This past weekend was our first foray into camping with our new AFrame. We had already reserved a spot at the campground at Black River State Forest (
Black River State Forest - Wisconsin DNR), with the intention of tent camping, so it was an easy change of pace to go at it with the camper.
Drive up as uneventful. Gas mileage went from the usual 22-23 on the highway down to about 18ish. I was hoping it wouldn't drop as much as it did but I guess it could be worse. Handling was great - didn't even know it was there save the limited view and the occasional "klunk" from the Equal-i-zer WDH.
Setup was easy. The site was uneven, and the BAL Leveler earned it's keep on the first going correcting a 2-percent tilt.. The thought of trying to level it with blocks of wood or any other method just seems archaic!
I did manage to do one completely stupid thing, and hopefully there won't be any long-term ramifications. I cooled the fridge with AC before we left, then switched it to DC for the trip. On arriving, I went to flip off the DC power and for some reason my brain actually switched ON the AC. I then fired up the propane. End result, come morning my battery was completely drained. I smacked my forehead, turned off both AC and DC and then hooked the car up and let it run for an hour as a generator to get a little juice back into the battery.
This was a also good test of the "where to put everything" organizing, and coming out of this I will be rigging up a mounting bracket for the BAL Leveler to mount on the rear bumper next to the tire, as well as something to mount a holder for the RV-Que. Neither stores in the camper well, and I'm trying to avoid using the front mini-deck if I can help it so it can be more relegated to situational storage. I also need to perma-mount the first aid kit, which will go on the back of the storage door under the dinette along with a child-proof latch in case the extra weight leads to swinging. Last plan is some kind of shelving over the stove (but with the lowest shelf high enough to open the stove) that we can then lay on the dinette or floor for travel.
We found some $3 Target milk crates worked great for storage under the bed and were easy to put in and take out as well as just organize by use. Three of them fit very well.
One issue I did have and I need to investigate more. On the first morning there, it rained for a few hours and there was a chill in the air. I turned on the furnace to take the edge off, and within a couple minutes, the smoke detector went off. I quickly turned it off, opened everything and vented, but I'm a little concerned. I'll need to run it again this week to see if it repeats.
Anyways, that's the quick report. Planning to go somewhere this next weekend, probably by myself this time. Not sure where, but one of the state parks/forest nearby.
Linear Mode
