: F-F, B-E, G1-E, G2-E

It was another cool morning and we saw the bears again on our morning walk. Same place, scampering down the tree and running off.

After breakfast, we went out for a hike. We found a trail near the bridge and on our way there, we once again saw the bears. Later, I sent an email to the Forest office for their information, just to see if they were interested.

Bear in a tree

We walked the trail and came to the road and then followed the roads back to camp. Ginger was a trooper, but the four mile plus hike took its toll on her. She is limping around a little now.

Girl is worn out

Later in the day we got in contact with Dilly and decided to meet him at the Walmart down in town after I did some needed shopping. All the chores done and Dilly arrived, we returned to camp for a nice dinner of parm pork chops, zucchini and stuffing. We had a fire going and you could tell it was a little warmer this night.

Day 5 9/18 Fri - Delaware State Forest
Up 0500. Temp 57. Wx: calm, warm, overcast
Batt: 84% @0520
Tanks: F-F, B-1/3, G 1&2-E

I was hot in bed and had to strip off my sweatshirt and shirt before getting up. Definitely starting off warmer this morning. The day is pleasant. Overcast with a light wind, but not cold.

LoGear took a bike ride and Dilly headed into town to get his phone screen fixed. Later I took the bike ride and checked out the other camp sites and a nice pond LoGear saw.

Pond

We went back up to the pond in the truck and hung out there where Dilly fished for about 5 minutes and I gathered some good wood I had spotted on the bike ride. We had spaghetti for dinner and a good fire later.

Day 6 9/19 Sat - Delaware State Forest
Up 0545 . Temp 36. Wx: calm, cold, clear
Batt: 84% @ 0545
Tanks: F-2/3, B-1/3, G 1&2-E

It seemed that the solar panels where doing their best, so I thought maybe they needed a quick cleaning. They didn't look bad, but I cleaned them anyway.

Campsite from the roof, where the magic happens

We drove over to Promised Land State Park, checked out the campsite, which looks a little tight, then took a little hike, and saw some turkeys. Next we went to the beach and Dilly took a shower while LoGear called her father and Ginger and I took a short walk.

Promised Land Lake

Back at camp, we cooked up some chicken thighs for dinner once again enjoying a fire until it got cold out, then retiring into the trailer for some talk and drink.

Day 7 9/20 Sun - Delaware State Forest
Up 0500. Temp 35. Wx: calm, cold, clear
Batt: 94% @ 0500
Tanks: F-1/3, B-1/3, G 1&2-E

There was frost in camp in the morning, but we warmed up later. We watched the Steelers game in the trailer and got a win.

Tonight will be left overs, mac and cheese and a salad. Dinner was good and the chill started setting in as soon as the sun fell behind the tree line. We retired into the trailer and listened to music for awhile and I headed to bed early.