Deception Pass
Our first weekend trip was to Deception Pass State Park (http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=deception%20pass). Since it was our first real trip, we decided to go with some more experienced friends who have a fifth-wheel. We booked a pull-through site with no electricity (our first mistake). Our stay was in early April and the site was fantastic, despite the rain. The road through the loop was a little narrow given our lack of driving expertise (and an earlier run in with a pesky streetlamp in our culdesac).
I should preface this by saying we had a fantastic walk-through at the dealership. They answered questions, we took photos and notes. What would have been helpful is to be able to find those notes... That said, these are the things we struggled with:
Propane: Wait, we have to turn on the propane? Where? Thankfully our friends were on hand to find the correct compartment and show us how to swivel the valve properly. They also taught us to be patient with lighting the stove top because the propane needs a minute to get to the stove. Now if only I could figure out how to light the oven, we'd be in good shape.
Generator: Every time I started the generator and then started the microwave, the generator would die. I talked to the service department after the trip and they said it's a good idea to let the generator run for at least 60 seconds before switch on the microwave. Good to know.
Meals: Okay, I love to cook. But I felt like I spent three hours each day prepping meals in the RV while Vince visited with our friends and kept an eye on our two kiddos. Lesson: keep it simple. There is a reason hamburgers and hot dogs are camping staples. I also learned that prepping in a small RV kitchen will take 3 times as long as prepping in my regular home kitchen. Moving forward, chopping lettuce, tomatoes, etc., will be done before we pull out of the neighborhood.
Electricity: Back to the mistake referenced above. We booked a site with no electricity for our first outing. We were so used to tent camping that we didn't realize the convenience electricity brings to RV ownership. We had to use the propane to keep the food cold, cook, etc. Since we had issues with the generator, and we didn't want to run down our batteries, we ended up skipping the RV's bathroom and using the state park's facilities down the road a ways. Not the end of the world since we were tent campers in our previous lives, but certainly not convenient. From this point forward, if we're staying more than one night, we will stay someplace that has electric hookups at the very least.
Satin Sheets: We will laugh about this last mistake for years to come. In our RV, we have a king-size bed in a separate bedroom. It's phenomenal and we are so appreciative of the privacy it provides. Unfortunately in my rummaging for sheets, the only "spare" ones I could find were some satin sheets. It didn't dawn on me that these would allow the covers to slide off of us the entire night. The minute I got home, I found some nice flannel ones and traded those darn satin sheets. Never again will I trade a few minutes of search time for something that involves my sleep. Now I remember why those had been stuffed to the back of our closet in our house.
* Up next: La Conner Thousand Trails, here we come.
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