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I remember as a kid trying to stow
away in my visiting grandparents
car to get away. Could this be the same
sort of thing? |
Will our new camper hold up to expectations? Find out in our 14 day venture through 6 states.
Well after two years without a vacation, one finally caught up to me. Laura and I brought home a new pop up toy hauler which Fleetwood calls a Scorpion. With help from dad we modified it slightly and built a ramp so we could load the wing on to it. The whole thing fully loaded weighs in at about 3,000 lbs which is just about the right size for our Tundra. Laura can't deal with long road trips on the bike so we thought this would be a nice middle ground.
On an impulse we decided that we would head out on Friday instead of Saturday morning. Of course, I had to work Friday so when I got home we loaded everything up and set out to get the wing loaded (which we keep across the street in a much nicer garage).
Laura and I had discussed a weekend campout in our new trailer to work out some of the bugs before this trip but due to a recent death in the family and how fast the date came up, there just wan't time. I pulled the rig up around the corner where it would be flat. I figured that would be easier in loading up the wing.
Once in the garage the bike didn't want to start. This is unusual but she would not start. With Laura waiting up the hill for me to return it would not be good to return and tell her we couldn't go. I let it sit a moment and tried again and she kicked right off. For some reason or another I grabbed my battery tender and threw it into the trunk. The bike was loaded, the GPS was set and we headed off to get gas. Once the tank will filled we pulled out of Council Bluffs and headed South on I-29.
Right before sunset we pulled off into the KOA in Rockport Missouri. The office was closed but we were informed that there was one spot open in slot 45. We pulled into our specified slot and set up camp. Setting up camp didn't take long and it all started with the unloading of the bike process. I parked the bike off to the side and cranked open the living quarters while Laura sat in the warm truck.
I'm not sure why but it was very cold and very windy. Once camp was set up I invited Laura in and we turned on the heat. I was impressed at how well the heater works in this camper. In just a few short moments it was nice and toasty in there. We checked out the bathrooms and called it a night.
About 1:30 AM we both woke up to what sounded like a very loud cricket in our camper. I wasn't really sure what the noise was but it was soon after that we noticed that it was very quiet and very rapidly getting cooler in bed. Eventually, I got up and turned on the light to see what the problem was. I noticed that the light was very dim and eventually concluded that the furnance was running off the battery and not the electrical connection we paid for and also that the battery was done for the night. Laura and I slept very snuggly Friday night as the temps dropped down to the upper 30's. I would make a note to check on this tomorrow. Luckily for us we would be leaving right away in the morning and the drive down should recharge the battery.
TO BE CONTINUED...