This weekend was the maiden voyage of our newly purchased 2020 Coachman Northern Spirit 2253RB. Having wanted a travel trailer for the past few years Andrew and I finally bit the bullet and decided now was the time. Happy 10 year anniversary to us! And COVID likely played a role too – not being able to travel the world and all… Besides, if COVID taught us anything it’s that life is short and there is no guarantee. You need to live in the moment and find joy in the journey. That’s what this journal is for. To document our adventures together with our dogs Penny & Gemma.
This journey started out a bit rocky with our camper battery short circuiting itself and leaking the night before we were going to leave. Luckily we phoned the 24/7 tech service number for the RV Care Group and spoke to a technician who told us we needed a new battery and which brands were good. The next morning Andrew went off to find a new battery while I finished packing up the camper and we were on the road by 3 pm. A bit later than I had hoped, but we were just headed 30 minutes north to Valley Regional Park near Rosthern. We wanted to keep it close to home for the first time but still allow a good trial run to work out any kinks, make sure all of the appliances worked, find out what we need that we don’t have, and to make sure we didn’t forget anything important. We did forget some things, but they were minor things, like Andrew’s toiletries, and we were close enough that a quick trip home later to grab them was possible.
Set-up on Friday was pretty smooth. We picked site B9 which was nice and open and easy to back into, because I am still learning… yah, that’s right, I drive the truck (a new to us 2010 Chevy Tahoe) & trailer.
I made it in without too much trouble, although we couldn’t put the trailer exactly where we wanted it due to the location of the power supply (mental note – get 30 amp extension cord). After setting up we had an early supper of hot dogs on the portable BBQ with quick connect that my parents gave us. Thankfully it worked perfectly with our trailer propane connection. Unfortunately our dreams of a nice supper outside were dashed due to a pesky wasp (another mental note – find some trick that works to keep those little buggers away) and we were forced to eat our meal inside.
There isn’t much to do at Valley Regional unless you like to golf or have children that want to play at their playground. We knew this going in. We spent our weekend taking the dogs for walks around the park – checking out the seasonal sites and picking out the good campsites, should we come back in the future. We also spent time reading outside, watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer episodes on the iPad (didn’t quite have the right setup to watch anything on the TV yet), going to Lil’ Bean Ice Cream, and having a camp fire with s’mores (in my books this is a staple anytime a camp fire is present). I wanted to play some outdoor games too but I wasn’t feeling well on Saturday, and Sunday before we left it was raining (3 pts to us for cleaning up our outdoor stuff the night before so it wouldn’t get wet).
I think Penny & Gemma had a great time. I’m pretty sure they love this new thing we do called camping. They had their first taste of it back in July before we had our trailer and borrowed Andrew’s parents’ to take a trip up to Waskesiu. They loved the hiking and they would live in the lake if they could. It took all of about 10 minutes inside our camper before they jumped up onto the couch to claim their rightful place next to their humans to cuddle.
Overall I think we had a good first trip. We definitely thought of a few things that we need to get and to remember to bring in the future, like a second garbage bin for the kitchen, a place for recycling, twist ties, chip clips, and some mats (inside and outside) for shoes. Other than the battery mishap before we left, we didn’t run into any other problems so I call that a successful first voyage! Waskesiu here we come!
