Maiden voyage... 1-night stay at Carolina Beach State Park, with both dogs! Got on the road about noon... so far, so good. (It's now 12:07pm.)
Nervous but very excited. Lots of people passing us, but we're pretending not to notice.
55-degrees and breezy... what's not to love about Fall in NC?
Got a Trailer Towing lesson from Josh during Thanksgiving Day celebration and we practiced in an empty parking lot at JCC on Black Friday. Rick felt a lot more comfortable — Molly cried! Needless to say, he's driving today!
I will get the hang of it.
Arrived at Carolina Beach State Park around 2:15pm. Molly had the foresight to book a pull-thru site, and it was equipped with full hookups (water, electricity, and sewer lines).
To get Roxy level, Rick put 3 plastic leveling blocks under the left wheel. Like this:
As soon as he unhitched Roxy, she rolled off the damn blocks which plunged the important end of the tongue jack into the sandy ground by several inches.
I pictured Rick flattened like a lasagna noodle under the front end, but once I got to that side, there he was, hands on his hips, pacing, muttering, "We're fucked. We're fucked. We're fucked."
However, some creative implementation of the stabilizer jacks, more orange plastic things, and some hunks of wood and we were in fact not fucked... so our RV cherry popping could proceed.
Did I mention that the ball hitch did NOT want to release from the trailer hitch? We had to consult YouTube. Thank goodness for State Parks that can still get 4G! Leveling and stabilizing done, crisis (mostly) averted, then we tried to hook up our potable water hose.
No instructions — or even vague guidelines — on the spigot. Owner's manual said simply, "Connect potable water hose to source." We were 100% positive we had the hose tight and in the right spot and positive that our little brass filter fixture was snug and on the correct spout. Yet, no matter what adjustments we made, our water would only dispense through a perfectly useless spout on the same spigot. Like this:
To Rick's credit, there was only very low-volume swearing. I saw a big Class A in the next site and I schlepped over to ask for guidance.
Mike, on a cross-country trek with his 2 kids that began in California, was impossibly kind about the intrusion. He even mentioned that he'd had similar trouble. He showed us the trick: pull on the useless spout until it clicks while water is running. He and his lovely 8-ish year-old-daughter, Michaela, smooched on April and we were in business.
Later on, Michaela needed ketchup and we were able to hook her up. Backsies!
April hated the steps, hated jumping off the bed, hated other dogs walking by that she couldn't check out, and she hated the sight of all the hoses. Surprisingly, though, (and with a little encouragement from a world-class animal behaviorist), she got over most of it by bedtime.
I got a call from the park's visitor center, letting me know I'd dropped by Visa card in their parking lot. Luckily, the finder turned it in instead of financing their own, new RV!
Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread for dinner; then beer, wine, and Rummy (cards) afterwards. We were fairly comfy in the tent beds and the heater worked like a champ.
I love having my own bathroom!
We were all asleep by 9:30pm.