Woodring Campgound: The Learning Curve

Woodring Campground, Carter Lake, Georgia

A good friend asked us ”Are you travelers or campers? Realizing we enjoy the serenity and solitude of a quiet, isolated campsite rather than standing elbow-to-elbow in highly advertised, media-manufactured marketing environments looking at local jellies and handicrafts, we decided we are more campers than travelers.

Our first experience with trailer camping was a small, used 13 foot Cikira that we bought because we could tow it with our small SUV. The little camper was light enough to be towed by our 1999 GMC Jimmy and still roomy enough for our basic, albeit naive, camping needs. Only when seen from the side does the 13 FD Cikira look tiny. People call it “cute.” It is as wide as a standard camping trailer, and just as tall with ample headroom for just about anyone who isn't a professional basketball player. It had all the amenities we needed, from stove, microwave, heater, refrigerator, and a full shower and toilet, and a dining area that seated four that became a queen size bed when dropped flat. That was the part we finally outgrew: we wanted space for one to lie down and a place for the other to sit at the same time.

We happily towed our little rig for our first four trips with just the basic trailer hook-up; the two-inch ball and the required safety chains, but for our first sojourn into the Georgia mountains, I installed a 1000lb load equalizer bar system and an anti-sway bar. The trailer has electric brakes as well, a must-have item when towing even a trailer that weighs only 1800 pounds. I installed the extra hardware because we were also taking our two 14 foot Pungo kayaks, carried on top in a roof rack, as well as both of our bicycles on a carrier mounted on the receiver hitch and I didn't want our tow vehicle to look like the proverbial donkey-cart. The road manners were much better with the equalizer bars, and I'm sure the anti-sway bar saved me more than once when avoiding what seemed to be imminent collision from merging traffic on the Interstate entrance ramps. With a little practice, I soon mastered the proper sequence to load and unload bicycles, kayaks, and unhook the trailer in a minimum of time.

We decided during this first, long trip, our first really extended camping trip, that we need a bigger camper. The 13 foot long unit sufficed for weekend, or even week-long trips, but for extended stays, especially with our two family pets, more room was needed. We decided also that when we go to a bigger trailer, we'll also need a new tow vehicle to replace our six cylinder, 190 horsepower GMC Jimmy. We decided to make the jump from “entry level” RV'ers, to the mid-range, middle class of recreational vehicle owners.

We have started developing our list, picking items we have decided to be mandatory, or just desirable. There are also several no's in our list, such as any vehicle that has to be dedicated to simply towing the trailer, so the big diesel pickup trucks required to haul a fifth wheel camping trailer are off the list. Also off the list is any vehicle I have to break camp to use. Once I have everything set up, I don't want to pack away the awnings, chairs, water hoses, electrical and television cables, and crank up the landing gear (the levelers) just for a milk run to the nearest grocery store. So, since I can't afford a “life boat” to tow along behind a self-contained camper, I'll stick with a tow-along camper. Park it, set it up, and leave it alone is my goal. The regal, cruise-ship style Class “A”s are out, so are the intermediate Class “C”s and “B”s, the ones I might actually afford.

I am unimpressed with today's bloated, overly style-conscious SUV's that don't carry as much inside as my Dad's 1953 Ford station wagon. The older, small to mid-size SUV's were actually built on pickup truck chassis, but many of today's mid-size units are built on uni-body sedan style chassis and are not as suitable for towing as the older units.   It seems fewer of today's SUV's are rated as tow vehicles that will tow a 5000 pound trailer.  I find the aerodynamics of today's SUV's and pickup trucks absolutely preposterous.

Back in the late 70's, I drove a Dodge B-100 van with a 318 cubic inch V-8. I used it to tow my sailboat back and forth from Miami to the Florida Keys. It would be the perfect tow vehicle for me today! Plenty of interior room to store tool boxes and supplies that you simply don't need to carry in the trailer. Power to spare and yet the engine was small enough to be economical on the road. The search for my new tow vehicle is under way, but it might take a while. I wonder whatever happened to my old Dodge?

Next: On to near-by Amicalola at

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2010/09/nobody-home-miami-must-be-like-paris.html 

Woodring Branch, Carters Lake, Georgia - Observations

Camped in the Georgia foothills next to a beautiful, serene lake that stretches for miles in either direction, we found ourselves still sitting in our little camping trailer with the air conditioning on at 7:00 pm in the evening. It was still 93 degrees outside, and the humidity was beyond even my level of endurance. I was raised in South Florida long before air-conditioning was installed in the public schools. No rank amateur am I when it comes to humidity. This vacation, however, was supposed to be a break from the heat and humidity at home. Nope, today it is ten degrees cooler in Florida than here!

Getting up here from Florida was an adventure in itself, watching the temperatures in Atlanta hit 103 degrees, and again few miles further north in nearby Marietta when a local bank thermometer pegged at 104 degrees! The heat had enveloped all of the South, including our picturesque campsite only 50 miles further north. So, instead of kayaking the many coves of Carters Lake or bicycling the hilly campsite after getting settled in, we sat and relaxed and and collected our many thoughts about our first long-distance towing adventure.

Our first observation is never trust the voice commands on the GPS! The programmers who set up the instructions for turning obviously make the assumption that every straight-through instruction means stay in the left lane. The “Bear Left!” command, meant to take you straight through a cloverleaf, will unfortunately often take you up a flyover that really starts to the left but eventually swings back to the right and causes you to exit the route the GPS is trying to tell you to stay on! Always have a map handy and know where you are going before barreling into a spaghetti-bowl interchange that will confuse the GPS so badly you may as well be driving on the moon.

Corp of Engineers Woodring Branch Campground, Carter Lake, Georgia

Secondly, the people who set up the Murphy Gas stations found at many Wal-Marts, must not drive cars. At least, not real ones. Besides the almost mandatory traffic jams because flow-design is non-existent, the last place you want to tow even a small, agile trailer is through the short, angular pump aprons at Murphy's. Even if you do get three cents a gallon off the posted price by using a Wal-Mart credit card, the aggravation of using Murphy gas simply isn't worth wondering if you are going to lose a corner of your precious, but fragile, RV.

Thirdly, have alternatives for everything! Alternative routes for travel as well as alternative activities for being confined to your camper when it is either blisteringly hot or pouring rain. Have alternative meals or food available, and pretend you can't communicate with anyone, because, often, you can't. If you don't have electric power, and you don't have a generator, make sure you have a way to recharge or replace a dead battery! 

Next; George Carlin and the Perseids - musings while at Woodring Campground at

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2010/09/george-carlin-and-perseids.html