Better Late than Never - A Grimes County Hidden Jewel.

OMG! Where has the time gone?! Oh yeah...to work, to rain, an unexpected surgery, canceled camping trips, and life! So much for camping at least once a month! Life seriously gets in the way of me enjoying my camper!  With that said, its way past due to review the last camping trip we took.......in January.

Our DS turned 12 and decided he wanted to go camping for his birthday. YES! We allowed him to invite his best friend along since we weren't going far on this trip.  That's right, we only went 15 minutes down the road to a hidden jewel in Grimes Co., Gibbons Creek. Now, Gibbons Creek is known by all the locals as a decent fishing hole.  Located at Hwy 30 and FM 244, every weekend you can see bass boats pulling in for a day of fishing.  Little did I know they actually had RV sites hidden back in a small wooded lot.

Its honestly not much and its only open Friday - Sunday.  But when you've got to get away from the house and into your camper, its not bad. The stars still shine bright and you're far enough away from the road that all you hear or see are the boats pulling in for the morning. There are 17 spots with water and electricity.  There's a poorly marked dump station back near the entrance. There are men and women restrooms with shower facilities should you choose to use them.  Each site should have a fire ring or BBQ pit, and there are primitive camp sites closer to the water.

For recreation, Gibbons Creek is mainly a fishing lake but some do dare to swim, ski, or ski tube.  I say dare because there are a couple resident alligators and that's enough for me to keep this a fall/winter camping location.  They have a decent 250' fishing pier, 110' boat dock, and a 5 lane boat ramp.  Don't feel like cooking? Check out Yankees just outside of Gibbons Creek for a cold one and a good hamburger...just don't go there if you're in a hurry because service is generally slow.  Yankees is a biker hangout on the weekends and locals during the week.  Not a bad place and we've taken our family.  Gibbons Creek states there is a gas station on the corner but that has recently been torn down to make way for the new over pass going in.

We pulled in Friday night later than we wanted and found a boat parked in our site.  After some grumbling and an apologetic neighbor, he quickly moved his boat for our trailer (People....there's a parking lot. Drop your boat and chock the tires).  The site wasn't very level and DH was more than over the whole trip already and so we didn't completely level the trailer.  Not a great decision in retrospect because every time I opened the microwave the plate came sliding out.  We managed.  The rest of evening was spent celebrating D's birthday with his friend, cokes, cold drinks, cupcakes, and good times with friends around a camp fire.

Saturday morning we got up, had a wonderful breakfast, and then set out to do some bank fishing for cat fish.  Unfortunately, the weather was windy and cold and the cats weren't biting.  We caught a lot of bottom stick fish but that was about it. The rest of the weekend was spent sitting around a camp fire and just enjoying a weekend with no responsibilities other than me driving home twice a day to feed the critters (kinda nice and kind of a PIA - cut into my drinking time).

Sunday morning we packed up and headed back for our loooong 15 minute drive home.  But not before we dumped our tanks at the dump station.  The dump station is not marked AT ALL.  You better be looking for it as you cross the bridge.  There will be a little road that takes you straight instead of to the left as you leave.  You'll see the white PVC pipe sticking up out of the ground.  There's a water faucet for your wash hose and PVC pipe in the ground.  Watch where you walk. Its not fancy but it works.

Overall, Gibbons Creek is not my first choice for a camping trip.  But if I want to escape but stay real close to home, its good enough.  Camping is about who you're with and not where you are.  Will we go back? I'm sure we will.  Will I float out on a tube? No. I don't care what they say about the alligators.

Finally got to use our power awning!

Friend Nomi knows how to build a camp fire!

The boys trying to be patient. 

Better than working!

Grilled cheese for lunch!

Pretty lights from the Texas Municipal Power Agency.

1 lane bridge over the spillway. 

1 lane bridge approaching Gibbons

Gibbons Creek

Dump Station

Dump Station

Winter Sunset

Cast Iron Cooking - Reseasoning a rusted skillet!

There is some unwritten law some where that if you camp, you must use cast iron cookware! It's probably just due to the versatility that this cookware has that it can go from kitchen to camp fire just by stepping out the door.  And its the reason I have fallen in love with my CI skillets!

I can use these skillets on the stove top, in the oven, or I can even set them IN a fire! While these skillets are nearly indestructible, water is not their friend.  Neither is soap. CI skillets and other cookware are "seasoned" which makes them stick proof cookware. Soap can strip years of seasoning and water can cause rust to develop which requires you to reseason your CI cookware. Which is what I had to do to an old skillet that showed up with my husband.

For years, this skillet has sat either on my porch or in my car port because I didn't know what to do with it.  It was an old rusted out skillet that I honestly had thought about chucking.  I figured it wasn't salvageable......but I was wrong!

I discovered a Facebook group, Cast Iron Cooking, by chance one day.  I don't even remember how or why I found it but it has been a wealth of knowledge! From restoring old cookware to recipes for our next camping trip, this group has been highly educational! And NICE! Through these wonderful people, I learned how to restore this old skillet. 

Improper use of water and soap will do this!

She was a bucket of rust.  But, I couldn't hurt her any more than she already was so I gave it a go! A soak over night in white vinegar diluted 50/50 with water was my first step. 

With some elbow grease, a wire brush, and some SOS pads, I managed to get all of the rust and grime off. 

Now I was ready to season! For my fellow newbies, this doesn't mean to use seasonings but oil that bakes into the cast iron making it smooth and shiny! I slathered the pan all over with crisco shortening until there was a light film and then "baked" upside down in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.  

I wiped out the excess oil, reapplied a thin layer of crisco, and baked again at 300 degrees for 15 minutes! I was really becoming impressed with this process. 

Removed the skillet again, wipe and reapply (wipe on...wipe off!) crisco, and increased the temperature to 400 degrees.  I placed it in the oven, upside down for 2 hours and then allowed it to cool to room temperature in side the oven until that evening. 

AMAZING!!

And it really wasn't even that hard. I was totally impressed with myself.

Before

After

DINNER!

The Dirty Underside of RVing.......Tanks

No one likes to talk about them.  There are people that go out of their way to avoid them (like my brother in law).  They can ruin a vacation and keep people from using their campers.............tanks.

All campers with a sink and toilet have three tanks: fresh, grey, and black.  Depending on the size of your camper, you may have more than 1 of each.  Older campers are easier to identify because most do not have their belly wrapped, whereas newer campers may still have this insulating wrap still in place. Tanks were discussed and researched a lot on our first trip to Inks Lake.

Rusty: We are going to use the camp bathrooms.

Carin: Hmmm....it's freezing.  No.

Rusty: Yes, I don't want them to get full and have to dump more than once.

Carin: Then what's the point in having them? I paid XXXXX for this trailer and I'm going to use ALL of it.  And I mean ALL. OF. IT.

And I did. It was cold and my toilet was CLEAN (brand spanking new never been pissed in CLEAN)...unlike the over flowing toilet in the men's room one morning. No. Thank. You!

So, we compromised and I used MY toilet. See how that worked?

The first rule on tanks is it's helpful to know how many you have.  We were told we had one of each but for some reason, our control panel had 3 grey tanks.  This mystery will be solved later.  It's also helpful to know how much each of those tanks actually holds.  Based on the specs, our grey tank holds 78 gallons and our black and fresh water tanks hold 38 gallons.  That can be hard to visualize but we have a 20 gallon fish tank so double that on black.

The second rule on tanks is to take care of them.  The electric sensors are extremely sensitive and are known for not reading correctly.  It's been recommended to me to use the GEO method (Get Everything Out). It's simple really.
1) Water is your friend in your tanks (especially black).
2)  Leave your valves SHUT at all times unless dumping.
3) Before each trip, dump about a gallon of water with liquid laundry detergent (about a capful) and water softener down your toilet and kitchen sink.  The soap keeps everything nice and slick. And the water softener helps to break down solids. So far, knock on wood, this is working and our sensors all read E. NOW.....

The third rule is the sensors are not accurate. 1/3 means "not empty", 2/3 means "1/2 full", and full means "7/8 full".  And when the grey water backs up into your bathroom sink.......it means, FULL. It happened..............

Our first day/arrival we were concerned about freezing temperatures so decided to fill our fresh water tank and camp off of that the first day.  We had issues with priming our lines (something we'll need to work on later just so we know how to do it) and therefore filled up our grey water tank (grey water #2) pretty quickly.  By the 2nd day, this tank was reading 2/3 full with grey water tank #1 reading 1/3 full (now remember, we were told we only had 1 tank so this puzzled us).  The black tank still only said 1/3 full.  So we dumped.  And it wasn't that big of deal.  Wear rubber gloves. Don't pull the valve until you're ready.  No biggie. I really don't understand why people get so weirded out by this!

BUT...grey tank #2 still read 2/3 full.  A little confused but not really too concerned, we went back to camp.  Grey tank #1 said empty so there must be something stuck on the sensor..right? We continued camping and enjoying ourselves until Friday evening after I had finished the dishes.  I went in to the bathroom and noticed that grey water was backing up into the bathroom sink! If there was 1 tank and we dumped, WHY was the bathroom sink backing up.  I would have figured the bathtub would have backed up first. We only had 1 day of camping left and the black tank only read at 1/3 full after 2 days post dump so I got creative so we didn't have to dump.

What do you do when your grey tank is full but your black tank is not? You use a giant bowl to catch your grey water and pour it down the toilet! I figured this killed 2 birds with 1 stone. 1) We didn't have to "fold" back up and go dump 2) It put extra water in the toilet so that when we did dump everything was nice and fluid like.  It worked.  Even with dumping ALL of our grey water down the toilet the tank only read 2/3 full when we pulled out. Win!

Just don't throw any utensils down the toilet!

But the problem still remained as to why the tank filled up so quickly and why the sensor wasn't working.  I just assumed that the sensors were doing what sensors do and not working.  The only way to really figure out our holding capacity was to measure how much water we could actually hold. So, I decided that when we got home I would take a 5 gallon bucket and count how many buckets of water I could pour down the kitchen sink. That would tell me how many gallons and MAYBE rinse off the sensor. Right? Sounds like an awesome idea.

And it was! 7 gallons later.........YES, 7 GALLONS, the kitchen sink overflowed with grey water that was obviously from our camping trip.  WTF?! I thought we dumped that! And now the grey tank #2 read FULL. You think? Curious, I started to fill up the bathtub to see what would happen.  40 gallons later grey tank #1 started to read 2/3.  So...  We obviously have at least 2 tanks.  And the real problem presented it's self.  HOW do we empty tank #2?!

At the dump valve, there were 2 obvious valves to pull and we had! One was black and the other gray.  So, again, I pulled the gray valve and WHOOSH! Water emptied from the hose into the yard.  Great! I run around the trailer and check the sensors..........not great.  Grey tank #1 now empty. Grey tank #2 FULL.  WTF?!

Now I'm obviously not the typical wife.  I'm not above getting down on my knees in the mud to crawl around under the trailer looking for a mystery grey valve.  Forest River has a great little forum community here: Forest River .  Someone mentioned that maybe they accidentally covered up our other valve with the belly wrap.......oh please no! Finally, I found a silver handle just behind the slide.  It didn't look like other tank valve so a quick call to the dealership for a "WTH is this and how do we get this tank to dump?" call.

After discussing what this strange handle could be, we were advised to pull it and see what happened.  I mean, seriously, what could possibly go wrong? The trailer is still under warranty...... We heard the whoosh of running water and then........NOTHING.....now what......Our wonderful sales guy who really shouldn't be taking my calls for these things (love ya Chris) talked me into pulling the black tank valve.  We dumped so it should be completely empty.  Right? (Oh please let the black tank be empty.)

WHOOSH! A FLOOD of water (78+ gallons in fact) rushed into our yard. And so now we know.....The kitchen/galley tank valve is under the trailer by the slide out. So the order in which to pull valves at the dump station is now: black tank, grey tank #2 by slide out, and grey tank #1.  We're still not sure if we have a third grey tank even though we do have 3 grey tank lights.  Just another mystery to be solved during another camping trip down the road!

Until next time!

Our Maiden Voyage - Part 3 Our Destination: Inks Lake State Park

Inks Lake State Park in Burnet, Texas was a natural first choice for our maiden voyage for 2 reasons.

1) We are very familiar with the area around the park. 

2) If things went south on our trip, my parents live around the corner (always have a Plan B). 

One thing we didn't consider when we made this initial plan is where there were RV friendly gas stations along our route.  We only found one gas station we felt comfortable pulling in to between College Station and Burnet.

The Exxon on 29 in Liberty Hill has a very large fueling area and you are able to pull around behind the store to gain access to a pump or exit.  There are 2 very large driveways and 2-3 large diesel/trucker pumps.  This is something we'll look into on our next trip! At one point, traveling through these small towns with no Loves in sight, we were considering dropping the trailer to refuel. Fortunately, we found the Exxon before it came to that.

Inks Lake  is nestled between Lake Buchanan and Lake LBJ on Park Rd. 4.  It is a constant level lake, meaning that even in drought the lake will have water.  Whether you prefer to fish, swim, jump off the rocks at the Devil's Watering Hole, hike, or geocache, there is plenty for a family to do here.  There is park store where you can rent kayaks and fishing equipment as well (no license needed provided you catch and release).

The park is divided into 2 different camping areas for primitive camping and "glamping" as I like to call it.  On the tent side of the park, there are sites with water and a limited number with electricity.  There are over 100 RV sites with 50 amp service but there are no full hook ups available in the park.  Shade is sparse with the mainly mesquite trees around the camp sites.  The park is in great condition and is an extremely popular camp ground.

There are 3 ways to approach the park but there's only one right way.  GPS can get a person in trouble in the hill country if they do not know the grade of the roads along their route.  I have seen many campers coming into Inks Lake who chose the wrong road and were not happy with themselves.  Here are the three routes:
1) Turn Left on to 281 from 29 towards Marble Falls. And then turn Right onto Park Rd. 4.

• Why you don't want to go that way: Park Rd. 4 at 281 is a beautiful stretch of Texas roadway, especially in the Spring when it comes to life with wildflowers. BUT, it is a roller coaster of a road with extremely steep grades and not everyone is comfortable with taking their foot off the gas/brake and flying down this road yelling "weeeee!!!"  Past Longhorn Cavern State Park (no camping there), you come down a side of a Texas mountain with a cliff overhang......on a curve.
  
               Photos really can't capture the experience.
  
  
  2) Continue on Hwy 29 and turn Left onto "Hoover Valley Road"/FM3059.

• Why you don't want to go that way: HVR is very deceiving at first. A beautiful wide, gently curving road guides you straight into a switch back, single lane road with a very steep grade and no shoulder.  The over hanging trees are a challenge for anything over 10 foot. 

3) Continue on Hwy 29 until you reach Park Rd. 4

• Why you WANT to take this route: This is considered "the long way" by locals but it is the safest way into the park.  Hwy 29 stays a very wide 2 lane highway with decent shoulders until you get to the turn off to Park Rd. 4.  Turn Left into the park and wind around the backside where you will see deer, a scenic overlook for the Devil's Water Hole, and if you're lucky, small water falls if the weather has been wet.  

When we checked in at the Park Headquarters, the clerk behind the desk did inquire which route we took.  She's apparently heard some colorful stories of routes 1 and 2.  The campsites are extremely affordable and even more affordable if you have a Texas State Park Pass.  Our site was $22/night but because we have a park pass we got 1 night for free and had our entrance fees waived. It was the cheapest 4 night vacation we've ever taken.

We picked the absolute worst conditions to take our first camping trip but it was excellent to flush out any issues we may have with our new travel trailer.  It was cold and dreary for the majority of the trip with the exception of Saturday.  

1. We were able to trouble shoot our furnace and successfully got it to operate w/o the A/C simultaneously blowing. We only used our furnace when the temps dropped below freezing to help warm the "basement" of the trailer so the tanks didn't freeze. We mainly used a space heater for warmth.
2. We haven't quite figured out how to prime our water lines with the water pump.  The first day/night we fill our fresh water tank because we didn't want the water hose from the park water to freeze.  Our pump continued run after we thought we had primed so we ended up turning it off in between uses to keep it from burning up.  Something to work on.
3. The oven has us a bit puzzled.  It would light fine but then shut off after a while.  I need to look into that.  I'm not sure if it reaches it's desired temp it shuts off or if there's an issue with the pilot light (you would think the pilot light would stay lit......)
4. Successful operation of the TV and radio even though we could only pick up one TV station.  KBAE is an awesome country radio station if that's your thing!
5. Tanks...Even though we were told we only had 1 grey tank, we discovered that we have at least 2.  We didn't discover how to successful dump both tanks until we got home though. :-/ That said, dumping of the tanks isn't that big of deal.  Don't be afraid to use your toilet! I'll do a post on the GEO method one day (it's awesome).
6. Inside/Outside thermometers are awesome to have in the winter! On a whim, I picked one up at Walmart during a beer run (don't ask how I ended up in home improvement when I went in for beer). I placed the outside thermometer sensor in the back storage compartment all the way to the back.  I was impressed that the storage area maintained it's temperature very well despite the freezing temperatures.  It never once dropped below freezing!
7. The bed is hard.  We bought a mattress pad on the 2nd night.
   

Despite the ugly weather, Dylan and I did get 3 hikes in.  Having gotten lost in 3 previous state parks (I find the trail maps to be less than helpful at times - Can anyone recommend a good hiking app?), we had excellent hikes at Inks.  While Inks is in the Hill Country, the park itself is relatively open and flat....ish.  You can almost always see or hear Park Rd. 4 so it was easier to keep our bearings.  The views prove to be excellent if you're willing to climb a little and the panoramic views can be breath taking.  I did just find this map on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website: Pecan Flats Trail it would have been helpful on Saturday.  We made it back to camp without a map each time but it still would have been nice to have. Do make sure you have a good rubber sole on your shoes as many of the trails go over granite rock which can be very slippery when wet.

Over all, we had an excellent trip.  We love our new camper and enjoyed the family time of playing Skip Bo, Cheater, and Life, watching movies, and eating great home cooked food in our vacation home on wheels. We already have Inks Lake booked in June as well as McKinney Falls in March. 

Until next time!

Our Maiden Voyage - Part 2 Setting Out On The Open Road! Please put your seat belt on and keep your tray in it's up right position...........

I have never wanted Christmas to be over so quickly.  Our new camper was sitting in our driveway.  It was packed and ready to roll.  Our first camping trip was scheduled at Inks Lake State Park in Burnet, Texas over the New Year weekend.  I had ZERO desire to mess with Christmas.  All I wanted was New Year's Day to arrive so we could test this baby out!  I wanted to sleep in it!

I couldn't wait to see the 10 day forecast.  My fingers were crossed for sunny 60 degree days that are fairly common during a Texas winter.  To my dismay, New Year's Day (our travel day) was forecasted to be rainy with the possibility of freezing rains and temperatures that barely got above freezing.  This was not a good forecast for driving on any Texas road! But 10 days out allows for a lot of change here in Texas and I kept my hopes up that the rain would move out on our big day.

Christmas came and went.  The forecast only continued to worsen.  NOOOOOO!!!

I knew we couldn't pull the trailer in those conditions.  Even though Rusty and I are both very experienced drivers and have both pulled bumper pull and gooseneck trailers the majority of our lives, the predicted conditions were not safe. Based on the forecast, we had 2 choices to make.

1)We could push our trip back a day.  

2)We could leave a day early.  

Canceling the trip was not an option! A quick meeting of the minds, a phone call to our neighbor who watches our farm, and a phone call to Texas Parks and Wildlife and we added a day to our reservation! We would be camping for 4 full days in our brand new trailer!

 I was STOKED (thank you ugly weather for an extra day)! There's always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

The night before, we finished loading our groceries for the weekend and finished packing for some very wet and cold weather.  Rusty hooked up the trailer and we were set! Going to bed was like waiting for Christmas morning! The next morning we were up and on the road by 7:30am with the hopes that traffic would be light.  The front was blowing in so the wind was blowing around 15mph hour.  It wasn't ideal but hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

Now, like I've said before, Rusty and I are used to pulling trailers.  I have personally driven through some really ugly storms where I was unable to get off of the road so had to continue moving forward.  These types of trips are never any kind of fun. It takes all of your energy to keep that rig between the lines. I am sure my truck has a few finger indentations due to conditions I couldn't get out of fast enough.  And now Rusty's truck has a few of it's own.

Don't be this guy.

Get these!

 A swaying trailer is dangerous so when your dealership or friend recommends that you get sway bars for your trailer, DO IT! Seriously, don't be cheap. It is never a bad idea to have more safety equipment on your trailer than you think you need.  It can only help prevent deaths in the event of an accident.  It was a no brainer that we would get sway bars. The trailer is at least a foot wider than the truck on both sides and at least 12 feet tall.  At 30 feet long, she catches wind no matter how aerodynamic she may be.

Heading north on Hwy 6 was our first taste of how badly she could dance.  18 wheelers pushed us around as they flew by. It was a bit a nerve wrecking to steal a side eye glance to the passenger mirror and see us cross the line.  Folks would pull up next to the trailer and just sit there causing Rusty to exhibit some restrained road rage behavior yelling at these people to either get behind or get in front for fear the trailer would swing.  All in all, the movement of the trailer wasn't that bad for the windy conditions we were in.  In our years of traveling, we have definitely seen other RVer's with far worse sway issues in far better weather conditions than us. 18 wheelers and cross winds were not our friends but braking and accelerating when needed kept us mostly between the lines....I mean seriously, we didn't die!

To be safe, we did swing into the dealership and had them check everything out to make sure there wasn't something we had forgotten (LOVE their customer service).  We had it set perfect so we just had to deal with the conditions until we got to our destination.

The swaying we were experiencing with our trailer made us notice other rigs on the road (and there were a lot!).  Most were similar in size to us with truck and trailer.  The 5th wheels definitely looked like they were having a smoother ride (larger trucks and trailers hooked to the bed are far safer than  bumper pulls but that's a lot of trailer).  However, we did see some folks that either didn't have far to go or were very much uninformed in trailer safety.  One "rig" in particular caused Rusty and I to both exclaim "Hell NO!" when we passed it.  A similar in length but heavier camper was being pulled by what looked to be a Ford Explorer.  I pray they didn't have far to go.

I'm no expert on TXDOT requirements but I'm pretty sure this ain't safe.

Over all, the trip was non-eventful and we made it to Inks Lake in good time (even with a refueling stop).  Normally, it takes 3.5 hours to get to Burnet but with the trailer we only added 30 minutes driving at 60-65mph.  I am very pleased with the time and am already booking several more camping trips this year! (husband is trying to rein me in so I don't burn ALL of his vacation time)


***Now, I didn't write this post to scare anyone off of RVing.  I wrote it to remind folks that just because you can pull your trailer down the road doesn't mean you can control it in bad weather or stop it.  We LOVE our trailer.  And our first trip was WINDY (headed home we had 20 mph winds to deal with). Had we been inexperienced drivers, I shudder to think of the mess we could have been in.  Make sure your trailer and truck MATCH.  Not color (though ours happens to), but in weight and the ability to safely control the trailer.  The bigger the tow vehicle the more control you'll have.  And don't forget to have an electric brake controller! This is just as important as sway bars as it allows you to engage your trailer brakes first while you slow to a stop.

Our first voyage (details on Inks Lake and our first camping trip to follow) was educational to say the least! We'll be looking into adding another sway bar on the driver's side to help with cross winds.  Had we had blue clear skys and no wind, I wouldn't have had anything to write about so I hope this post is informative and educational if you're looking at adding a travel trailer or 5th wheel to your life (I highly recommend it).

Our Maiden Voyage - Part 1 Finding Our Dream Camper

      The conversation started this past spring.  I was burnt out on traveling all over Texas on the quest of horse show points that honestly didn't really matter much in the big scheme of life.  My father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s the November before and it had finally sunk in that I needed to spend more time with family.  The final nail on the horse show coffin was struck when I was burdened with 7 horses that did not belong to me and the owner would not take responsibility for.  I had had it.  I was done. And I wanted to do something more with my family.  We were all suffering with my workaholic ways.

    After months of attempting to obtain payment for services, I finally sold the horses at auction, sold off the rest of my personally owned horses, sold the tack, and finally sold the trailer I had pulled for thousands of miles for almost 10 years.  It was a welcome change.  Rusty and I started to talk about what we would do with our sudden free time and we started discussing camping and how it would be so nice to go camping with our small family, extended family, and friends.  We researched different makes and models but continued to come back to the Forest River brand.  The look, floor plans, and price range continued to match our requirements.

   We knew exactly what we wanted.  A travel trailer 30' and under.  Our driveway is narrow so we didn't want anything too long.  It had to have 2 exits with one of them in the bathroom.  My thought on this was two fold.  1) It would keep the dirt and water out of the main camper when we needed the facilities.  2) Fire safety.  The more ways out, the better! It had to have double bunks, a dinette, and a sofa.  We wanted it to sleep 6-8 people so family and friends could join us on occasion. And it had to have 1 slide out, MAXIMUM.  Gadgets do not impress me.  I see it as something that can and will eventually break.  We wanted the room but not the additional hassle of dealing with the mechanics of moving parts.  Storage! Storage under the bed was a must! Some of us are slobs in this house (it isn't me). And a bonus if it had an entertainment center for those rainy camp days! 

    One rainy Saturday, we went out to “look”.  This is how it always happens. We’re “just looking” and somehow we always end up buying.  Our first stop was RV Source on the outskirts of Bryan on Hwy 6.  We looked through several models and found a floor plan that included all of our must haves: second entry through bathroom, dinette and sofa, storage under the bed, and an entertainment center.  A Palomino Solaire Ultra Lite 267BHSK! Our sales guy, Chris, even discounted the trailer further, threw in electric brakes, an electric jack, and the sway bars (get the sway bars.  No seriously, GET SWAY BARS)! 

Cautious, we went down the road to look at another dealership (living in a college town means a good selection of RVs due to all the tail gating and temporary residences from college kids).  The dealership-who-shall-not-be-mentioned was given great reviews by friends but unfortunately, we can not recommend them.  I expect customer service and was handed the master key to ALL of the trailers on their lot and told to come back if I had questions.  Their cat was the friendliest employee.  And while I like cats, she couldn't answer any questions. In comparison, Chris made it a point to show us how everything worked in each RV we looked at so we could make an informed decision....even though we were "just looking". That's a good salesman!

As per our MO, we went back to town for a mandatory Mexican lunch with margarita because that's just how we make all important life decisions.

Hmmm, queso, chips, cheese enchiladas, and a margarita!

After discussing our options and other dealerships in the region we could visit, we just couldn't see ourselves in anything but that trailer. The next day we returned to the RV Source and started the paper work on our newest adventure!

 The excitement was palpable in our family.  I think I spent $1000 in just buying things for our new vacation home.  Cookware, dishes (that ended up in the house), ICE MAKER (a MUST, how did we ever live without one before?!), towels, storage items, swiffer vacuum, DVDs, laundry baskets, lawn chairs, patio mats, awning lights, etc! It was more fun than buying stuff for the house while we waited on paper work to be finalized.  It took a bit longer due to the Thanksgiving holiday but that gave me plenty of time to make sure we were ready to load the trailer and go!

Finally it was the big day! The day we were going to pick up our new vacation home on wheels! When we drove into the lot, there she was, completely set up and ready to go! I squealed.  I haven't been this excited since our very first cruise! I couldn't wait to get in her!  She is PERFECT! I love it.  She is awesome! She is an escape from the chaos. I hope.................