Pine Creek Gorge Day ONE - 6/21/13

We took off on a 3-day weekend to Pine Creek Gorge one day after wife returned from 3 weeks in MN.  Truckzilla handled very well; driving is no longer a white-knuckle experience.  I rigged the bike rack on the front.   We lost a bike rack strap on the PA turnpike, so I pulled off to re-rig it, getting buzzed by semis going 85mph a few feet away from me.

Somewhere on Rt 15 north of rt 80

GPS took us on dirt roads, a little freaky with so much weight and the first time off-pavement with the rig.

Leonard Harrison State Park. 

We walked down to view the gorge.  Pictures just don't capture it.  We met an older couple there that was staying in Wellsboro.

We scoped the campgrounds (meh), ate salad from jars in the camper, and waited out a thunderstorm.  With no electric campsites available, the DNCR lady referred us to a campground close by.

Which we hit.  The office people were initially unfriendly, but they had a lab named Misty.  It was a pretty nice place.  There were 2 other (older) truck campers there.  I filled the tanks and we dropped anchor.

A path leads out of the campsite thru the woods back to Leonard Harrison. It was longer than we expected, and arriving at the rear of the campground at LH, we just took a little breather and headed back for camp.  On the way back, Missy ran thru the woods for reasons unclear.

I think we watched one of the WWII movies - I don't remember.  

Hammock Virgin

I love the idea of hammock camping, but camping hammocks aren't cheap.  There's no way of knowing if you'll be able to sleep in one, either.

Enter the $25 Walmart cheapy hammock.

My first hang at Rt 309 on the Appalachian trail:

The view up:

Obviously it's too short, but it's certainly do-able.

Doggy Daddy

Late on a Saturday - after finishing the water tank mods - the me and the dogs headed out on a solo overnighter to Hickory Run.  Wife is in MN for 3 weeks with family, we're all pretty bored.

Same campsite as last trip - 207.

The dogs spooning.  Old dogs = low-impact camping.  Like last time, Sadie likes to wander off into the rough.  It being hard to watch her while cooking in the camper I used the tie-out.

Brought wood from the pile after seeing how wet the stuff they sell you is last trip.  Eventually a nice fire, altho I didn't really need it.

Tucked in.  I forgot the dog beds, so broke out the towels and did the best I could.  No one seemed to mind.

A detour on the way home to Beltzville.  Found this great spot right off the parking lot.

Parked at home, I noticed water leaking from the truck box again.  Dismounted the camper to find a drip from the tank drain.  I must have moved the valve while installing the deck plate.  The valve is closed when facing starboard.

Dogventure I

The dog shakedown trip:

 Hickory Run, spot 207.  Electricity + dogs.

Supper cooking.

Dinner time.

Spent most of the day sitting around playing Scrabble.  Finally Sadie got a walk.  Scout was there to greet.

After some struggling, Scout managed to get comfortable on the folded out couch.  I nearly spent the night on the couch with him, worried that he would be fidgety with us out of sight in the cabover, but all the excitement of the day must have pooped him out.  Neither dog moved all night.

The view from outside in the morning.  Sadie leaps out and needs to be caught in the air.  Scout needs to be craned out.  Pretty painless for all concerned. It would be a tight fit if there were rain and we had to spend a lot of time in the camper.

Some camper mods

Water heater drain and anode

Top: the lid, which is also the template.  Right: the flange.  Left: a piece of rubber gasket material.

The fresh water tank marked out.

 A bunch of connected stab cuts with a utility knife.

Installed with stainless screws.

It not always convenient to add water via the exterior fill.  With a port on the tank, I can haul water in an aquatainer and dump it directly into the tank with no pumps or other special gyrations.  Access for cleaning and draining: not sure of the utility of this yet.

Truckzilla: rear shocks

Mileage somewhere around 137k.

After a few bouncy rides and a visual appraisal, I bought Rancho9000XL shocks for the rear end.

Here's the old left rear shock as it came off:

And a disconcerting close-up:

It's interesting that the UPPER housing would rust thru.  I saw a recommendation online to NOT install the gators on the Rancho's on the grounds that they fill with water, which - rather than guard against corrosion - accelerates it.  I assume the same thing must be going on here; I left the gators off the Ranchos.

I cranked them both to 9 and took a test drive.  I didn't notice a big difference, but I didn't bounce, either.

Maiden Truck Camp

Our first truck camp in early April 2013:

We headed north around 6pm Friday, following a bath from the water heater drain plug.  Within a few miles we were besieged by rain and wind (and a tornado warning), and so pulled over to wait it out.  We were back underway in less than an hour, by which time it was dark - whereupon we learned that  Truckzilla's headlights are crap (at least with 2500lb of camper on the back).  It turns out to be a common problem with this SuperDuty vintage.  The combination of wet roads, terrible headlights, and unfamiliarity with how the rig handled made for a scary trip... for the driver, anyway.

White-knuckling on at barely 55mph relatively blind, we made it to Friday night's stop: Mohegan Sun casino.  After giving them a pile of our money and having a bite to eat, we caught the shuttle bus back to the camper and settled in for our first night... which couldn't have been better.

The aerobed was comfortable and the furnace kept us cozy in nearly-freezing overnight low temps.  Morning coffee and not having to find/ dress for a bathroom break was fantastic.  The low temps meant we had some condensation, but nothing terrible.  Having arrived in the rain in the dark, and almost forgetting where we were, we greeted our first morning of truck camping:

The casino let us have a little of our money back and we headed south towards Hickory Run.  Having spent one night in the camper, we already had a small list of Walmart-ables, so found one enroute.  Shopping done, and a bit peckish, we made sandwiches and ate lunch in the camper in the Walmart parking lot.  While not some romantic boon dock in Alaska, the convenience of having a fridge, a dinette, and a bathroom in the bed of your pickup defies belief.

On to Hickory Run.  It was so early in the season that we had our pick of sites.  We filled up with water at the park and backed her in.

We took a walk to the camp store, the amphitheater, and around the RV loops to scope the best spots.  It was cold, but at long last, we were 'camping':

After a chilly nap, we decided to 'rough it' in the camper for some heat and some scrabble.

Scrabble with a view, at least:

After dinner, shore power allowed us to watch a movie and plug in the electric blanket. Another easy night in the camper: it's warmer and the bed may be more comfortable than at home.
Everything worked, and there were no major snags or surprises - a great shake-down cruise.