Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Plans are Formulating! - We Begin!
We have gotten through the early planning of how to load, what to get, etc.
Now we are beginning to plan actual trips. One item always necessary to a successful trip is the planning. It was thus with our 27 ft. flybridge sportfisher boat (A Penn Yan with tunnel drive) which slept four and had a john and shower plus cooking facilities and two drive stations....on the flybridge and inside the cabin in bad weather. Planning what to take was critical.
It is none-the-less so in a coach. We are still in the "what-do-we-need-to-buy" stage. Our recent purchases include a "Baby Q" Weber gas grill with 10# tank. We considered the direct connect to our onboard larger tank, but decided to keep that one separate from our outdoor cooking activities. Included with the grill?...Well a small folding plastic table for the grill with room enough for utensils, etc. A small burger/fish clip-together holder so they can be grilled without having the turn them and have them fall apart. A griddle for breakfast cooking which can be for inside or outside cooking.
The list is long, as we learned with the boat, and we hope to make a trial run or two. One is planned for the weekend of April 28-30 when the Dutchess retires officially and we hit the Fort Wilderness campground at Disney for three days. It is fairly close to us and yet offers the ability to try everything out.
The second one is to Jacksonville (FL) to see son Little Duke and his fiancee plus some friends there. Here, a small snag....There are VERY few, if any, reasonable campgrounds in Jacksonville. Amazing that anyplace in Florida would be bereft of camping facilities.
We have lots more plans......
1. I retire at the end of August (Still remaining a contract person to help them along for a year or two with things such as my monthly newsletter for our physicians (We work for a major hospital)). We plan three weeks in September for a Maine-down-the-Blue-Ridge tour of campgrounds and sights...we hope to time to the leaves changing, but weather plays a BIG part in that.
2. An 8-dAY stay at Manatee State Park in late December (from the day after Christmas til January 2nd, a day after my birthday) with Daughter and family and their pop-up from HOuston; plus son-in-law's parents in their coach they also just bought. Should be a good first "long" camp.....With only electric and water. We are looking at those plastic "honey wagons" with which one can empty their grey and even black water tanks into a tank, and then tow it behind your "toad" to the septic dumping station.
These should get us started. Then next year.....well, who knows. The sky is the limit. We are planning tentatively for 2008 Summer for the Alaska tour....perhaps a month or so.
Delightful!
Duke
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Now we are beginning to plan actual trips. One item always necessary to a successful trip is the planning. It was thus with our 27 ft. flybridge sportfisher boat (A Penn Yan with tunnel drive) which slept four and had a john and shower plus cooking facilities and two drive stations....on the flybridge and inside the cabin in bad weather. Planning what to take was critical.
It is none-the-less so in a coach. We are still in the "what-do-we-need-to-buy" stage. Our recent purchases include a "Baby Q" Weber gas grill with 10# tank. We considered the direct connect to our onboard larger tank, but decided to keep that one separate from our outdoor cooking activities. Included with the grill?...Well a small folding plastic table for the grill with room enough for utensils, etc. A small burger/fish clip-together holder so they can be grilled without having the turn them and have them fall apart. A griddle for breakfast cooking which can be for inside or outside cooking.
The list is long, as we learned with the boat, and we hope to make a trial run or two. One is planned for the weekend of April 28-30 when the Dutchess retires officially and we hit the Fort Wilderness campground at Disney for three days. It is fairly close to us and yet offers the ability to try everything out.
The second one is to Jacksonville (FL) to see son Little Duke and his fiancee plus some friends there. Here, a small snag....There are VERY few, if any, reasonable campgrounds in Jacksonville. Amazing that anyplace in Florida would be bereft of camping facilities.
We have lots more plans......
1. I retire at the end of August (Still remaining a contract person to help them along for a year or two with things such as my monthly newsletter for our physicians (We work for a major hospital)). We plan three weeks in September for a Maine-down-the-Blue-Ridge tour of campgrounds and sights...we hope to time to the leaves changing, but weather plays a BIG part in that.
2. An 8-dAY stay at Manatee State Park in late December (from the day after Christmas til January 2nd, a day after my birthday) with Daughter and family and their pop-up from HOuston; plus son-in-law's parents in their coach they also just bought. Should be a good first "long" camp.....With only electric and water. We are looking at those plastic "honey wagons" with which one can empty their grey and even black water tanks into a tank, and then tow it behind your "toad" to the septic dumping station.
These should get us started. Then next year.....well, who knows. The sky is the limit. We are planning tentatively for 2008 Summer for the Alaska tour....perhaps a month or so.
Delightful!
Duke
