Camper pickup.....

 

Blog update: Sunday, May 5^th 2013 (Happy Cinco de Mayo!!)

 

It’s been a very busy 4 days but I thought it was about time I posted to the blog. So as I sit in the camper, a cool breeze coming through the window and the sound of a Cardinal singing in the trees across the water, I will bring you somewhat up to date.

 

While we’ve already been at the campground since Wednesday afternoon, I’m going to skip back to last Tuesday night when we arrived in Grand Rapids, MI.  I will write more about our camping experiences and visit to Holland, MI in the next blog post.

 

Ronna was good enough to follow me for the 3 ½ hour drive to Grand Rapids last Tuesday, her SUV packed to the gills with most of my gear. We spent Tuesday night at a Grand Rapids hotel, having a great meal at the local Carrabba’s Italian Grill. At 0715 on Wednesday morning we headed for American RV to pick up the camper. I have to admit I was a nervous wreck on the ride over. Yes, I had been very careful to measure the camper at least twice before having the service body custom built to my specs, but if the camper didn’t fit for some reason I was up the creek without a paddle.

 

Arriving at American RV we were met by a Welcome Sign and by Dave, the service rep who would do our walk through with us. He had a great smile and a laid back attitude and I was at somewhat more at ease. But in the back of my mind I knew eventually I would have to back the truck under the camper and the moment of truth was coming.

 

Dave took all the time we needed to explain the various systems on the camper and to point out important “tips and clues”.  There as a lot covered and I was just a bit overwhelmed at times but Dave was more than happy to clarify things and / or repeat instructions whenever I found it necessary to ask (and re-ask) questions. Being an RVer himself, he was very knowledgeable. And I found my boating experience to be more than helpful because some of the systems are very similar. I have the say that the most confusing item to set up is the rear awning. LOL

 

At last Dave spoke the dreaded words: “OK Dave, you can back up under the camper and we will lower her into the bed”. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath and got behind the wheel of my mule (as I call her), remembering that I only had about an inch of clearance on each side. My first attempt failed; a bit too far to the left and the second attempt was not quite straight back. But again, Dave was cool and laid back, encouraging me with a few tips and helpful instructions, never raising his voice or getting excited. The third try was the charm and the camper was lowered down into the bed. It fit like a glove and my universe was back in balance! We attached the turnbuckles to lock the camper into position and I drove it out of the service bay into the sunshine.

 

It’s about a 30 mile drive to our camping destination, straight south on Highway 131. With Ronna always following close behind, we exited at Waylen, MI and did the grocery shopping at the local Harding’s Market, collecting enough food for 5 days. Knowing that we had a full day’s work ahead of us of unloading and setting up the camper, we decided to stop for lunch at McDonald’s before arriving at Yankee Springs Recreation Area in the early afternoon.

 

We found our site and started to set up camp, but about that on the next blog entry.