It's how we like to camp!

CAMPING TRIPS
Tried to remember as many as possible from over the years. Many memories!

July, 1994 - Our first time out with the camper. We went to a local park just 15 miles away for our shakedown trip. We were living in SW Indiana at the time, so plenty of choices for camping in the area. Anyway, the roof locks up trying to open it. After a half hour or so I figure out the lift posts are binding, and finally get it set up. More about this problem on the Stories page. August, 1994 - I think this was our first time taking a longer trip down to Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. There was a nice family campground we visited for several years every holiday weekend. If we had not made a reservation and sites were filling up, the owner used to call us to make sure we had a spot!
Fall, 1994 - We found a campground on a lake close to us, part of a county water control dam. They had a nice little campground and recently added electric and new shower house. This became our go to spot many wekends of the year.
June 1995 - The first big trip with our new camper was heading out to Mt. Rushmore. We traveled from Indiana to Nebraska and stayed with an aunt for two days in Columbus, then traveled up to Chadron to visit grandma. The state park in Chadron was great, newly expanded at that time. Up in the Rapid City area we camped at a Flintstones park, the kids really liked that. Heading home we met family in NE Indiana at a JellyStone Park. That was a two week and 2,600 mile trip.
Fall, 1995 - Camped in a couple local parks.. Two rain storms let us know the roof was leaking. Ended the season in northern Indiana camping with family from Michigan. The camper then got left at the factory for repairs.
November, 1995 - Picked up the pop up from the factory. They did a total rebuild from the frame up, however we still weren't happy with what they offered. Check out the Stories page where there is more detail on this.
Spring 1996-Fall 1997 During this time we just camped locally with a few trips to Kentucky. The roof began leaking again, making it less fun to camp.
Spring 1998-Winter 2000- In early 1998 Medicare changes cost Tim his job. We didn't camp much for those couple of years.
February, 2000 - We moved to Cincinnati, and stored the pop-up in a garage. Due to our loan being resold twice the title could not be found, so we couldn't register it in Ohio. With the roof leaking, and the kids more involved in school things it stays stored until spring of 2007. During this time we make attempts to have the factory replace the roof again under their 10 year guarantee, but they continued to deny us.
Spring, 2007 - A friend helps us get the pop-up titled in Ohio, so we decide to see what we can do to fix the pop-up and get camping again. Research done decided EternaBond tape would be the answer. After a bit of work we got it fixed, and that is on the Stories page. The camper then got a good cleaning inside and outside. Spring to Fall 2007 - Started to discover camp grounds around us in SW Ohio. Found a park within city limits run by the county we really liked and visited a lot, until a year or so later. That one is in Stories too as my favorite camping story. 2008 - We started discovering local campgrounds, and camped almost every other weekend. We did have a trip up to Michigan in July for a family reunion. Local places included two county campgrounds, one Ohio state park and one Kentucky state park.
2009- We continued to search for local places to camp, heading out just a bit further. Found another Kentucky state park that is really nice, but the roads getting there aren't the best. We also traveled out to Nebraska this year to camp near Donna's parents.
2010- We only got out 6 weekends this year, all to local places. However we didn't camp in the same place twice this year, every weekend was in a different local campground. You can't ask for more than that. We did head back to the Kentucky park that is a pain drive, but worth it!
2011- About the same this year, 6 weekends camped, all local. We seem to have fixated on the one close to home, camping there three times this summer.
2012- Again just local camping this year. One difference was Donna and Tim actually got to camp by themselves once this summer. No kids or grandkids. Quiet. Too quiet, but enjoyable. 2013- A busier year as we checked out a state park in Indiana once and camped near Indianapolis one weekend with oldest son and his family. We also took another trip out to visit Donna's parents in Nebraska. That was the HOT trip with temperatures in the high 90's during the day, and the Blazer A/C not working. We were setting records getting the pop-up open when we pulled in for the night so we could get in the A/C.
2014- This is the year we joined a camping club, GLPUC.org, and met some real nice people. We got in two camping trips with them this year, one at Grand Lake/St. Mary's and one we hosted at Stonelick State Park. We did go to Nebraska again, but without the camper. Donna's dad passed three days after we left, so we were back again. That reduced our planned camping trips, so being retired now I headed out with our granddaughter and camped local for a few days during the week. The campground was not busy at all, and it was nice to have most of the place to ourselves.
2015- Well we opened the year camping on Mother's Day weekend, which has been our normal start to the camping season each year. Went back to our favorite local county campground. We have three more campouts already arranged coming up this summer, one with the camping group, one for another family reunion, and one to the state park that's kind of a pain drive but so worth it. Especially the donut store down the road! July 4th Weekend, 2015 We camped Thursday - Monday at Holly Recreation Area in Holly, Michigan. Had a good time with our Family Reunion on the 4th. Two cousins stopped by Sunday to visit, haven't seen either since our last stay here in 2008. The mosquito's were pretty thick this year around the campsite. Showers were cold as ice Friday, not much warmer Saturday.
July 9-12, 2015 Camped at Butler/Mohican KOA with the group from GLPUC.org. A wonderful campground, clean with great restrooms and hot showers. Enjoyed going into tourist mode sight seeing around the area through the Amish shops and state park. No kids or grandkids this trip, just the two of us!
July 24-26, 2015 Camped at Miami-Whitewater Forest, our favorite park close to home. Unfortunately our neighbors were quite rude and continued driving through our campsite because of the spot they chose to set up. We had to get the ranger involved, but it didn't help. The whole story about this is on the Stories page. Anyway this is a nice small campground, newer clean restrooms and showers, small lake for fishing, wet park for kids, bike and hiking trails and more.
August 2015 -No camping this month, moved mom to town. Took more than 2 weeks to get it all packed, moved and (partially) unpacked.
Sept. 11-13, 2015 - We hosted the GLPUC SW Ohio Campout at Stonelick State Park. The weather was supposed to be fabulous, but it ended up raining Friday night, Saturday morning and again in the afternoon right at dinner time. Sunday was cool, but with a clear blue sky. The only issue were the geese, quite loud very early in the morning as the lake was just behind us. Oct. 2015 - We finished off the season with a weekend by ourself. It was cold at night but nice during the day Saturday. One of those fall days where you run the heat at night and the A/C in the day. So then the camper got a good cleaning inside, everything that won't survive winter removed, and it's tucked away in the garage for its winters nap. The 2016 mod and repair list is already in the works. Hurry up Spring!
May 2016 - Mother's Day weekend was early this year but since it's our usual start to camping season we went out to our favorite campground close to home. We stayed in the same site we camped in when our granddaughter first camped with us at just 3 days old. This weekend her five month old little brother camped with us for his first time! And the start of a new season and new website begins.
May 20-22, 2016- Camped at Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, Kentucky. Nice campground with a family atmosphere. It was rainy Friday and Saturday but cleared up late Saturday. Wish we could have stayed longer because it was a beautiful day Sunday. Oldest son and family visited Saturday, and daughter, granddaughter and grandson arrived Saturday evening to stay the night with us.
June 11-13, 2016 We headed back to Miami Whitewater. Stayed in a site we have never tried before because we've watched so many have trouble getting in. The driveway takes an almost 90° turn with trees to both sides and in front of you. It took me 4 or 5 tries but I got the pup parked nicely. Grandkids enjoyed the extra area behind this site. Son #3 came out for his birthday dinner.
June 24-26, 2016 We camped with the GLPUC group at Deleware State Park. Nice park with fairly large sites, with 8-10 sites arranged in loops. It was hot that weekend, but cool at night.
July 6-10, 2016 Headed out to Illinois for the GLPUC Rally. This was a real nice campground, we had a very large site on the lake. Geese came by to feed in the grass and bullfrogs at night kept Donna awake. We traveld into town for a lunch at a quaint little restaurant and had tier lunches, salad on bottom, sandwich in middle and dessert on top. The rally potluck was great too, there were so many things to taste!
July 22-24 we headed to Stonelick State Park. It happened to be Christmas in July weekend, so the grandkids had some extra activities to enjoy. It was very warm out all weekend.
August 5-7 we camped at Big Bone Lick State Park. Our three grandsons stayed with us, and daughter came down Saturday with three more grandkids and Donna's mom. It was real hot all weekend and the pool felt so nice Friday night after setting up!
August 12 we arrived at Cowan Lake State Park to camp for the weekend. However after getting everything ready to crank up the camper on the first turn POP! the main cable breaks. So a lost weekend and we head home to look up how to fix it.
August 21 - Repair day for the camper. New cable ordered and delivered from Goshen Stamping Inc. Been looking at different forums and posts on repair. More detail on the Mods and Repairs page, but the job is finished and everything works again.
January 2017 -well we had one day of tempertures in the 60's then it got cold again the next day. First tease for spring, I guess. Still planning a re-make of our sink counter, as the leaks over the years have taken their toll. Thought is to copy the same design, add a water pump and standard faucet, all hooked up with new water lines. It's probably going to lead to more waste water having to be carried out, maybe time for a larger container?
June 2017 Haven't had time to update for a while due to all the projects needed on the new house. But we did get out on Mother's Day weekend, our usual spot at Miami-Whitewater. Had family visit in early June so didn't get out again until Father's Day weekend. Followed that up the next weekend with a trip out to East Fork. 
The biggest thing is I have re-done the counter. Pulled it out, dis-assembled it and cut a new top out of some birch plywood. Also added the water pump and a standard faucet. It works great, and Donna is so happy to not have to pump the handle anymore. At the same time the drain issue was fixed, it was slow and left water under the sink. Found out the design wasn't the best, metal screw in the base that trapped anything solid. Now it drains as fast as you can pour water in. And the wires to the ceiling lights were re-rrouted back to original. Years ago the ceiling lights wouldn't work, and I by-passed the shut off switch on the counter by running wires up the wall. Ugly but it worked. Then I found the real problem, a broken wire connector in the canvas, half way up. 
At East Fork we got hit with a major storm, the most rain ever recorded in this area in a 24 hour period since the 1800's. Found out the roof was leaking again. At home found that the EternaBond and roof edge had separated leaving a small gap. A new layer of EternaBond and it's fixed again. Hopefully for another 10 years!

To be continued..................