First trip report: we did it! - part 2

We slept so well that first night!

It was pitch dark at the campground, which is something we are not used to, living in a city! I might have woken up once or twice at the sound of the security patrol car driving by.

Time to test our systems

We woke up to a cold Buddha, since the temperatures dropped during the night to approximately 5C! Time to test the furnace. Youppi we have heat :)  I feel bad for the people who are sleeping in tents... then again, I'm quite content with glamping at the moment! Coffee and breakfast hit the spot and we are ready to carry on with our day.

All systems are working well. We have not hooked up to our sewer yet. Quite frankly, a sewer hose snaking around the ground is not appealing to me and also, it prevents tripping over it for some clumsy folks!

Water heater works well, so do the shower, sinks, etc. Although towards the last part of our stay, we discovered that we have a small leak at the hot water line in the bathroom. We tightened it by hand but still ongoing. At the next trip, one of us (likely Chantal, since she's more flexible and smaller) will have to slide under and check if the gasket is well placed. I might as well use some good old teflon tape on the threads too.

If that does not work, it'll be up to our dealer to deal with it, along a few things that got overlooked at the pre-delivery inspection (which was not done, in my honest opinion) and will be covered under warranty. Not using the hot water in the bathroom is not a big deal. We'll survive for a couple of outings, I am sure. ;)


Is it time to leave already?

Come Monday morning, we are totally relaxed into our spot and new lifestyle. Then comes the local hydro crew, right at our site, to replace a few posts. Seriously? Of all the posts in that big campground, they had to replace the ones around us?

Nevertheless, we got breakfast done, went for a bike ride (seems it'll be a daily event for us, which is awesome!) and started to think about dumping our tanks and packing up our items. Guess who was dragging their feet, eh? Yes, we were not happy campers at the prospect of leaving this place.

A campground rep came over to talk to us, and even offered us a couple of extra nights free of charge for the trouble caused by the hydro work being done. Oh man... yes we'd love to, but no thank you. :(
Because the work around us was in full swing, including digging a few trenches, they moved our fifth wheel to a secure road that allowed us to hitch and go easily.

I cannot thank enough the staff at the Campers Cove campground - everyone was great to talk to, helpful and friendly. From the ladies at the front office, to the workers who helped us and to the campground owners who paid a visit and wanted to know how we heard about them.

Tanks emptied (and we discovered we have a leaky grey water tank valve), it was time to hitch and depart. An uneventful ride home, followed by a rough back into storage (gosh hope we'll get better at this!), concluded our first adventure into the world of RV'ing.

Till next year, Point Pelee!

First trip report: we did it! - part 1

What a first day this was!

Demo and hitch install

We were up early to finish packing the truck (how is it that we own so much stuff!?!). It was a pleasant drive out of town (it is always pleasant to drive out of town!) to get to our RV dealer for the fifth wheel "demo" and hitch installation. That was a 3 hour process which we had planned for, so to make it out of there at lunch time was expected. When I say "demo", yeah we had a tour of the unit and learned the basic stuff. However there was a lot of unexplained things that, in retrospect, doesn't impress us at all. Thanks to the online channels I follow on You Tube, I had learned quite a bit already (without the practice part). We learned a few things with the demo guy, but not impressed. Anyhoo...

Off we go!

I drove our Lucky Buddha out of the RV dealer lot - a privilege that was granted to me as, I suppose, a reward for finding our unit and all the research I put him through!!!

It was an easy drive to Wheatley ON. We stopped halfway there so we could 1) have lunch and 2) switch drivers. We had chosen a campground outside of Point Pelee that looked nice and well appointed for newbies. Campers Cove is a nice campground that has helpful staff and very pleasant seasonal people. We would go there again!

It didn't go without a hitch (pun intended)

We had a few unhitching problems, thanks to unleveled grounds. We also learned that "bumping the pin" helped disengage the hitch lever. Next was de-winterizing our unit (again, why wasn't this done at the RV dealer?). After a bit of head scratching to figure out the right valves' configuration for the water heater, we had it done! The water pump worked well, so did the water heater, so we switched it to city water since we had full hookups, only to realize there was no water coming through our plumbing! Not a big deal, we figured out soon after that we had forgotten to turn the valve back on at the pedestal. Oops. ;)

Settling in, finally!

By then, it was time for Rob to start a campfire. He loves doing that! We opened up a small bottle of bubbly we had brought for the occasion. I then proceeded to cook a pizza in our RV oven and devoured it quickly with 2 beers around the fire. We slept well that evening!

More to come.

The final countdown to new beginnings

This is it!

We are a day away from picking up our brand new fifth wheel, that has been sitting in the cold in a lot at the RV dealer, waiting for our arrival. It sucks to pay for something you can't benefit from!! Our appointment for the demo is confirmed and the excitement has reached peak time.

(on that note, I cannot imagine how I'll feel tomorrow morning!)

This girl here is mega excited and nervous. It's a great feeling!!!