The Beginning of Full-Time Experiance

Well this should be the start of daily postings.  I’m now fully retired and we have started the adventure of traveling the country.  We have no house to come back to and no storage unit – everything we own is in our Ram 2500 and the Flagstaff.  At this point I should introduce you to Navy Bear and Marine Bear.  These are our travel companions and my goal is to post a picture of them at every location.

Our first visit is at Charlestown Breachway.  We love the beach settings.  Charlestown Breechway is a marked parking lot.  While the sites are wide, it is flat and open.  Other than being right on the breechway it is not visually appealing.  The access road has numerous speed bumps so proceed at the posted speed limit – or less.  The campground has no services but provides clean Clivus composting toilets.  Since there are no utilities provided generators are a nice option My first impression however, was that this place is the large generator rally point.  Generator hours are 8 am to 8 pm and a large portion of the campers run generators the whole time.  The guy two sites down from me was actually at his generator at 7:55 pm monitoring his watch.

On the positive side we are close to the beach and the campground has a boat launch that is not directly on the ocean so kayaking is easily doable.  These are all features that Lori loves.  We all know the adage.  Happy wife – happy life!

Since this was our first day.  We decided to go out to dinner.  We first tried Johnny Angels Clam Shack but they were close (for a babysitting issue – really?).  So it was off to Cap'n Jacks Restaurant for a mediocre meal.  I had the clam cakes and chowder.  The chowder was thin and lacked creaminess.  The fritters had little flavor and it was like one big chunk of clam was in each ball.  Lori’s fish was good but the fries were flavorless and possibly refried – which is OK for beans – not for fries.

We also discovered we had some friends camping here from the Venture Post my American Legion sponsored.  Always nice to find a friendly – and familiar face or two.  We got to enjoy the evening sunset talking about going full-time.  They are also planning to full-time this winter so we shared tips, tactics, and philosophies over a few glasses of grape juice (the place is alcohol free).

Tomorrow we explore the Ninegret Pond with the kayaks.  Should be a good time!

Update through June

O.K.  Again, its been a while.  We completed our annual trip to Assateague Nation Seashore.  Always a very relaxing trip. Horses (actually pony size) roam the island freely.

 June was a four-weekend month, three state month.  We started out at Odetah campground in Bozrah, CT.  It's been many years since we've been there and it is greatly improved.  Odetah has become a high class resort - to the point the food court will deliver to your site if the order is more than $20!.  Odetah has definitely become a full-service destination.  We went from resort camping in CT to boondocking in MA.  Horseneck Beach is a nice quality campground that has a first rate staff.  If you get past the fact that it is dry camping.  Horseneck is located in Westport, MA. and is at the junction of Buzzards Bay and Rhode Island Sound

We love beach camping and boondocking is not a problem for us,

From Horseenck it was off to Promised Land State Park What a beautiful place!!!  Services are a little weird in that you get electric but no water at most locations, though there are several full service sites.  We kayaked the pond all of Saturday so we did not get to explore much but the place was so beautiful its on our "Return to" list.

The last stop for June was back to CT. and another resort!  Lone Oak in East Canaan is a beautiful campground that is well laid out and is full service.  This includes two pools, hot tub, and adult lounge!  Lone Oak is an annual adventure for us so this weekend we went to explore Rhinebeck Aerodrome.  Rhinebeck was not flying this weekend because of overcast conditions.  This gave us time to leisurely stroll the exhibits and rounds.  The place is amazing!  From the airfield to the static displays.  You can tell this is a functioning museum that is constantly working on the displays (aircraft).  I have to plug an unexpectedly good restaurant.  We were driving back to Lone Oak we decided to eat on the road rather than make supper when we got back.  We get to Pine Plains, NY and Tower Pizza pops up on the left side of the road.  I got the 'Jitterbug' (Hamburger on open faced garlic bread with gravy and fries!  This was amazing!  Lori got meatball pizza.  The small is 3" larger than the CT equivalent.  The sauces is great with just the right amount of garlic.  My preference would have been for just a touch more generous hand on the toppings but it was delicious>

Keep tuned, we only have two trips in July and I am hoping to report on each one separately.

The first big trip - the second leg, getting to our destination

On Sunday we make a quick English muffin and try to hook up the Flagstaff before the airshow crowd arrives.  Willow Pond is a small campground and it seemed easier to pull out of my site and back to the dump station. To manage the stress we also grab coffees from the on base Dunkin Donuts.  The trip, while at a slower pace than usual, went smoothly.  It was race day in at Dover International Speedway (why is it “international”?) but with a slight rain it kept the traffic moving.  However, there was a much more serious crowd at Medding Seafood. Both Lori and I had creamy crab soup, as is our ‘tradition’.  From there the trip is a joy – flat, fast and 50ish!  Since we were moving at a slower pace than usual the entrance gate was unmanned.  I always look forward to the landmark in the picture – I know I’m really close to http://www.nps.gov/asis.  They charge a day use fee or a $25/week fee and that had to be collected at the office on check-in.  Don’t forget, the office staff is not used to collecting the fee and the ranger who checked us in forgot to ask.  Fortunately, I remembered and asked to pay the fee.  If not you just get held up at the gate the next time you enter the park.

The first big trip - the first leg

Well I haven’t been as faithful to this as I thought I would be. I’m still working 40+ per week so that’s my excuse. We are on our first big adventure with the new trailer.  We spent two days living in our driveway while we cleaned out the mobile home so the daughter could move into it.  Once that was complete we headed to the Mohegan Sun RV lot for a week.  This was a really good test of tank capacity!  The Flagstaff manages to hold a full-week’s worth of black and grey, thanks to dual 45 gal grey water tanks.  After the week was over we were at 1/3 capacity in the fresh water tank and 2/3 full in all three holding tanks.  It was then off to our stop at Joint Base Dix/McQuire/Lakehurst.  This turned in to quite an adventure.  My new Rand McNally GPS set up for RV use routed me through downtown NYC – literally Broadway to West 179^th Street.  Lesson learned – check the routes turn-by-turn before departing.  Lori did an excellent job navigating! My 2500 Ram with crew cab and 8-foot bed, towing a 30 foot RV made it through gridlock traffic without incident!  When we stopped to stretch at the Thomas Edison service area on the New Jersey Turnpike I noticed one of my Andersen weight distribution chains had failed and the remainder of the chain had been dragging on the roadway. So now I’m towing with no weight distribution and no sway control!!  When we get to Trenton, NJ the roads leading to Fort Dix were blocked off for an air show!  We had to stop and request access through one of the road blocks.  Finally on base, we go to Outdoor Recreation to find the office closed for the weekend due to the airshow!  Thankfully we have been here before and know our way around fairly well. So we head to Willow Pond campsites hoping we can identify ours!  It was easy Willow Pond is a small camp area right next to the flighline.  On airshow day there was only one spot open – must be ours!  After backing into the site we attempt to unhook and the electric tongue jack won’t work. It has power but will not lower.  Break out the manual tool and it is still jammed.  Apparently there is a little mark in the shaft that says “Do not raise farther that this”.  Ooops, who knew?  We had to use the truck jack to raise the trailer tongue to separate from the Ram.  Next we open the door to get slides out and notice the contents of the pantry (for us the closet on the left as you enter the rig) are deposited across the floor.  We get that cleaned up, get the slides out and water and electricity hooked up and it is now time to eat – but who wants to cook!  We decide we’ll head to Burger King on base only to find it closed so it was off to the Base Exchange – they have an Arby’s!!!  We get there and Arby’s is also closed – guys, we’re holding an airshow!  Everyone is on base!!! Fortunately there was a Charleys Philly Cheesesteak.  Lori had a Philly and I went with the Ultimate Fries!  Well that is the first leg.  Stay tuned for the details on the rest of the trip.

We're now full-time

Well, we are officially full-time in the RV.  We transferred the mobile home to my daughter on Friday.  While preparing the ‘house’ for her to take over we spent a couple of nights in the Flagstaff.  Now she has the house and we a relinquished to the trailer.  Since we are headed to our favorite place – Assateague Island – for a week vacation soon we decided to spend the night at Ross Hill Campground.  This will give us a chance to top off the fresh water and head to Mohegan Sun with empty waste tanks.  This will be a nice capacity check before heading to Assateague.

The Break-in runs (or here comes the snow)

    Things have been busy trying to get ride of the house (giving it to the daughter), downsizing the estate to fit into the new rig, and trying to get retirement setup so this post combines our first two trips in the Flagstaff. We started with a planned weekend to Normandy Farms in Foxboro, MA for their CT weekend.  Since Camping World (Berkley, MA) is on the way there (sort of) we decided to make it a long weekend and spend Thursday night at my oldest son's (Jim) house and hang with the grandkids  We dry-camped in his driveway for our very first night in the new rig.  Being very early April the heat ran all night.  When I got up at 6:30 (ish) am I had 1/3 battery capacity remaining.  By 7:30, with the sun coming up the battery was already up to 2/3 capacity - Solar panel CHECK!
   Acushnet, MA is a very quaint town for an early morning walk.  I always bring an insulated mug of coffee with me when I walk.  Just slide it through a belt loop when it empties.  After getting kind of lost (I am slightly familiar with the town) I came out at an intersection with a Dunkin Donuts.  I decided I need another cup and got one for the Mrs..  Jim made a nice breakfast sandwich for both Lori and I and then we were off to Camping world.
    One would think that a store named "Camping World" would be able to handle people who show up to shop and have their campers in tow.   Not necessarily the way life is though!  Berkley had no parking for a pickup/trailer combination.  However, the staff was very accommodating and helped us back in to the area where they sell trailers from.  We got many items for the new trailer including an RV GPS and a surge protector for hooking up to the parks electrical system.  Since we are going to full-time in August and travel to many different types of facilities the surge protector seemed like a good investment.

    Heading from Camping World  to Normandy Farms we hit a winter storm.  The snow came down hard and eventually started to accumulate in the breakdown lanes.  We made it to Normandy Farms without incident and were very efficiently checked in.  Normandy Farms is a very high-end campground and lives to that standard.  The entire staff is professional and friendly, from the pool staff to the gate personnel.  Lori and I got to enjoy the pool/sauna/hot tub area on Friday evening.  Made for a very relaxing time seeing the drive in the snow was white-knuckle for me.
    We go to check out all the systems in the Flagstaff on Friday and early Saturday.  I noticed that the water heater did not work on AC but it did work on propane.  A quick check of the owners manual alerted me to a switch that is used when draining the tank for winterizing.  The switch was easy to find and corrected the issue. The rest of Saturday we spent with friends from the Fold and Go camping group.  We checked out the different snowmen that were built at sites throughout the campground and actually got to see a "Tiny House".  Normandy Farms was unique because I did not see one 'park model' home in the entire place!

   Our second weekend in the rig was to the other end of MA. near Sturbridge Village.  For years we have hit Sunsetview Farm in Monson on their opening weekend.  This is a very rural campground so it is quiet.

Unlike Normandy Farms most activities at Sunsetview are outdoors so the pool is not open when we are there and they have not yet staffed the kitchen.  However, the staff here is very nice and we use this as the first campout of the season for the Fold and Go group. 

The new rig

    Well, we picked up the new rig on Saturday.  We settled on the Flagstaff 26FKSBD.  It's about a 26 foot box with a front kitchen and rear bedroom.  There is a floor-to-ceiling slide-out in the living room which has the sofa bed and the dinette (also convert to a bed).  There is a partial slide-out in the bedroom.  Both slides are driver side slides. The people at Custom Camper in Southington, CT (http://customcamperinc.com/) were incredible to work with.  We told them the kind of camping we do - about 30% dry camping for us - and they helped us setup the rig.  We have two 6-volt batteries that will give us longer life on a single charge.  We have a 150W solar panel mounted to the roof.  With these additions plus my 40 gallon portable water bladder and a 25 gallon tote we can easily live "off the grid".
    After years of towing popup campers towing a travel trailer is an experience. My previous camper was the Coleman Niagara weighing 4400 lbs.  The Flagstaff is at 6600 lbs dry so neither is a burden for my Ram 2500.   The real 'shock' was looking in the rear view mirror and not being able to see what is behind me over the top of the popup.
    We got the Anderson weight distribution / sway control hitch.  I don't know if it was this new, high-tech hitch or the setup of the trailer but it tracked true right behind the Ram
   We spent Sunday packing up the trailer.  Our fear was that there would not be enough storage to handle he rig packed to full-time.  The clothes storage may still be limited but there are plenty of pass-throughs to storage bins where we can pack the off season clothes in totes and store them in the pass-throughs.
     We have 13 nights of camping (9 of them boondocking) before we live in the trailer full-time and then we'll have 3 months local to work out the kinks before hitting the road in September.  Our first trip will be to Normandy Farms (http://www.normandyfarms.com/) in Foxboro and the following weekend we are at Sunset View Farms (https://sunsetview.com/) is Monson, MA.  Both are a little over an hour of towing.  Then in early May it will be off to Assateague Island Nation Seashore (https://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm) for 9 days of boondocking at the best place (so far) to stay at. We split the trip to Assateague by staying at Ft Dix (http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/new-jersey/willow-pond-camp) on the way down and Naval Weapons Station Earle (http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/new-jersey/earle-rv-park) on the way back.
    Once back from Earle wwe will have to have a semi-permanent place to stay (we still have about 3 weekends a month booked) so we will definitely have a good assessment on the rig before we hit the road big-time!