Hiking Minnawaska State Park

Spent a few hours hiking the trails at Minnawaska State Park.  It is a huge park we only went around the lake using the red trail signs, other trails run for miles off this trail, we took one of them for a short distance but decided to not spend all day, which you could spend a lot of time on all the trails, see more information at their site.

It was a wonderful day to hike, here are some photos of the trails and what we thought were cool things to look at.

Let's Go Racing

We took some time Monday to go visit the local sprint car race track located in Accord NY, and well I am excited to get to see them race some Friday night soon.  The track is called Accord Speedway and is owned by a very nice couple Gary and Donna who spent well over an hour with us showing us around and letting us see Gary's race cars that he either stores for others or are his own.

He is building a brand new one that is only base painted so far with an engine yet to install.  Gary use to do body work and painting and I really liked the green paint that he had on that car .  He said under the lights it looks really great and just in the normal light to me I like it...something about green cars and bikes I have always liked...could it be why our motor coach is green ??

Accord has private areas for groups with AC and a full service snack bar during the races which the season starts in mid April and goes all the way through C.  They have different Friday night racing events and one of them is for 9-11 and ends in late November with an event called the Gobbler.

Years ago I would go with my parents to Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan and this track is very similar just a little smaller with less grand stands but the cars are almost the same and that is what I like and will update after we get to see some racing and feel the Thunder of those Alcohol Racing Engines in the Sprint Cars.

Accord web site is www.accordspeedway.com who knows maybe I will get behind the wheel and take one for a spin, ??

Travels Finally On the Road.

I am way behind posting....we made it to our destination April 30th as was planned, but did not know the road would have so many twists and turns over the 1750 mile travels in 5 days...I mean who does this with one driver in a motor coach and the other trailing in the "big rig" but Linda and I did it.

Sure call us crazy, first work camping job traveling all the way from Texas to New York and we took all the curves thru TN from West to East and you know when you see the bright yellow blinking curve signs, with posted speeds around 50 with trucks going down hill by you at over 60 right next to you, it kinda brings new light to the wording "over the road"  YIKES !!

Our stops consisted of a rest area in Arkansas, Campsite in TN, another campsite in TN see it is a long state when you go west to east, then a Stop in Virginia then another over night this time in a TA truck stop with BIG trucks all around.  What is cool about that is you see them drive right next to you in and out with no troubles backing in and out.  Pretty cool.

Well we have been at our destination for 3 weeks now, sometimes it feels like we just got here, and other days feels like we been here a lot longer, but it is all good so far.  We like who we are working for and with and that is what matters the most.

We have laughed a lot and are enjoying the different things we have been doing each day, variety is is the spice of life they say.  For me reminds me of golf course work with out the golf balls flying all around and the campsites are the golf course holes, and of course the membership are the campers.

The club house is the club house they call it,,, or maybe Linda and I made that name up.  Many people here are seasonal which I think is a great things as they care about their camp site and the place they are staying.

We are working with another set of work campers and the last worker just got here this evening and got his camper just setup.

Looks to be an interesting summer in New York State.  OH and PIE seems to love the life style the only issue is when the sky is light at 5 am she thinks its time for a walk...I wait till 6 before heading out, so sleep is really a premium for me lately.

Until next time, keep and eye out for Bears, they are at a place were the road really is less traveled now.

Simple Challenges.

The Bears Den will be coming out of storage very soon and going on the road full time, we are so excited.  So I went over to load some items yesterday in the early morning it had rained very heavy from about 3:30 am until 6:00 am.  When I got to the coach in front of the door was over 3 inches of cold deep rain water, tough in my tennis shoes to stay dry.  

The water was so clear, cold and wet a sure thing to wake a bear up.

The bigger challenge was the motorhome next to us is back in storage and they seem to like parking really close to the Bears Den.  This made squeezing in the coach, for a bear of my size, another challenge, of course I got in, started it up, pulled forward and loaded the coach.

That is a nice reflection of our mirror in his mirror.

Will next weeks travels be of this type challenge?  Stay tuned as now the roads being traveled will have bears on them.   

How many Bears does it take to fix a light bulb? and Let there be AIR !!

We now know the Answer to the Age Old Question...,

"How many Bears does it take to fix a light bulb?"

The answer...  Just One !

Papa Bear, YEAH we have a working light now in the step well when we are traveling or just opening the door, just another safety item off our to do list.

Let there be AIR !!

Went to a T & W Tire and had a good experience. I actually spoke to Carlos last spring 2015 when we were looking at a BlueBird and I knew at that time that I was going to have T & W Tire be our local tire shop just from how that conversation went and Carlos's concern and care for his customers.

Today we had some valve extenders put on the rear inside tires, so it is now possible to check the air pressure and add or remove air if needed.  Brian, did the install, and he did a great job as you can see.

If you are in the Fort Worth area I recommend seeing Carlos for your tire needs.  The company covers Texas and Oklahoma, and here are their contact phone numbers. 

When a Bear falls down it becomes a Camping Safety Tip

Keeping things nice

I always want to keep things looking nice, and one of the simple projects was to just add a shock to the entry door...but it can be shocking when trying to get the right part when you have no idea what the part needs to be besides just using a ruler.

Measurement was 19 inches open and 12 inches closed, but when I ordered I selected from memory instead of my notes and went with a 17 inch model, of course I also forgot to get a Stud but later got one put on the shock and found out my notes are better than my memory, as you can see here when you are 2 inches short it covers part of the step, the other issue was 20 pounds was a little much for the hinges on the door, they are a little weak and the last thing I want to do is be hunting for that part.

So I ordered a 19 inch 13 pound and now the door opens and shuts with amazing perfection as you can see here.  Linda was happy and well I was to, another item off the to do list.

I have some bulbs to pick up for the door step light, I completed cleaning and painting under the slide which looks like new to me now, and I will show photos before and after, I just forgot to do the after photos.  Here is some BEFORE photos.

On my list to do is add a value extension to the inside dual wheels, the holes in the front rims are so small there seems to be no way to get it attached correctly for me...so I may punt to a tire dealer soon and before our first major trip, now just two weeks till departure, and we are super excited about taking the Bears Den on the road full time.

Well that is the update from the Bears Den.

Shake Down Cruise Part 2

So we pulled out of the storage lot at about 12:40 pm and 

into Target at around 12:50 pm. slow progress to our destination.

Target shopping a view from the pilot's chair

Slow sailing, so with the bedroom closet slide pins not holding the door, I decided to cut the dowel I have to hold the door from sliding, I got tools in the bay, so out I go cut the dowel and back in side as I shut the door I see a man coming in a bright red shirt.  Oh no is Target going to tell me no working on my coach ?  I go to the bedroom, place the dowel....the man is walking towards the door....rap rap rap.  I go to the door, open it, older man..."Hello, I was inside visiting with your wife, and was admiring your coach, are you full timers?  We visit until Linda comes out of Target and then we all visit more.

So we finally get loaded and off on our shake down cruise.  We arrived at our first campground about 3:30 pm, got our site, pulled in, hooked up, slide out etc, worked thru our getting the hot water on even tho we were right in front of the bathrooms.  We swapped out our carpet for the one when the coach is open and I am glad we purchased it, was 70.00 less than if we had been able to get one like we were thinking, and it feels better when sitting on the floor.

We were so busy we did not take many pictures of our first site.   We slept very well on the new custom mattress, the only issue was at this park, they like to dump their dumpsters at 7:00 am crashing them loud enough to wake the most tired camper, and they have a lot of them to do.  Later around 11:00 an hour before leaving on Saturday morning a couple that had driven over to the bathroom saw us outside and said we really like your coach, we asked them if they would like to see it and we visited with them for about 30 minutes.

Seems like the Bears Den draws them in like the Big Rig, only difference which I like is instead of an auto parked next to us in a parking lot, we get to meet and greet a lot of folks and learn about their camping experiences which we really enjoy.

We left and drove to our second destination Lake Murray State Park, and this time Linda allowed me to park next to the lake, and I never had to give the details on air brakes.  Here we are all set up.

Lake Murray  Elephant Rock   Site 50

Kick off your Boots and Stay a While.

One thing I like is the changing views so here are a few and I may do a series of slides called a "A View From My Window".... A long time ago, I did a song using Logic Pro and used that as the title, maybe I may do a video slide show...only time will tell, as I do need a lot more window pictures.

Last of all is to let you know our refrigerator thermometer works... really really good, alarm and all !!

I need to run the wires better but for testing it worked great !

At 3:00 am (Apx) the alarm went off on it to let us know the refrigerator was getting TOO cold, and the solution at that time of night, just open the door for a few seconds and then shut it, later we set the limits better.

Mama Bears drawing of what Papa Bear does when camping.

For our first time out for more than a day it was a very successful Shake Down Cruise.

Click this link to See Linda's video on Lake Murray State Park.

Shake Down Cruise / Looking More Like Home Part 2

Well it was Friday morning off for our first official Shake Down Cruise.  We had ordered a "custom made" mattress to be delivered between 9 and 11 am.  We had everything loaded and at 9 am started waiting, and waiting....finally I started doing other things, organizing....or maybe I was just going to make things harder to find later....??  So at 11 am Linda called the store and found out  it was going to be more like 12:00, well good things come to those that wait....I hope !!

Bear waiting for her new mattress and ready for Shake Down Cruise.

In the mean time we placed our new rug runner which we like that goes well with the coach colors which we purchased from The Home Depot.  We were going to get a larger one for when the slide was out just like it, but all those in all stores were gone so we found something else at half the price at the Home Store. Picture to follow in next blog post.

 We also got this 4 x 3 rug for up front for 10 dollars that I really like when I go in and out of the "Captains" Chair when ever I have to get out to survey the situation before finally parking sometimes.

So we moved out the old mattress in hopes that St, Nick would soon be there...and this old mattress was so hard not any of the Bears would ever be able to sleep on this so out with the old and in with...

THE NEW MATTRESS....arrived on a flat bed truck two awesome gentleman placed it around noon. They told us it was HOT OFF THE PRESS...now we understood, why they were late...they were still making it this morning, although to me it felt cool to the touch.  Now look at the SIZE of it.  Fifteen inches...after all that work of getting the head board just right... its almost invisible...then.....

after you put the sheets, blankets, comforter and all the pillows on it..Its all but totally invisible, but we know its there and the colors look great with something we had purchased years ago and never really used but now it will be used a lot.  YEAH.

So now with the Bears Den mattress all made up it was off to begin the Shake Down Cruise next but first we need to stop at Target to get some slip rugs for under the runners can I get the Bears Den into the parking lot....lets find out.