Maiden Voyage For #1003

Greetings All! Thought I'd give a summary of our maiden voyage:

~5000 total miles
~2900 miles with the new trailer
2+ weeks on the road

My wife, youngest daughter, and I left Northern California in early November, headed for Necedah to pick up #1003, a 560 Ultra. Having done numerous cross-country camping trips before (all three of us have been to all 50 states), the plan was as follows:

1.) Get to Wisconsin expeditiously.
2.) Take our sweet time going south and exploring along the west side of the Mississippi River with the new trailer.
3.) Make miles for home (Northern California) after we depart Oklahoma.

On the way out, we saw some very high wind gusts (75+ mph, if you can believe the weather reports) in Wyoming and Nebraska, and even saw a big rig blown over on its side. We did stop and visit the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, which was awesome. We checked into Camp-Inn in the mid-afternoon, and Cary was kind enough to do the tour with us despite the fact that it was the day before our official pick-up day. He very patiently answered all of our questions, and tolerated all of the interesting tangents we wandered off on in our conversations. Got to meet some other folks at Camp-Inn as well. Great group of people!

The next day, we went over our new 560 Ultra in detail. It was very challenging containing our excitement! After a few minor adjustments, we towed #1003 over to the onsite camping area. It was definitely chilly that night, as evidenced by the dusting of snow we had...we were really glad we had the furnace! Our daughter is too big to sleep in the bunk beds, so we left them in sofa mode and she slept in the back of our truck (she has a great sleeping bag, and kept plenty warm). The following morning, we headed south.

The rolling hills in southwestern Wisconsin are beautiful. We cruised into Iowa, and stayed at a small campground in historical Bentonsport along the Des Moines River. We experimented with our ARB Deluxe Tent, made our first meals in the galley, and got to know our new trailer. Our daughter got in some fishing...a recurring thing that happened throughout our trip! The next couple of nights at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri were...exciting. The ham radio that Camp-Inn custom installed for us came in handy; when the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain started, I tuned into the national weather service frequencies and found out that a tornado warning was issued for our exact location. More specifically, they warned that the radar was showing rotation, hail the size of golf balls was expected, RV's could be destroyed, and people needed to get out NOW. So, we left our shower tent and some rubber mats behind at the campsite and towed our trailer a few miles to a big brick high school to wait things out. Once the storm passed, we headed back to camp, surprised to find everything as we had left it...apparently, the damage ended up happening more to the southeast. Whew.

We then travelled though the Branson, Missouri area and on to our next destination at Devil's Den, Arkansas. Had a great time there, and met a nice retired dentist and his wife camped next to us who made some amazing cinnamon rolls in his cast iron Dutch oven. We drove the Talimena Scenic Byway, and eventually ended up at Beaver's Bend in Oklahoma. More fishing for the daughter, more relaxing. We did get to experience the joy of a very loud siren going off at 6:45am announcing the discharge of some water from the reservoir...thankfully, our camping neighbors warned us that it would happen. We also had a very determined woodpecker in a tree next to us, and heard the river otters at night (but never saw them)...very entertaining.

From here is it was time to head home via Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We were simultaneously glad to be home and ready to go out and camp some more!

 

Congratulations and thank you for the trip report. I think I am #1006 and anxious to make the trip to Necedah. Really appreciate seeing the ARB awning and room. I will be adding this to my camper a 550.

 

We appreciate your travel story and pics. We were and probably still are, concerned and excited about our winter driving back to Necedah in January as we are 1010 aka Dirty Socks (but I still want to call him Rin TinTin). We might call our trip the Maiden Bob Sled Ride.

 

Great Story! Great Pics! Enjoy your new travelling home!

 

I'm sure you are very anxious to get your hands on your new Camp-Inn after the long wait, and who can blame you, they're great!
However unless you are avid winter campers, you might want to consider waiting until late spring to make your journey east. MN & WI both do great jobs at keeping the roads clear of ice and snow in the winter, but one of the main ways they do it is with salt, which isn't exactly aluminum friendly. I don't think they use salt as much in the Dakota's & MT, and not sure about ID, and WA. Just hate seeing your new beauty permanently damaged by the pitting that the salt can cause on the bare aluminum. I think there have been folks who have had them plastic shrink wrapped, and shipped in the winter, or I think Camp-Inn may also have some storage options while you wait for nicer weather.....just saying.