Not Potty Training

The toilet in my Flagstaff is an all plastic Domestic brand toilet.  What am I, potty training?  Potty training toddlers get plastic toilets.  I understand this is a weight saving measure but the plastic toilet did not stand up to 180 lbs of stud-muffin!  The upper bowl on my Domestic is a two-part assembly and they now stay separated.  So to get this replaced we went to the nearest Flagstaff dealer, which for us is Beckley’s Camping Center in Thurmont, MD – about 35 minutes away.  During our indoctrination to Greenbrier I mentioned to Ranger Joe that my rig might disappear in the night and not be there the next day.  I let him know not to get excited – we didn’t desert him – we are just getting a toilet replaced.  He let us know that Beckleys provides onsite RV repair – making Beckleys even more favorable.  So after completing our morning tasks we plug Beckleys into the GPS and begin our journey.  On the way we see a sign for covered bridges and figure we can get in a couple of photo opportunities along the way.  The first covered bridge we find is the Loys Station Covered Bridge in Rocky Ridge.  

This bridge sits at a site on the Civil War Trail at a point where Union forces acted to keep JEB Stewart’s troops from reinforcing R. E. Lee’s troops following the Battle at Gettysburg.  There is a nice park on one end of the bridge so the kids will have something to do while you check out the bridge. From here we hit the Utica Covered bridge. Unfortunately there is no place to park close to the Utica Bridge so you don’t get to tourist around it much

Once I get to Beckleys I tell them I would like to replace my toilet under warranty but would like to upgrade to a ceramic model.  Everyone laughed because Flagstaff warranty will replace with a like item but not upgrade so if I want they will charge me full price for the upgrade AND hand me a new plastic toilet under the warranty?  Really, Flagstaff, we need to get better at customer service.  I realize that going to plastic toilets is one reason trailers of this size travel trailer went from 11,000 lbs to 8,000 lbs in one year but when customers want to upgrade because you give us crap (no pun intended) you should allow that.  Anyway my service advisor, Eric Harvey, was very helpful and is arranging for an onsite replacement.

From Beckleys it was off to Gambrill State Park. One of our duties as host campers is to advise guests on area attractions, including the other parks in the South Mountain Recreation and adjacent areas .  The highlight of Gambrill is a winding road to a day-use area with three stone scenic overlooks giving you a 180-degree view of the Frederick and Middletown Valleys. 

Next it was time to replenish fruits and veggies so we hit the Boonsboro Farmers Market in Shafer Park.  There are only four vendors there but they all deal in farm products, including meats.