Last weekend we went to buy our new to us camper! This past spring we decided to change our style of camping. The motorhome was great and we had a lot of fun in it, but we decided we needed to go a little bigger so all of the family would fit easier. We decided we wanted to go with a camper instead of a motorhome. A 5th wheel camper will be great because we can pull doubles (atv trailer or boat) and the amount of space that is added both inside and outside would be wonderful. It's going to be AWESOME! I will miss being able to get up and go get a snack or drink whenever I want when we're going down the road, but I'll get used to planning ahead and packing a cooler before we leave.
Here is the pictures and story of our adventure from last weekend:
I was very excited to go on this adventure! We haven't been doing much outdoors this summer because we've been in transition mode and getting stuff done around the house.
When we go on adventures, it is my job to take care of the dogs, read the directions & map (or Lola the GPS), watch for interesting landmarks, make sure my husband has snacks and drinks and take lots of photos. It's a lot to do, but we wouldn't get very far very fast if I was the one driving so I proudly take on these responsibilities.
For some reason I find runaway truck ramps fascinating. When I was a kid and we'd go on mountain drives, I would get excited when I saw the signs saying they were coming up. On this trip, I discovered I still get excited about watching for the ramps!
We saw the smoke from this fire from many miles away. After a summer of watching Colorado fight fires and being so close to a couple of those fires, this sight made us a little nervous. The people that lived on this property were nearby so we decided it was a planned burn and from the size of it, they must not have wanted to watch the fire burn for long.
I have never been to Blue Mesa...well, not that I can remember anyway. When we came to the inlet of the lake I thought it was a river and then I realized it was a lake. I was amazed by the size and wondered why I have never been here before! I think we will have to plan a trip to Blue Mesa for camping, fishing and boating in the next few years.
Apparently, this is where all of the fish were because this is where all of the boats were.
More of Blue Mesa. The water level is really low due to the drought in Colorado.
Another thing I like to do on road trips is to read traffic signs (and of course take pictures of the really interesting ones). It is interesting how each state has their own way of handling certain types of traffic situations. I had no idea that Colorado had day time and night time speed limits! It made sense along this road. If we were coming through this area at night I would prefer to go slower.
More of Blue Mesa. It's a very beautiful lake.
Even more of Blue Mesa. The largest lake in Colorado.
Another interesting sign right before we arrived at the house where the camper was. I had no idea McDonald's only had one arch at some point! This was a really cool old sign next to a newer building.
FINALLY after driving almost 5 hours, we made it to the sellers' house. We looked at the camper and fell in love with it! It was a little.......okay, a lot bigger than we had originally planned for but once we started picturing everybody hanging out in our new camper we couldn't say no. Having all of the storage was exciting, too.
I have waited all summer to see this:
On the ride home we enjoyed more scenery. There were a lot of cattle in this meadow.
When we started going around these curves, I got a little nervous since we were a lot longer than when we went through them that morning. Thankfully my husband wasn't nervous at all.
By the time we got back to Blue Mesa, we were starting to deal with some rain.,
There are deer crossing signs all over Colorado and many other states, but have you ever seen an elk crossing sign?
We stopped at the top of Monarch Pass for a break and to check the truck and the camper.....and to take a picture of our truck and camper at the top of Monarch Pass. The air gets a little thinner at 11,312 feet on the Continental Divide!
We enjoyed some more mountain views and decided that no matter how comfy your vehicle is, 10 hours riding in it makes for a really long day.
I pointed out that there was a sign saying we needed to pull over and go camping, but my husband said that's not what that sign was really saying. Since we didn't have any bedding, cooking utensils, food or water, change of clothing or our dogs I decided he was right.
You're welcome!
It was nice to get home and park the new camper in our yard. It looks a lot bigger in our yard than it did in the sellers' yard. Here is the passenger side and the "front" door
It's HUGE inside! I will share more photos once we start personalizing it. Right now it has a "country cabin theme" and we will be converting it to our "outdoor theme." We went ahead and moved all of our stuff from the motorhome that was stored in the garage to the camper and we have a lot of extra storage space leftover. Right now we have a shelf just for pudding!
One of our favorite features is that it has a back door! When the slide is in, you can't get from the bedroom to the "main" door so having a "back" door is a safety feature, but also a REALLY handy feature.
Kaos says she's ready to take it out for a trip.
We may only get to do one camping trip this year so we're having a hard time deciding where to take that trip. We can't wait and neither can the dogs!
Getting out on this adventure recharged me a little and helped me come up with some more blog posts. We will also be sharing some "How We Did Some RV Modification Posts" for both inside and outside.
