Our Adventure Begins!!

So, it's off to Middleton RV on Monday morning, October 15th for a 10 am appointment.  We spend about 2 1/2 hours for our "orientation" and purchasing the rest of the peripherals needed.  Ouch, that hurt.  :)  But, all of the Middleton RV folk have been just great - from Timmy in the store to Billy, our tech teacher - to our original sales people Bill and Mike, they've been really nice and answered our many newbie questions.

Our first stop is to show off to Dan's twin, Don and wife Barb, who drove down to the gas station on MM to appropriately oo and ah at our new purchase.  We were so happy to see them.  We then head for our camp - at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters, not more than 10 minutes from our home.  Dan practices backing up in the day parking lot, and we get set up in site 202.  At this point, it's 5:20, and we enjoy a cool, fall walk around the lake.  The sunset is pink and calming, and the park is quiet and peaceful with few campers out; although, we did see a number of people walking on the lake trail.

We eat our Jimmie Johns and play Scrabble.  We're happy to have our premium spot with the lake view for our first night in our Micro Lite; we're happy to have the heater keeping us toasty, and we're really happy to have our own private bathroom in the camper, even if we wonder how RV toilet paper can be made to be that thin!

At 8:45, I am wiped out with all the exciting events from the day, and we retreat to our folded down Murphy bed for reading and a bit of tv.  Dan wakes in the night and has a bit of trouble falling back to sleep which is highly unusual.  Does he like the RV?  Is he claustrophobic in it?  Is he worried about backing up?  Is the mattress too firm?  Eventually, he falls back asleep, and I hope all will be well.

The morning brings a quick pack up, as Dan wants to work.  All goes well, but while we eventually succeed at the later challenges of backing into a tight spot at our storage lot and unhitching for the first time, we end up feeling like we've been put through the ringer, and it's not even 10 am.  Dan drove the trailer beautifully, but he is learning how to back up.  For my part, the assistant, I need to better define my "turn left", "turn to the passenger side", "turn right", etc.  Am I talking about the steering wheel or the trailer?  There were times, I didn't even know.  Conveniently, the owner showed up to ask how we were doing, right when we were done.  Coincidence or Planned?  I would have stayed away, too.  We did make it though, and now we have that very first, valuable, learning experience behind us.   And while even though at one point Dan says to me, "I hope I get a real long run today" and I responded with, "Yes, I hope you do, too" - we still do like and love each other.  I'll be glad to see him when he gets back from Iowa.