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.

RV Cheapo: Rieco-Titan jack drill chuck

This thing costs $25 - $50 online.

This thing costs $7 at Ace Hardware.

... and can easily be converted into this thing, which will do to the job of that first thing.

Wedding Day

Keystone RV, Greencastle, PA:

The first back up:

Loaded and airing up:

 Maiden voyage: NO RV's allowed lot at Hollywood Casino, Harrisburg, PA