Our first campground with the Bears Den

We left the kmart parking lot once I got my driving grove on and our plans included stopping at an Oklahoma State Park on the way back to Texas.  We figured we would be leaving at around 1 pm and that is what it worked out to be so we had several on our list but one stood out of our list of 4.

Once on the highway and as I was getting up to speed the "Lady of the Coach" made an announcement.  "WARNING OUTSIDE BAY DOOR IS OPEN"  I had this flash of a famous movie in my mind, looking in the rear view mirrors, I was thinking I would see things strung all over the highway.  "WARNING OUTSIDE BAY DOOR IS OPEN", seeing nothing I quickly got over to the right hand lane and made a quick exit, looped around, caught a green light at the exit and stopped over into a parking lot.  I had pulled on all the bay doors the only one that had felt loose was the engine bay door, and I thought one lock was good enough.

I jumped out walked pulling on each bay door, LOCKED, but when I got to the engine compartment thats where I saw it, there is ONLY one lock and that was not locked.  So I locked it, I think the wind once we got moving started it to vibrate.  So this was my first "excitement moment" of where there is a few more to come..

Remember when we opened the BIG Zip Dee awning and how nice it was....well I am so glad we did cause at the time our walk thru person did not want to take the time to open it, but you know it was in the UNLOCKED POSITION.  He said, Im so glad we looked at it, I thought that was in the locked position you would have had a real mess on your hands on the highway if this had dropped open.!!

I got back into the coach and off we went, no hitches payed our first toll, a 1.50, and took a lunch stop at around 2 at an Ihop.  The waitress was so nice.  As she stood there visiting I said not to busy right now.  She said, "I was worried this really pretty bus came in the drive a little bit ago, and our manager had just let 3 people take the afternoon off, Im not sure where all those people went.

Was it green and white ?  Yes it was so pretty too, guess they just went to the motel in the back lot. We said well there is only 2 in there and we are the 2.  REALLY, that is so pretty.  I said, yes it is a 1997 we just got it about an hour ago and it talks to you too.  REALLY it looks brand new, and it talks to you, I don't remember anything that talked to you back in 1997.  Well this one does and we told her about our bay door open story.

So after lunch we found our way to our camp grounds, just missed the check in at the camp store so drove to the location and had the pick of the slots no one was camping in January when the night time temp is going to be below freezing.  But that was not going to stop us.  Linda found a spot she liked, a pull thru for me, not to close to the water, she did not want the Bears Den to roll off in to the lake on its first night.  I guess I need to explain air brakes better to her and how they work.  But it was a nice spot and helped us to create our first Safety Tip for campers something I wont forget any time soon.

I Stopped the coach where Linda wanted it, leveled the coach, we plugged it in, turned on the heat, found the bathrooms and like Gilligan said, "It looks like clear sailing."

Our Lake View from the Bears Den

Mama Bear and the Bears Den

Papa Bear and the Bears Den

As the unit is "winterized" we would walk back to the public restrooms, not far, but on the 3rd trip it was dark, and the light was just right, when we came back, I got my next "excitement moment".   All this white smoke was coming out the back by the heater, at least thats what I thought I saw.  Look the old boy that had this coach never ran the heater and now the darn thing has caught fire, I move quickly into the area sniffing for smoke, Linda saying, Steve that does not look like smoke.  Then it hits me.  Oh my gosh, I remember this from living in Michigan, this is an inversion layer and all this is steam....Dah....Then as I take a step DOWN I GO, Linda tries to grab me and as I go down to the pavement with a few choice words, Im like, "what was that."  See the safety tip now to learn more.

Later we tried to sleep on the bed but it was just too hard, was not to either of these bears likings, so we each grabbed a couch and had a great nights sleep.

All in all our first night went pretty good, we left the slide in, only used electric, and did not need any awnings out.  We did point out to the camp monitor when she came later that evening to collect the pit fall in the back, all she said was that was not there the other day.  We just felt they needed to know to protect the next camper like us.

Watch the video to see the campground from inside the coach.

Watch the video to see the campground from outside the coach.