Luray Weekend 1: March 27-29, 2015

We headed to our trailer, which was nicely settled in it's spot, in Luray this past weekend. It was such a great feeling to drive out there, knowing we didn't have to do a full set up when we got there!

This trip was a little different for a couple of reasons:

1) It was going to be below freezing a good majority of our trip which meant some special equipment.
2) We were bringing both the cat (Wendy) and the dog (David) with us. Wendy's never been camping and her car rides usually only lead her to the vet.

Wendy did really well in the car. A little bit of crying, but nothing major. David didn't puke! Victory on both! Once we got to the trailer, it took Wendy a little time to warm up to the idea of the trailer. When she did, she managed to find a hiding place, enjoyed the sun a little, and even let David be on the bed with her for a while. That last one is HUGE! These two fight like... well... cats and dogs.

David was so excited to see the trailer again. He really enjoys it. Plus, the Luray KOA has a nice dog park. He had so much fun running around like crazy!

On Friday afternoon, we got the water set up. This is where the special equipment comes into play. We got a heated hose, on recommendation of a friend of ours. It was totally worth it! We also bought a heat gun (Black & Decker runs about $30), which was also totally worth it. Everything was insulated/heated except the spigot, which made for quick defrosting in the mornings. Jon decided not to put the pressure regulator on so he wouldn't have to defrost it as well. (This turned out to be a fatal flaw in our plan.)

David loves drinking from the spigot instead of the bowl.

First of many sunsets this season

We also restrung the day/night shades in the dinette area. When I took the valance/shades down to recover the valance, the shades got all crazy loose & needed to be restrung. It's probably for the better because we need to do the ones above the bed as well - and that's before the valance comes down!

We made trip #1 to the Super Walmart to get food for the weekend & a couple of other things we needed. Back to the trailer & I made dinner while Jon did something else set up all of his internet things.

Saturday morning, Jon got up and defrosted the spigot with the heat gun. It worked, yay! Running water is a good thing. We chilled out & surfed the web until about 1pm, when we went to Harrisonburg. We decided to check out a luxury apartment complex that's being built, just to see what's in the area. After that, we went to the AT&T store to pick up a hotspot, cause Jon's a geek. Really, he has to explain all that, but let's just go with the geek thing.

Jon and Wendy enjoying breakfast.

We headed back to Walmart, because what's a camping trip without at least 2 stops at Walmart? We picked up everything on our list for this trip and headed back to the trailer.

Once back at the trailer, we figured out that BOTH propane tanks had run out of propane. Of course, it was just after the office closed, so no propane refills were happening on that end. Jon decided to take both tanks to see if he could either replace them or refill them. He tried the gas station across the street and thankfully, both tanks could be exchanged for "normal" gas grill style tanks. YAY! With those set back up, we were back in business.

They were actually playing nice! 

Tasty dinner!

We managed to mount the WiFi Ranger to the wall & get a couple of other things done. Around bedtime, we decided to start watching Turbo. We got a bit into it and then decided to sleep instead. We were both pretty tired.

Sunday, Jon got up & defrosted us again. It took a little longer Sunday morning than Saturday morning. It was also a bit colder on Sunday morning. Once the weather got a little nicer, we took David down to the dog park & let him run for a little bit. We're still trying to teach him to fetch a ball. Guess that's a project for this summer.

Both of us had random stuff we needed to do around the trailer. Right before doing said "stuff", I went into the bathroom... and found water around the base of the toilet. At first, I thought it was coming from the toilet. Then I found more water near the wall of the bathroom... next to the water heater. NOOOOOOO. We immediately checked the water heater and sure enough, it's leaking! Crap.

The piece at the top & the one at the bottom are check valves. The one at the top was cracked.

Thank goodness for the Lance owners forum. The check valve was cracked & it's pretty much a known issue. Now, to get that thing out of there & replace it with a brass check valve. The parts are on order & we've bought what we hope will be the correct wrenches to get those things out! We'll update more on that later.

After we determined that we wouldn't be getting the water heater fixed on Sunday, we drained all of the water, black tank, and gray tank, and got on with our other projects.

I unpacked a bunch of stuff we brought from home. Jon started to install the battery box we bought. I helped him with what I could (read: what he'd allow) and left him to the rest. We still need to actually connect the battery & Jon had to order another part. I'll let him do a separate post about that (and a few hundred other things).

Battery box - day 1

Eventually, it got to be time for us to need to head back home. So, we packed up and headed out. Overall, a good weekend. Something always goes wrong on the shakeout trip. We'll get it all fixed and it'll be good!

Trailer Update

We moved the trailer to Luray this past weekend. It makes me so happy to have it in it's spot.

We finally got the valance back up over the dinette. It looks so different! We love it.

Before

After

Trailer Cushion Covers

What a labor of love.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I started sewing again all because of these covers. Yes, I know I said I started the quilt first. Well, that's been sitting off to the side. I finally got in touch with the owner of the campground we're going to do our seasonal at this year and we have a date when we can move the trailer. With that date came a deadline. So, I figured it was time to get moving on these!

I'm absolutely horrible at writing directions for something like this (if it was a technical process, I could do it, but these? Probably not.) so, I'm not going to try. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did each one differently.

I'll just share pictures & a list of things I used.

2 fabrics - stripes (about 9 yds) & circles (about 5 yds) - I had too much of each fabric
Make-a-zipper - gray

All 5 fabrics I bought for this project. I'm not sure I'll use them all in the trailer.

The two fabrics for the cushions.

Best invention ever. I couldn't find zippers the sizes I needed. This stuff saved the day at a fraction of the cost.

Once I finally got all of the supplies, I started measuring out the cushions. The measurements were actually on the tags of the cushions, but I wanted to be sure. A couple of them were curved, so I had to take that into account when sewing those. Two of the cushions were actually sewed together. We decided it was best to go ahead and separate those. So, the seam ripper and I spent some time together doing that.

The smallest and easiest one to cover. I started with this one.

Kitty Wendy decided to get in on the action.

I did a "walk through" with some plain white fabric. I didn't do a walk through zipper and pretty much said "once is enough".

This was probably the 5th time I wrote the measurements.

Measure twice. (See the beginnings of the quilt back there?) 

Laying it all out.

I'd say the hardest part of these was the corners. Just getting everything to line up was kind of a pain.

First and second ones done. A little before/after type of thing.

All done!

We found these pillows at Costco. They match the color scheme perfectly!

I was anxious to get the cushions back to the trailer to see what it looked like. Jon wasn't thrilled with my "need to get these there today!" mood, but we went anyhow. I also wanted to pull as much of the stuff that's screwed in as I could to get it done as well. 

Not the best "before", but you get the picture.

What a difference! 

Now to pull that cornice/valance down

The caps on the dinette (before)

One after/one before. Can't wait to see these back on! Thank goodness for a staple gun!

I've still got all of the valances/cornices to do & the strip on the bottom of the dinette. The strip will have to wait until March when we move the trailer. As will the headboard & 3 of the valances/cornices. I still need to figure out which fabric to do them in!

Sneak Peak

I've started recovering the cushions for the trailer! (Ok, I only got 1 done so far.)

Here it is:

Before (really, can RV manufacturers use anything but brown?!)

After (with our kitty's tail in the way)

I slipped it on directly over the original cover, so it's easy to switch back if we ever need to. Looking forward to getting the other 6 (one of them is in 2 pieces) done and getting them back into the trailer to see what they look like. I need to figure out what fabric to use on the edge of the dinette. Guess that will somewhat depend on what I have extra of.

Votes: stripes or circles on the edges of the dinette?

Singapore - Not Camping, but a Fun Adventure!

Jon had to go to Singapore for work, so I decided to tag along. I have never been on one of his work trips because, let's face it, Boston in the winter isn't really somewhere I want to go. Nor is Florida in the summer. Most of his other trips are customer conferences with long days and no real chance of even seeing him, so I've stayed home.

Well, when the discussions for Singapore started, I decided I was going (as long as the plane ticket for me was feasible). It turned out to be much less expensive than we thought it would be, so I went with him.

Because it's about a week long trip and this is a camping blog, I'll be posting mostly just an outline of what we did. If you'd like to know more about anything, feel free to ask in the comments!

Thursday, Jan 15 to Friday, Jan 16 - Travel Day(s)
Flight on United to Tokyo then to Singapore
Uneventful, just long

Saturday, Jan 17 (Arrival & Resort World Sentosa, ION Mall)
Arrived at 12:30am
Got to Marriott hotel & settled around 2am
Woke up at 8am
Had breakfast in the lounge
Went to SEA Aquarium
Had lunch at Din Tai Fung (dim sum) at Resort World Sentosa
Went to Trick Eye Museum
Walked around for a bit
Cable Car ride
Caught cab back to Marriott
Went to ION Mall for dinner (food court)
Found awfully chocolate for dessert (carry out)
Left ION - so crowded!
Walked around Tang's for a few minutes
Went back to Marriott for dessert & to relax for the night

Sunday, Jan 18 (Switch hotels & Gardens By the Bay)
Got up around 7am
Had breakfast in the lounge
Checked out of Marriott & took taxi to Marina Bay Sands
Got taken to the VIP area to do our check in, given temp room keys & wifi password
Decided to go up to the Skywalk
Walked through the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands & grabbed iced drinks (Moroccan Mint tea & Creme Brûlée Coffee)
Headed down to Gardens by the Bay
Went to Satay by the Bay for lunch
Back to Gardens by the Bay to walk through the Flower Dome & Cloud Dome
Came back to the hotel to get our room assignment & keys activated for the room
Headed to the room to wait for bags & get settled in
Went to dinner at the Din Tai Fung (dim sum) at Marina Bay Sands
Got macaroons for dessert from Sweet Spot
Back to the room to settle in for the night

Monday, Jan 19 (HiPPO)
Got up at 5am - Jetlag!
Jon to work breakfast
Jon was able to come back and "play" for the day
We decided to do the Hop On/Hop Off (HiPPO) for the day and figure it out as we went
Got onto Yellow Bus for the complete loop.
Transferred to the Red bus for that complete loop.
Stopped at Suntech City for lunch at xxxx.
After lunch, we walked through the Giant grocery store. Love seeing the differences!
Back on the Yellow Bus to Plaza Singapura for a stop at Spotlight.
Bought some fabrics to bring home for different projects.
Back on the Yellow Bus to Marina Bay Sands.
Showered & spent some time catching up on the internet.
Went to dinner at Mario Batali's Pizzaria Mozza.
Came back upstairs with intentions to go to the pool, never made it.
Jon met up with a coworker to go over some things for the conference.

Tuesday, Jan 20 (HiPPO, Botanical Gardens, Pool)
Got up around 6am
Jon went to work
Got ready to head out - left for 9:05 bus
Got on HiPPO to head to Botanical Gardens
Spent from 9:30 to 1:40 at the gardens - visited Orchid Garden before crowds!
Came back to Marina Bay Sands, got iced tropical passion tea, headed to room
Spent some time catching up on internet stuff & blogging
Went to pool
Ran down to GAP to a couple of different shirts
Showered & got changed
Had dinner with Jon & a few coworkers
Watched the light/water show
Went to the roof-top bar for a drink & then headed to bed

Wednesday, Jan 21 (Zoo, River Safari)
Got up around 7am
Jon went to work (early)
Got ready & headed to Toastbox for Peanut Butter Toast & Iced Tea Melaka
Grabbed a taxi to the Zoo
Chatted with the taxi driver & learned a lot about Singapore
Bought tickets for River Safari, Zoo, and Night Safari
Decided to do River Safari first
Lunch at KFC - yes, it was the longest line (of Asians!) & everyone said eat where there's the longest line!
Went into Zoo
Downpour at 5pm while watching the Sea Lion show
Decided to skip Night Safari & head back to the hotel
Got dim sum for dinner, got dessert (and breakfast for tomorrow) from Sweet Spot, & took it back to the room
Waited for Jon to get home (it was his late night)
Headed to bed

Thursday, Jan 22 (Fort Canning Park, Clarke Quay, ArtScience, Night Safari)
Got up around 7am
Had breakfast (from SweetSpot - a blueberry muffin) in the room
Got ready & started packing
Decided to head to Fort Canning Park & Clarke Quay for a bit
Headed to the MRT & took it to Fort Canning Park
Got to FCP and started walking the paths. Almost all uphill!
After about 2 hrs of walking around, I decided it was lunch time.
Headed back to Clarke Quay to figure out what my options were.
Walked around CQ Central & found Real Food Grocers. I had found them online before the trip, so I was excited to find them.
Back to the MRT and to the room to decide what to do next.
Headed to ArtScience Museum for the DaVinci exhibit. Not what I expected, but it was good.
Around 2:30, Jon texted me that he was done for the day. Much earlier than we originally thought.
I got through the exhibit & went back to the room.
We decided to head to the Night Safari. I was glad we were able to go together!
We walked over the Helix bridge to the Singapore Flyer. Jon really wanted to do it, but I'm terrified of heights and I just couldn't.
We waited for a bit & caught the HiPPO shuttle to the Night Safari.
We had dinner at the Night Safari & then went into the park.
We walked most of the trails & rode the safari tram.
Once we were done with the trails, we headed to the critter show. We decided not to stay because we'd be cutting it close to the time we needed to be on the bus. We had gelato instead.
We got back on the bus, got back to the hotel, showered, and got to bed.

Friday, Jan 23 (Travel)
Early wake up call at 4am.
Got checked out, a taxi, and to the airport.
Got checked in to the flights, checked bags, and found breakfast.
Security is at each gate, so you have to go to the bathroom and all before you go through security.
The flights were uneventful & we were happy to be off the plane once we got back!
We had dinner & picked up our pup & headed home.

Keeping the Lance

There has been much debate in our house lately. Upgrade the Lance to a bigger trailer? Upgrade the truck & get a 5th? Upgrade completely to a class A?

After many discussions about what our ultimate plans are, we've decided to keep the Lance for now. We love it & just need to change a few things in it to make it more "us" and functional.

Upgrades we're thinking about:
Backsplash in kitchen

We'd like something a little lighter & more "tile" like.

Cabinets in kitchen - Maybe paint them?
Add shelving in bathroom
Cover for the water heater buttons

Right above the blue towel are the buttons. Too easy to hit.

Papertowel holder
Add real shelves to the pantry closet
Expandable shower curtain - Need to order from Lance
Upholstery changes - Still need to decide on a fabric to lighten the trailer up!
New flooring?


Upgrades we've recently done:
New vacuum - We got a Dyson
Add internet boosters - We went with the WiFi Ranger (below) & flag pole for mounting
Move the pantry items to one of the larger closets - We moved it all to the closet next to the door. We'll see if I'm still happy with it as next season goes on.
Move the other items to above the kitchen - I do like this!


Internet/WiFi Booster:
https://www.wifiranger.com/solutions-mobileti/rv-wifi-mobileti

Flag pole for mounting WiFi booster:
http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/resources/flagpole-buddy-ubiquiti-nanostation-gaining-altitude-directional-antennas/

Misty Mountain Halloween Trip, Charlottesville, VA - October 31 through November 2

This is long overdue!

Since I've already done a pretty detailed review of Misty Mountain Campground, I'll just blog what we did.

Upon arrival, we checked in & were directed up the hill. There's now a passcode & gate to get up the hill. I'm guessing they were having some issues with non-paying guests going up there, but it's just a suspicion that I never asked about.

The sites at this campground are definitely not level. We haven't really had to worry about leveling (too much) all season. We had some disagreements on where to put the trailer on the site because of how tight the sites are at the top of the hill. We'd definitely prefer the bottom area if we were going to stay here again.

Lil Lance all tucked in for the weekend

After we got the trailer put where we wanted it, we discovered a bolt on the weight distribution hitch was completely cut off. That side of the hitch has been giving us problems for a while, so it's not super surprising, but it scared the daylights out of us. We took a trip to Home Depot and got new nuts & bolts for that side of the hitch. We also got 2 extra sets of them, in case this happens again and we're not near a Home Depot/Lowes/hardware store.

Once we were done with our side trip, Jon was doing stuff outside & I started prepping dinner. We had friends of ours coming over (they were staying in the lower section of the campground). I had pre-made most of dinner, but needed to make the salad & heat up the main entree. In order to do the main entree, we had to use the oven. I made Jon light the pilot light. I was impressed about how well it worked!

After dinner, we made a campfire & did s'mores. Yum! I also gave the kids a Halloween present, especially since trick-or-treating was taking place the next day (the day after Halloween).

The next day, we took David down to watch the agility dog event that was going on. After that, he got a "bath" in our shower. That was an adventure! Then on to the awesome grocery store near the campground to grab lunch and then head over to Afton Mountain.

We did a wine tasting at Afton Mountain & then had lunch. Thank goodness they had just put up the "tent" coverings in their picnic area. It was WINDY and pretty cold.

We headed back to the campground & chilled out a bit before heading down to our friends' site for dinner.  Jess kept telling me I was paranoid about the dogs being in the trailer. I decided it was too quiet for 2 dogs to be in there. Their oldest daughter checked & sure enough... I was paranoid for good reason! Ah well, it was easily taken care of.  David decided to make himself at home, so we ended up washing their comforter for them.

After dinner, we headed back up to our site & headed to bed. The next morning, we got up, cleaned the trailer, winterized it (sad!), and headed home.