Tag Archives: Ricker Pond State Park

Honda Generator is Handy

For three years, we have tried to use a solar panel to charge our Airstream’s battery with mixed results. There’s too much shade and too many trees here in New England, especially in Vermont state parks where there are no hookups, period. So I bought a Honda 2000i and tested it out here at home and then took it with us to Ricker Pond SP last Sunday. It worked like a charm – it’s easy to see why they are so popular.

We found it to be quiet while just charging the battery and a liitle noisier when making coffee. Toasting bread was louder but short-lived. I baked some Johnnycake in our small toaster oven and the noise was annoying – although not to others since we had no nearby neighbors. The bread was good, though. We’d only use the heavier demand tasks when all by ourselves, or when our neighbors’ generator is loud.

At about 50 pounds, it’s easy to load in the truck. We know that we can’t run A/C without another linked unit but we rarely have used air conditioning in our travels. The initial reaction is very positive- probably should have done it before. It is nice not to have to worry about battery drain. Now if I can just keep ethanol from screwing it up. Happy Trails.

 

Shakedown – Day 1

As I wrote in the last post, I hitched up the Airstream last night and we began to load. This morning, when I brought some more items out to the refrigerator, I found that the inside was room temperature. “One more glitch, and a serious one,” I thought. We were getting ready for church, the temps were heading to 80, and for a few minutes, I thought that the trip was not going to happen. But then I had a revelation – the tow hitch was lower and I had rolled off the levelers, so the rig was far from level. And reefers don’t work when the are not level.

So, I pulled down the driveway and then backed the rig, in four-wheel-drive up the winding driveway, missing the big ledge on one side and the ditch in the other, ending on the one level spot we have. I brought out some freezer packs to protect the food we’d just loaded, and went off to church. To cut to the chase – it was working fine when we got home.

After a rest, we finished loading and headed out, worrying about dark storm clouds to our west. It was an easy trip until it wasn’t. With about ten minutes to go, a deluge hit. I was on a snake path of a highway, VT 232, fighting to see the road and no pulloffs to stop at when we rounded a corner and encountered two trees across the road. Here’s what we saw through the window wipers:

You can’t see the intensity of the downpour but believe me, it was raining hard when I ran out in shorts and flip-flops to tug on these.  Two of us pulled, slipped, fell, but moved the darn things.

During a brief lull, I ran out and tried to move the trees with no luck – getting drenched in the process. Three or four cars showed up heading toward us and finally, one guy got out and started tugging. I joined him and we got both trees moved to the edge of the road. I was soaked and covered with pitch and bark but we were on our way – with one more delay for downed trees.

Ricker State Park is set up for lean-to and tent camping with onlybabout five RV sites. And they are tough to negotiate. I had reserved the one that looked the biggest and most remote, but when we got to it, we had several trucks sort of in the way and a real tough back-in. Plus it was raining just enough to make Mary’s job of helping challenging.

So, I got smart. I asked our neighbors, “Any of you good at backing up trailers?” They allowed how Kevin was a pro at it and sure enough he was. With Joe giving directions, he turned that rig around, backed it carefully down the narrow access, and was done in five minutes. I’m not sure I might not be still at it. Turns out that Kevin drives big trailer trucks for a living.

The rain has pretty much stopped and the warblers are singing as night falls. There goes an Ovenbird “disturbing” the silence. Hope to get the boats on the water tomorrow – it looks like a pretty pond. Glad we are here.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Shakedown Cruise Tomorrow

It’s been 14 months since we have used the Airstream so it’s no wonder that I have been dealing with glitch after glitch with the rig and our gear.  I got the furniture and the systems running and about everything inside cleaned up.  There was a lot of grime from the polishing of the aluminum and the floor was filthy from all the traveling in and out with work boots.

It just takes patience.  I found some gas pipes hanging a little loose underneath, and then noticed a nut missing off a bolt holding a pad on to its leg.

When I got our gear ready, my bike was in need of a little TLC and lubrication.  The tires were low and when I found my good bike pump, the hole had been plugged with a mud dauber — no big deal.  The fancy security cable for the kayaks had apparently been run over at some point – so kiss that baby goodbye.

I got hitched up this evening and tested the lights again (we just did it several weeks ago) and one turn signal was dead.  I changed the bulb — same thing.  A little scraping of the contacts got it going fine.

So, we will attend church tomorrow — it is the last Sunday this Spring for formal choir — and finish heading out mid-day tomorrow.  We have reservations at Ricker Pond State Park — a very small park with just a few RV sites — about an hour and a half away in Groton.  Thunderstorms are predicted so it may be an interesting journey — but we have plenty of time and no schedule.  It will be nice to get the boats out and do some paddling although I did get out yesterday for some birding by kayak.

There’s definitely no wifi and likely no 4G signal but we’ll survive.  Mary has downloaded two new books for her Kindle and I am bringing a thick book that I picked up at the library.  A real book – what a concept.  We’ll let you know how we did when we return next week.

Just a about ready to go.  Can you see the two or three items not ready for the road?  (The roof vents are open, the step is down, and the radio antenna, which you can barely see, needs to be stowed.)

Nearly Ready to Go

For the last several weeks, when it was not freezing or 8o degrees outside, I’ve been working away, polishing the inside of the trailer.  (Last Fall, I had taken off the grimy “mouse fur” lining the walls and fried a few brain cells getting the glue off the walls.) The polishing is just hard grimy work which requires removing the oxidation and rust with one compound, and then finishing up with another.  It looks pretty good.

The polished walls, with terrible reflections from outside, before I started re-installing beds and cabinets.

I had carefully marked most of the stuff I had removed and stored down cellar, putting the screws in small plastic bags and taping them to the item.  It worked pretty well although the rails to hold the curtains were a challenge.  I had multiple sets of holes in the walls but with Mary’s help holding the ends, and some retries, we got them in place.

Here is a similar shot after the bed, the cabinet, and the infamous curtain railing were installed.  Getting there.

Installing the curtains is a trick, especially with bifocals.  You have to thread little plastic holders into a rail while hunched over and working more by feel.  They are installed, the floor is cleaned up, and I only have Mary’s side to finish and the back end of the trailer is ready.

My side is about ready to go with mattress in place.  All it needs is the dog sleeping on it.

I got the rig de-winterized with fresh water on board — only one problem so far with a spray hose in the sink which sprays me instead of the sink.  I tested out the water heater and finally got the refrigerator going on gas.

Our game plan is to finish up the repairs this week and take a short trip over to Ricker Pond State Park next week for a few days of shakedown.  Feels good to get it this far.