Adapting to the RV Lifestyle.....

This past weekend, Eddie Dale and I took our maiden voyage in the "new" RV.  We recently bought an older fifth-wheel from my dad, who is "retiring" from RV'ing.  We were eager to get out on the open road and set up camp to work out the kinks before taking it on vacation in a couple of weeks!

Here she is.....24-feet of home-away-from-home!!!

I spent a good deal of the day on Friday cleaning and getting everything ready.  You have to remember - a bachelor had been using the trailer!  I finished off the day with a trip to the dollar store for supplies we would need - paper plates, cleaner, shower caddy, towels - items we can just leave in the trailer from trip to trip.

On Saturday morning, we rounded up everything we would need at the grocery store.  We went through the hook-up process and got to the State Park, about 20 miles from town, right at 2:00 pm, the assigned check-in time.  Set up was a challenge this first time.......Eddie Dale tells me that backing up a fifth wheel is quite different from backing up a regular trailer.  I was glad it was him maneuvering it into place and not me!  Once we got it onto the parking pad, the rest of the hook-up went smoothly.

We took the pups with us for this first run and they were quite nervous and bewildered when we moved them from the truck to the trailer.  But, they quickly realized that it was much cooler in the trailer with the A/C running than it had been in the cab of the truck.  By the end of the evening, they started to relax and grow accustomed to their new surroundings.

We rested, read and napped for a while and then set up the portable grill to cook some steaks for dinner.  While we were outside, a doe came wandering up to our campsite and hung around for a while.  She actually got very close to us and didn't startle easily.  I guess she lives out in the area and is used to campers.  Isn't she just beautiful???

 

Dinner was simple and delicious!  We sat inside the trailer in the little dining area and enjoyed our sirloin steaks, twice backed potatoes (frozen and cooked in the microwave) and grilled squash and peppers from Daddy's garden.  Chilled tomatoes harvested from that garden earlier in the day provided a sweet pop of flavor.

A storm blew in at dusk and we put away the outdoor chairs and tables, battened down the hatches and crawled into bed to read.  The brunt of the storm passed us by, but there was some wind and rain and it cooled the sweltering temperatures to the point we could actually sleep with the windows open that night.

I can sum up our entire time at the State Park by saying "we did a whole lot of nothing"!  We napped, visited, read, sat outside in the quiet and relaxed.  It was a wonderful time of recharging and working out some of the snags of camping.  Every once in a while, you just need a little time to "decompress" like this!

I am looking forward to our next outing here in a couple of weeks for a week-long trip down to the Guadalupe river!  I think we're ready!!!