Short Season Plans

                                 

The world is sure changing and impacted our camping for this year. Being outside feels like a safer way to vacation this year and easier to stay socially distanced.  We had one trip early in the year to a private campground in Wisconsin to visit friends.

Due to child care issues, we had to delay even scheduling any trips. That said, we are again staying at some private campgrounds.

Our next trip is later this month to Rock Cut State Park in northern Illinois. Usually our first trip of each camping season is at Rock Cut. It is close to home and used to shake things out with the camper and equipment for the season.

Another issue is towing the car behind the camper. For out first trip our I, again, drove the car over the dolly. Only $600 to fix that situation. Now I am to nervous and hopefully we can get a stop piece put on the dolly, yet that does not look possible for our September trip.

We are returning to one of our favorite areas in September along the North Shore of Lake Superior. At this late date, we were unable to find any sites at any State Parks between Duluth and Grand Marais. So for us, adventure camping is at private campgrounds. Our first few days will be in Two Harbors, MN and the remainder in Grand Marais.

  Two Harbors

                                                      Grand Marais       

Our plan is rest and relaxation plus spend some time on the Superior Hiking Trail doing day hiking. To overcome the car situation, we are renting a car in Duluth so we can putz around without moving the camper except for set-up and tear down at each campsite. 

We are looking forward to a relaxing and fun vacation up north!

2020 is Here

Sir George sits in the driveway still covered. We just went inside him for the first time this year to find some batteries. Sadly, we are unable to book camping sites due to the virus. Our big trip for the year was to visit my sister in Memphis then head east and revisit Nashville. Of course we hoped to start the year at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL. We usually make this our first camping so to work out any bugs and kinks with our equipment.

Our other plans were for mostly in Wisconsin. The camping was designed around events or activities. Some of those include Waukesha Blues Fest, East Troy Railroad Museum and a friend's Solstice celebration. For each of these we can camp on private property and so no worries about reservations.




We were hoping to get up to Door County if possible, but with the world up in the air, we shall see. After a month of social distancing I am so ready to be in the woods and out in nature. We will keep you posted.

What's up for 2020?

We hope to get back to hiking next year. After a bad sprain day hiking on the Appalachian Trail we decided overnight hiking is not going to happen for us. We bought good day packs, put items from our overnight gear in them and are ready to go. We used them a couple of times but Michelle and I need to get out there and hike.The kinks are worked out with our new camper (from 2018) and while hanging out at the campsite is fun, hiking is needed. More details as we work them out.

Camping Season 2019

This year was our first full year with our Thor Freedom Elite 24E. We had issues with starting and the radio working properly.

First the Sir George would not start even after turning the engine off for a few minutes. We had to call service several times to start in our own driveway. We wrongly believed the problem was due to the radio. The screen would faded up and down even when the camper was off. The radio draining the battery.

The radio would only receive stations that we were right on top or close to the transmitter. Living in Chicago the radio should easily received dozens of stations. So Camping World replaced the radio after much fuss with them. We got it back and they said all fixed. As we drove away we found the radio only received about five stations, back we went. They said it was because Camping World was in a small valley - yeah right.  They finally decided to change out the antenna on top of the vehicle.Camping World put on a  TV antenna and it finally works as it should.

Now why was the battery draining? Camping World kept it over and in the morning the battery was drained. So off to Mercedes Benz in Hoffman Estates, IL. They quickly determined the battery had bad cells and replaced it under warranty. Sir George has started ever since.

This year we started on Memorial Day with our usual shakedown trip to Rock Cut State Park not many miles away. In June we stayed at Gov. Dodge State Park in Dodgeville, WI. We were able to visit with our friend Scott and Lynn.

In July we headed to Kansas City and stayed West Bend State Park. My brother-in-law and his wife flew in. We did the tourist thing in Kansas City and attended a Royal's game which they actually won!

July also found us at Baraboo Hills Campground. My daughter's family and friends spend time there each summer. Many have permanent sites, there is a pool and along with many activities. Not our usual style of camping but always fun with family and friends.

Augusts found us in northern Wisconsin on Madeline Island sitting up camp Big Bay State Park. We towed our Honda Accord. The ferry trip to the island was interesting for how all the cars, campers and such we put on the ferry.

Our friends Scott and Lynn visited us here also. Good friends and good times. I did get seasick doing a tour of the Apostle Islands in a small, skiff type boat. Exploring Bayfield was fun, quirky shops and such.

We are getting more familiar with Sir George. This year we decided to store him in our driveway. He is all winterized and has a giant tarp protecting him from winter

More adventures in 2020!

Name Change

               

Since our hiking dreams remain just that, we decided to change the name of the blog to Camping in Nature. Since we have purchased a class C camper, camping is more prevalent than hiking. We still will hike as you can see when I get the post up about our Arkansas/Missouri Trip.

First Camping Trip with Sir George

We took our first trip with Sir George in May on my birthday. We spent the weekend at Rock Cut State Park. We did not have the tow dolly and just took the camper. The first surprise was my daughter and her family pulled into the campsite across from us. I had no idea. Then in the evening we had a 'birthday' dinner and my brother-in-law and his wife arrived along with my best friend and his wife. Michelle pulled off a wonderful surprise - THANKS!

The weather was very hot and the power in the campground went off several times. We lived through and enjoyed our friends and family along with learning about our new camper!

Sir George

Sir George:

We upgraded from our pull-behind camper named George to a Class C named Sir George.

Michelle and I took delivery and are ready to drive away for the first time. We opted for a tow dolly so we can bring our car along. The purchasing experience was daunting, from the "car salesman" part to parts and accessories. After getting Sir George home we found the refrigerator did not work, so back to the dealer. I won't go into all the trials and tribulations but we will be off in Sir George for new adventures.