Tales from the lake: Our first adventure in RV camping!
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Hello! As I mentioned in a previous post, we recently purchased a used RV. Since we have absolutely no experience with RV camping, we decided to venture out to the lake and try everything out. My sister Jan and I scoped out the area a few days prior to our planned trip, found a nice spot with full hook-ups, and reserved the spot online. We were very excited!
My husband (the reluctant RV owner) and I agreed to load ‘er up and head out early Friday afternoon in order to get connected to hook-ups before the rest of the family arrived. Our intentions were to start the AC to get the camper cooled down and turn on the fridge before we brought any groceries to the lake.
As we pulled up to our site, the first thing we noticed was this sign:
Hmm….interesting. Our name is NOT Jones. My husband backed the RV into the site while I went a few spaces down to the area camp host. After the camp host assured me that it was just a mistake with the name and we were “good to go”, I hurried back to see how the hubs was doing and if he needed any help.
UH-OH!! The only electricity that was working was the roof air conditioner. Actually, it was the ac and the microwave. Nothing else. My husband was irritated, to say the least. I pulled out my trusty phone and began searching YouTube videos for the proper way to hook up RV electricity. In these videos they explained that there are 2 types of electricity in every RV- one that runs the big stuff like the microwave and the AC, and the other that runs the lights, etc. Truthfully, I didn’t understand most of it, but I did understand that there is a separate deep cycle battery that needs to be working properly to get all of the electricity.
After attempts to calm my hubby down, many MANY words spewing from his mouth that I cannot repeat here (but I just may have to make a separate post on that in my “salty” section, HA), and several phone calls to friends that may not be as camper clueless as us, he finally decided to check out the deep cycle battery. When he checked it, he discovered that not only was it dead, but the sides had literally blown out! A quick trip to town to buy a new battery as well as purchase a few groceries, and we were back to hook it up and try again. YES!!!!! It worked. We were officially hooked up and ready to camp.
The evening was spent setting up camp and playing makeshift Yahtzee with the two grandsons that camped with us the first night, and then to bed. BOOM! Two a.m. Was that thunder? Do I see lightning? Why is the camper gently rocking like I am on a cruise ship? I checked the radar on my phone and it showed a thunderstorm, but nothing serious. My entire family slept through the storm, so they were either very comfortable, very tired, or both.
Saturday was a day of fun with the family and all five of the grandkids. Other than a grouchy grandma (yep, me…I’m turning into my father), the day was a success. That evening my oldest son built a nice fire.
The kids roasted marshmallows to make S’mores. They had a dirty, sticky good time. We had a little bit of difficulty finding proper sticks that were long enough for the little ones, but I found a nice marshmallow roasting kit on Amazon that I plan to order for next time.
The next morning, we loaded up and headed home. Yes, we had a few patience testing moments on our camping trip, but I feel confident that this was a learning experience and we are ready to make a lot more family memories in our little old RV!
