Rock Cut State Park

We completed out annual shake-down trip to Rock Cut State Park outside of Rockford, IL. We are still waiting for the tow bar to arrive so I drove the car behind our camper. This way we would have easy local transportation. I was surprised that the loop was not fully occupied for the weekend, to early yet? 

Our site was #432 which is well maintained. My only beef was the men's bathroom and how disgusting the toilet. Do people just 'dump' all over? Geez. I am finding the outhouses a better option. 

On Saturday we had lunch with my daughter and grandsons. The restaurant is located on the Rock River. Catching up after a long year of Covid was wonderful at an outdoor table. We then visited the marina where she parks her new motor boat. She is a new boater and she and the boys are having a ball.

My friends Scott and Lynne came down and we spent time at Traxler Park in Janesville along the river. Scott came back later to our site for a nice evening of catching-up.

All in all, a very nice weekend. Shake down for 2021 went well along with family, friends and Sir George operated tip top.  Our next trip is in Illinois to Morrison-Rockwood State Park, a new state park for us. 

A new season starts, more camping to follow!

Mechanical Update II

Tail lights are replaced and refrigerator is working. We are packing Sir George and heading to Rock Cut State Park for our shake down trip! 

 Where for 2021 (or places reserved so far)

Rock Cut State Park, IL

Morrison-Rockwood State Park, IL

KOA Milton, WI

Governor's RV Park Campground, ND

Red Tail Campground, ND

Rock Mountain RV Park and Cabins, MT

Cedar Ridge RV Park, WY

More to follow!

Mechanical Update

 Our 2021 maiden voyage is scheduled to our usual 'first trip of the season' to Rock Cut State Park in two days. We are dealing with some mechanical issues and timing.

First, the CRV was outfitted with the tow bar electrical system. We are still waiting for the tow bar itself to arrive. For our first trip I will drive the car and my wife the camper to Rock Cut. It is only an hour up the road and we are planning to see the grandkids and my daughter after many months. Also my best friend should be around. So we need the car for those travels.

The replacements for the rear tail light assemblies are in and being installed today. Our refrigerator stopped working earlier this week. After lots of back an forth on the Thor forums, our camper place found a circuit board not working and hopefully replacing that in time for this weekend's trip. If not we can just use a cooler. Sigh.....

Who?

 

John and Michelle

Water inTailights

We store our camper in our driveway over the winter months with a full cover. When uncovering Sir George for 2021 we discovered water inside the taillights. In addition, some of the break, LED lights were not functioning. 

We found a local shop, Ehrhardt's Trailer Sales who provide sales and services for RV's. located in Des Plaines, IL. We dropped the camper off on Saturday and dropped off the keys. Hopefully we have found a good shop for any future repairs or additions in the future. Review to follow.

Closer and Closer

With warmer weather we are becoming excited about the upcoming camping season. Just think, next month is our first trip! Understanding our focus has moved from hiking (but not excluding short hikes) to more RV'ing, I have found some fun things to keep up with it all. 

RV Lifestyle is a great blog about RV life run by Mike and Jennifer Wendland. They cover every facet of RV'ing from campers to gear to great places to visit. They also do a weekly podcast and have a You Tube channel. Great stuff and very useful!

"RVTrip Wizard"is the most comprehensive tool for planning RV-safe routes. You can use RV Trip Wizard to map out a trip, research campgrounds and overnight stops along the way, track your expenses, and locate points of interest in the areas you're visiting." 

This is a pay service but seems well worth the price. Our big trip this year is to Yellowstone NP and this service was great in routing and finding campgrounds. It seems most campgrounds have further information with photos and reviews. I entered in my camper's dimensions and the software will keep us from low bridges, etc.

RV Magazine: I have no opinion yet as the first one has not arrived for a new subscription. I will provide an update when it does.