To sit around a campfire and watch the orange glow and the smell of pine as the wood crackles underneath a clear star filled sky is the ultimate in relaxation.

Whether you are going on your first camping trip or your 100th the Internet has made it possible to do a lot of research on where you are going before you get there. I have been on many camping trips and have been to dozes on different campgrounds, but although I have my favorites I am always looking for something new.

The feel of being at a different campground is exciting. It is like being en explorer as you head off in the wilderness. Ok maybe I am exaggerating a bit but you get the point.

To find new places what I like to do is check out a few different websites where others have already camped. Previous campers get a chance to rate different campgrounds and write in what they thought was good or bad about the place. It is about as honest of a review system that you are going to get. You will read anything from “the campground was a disaster” to “it was the best campground ever” and everything in between. You'll need to read the reviews and decide for yourself which are reviews that have some value and which are made by disgruntled people who find fault in everything they do in life. You know what I mean.

A couple good sites that I check out are RVParkReviews, CampgroundReport and RVBuddy. I just want you to keep in mind that I have no affiliation to any of these sites whatsoever other than I frequent them from time to time to read some reviews.

Each has their own means of letting others review campgrounds and RV parks from around the country. It has been a while since I camped outside of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware area, but if the opportunity of camping in another state ever arises I know I can go to one of these sites, select the state I will be camping in, narrow it down to the exact area I want to go to and read the reviews.

These websites make it nice to read real people's opinion of different campgrounds and what they have to offer. I also recommend that if you have done a lot of camping or are going to do a lot of camping you also should participate in reviewing the places you have been. It is only right that if you are going to use these sites for your gain you should help others out as well.

So I raise my Coleman Thermos Mug, filled with *cough* Coffee *cough*, and wish you and your family a great camping trip. Cheers!

Cachuma Lake Campground

Cachuma Lake Campground is a county owned park in Santa Barbara. It is located on Highway 154 between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley. This is a wonderful campground that has a large number of RV and tent camping sites. The lake offers fishing, boat rentals, and wildlife tours. There is no swimming or skiing in the lake but there is a pool, plenty of bike and hiking trails, as well as a nature center, general store, bait shop, and small restaurant on the docks.

Casini Ranch Family Campground

Camping with friends or family? Prefer to camp alone? No matter, check out Casini Ranch! Stunning views and friendly people await you at this family owned campground nestled on the Russian River in Duncans Mills California. They offer swimming, fishing, paddle boat and kayak rentals, a general store, snack shop, Saturday Night hay rides, ice cream socials, and a great time!

Richardson's Grove State Park

This campground is located near the Avenue Of The Giants along the north western side of the state. Richardson's Grove State Park offers a variety of campsites from shaded in the redwood trees to sunny along the Eel River under oak trees. As a state park there are no hook ups for RV's but they do accommodate them. Check ahead for length limits on your RV before you go.

Giant Redwoods RV and Camp

This is a wonderful campground located along the Avenue Of The Giants in Meyers Flat. If you are looking for a great place to stay that offers you sites along the Eel River and a variety of family activities this is it. Not all sites are along the river and if you are camping in an RV, you would be better off with a partial hook-up site, as the full hook-up sites are rather narrow. The campground offers swimming, horseshoes, a playground for the kids, movies, and is close to all attractions along the Avenue Of The Giants.

Yosemite Pines RV Resort

Heading to Yosemite? Prefer a campground outside the park that offers spacious sites and other amenities? Check out Yosemite Pines. While it is about a 30 minute drive to the park itself, this is a wonderful campground to stay at. They have a pool, gold panning, petting zoo, store, and a game room. While campgrounds inside Yosemite do not offer hook-ups for RV's, you can get them at Yosemite Pines and enjoy the beautiful drive up to the park.

First, the dealership where you purchased your RV should have done a walk through with you to show you how everything works and where everything is. You should do it again on your own just to make sure you remember everything. I always double check everything before setting out for the first time as well. Make sure you write down anything you see that is not working properly or shows damage. You can take your new RV back to the dealership for repairs after your first trip and they will usually address everything on your list.

Second, Do you have everything you will need? Before loading your RV for the first trip, make a list of the items that you will need for the length of time you are gone, then make sure you got everything. I have forgotten stuff even when I had a list. Some of the things you will want are toilet paper, pillows, extra blankets, chairs, food (obviously), dishes, hoses for water hook-up, water pressure regulator, electrical cord adapter, drain hose for holding tank, mosquito repellent, a door mat and a large carpet for outside the RV. You might also want to invest in some throw away latex gloves for when you are draining your holding tanks. Make sure you have the obvious things like toothbrushes etc. It is okay to forget things now and then. Most items can be purchased at a store near the campground. I have made the horrible mistake of forgetting pillows before, luckily we were camping fairly close to home so I didn't have to buy more! Also you might want to take some indoor entertainment in case of bad weather.

Third, consider the length of your RV when making reservations. Many parks have limits on the length of RV they can fit. Many state parks can not handle longer RVs because the roads leading to the park as well as inside the campground are too winding or narrow. One example is Richardson Grove State Park in Northern California. To get to one area of the campground you have to go through a narrow S that is lined with huge redwood trees. Check ahead before you go to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Last and most important, take your patience. You will need it. If you've never backed a trailer or motorhome into a campsite or helped somebody back up you could get very frustrated very fast. Remember that you are new to this and once you have done it a few times you will get a routine down. Work out the hand signals ahead of time or get radios to talk to each other so that nothing is missed. For the person helping back up, always remember, if you can't see the driver in the mirror or otherwise, they can't see you! No point in doing hand signals if you can't be seen right? Get parked and set up then sit back relax and enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Most water heaters are the LP type. The models are electric; LP gas/electric and add-on's like Hotrod (electric added to a LP gas water heater). The water heater has a start switch mounted in the motor home for remote starting of the water heater. The older model water heaters are started from the outside. The water supply to the water heater is the same in a house. Cold water flows into the water heater, heats it up to temperature and maintains the setting. One thing you want to do is insure that you have water in the water heater tank before starting it. The way you do that is to open the hot water faucet and if water is flowing out of it, then you know there is water in the hot water tank. You can now start water heater.

If the water heater does not start with the pressing of the button then make sure the LP is turned on. If the LP is on and the water heater will not start listen for the sparking noise made by the igniter board, which starts the LP to burning for the water heater.

The water for the water heater is supplied by the city water line or the fresh water tank and water pump for the RV motor home water system. You do not want to run your water pump if you are connected to the city water line hose. The pressure from the city system is 125 pounds of pressure and the RV motor home water system operate on 40-60 pounds of pressure. You will need a pressure reducer valve on the water coming in to the coach; the valve is set for 45-60 pounds of pressure. You can also get an adjustable valve too.

The Hotrod add on is an electrical heater rod for a gas (LP) water heater. It is used as a backup system in case you cannot run your LP or are out of LP. It is also a way to switch from LP to electric. You may have trouble with the igniter board and the cost of the broad is $143.95 and the Hotrod is about the same. If you go with the electrical water heater “Hotrod” and not have gas, it will limit the purpose of the motor home for dry dock camping.

You should clean out the water heater tank, if you are starting to notice a loss of hot water. There is a cleanout tube built for washing out the minerals in the water heater tank. It is designed to allow the washing out of the tank throught the drain plughole in the water heater tank. Please make sure you relief the water pressure before opening the water heater tank plug. New water heater $347.00 straight gas 6 gallon, $428 gas/automatic 6 gallon, $494.00 electric/gas/automatic 6 gallon.

Everything Historical Happened On The Trace. Everything.

One curious thing you’ll note is that about every mile or so there is a historic site, e.g., at this site, a treaty was signed that created the West Florida boundary or where a scenic swampland is that contains the last known some such weed. This is cool for about 5 or 6 miles. After that, it’s annoying. So many historic events could not have happened along this one roadway. It’s simply not possible. I believe that what happened is that before anybody did anything of import, they first agreed to move their dealings to the Natchez Trace so that it would become a historic site. I can see some bully U.S. general (stealing more Native American land) telling an Indian chieftain, “Whoa whoa whoa there Sleepy Bear. We can’t sign this treaty right here in the middle of nowhere. No one will remember it. We need to all move over to that dirt path where all the other important stuff went down and sign there. We’ll be famous. Octogenarians from all over the country will stop here in their RVs and read about us.” (This U.S. general was a distant relative of Nostradamus and knew that there would one day be recreational vehicles.)

The Trace Takes Longer To Drive Than To Fly To The Moon

FYI, if you travel the entire Natchez Trace and stop at every historic site, it will take you 3 years, 7 months, and 14 days to make it. That’s assuming you don’t break the 50 mph speed limit, which, by the way, is a ridiculous speed limit because it only gives the old folks an excuse for going so slow.

We took off from Mission Bay, San Diego, California about 10:45 A.M. in the morning. We got on Interstate 5 heading toward Eugene, Oregon, which was about four or five days by our travel speed.

We saw allot of vineyards and cranberry trees along the way. There were allot of feeder lots and the smell was pretty ripe. We blamed the dogs but they thought it was we. We made 284 miles this day of travel and will be camping at a truck stop.

The view isn't the best when you camp at a truck stop but the rent is reasonable. This truck stop there was one truck driver who said something about us camping there in his truck stop area. I just thought about how many times I've seen truckers parked over night in rest areas along the roads.

We stayed and spend the night and took off in the morning still heading north enjoying the state. We stopped at a rest area where we had lunch and took pictures of Mount Shasta. We hit the mountains, which slowed our progress to 25 miles per hour pace on the steep grades. We went past San Francisco and up the road to Phoenix, Oregon. We made for a campsite for the night and ended up staying for a couple of days.

This allows us to get our mail delivered to us here. We got the oil changed and brought a new tire for the one that blow out in New Mexico. We got caught up on all the things that you let go as you are traveling and still got to relax before heading on to California.

We started out in the morning for Yuma for our over night stay. It was uneventful all the way there. We found a KOA that was east of town. The KOA was a nice place to stay. They had a restaurant right there and the food was very enjoyable. The interior roads were rough but the sites were pull through. The cost of the site was reasonable and the people were friendly.

We got to Yuma and pick a RV Park that was backed up against the Arizona canal system; it was like a river but with cement banks. We were on the grass there but it was close to the exit so we could leave in the morning without waking everyone around us.

We headed for San Diego, California the next morning, which was through the mountains but nothing like the mountains north of Los Angeles. We were planning on camping at CampLand on the Bay, which is located on Mission Bay. We signed in for a week stay; we had been in San Diego before and wanted to check on some friends. We did some site seeing and shopping. The weather was nice for the time of year, it was February, the temperatures were in the 70 to 80's. The park had modem dial-up service only, and charged by the minute.

We were right on the Mission Bay, what a view, we enjoyed it . Well be heading north to Oregon after this week stay. See you in part 8, California driving North.

I got the bicycle down and rode back up to the service center and got our supper for the night. I came back and started up the generator and watched TV while eating supper. I could not access the WI-FI at the Flying J, because you had to subscribe to their system to be able to access the Internet.

There are some drawbacks to parking in the truck stop. The big one is noise at all hours unless you are a heavy sleeper. It was not the best night I spend, but was not that bad. I got up in the morning and all I could see was semi-trailer on both sides not more then a foot away. It felt like we were in a box. We put the coffee on and got ready to leave for the days drive.

We were going to make it out of Texas today!!! We got to New Mexico and stopped at our first roadside store. This one had the jewelry and rattlesnakes for sale. After a couple hours there I got the wife to leave on a promise to stop at another one. We got all our packages in the rig and off we go again.

Will down the road about 15 minutes and the right rear tire blows out and we are on the side of the road. Now one thing I did get was Good Sam's road side service. This was a wise choice and I was glad we had it. We had to wait about two and half hours for the guy to get there. He jacked the rig up and found we had two tires blown out on the dually. He had brought one tire and I had a spare, so we got the tires on and down the road we go.

We blow thru Deming and get to Lordsburg, New Mexico. We spend the night at Lordsburg and were off in the morning for Tucson, Arizona. We had picked the SOUTH FORTY RV RANCH RV Park north of town.

The South Forty Ranch RV Park was a nice place to stay. They had a good pool and club house area and we stayed four days to catch up on laundry and rest. It was a good rest place and the sites were cement pad with stone lot. We will hit the road for San Diego after Tucson. See you on the road.

The beginning of this adventure started when I was big enough to drag a box home. I loved playing in cardboard boxes and pretending to live in the boxes. This was back when you could get into the trash bins or they didn't crash boxes.

I can't remember not wanting an RV to travel or live in. The option came in 2004 when I got laid-off from my job at 59 and half years of age. I know there is no age discrimination when you are looking for a job (LOL). The search ended when I could not get a job that paid over $7.50 an hour.

Anyway back on the road to the RV life. We (my wife and I) had a house and she was on disability, so we knew we had to find a more manageable way of life, just from the money stand point.

We put the house up for sale and started to look for our new home.

We sat down and made a list of what we wanted in the new home within reason. No upstairs, but it could have a basement storage. No utility room, but a washer and dryer cabinet. No two bedrooms, but two beds for company. The RV had to be at least 36 foot long and meet all of the above requirements, besides good tires, engine and drive train. We wanted to take our car along too. We would purchase a car dolly, because our car was front wheel drive and not tow able on all four wheels.

The pictures above are of the car dolly and 1994 Pace Arrow Fleetwood 37.5' with awning. The RV was in excellent shape with new carpet and low miles. It was a beauty, as you can see. The car dolly I found in the paper was used, but it was in new condition.

The full rig all hooked up and ready to go.

We had read all the RV books to help us locate our dream home. It was a great help in the selection of the correct RV for us (we also have two poodles). There were some extras that came with the RV. One of those items was a shade screen for the front and side front windows. When the screens are installed (they snap on over the front windshield when you are in a RV park), you can see out and no one can see in. The shade screens kept out 90% of the sun's heat too. There are also sunscreens for the windshield wipers to keep the sunrays off of them.

We are in the new house on wheels now, but needed a place to settle in and get our feet wet. We choose a place close to us in Florida. The RV Park is in a central location for shopping, recreation, and the Pinellas Trail. Orlando is a 2-hour ride to Disneyland and all the other attractions. We rented a spot from December to February, before we took off for the western United States.

Almost always there is a story in every stop you make so here is the first one. We were into February and getting ready to leave within a couple of days. I wanted to fill the propane tank for the trip so we would not run out, because the weather was cool. I got the rig ready for the move to go to the propane pump station and then return to our spot. Everything was going smooth and the park person was going to help guide me back into the spot. The only thing was, he backed me into a tree and tore the rubber membrane roof.

Before After

We were lucky in one way, it did not damage the roof structure just the roof material. We felt fortunate and we were able to get it patched before we took off on our trip.

Patched up The tree

This is the first of a series of our RV experience. I will be continuing this series, with how things work and the trip out west and back. Hope you enjoy this first installment.

We pulled into the park--one that has horses that you can rent for $75.00 an hour and rabbits that run all over the campground in all different colors. The people that were parked in the next spot informed us on arrival that they were ?full time RV-ers? and were very comfortable! I wondered what is a full-time RV-er and is it possible to be comfortable as a full time RV-er?

Well, we stayed close to a month parked next to them, and indeed they did seem to be comfortable. They walked their dog every morning, they stayed inside most of the time, maybe because they had a satellite system with 100 plus channels evidenced by the dish that was parked next to their RV like a flag staking out a claim on a mountaintop. Whereas, we found ourselves outside mostly in sun or rain, either cooking on our Coleman stove or just visiting with other campers or each other in our deck chairs under the ample awning that came with our RV.

At night it was quite interesting, we saw people with Christmas lights laced over the top of their campers or awnings in different colors, camp fires burning, and people on horseback going out in a long line for their horse ride at the beach. They went behind the tent section under a bridge that crossed the river and out across the dunes to the shoreline for their hour-long jaunt.

During our time on this memorable trip we met people from all over the world. One man was an Irishman that had come to the West Coast for a trip to California with his family. A Scotsman that we met who was on his vacation (or holiday as the Brits say) to see his sister who lives in Washington State, who was in the laundry room at a resort waiting for a machine to come open.

Two people who had moved to Canada from South Africa and was down driving the coastline for their much coveted ?two week? vacation, and a German woman who singly was driving in her van that she bought with her babysitting money that she earns in New York to travel with-- as she told us. She was selling greeting cards along the way that she had made with homemade photographs attached to colored paper and ink designs around the perimeter of the card. What an interesting eclectic company of people that we met with some very interesting stories.

On one occasion we went to a beach park to do some ?on location? painting since I paint oils and my husband paints watercolors. We set up our easels and began to paint the scene that was in front of us. Mine came out pretty good and so I found a frame for it when we got back and hung it in our booth that we have in an antique mall for sale near where we live. My husband?, on the other hand, didn'?t go so well and he decided to scrap it after trying to rework it several times.

During our stay we planned to go the town?s theater one night, a promised treat to ourselves, and finally got our tickets and went. It was a delightful evening milling with the locals and the tourists at this beach theater-house decked out with red velvet curtains on the stage that was built in the early 1900s that had been remodeled recently. It had a lobby with a wooden window in the alcove of the wall where they served coffee at the intermission. The curtains opened to reveal a 1920?s decorated living-room of a bed and breakfast house with nothing newer than 1920?s furniture and lamps and trinkets on the tables.

In came the cast all dressed in obvious 1920?s garb and they began the play in loud voices no microphones needed since the theater was about 30? x 30? in its entirety.

As most vacations, this one came to an end. We had plenty of fish and chips, a well- burnished sun tan as if we had come from the Caribbean, and plenty of fresh air. The people we met were one of the best highlights of our RV vacation, and the town that we stayed in was left no less the wear for our visiting - truly, we will keep the memories for ever as a treasure in our box of travels and experiences.

So we found out that you can be comfortable in an RV and that you can be ?permanent RV-ers?, it just remains to be seen if that is what we will do. Our hats are off to you permanent RV-ers and happy camping to you all!