On the Road August 2016
Moving on from our brief stay in Oklahoma City, we headed further north to Iowa, where my dear wife was born and raised. Happy to say it was an uneventful trip up. We got to the state park where we had reservations and found that there are different ways to do things than in the Texas state parks. Not surprising when you stop to think about it, but it kind of surprised us (at least me) at the time. I have since learned that an electric site without water is a very common practice in state parks.
I’m used to having tent sites around that only provide that: the ground to pitch a tent, a potable water souce, and restrooms nearby. Pretty primitive but that’s what some folks want. When I started dragging my family camping, we started with a tent and no nearby things like running water or toilets. More primitive than any of us want to remember. But that’s a different story. And I normally don’t put much water in the tank before driving as water is heavy and who wants to haul it around. Well, the Iowa park has water and electricity for the RV sites, but the electricity is at each site and the water is shared among several nearby sites, so no one has a lasting connection.
Project one, was going to the nearest Walmart (some 35 miles away) to get a new water hose to attach to the existing one on the RV. Really annoying because I have two unused hoses in storage back in Texas. But, we could now fill the water tank as needed.
We were in this park for two weeks (the limit in many parks), so we moved to a county park not too far away. Oh, I forgot to mention that the original state park was in a small valley, but it effectively blocked and TV or phone signals. We didn’t even have cell phone service in this place! I had to drive to the top of a hill in the park and then got 4G service so I could do email, etc. Of course, we had it when we left the park and I would take a lap top along to relatives houses to do some quick email while there.
The county park was first come first served, no reservations. Well, kind of, sort of. When we got there we saw pup tents hastily put up, or just lying on the ground, in the RV spots. The locals “reserved” a spot by paying for it but not really occupying it with an RV. I have since learned this is common practice if the park doesn’t enforce a rule against it. We did get a very nice spot however (this was Memorial Day weekend) with a great lake view and plenty of room.
I did get most of the work done converting the tow brake on the Jeep from the portable one that had to be dropped into place in the driver’s side floor everytime it was installed and wires connected. I’ve had the “permanent” one in a box for over a year and never got around to installing it. Now that we are full time, the extra hassle with the old one was becoming a pain. With some effort, the new one was working by the time we left for our next stop in Indiana, and the old one put up on Ebay to sell.
The most important part was the ability to spend a considerable amount of time with various family members and old friends that we haven’t seen nearly as often as we would like, and to know that we really didn’t have to rush to anything. But they planned plenty of things for us to do during the three weeks we were there. It sure is a different feeling to know that whatever schedule we have is because we want it, not because of the dictates of some job requirement. That, I guess, is the real beauty of the life style. We are both still very much in the process of getting used to this new freedom. We are also very much getting used to being togther almost 24X7, and that is also a very enjoyable part: spending time with my best friend.
