Camping - Ray Roberts - Isla Du Bois

We took the trailer out for the second time. The first time it was scorching hot. This time it poured rain. Finally, Sunday, it settled down enough to actually enjoy the outside.

Lake Ray Roberts, Isla Du Bois is a fantastic state park. It's small, but lovely. I was so pleased with our camp site #170. Sufficiently secluded even though it was right next to the main road. I have to admit it is nice to have a trailer with a bathroom so we don't have to worry about being situated next to the restrooms. Which we weren't, but it didn't matter.

We drove around a little on Sunday. We also liked spot 75 because it is close to the water. We saw so many spots close to the water. Many people just moored their boats on the water close to their trailers. Ah, some day.

I like the rock edges of the water. Not sharp rocks, but water-smoothed rocks. No mud. We stuck our feet in the water to cool off. If we'd had a spot close to the water, I might have take a chair down their and just sat in the water. The breeze off the lake was heaven. I can't wait to go back. And the sooner the better. Definitely 2 thumbs up.

That's the park, now the camper.

The trailer definitely got a work out as we were going in and out, the dogs were wet and going in and out. At one point, we had four people and the dogs all in the camper. It worked out great.

We discovered a couple of more items we need. A table for outside. One of those light-weight fold up tables. That way we have a place to set the coffee maker, and other items we don't want to have to take in and out all the time. Camping, afterall, is about being outside.

I also need a system for getting many things from the camper to the grill or picnic table. A basket or something. We thought about a big plastic bowl (we have one at home) that can double as a dish pan. It can be a bit tricky grabbing eggs, bacon, bread, potatos, a knife etc to carry outside.

We need lighting. We pulled into the park at 10pm. It was pitch black. The only thing we could do was pull the truck and trailer in head first and go to bed. We slept with everything still hooked up. Not that a couple of lanterns would have solved that issue completely, but at least we would have had light for walking around. I also need to remember to stick in our rope lights.

The dogs were pretty good this time. They are getting much better about staying close to camp. They explored, but never wandered into the street or too far away from camp. I desperately need to get tags with our phone number for their collars.

Things that worked.

DH bought two $10 table top grills and charcoal. He made breakfast and supper in his cast iron skillet on the charcoal fire and it was great. It finally felt like we were really camping.

Shopping our cupboards. We didn't take the time to go grocery shopping before we went camping. When it came time to pack food, I shopped our refrigerator and cupboards and came up with enough food for breakfast and supper.

Picking Up the Trailer

We're picking up the trailer this weekend. Can't wait.

Taking the Plunge

Well, we did it. This weekend DH and I thought we'd go look at campers and ended up buying one. We plan to pick it up this weekend. We'd love to go camping immediately, but our schedule may not allow it. Hopefully next weekend.

We bought a Zinger ZT19RD and we are thrilled.

Camping Without A Camper

DH and I are such a trip. We went from looking for a cheap pop-up, to actually purchasing a mid-range trailer, to changing our minds and realizing we could have a much nicer trailer for the same monthly payment to deciding tent camping is just fine.

We have come full circle. This weekend we got to talking and decided we'd just pull out the tent and make sure it works fine.

We decided to use the money we might have used toward a trailer to buy nice camping equipment. A quality blow-up mattress, a net canopy to create an extra room, storage bins, outdoor strength extension cord and so on and so forth.

We figured we are fair weather campers anyway. So a tent should work just fine.

Now just wait until next week, we'll probably change our minds again.

As Quickly As It Comes, It Goes

After much thought and discussion, which we should have done before we agreed to buy the trailer, Marshall and I decided this little trailer wasn't the trailer for us. I called first thing this morning to let them know. McClains RV was so nice about the deal. When it is time, I'm sure we will start looking there.

We definitely want a camper, but we really want to be able to have room for people go with us.

We Took the Plunge

Our intent, or maybe it was just my intent, was to go to the RV show yesterday and scope out the different trailers that are available. It worked great. We met some people, got business cards, heard about deals back at the lot and just generally enjoyed looking.

We knew that we wanted to start small. My budget was $10K or less and really I would have liked $5K or less. I would have been happy to buy used. But then we saw this little baby and this one. They call these "back to the basics" campers. If a pop-up is a step up from a tent, this is a step up from a pop-up.

We chose the one with more counter and storage space, but no shower. I really don't care about a shower. We stay at state parks and I have flip flops.

I guess we'll start escaping reality in a couple of weeks.

Camper Shopping

We had so much fun camping this spring, I started stalking campers on Craig's List. Just checking to see what's there. How the prices run, what options are available on all the different trailers. Finally yesterday we went to a dealership to actually get inside some campers. We plan to go to the RV show in September, but that seems forever away right now.

United Camper had three models on the floor that fit our criteria. Which pretty much is small and cheap.


The Surveyor Model SV-320 I don't know if this is the exact model we were in, but the floor plan is generally the same. What I like is the queen bed is accessible from both sides. What I don't like is there is no couch. And the model we saw is 7' wide so the dinette will only hold two grown people. For the money ($15K) It was a tad tight.



This was my least favorite. The bed is a double and 80% closed in with a bunk on the top. Can you say claustraphobic? What I did like is the couch. But neither the couch or the dinette make into a bed big enough for both DH and I. I might be able to justify it, if it didn't cost and arm and a leg, but for the price, I think we can find a better fit.



This is our dream camper. Oh, while we're looking I'm sure we'll find many "dream" campers, but we fell in love with this one yesterday. We decided that maybe in two years, if we are still into camping, we'll upgrade and go on vacations.

For now we plan to buy a "weekend" camper. What that means is we don't buy a trailer that's nicer than our house.

I can't find the floor plan we really liked. It's simialr to the first with queen bed accessible on both sides and a full size dinette. Still small, but workable.

We'll keep looking, planning and narrowing down what's important to us.