Now it seems so far, far long ago; in another time in space. And from our rear view mirror our maiden voyage was over 20,000 miles back.
Talk about being a newbie! and inexperienced! Jim and I had never camped together during our marriage (21 years at that time). A few months prior we took a car road trip with our Yorkies, Maxx and Mollie. One of our stops was to see his brother and sister-in-law's new campground they had purchased. Bob and Donna put us up in one of their rental RVs during our visit at their
Eureka Springs KOA in Arkansas. But in our book that doesn't count as camping; plus that's a different story about what triggered us to embrace the RV lifestyle. We really had no idea what we were in for ... but excited with the possibilities.
Jim's sister and brother-in-law, Katie and Terry, had about 7 years of RVing under their belts and agreed to go with us to
Prado Regional State Park in Southern California on our maiden voyage. We were grateful they had taken us under their experienced wings. Even though we took how-to-video and copious notes during
McMahon RV Dealership in Palm Desert's new owner walk through, we were still unsure and little nervous how we would do on our first outing. At that time we felt a little overwhelmed by McTraveler's (Class A 40 foot diesel pusher) complicated operating systems.
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Following Katie and Terry through check-in.
The name PRADO is derived from California's early Spanish days when
the countryside was known as 'prado' or meadow. |
We set up a rendezvous point and then headed to the campground together. Prado is a great park for big rigs. The campsites were HUGE concrete easy pull-thru pads with full hook-ups plus a large concrete patio area with picnic tables and a fire ring. Since then we have never had so much space between campsites (unless boon docking). Prado is located in the Chino Valley basin where San Bernadino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles Counties connect. So much to do here with the fishing, hiking, biking, and nature trails, disc golf, and picnicing; but our mission was to learn how to set up camp and how to prep McTraveler for a life on the road.
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| Passed a nice stocked lake on the way to our sites |
While hooking up utilities, Jim decides to fill our water holding tank. At that moment, we notice Terry climbing out his coach's window and then Katie handing their dog Maggie out the window to be walked after our drive in. We go over to their site to find out their door locking mechanism was stuck and couldn't be opened. After attempting several fixes, it was decided the lock had to be removed and the lock pin drilled out.
Jim goes back to our coach to get his drill to find our water holding tank was overflowing and had flooded our campsite. Guess you'd say we're a little wet behind the ears. With the water now turned off to the holding tank, Jim finds his drill is not charged. Terry decides it's time to head out to buy a new drill. Katie is still trapped in her coach.
Terry returns and the boys spend hours working on the door. After several calls and emailing photos to a local RV parts supplier, it was determined they would have to make an appointment the next week to get a new lock installed when the parts came in. So for the rest of our maiden voyage's long weekend, they had a door with a huge gap where the locking mechanism was removed. And Katie finally got out of the coach. Did I mention this was a late November trip with howling Santa Ana winds pushing in a cold front? So the gaping door hole was stuffed with rags and a bungee cord to "lock" it for the night.
During the door fiasco, our friends Bill and Connie from Dove Canyon, dropped by with a very thoughtful house warming gift as we all gathered to christen McTraveler. Bill had a good laugh about our flooded campsite and predicted we would have many more fun stories to add to our collection of adventures. Katie and Terry gave us our first copies of
The Next Exit and
Mountain Directory West. Since then, both books have become invaluable and sit next to the co-pilot's chair.
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Katie and Terry share the basics of RV 101
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Finally Katie and I put together a feast and then we all enjoyed an evening by their campfire. Katie and Terry are wagon masters for a couple of southern California RV Clubs and proceeded to share stories of their many solo and club trips.
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| Having a good laugh about today's misadventures |
We learned a new trick for freezing overnight temperatures from Terry... leave an interior faucet on with just a trickle of water running ... that kept our water pipes/hoses from freezing.
Unfortunately, our first night's christening wasn't the "if you see it rockin' don't come a knockin'", it was the Santa Ana winds that rocked McTraveler all night long. At one point Pam thought we were going to blow over. That morning we awoke to a calm, cold, clear blue sky and a flock of ravens prancing click, click, click across the top of the roof.
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Jim sorting through our shopping spree. Katie and Terry's coach as seen in the background; and like I said,
Prado Park has HUGE campsites. No passing the sugar from window to window here.
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The next day we all took off for our first shopping trip to
Camping World. Once again, Katie and Terry shared from their experience what items were necessary (outdoor rug, extra water filters for coach and water hose, awning deflappers, back up electric space heater, cleaning tools and supplies), which ones made RV life more convenient or helped conserved storage space (collapsible storage bowls, cabinet storage racks, bike rack), and pointed out the items just for fun (states visited map, outdoor lighting for the awning, and small container games like Farkle). We had fun, just like opening Christmas presents and putting everything in place. We knew we could only get a little at a time to start prepping for a life on the road; and have since made many more shopping trips to outfit McTraveler. Well, more meals and campfires finished out a successful and fun weekend together. We learned so much!
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Maxx and Mollie enjoyed their first outing too. We since learned long
hair is not conducive to the life of an RVer. Both now keep much shorter hair.
We now laugh and fondly think about the good times we had with family and friends on our maiden voyage. And because of Katie and Terry's generous spirit in showing us the ropes; we now pass on what we've learned to newbies we meet along the way. Shouldn't we all pay it forward?
Also, our maiden voyage proved to us that even seasoned RVers encounter misadventures and it's not the end of the world. Issues that come up might be inconvenient, but can be fixed and still be able to laugh about it. For decades Jim's motto has been It is what it Is and applies to RVing too; you just keep on rolling down the highway or as we said back in the 70's Keep on Truckin'.
Our maiden voyage opened a whole new exciting world to us. We never expected this to be the wonderful adventure it has turned out to be due to the beauty, wonderment, and excitement in all that we have seen and done. After fast-paced careers, we've learned to relax and throw out rigid schedules, how to have fun for the sake of fun. To take life one day at a time ... every day is SATURDAY! RVing has given us opportunities to learn about our history and cultures that make America great. Plus the chance to meet and make so many new friends along the way.
Thanks again for riding along on the first step of our journey. Hope to see you back and follow our quest of wanderlust.
Wishing you happy and safe travels,
Pam, Jim, Maxx and Mollie
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