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Camping with your dog -- a new experience for us 22 Jul 2012 5:59 PM (12 years ago)

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by Jim Bessey

Our husky/lab mix, Layla, likes camping and camp chairs

Until this year, we had never camped with a dog before. We didn't have a dog, so that was an easy choice. In February, we rescued our sweet girl, Layla, through the wonderful services of Lollypop Farm. She's young, about a year and a half, and full of energy. So far, she hasn't spent much quality time with other dogs.

On our first camping outing with our dog, we were worried. We stayed close to home at KOA Canandaigua, a place we've stayed at many times before. We weren't sure what to expect. Would she bark the whole time? Whine all night? Would she even be willing to sleep in the camper?

That first trip, we brought her food but forgot her dishes. We did remember to bring a short cable tie-out, one short enough to keep her safely on our site. I bought her a brand new rawhide bone to keep her happily occupied. We even brought an extra camp chair just for Layla.

Turns out, we needn't have worried so much. After a tour of the resort, with a chance for our dog to make a few friends, we took her to a run-free area provided by the campground and let her loose for a bit. She tired of that soon enough, and was perfectly happy to return to our campsite.

We have a cupboard full of old pans, so the no-dishes problem was easily solved. She did bark loudly and predictably whenever another camper strolled by with dog in-tow. But she also calmed down on command and eventually got used to having walk-by visitors. She loved the hiking/biking trails, too.

she didn't like the well water there

Nighttime brought the ultimate test. I had visions of tethering her outside, where she'd sleep in her new favorite "cave" -- under the camper. Our camper's pretty small, but it turned out she really liked sleeping inside with us. Luckily, there's another "cave" in there, right under our queen-size bed. Though she was up and ready to go out fairly early (7 am!), she passed the night calmly, sleeping.

We've had two more trips since that first time. Once for five days at Spruce Row Campground (she didn't like the well water there), and a return trip this past weekend to the KOA. She still barks at passing dogs, and she doesn't like it much when I leave on an errand. Otherwise, camping with our dog has worked out just fine.

I'm very glad that Layla likes camping. Now that we've done it, I can't imagine going away without her. The thought of boarding her while we're off camping doesn't appeal one bit. She's good company, and faithfully guards our campsite the whole time. Funny, though -- she's always happy to hop back in the truck and cruise on home when we're done camping.
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 How about you? Do you camp with your dog(s)? Have you had any weird experiences doing that, or have any great advice to share?

Signs, Signs -- Why can't highway signs work better? 15 Jul 2012 10:25 AM (12 years ago)

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by Jim Bessey

Image from a great sign article at Writing for Designers, Geo Mason U

Why are highway signs so often barely adequate? Anyone who drives a big Class A motorhome or pulls a trailer far from home knows exactly what I mean. When expressways divide or have complicated exits, why aren't the signs better? Why don't we get better warnings for major lane changes?

We don't all use GPS. Some of us just print out the MapQuest directions, or --heaven forbid!-- use ordinary paper road maps. Maybe we don't like that metallic voice yakking in our ears like a back seat mother-in-law. So we need good signs. We need advance notice.

Those are the drivers you see in panic mode

Add my truck and camper together and I've got a 10,000-pound train that's over 40 feet long. You don't want me to have to make a sudden lane change right in front of you. Ever seen a camping trailer on its side in the median? I have, and it's not pretty.

from Jacksonville.com article

If you give me "JCT 490W/490E 1/4 MI" (a real sign) in four lanes of heavy traffic, that's only about 400 yards to work with. City through-loops and by-passes are notorious for doing this to drivers. Sure, the locals know they have to cross over three lanes --quick!-- and be in the far right lane to hit the Exit Only ramp in time. But for out-of-towners? Those are the drivers you see in panic mode. Now add a trailer or 5th wheel into the equation and bad things can happen in a hurry.

When you're driving or towing a large RV, the need to make sudden short-notice lane changes can be deadly. You have to trust your mirrors and the drivers around you. Nobody wants to get stuck behind you, so they pass you any way they can. What if it's pouring rain? Pray, or play it safe and miss your exit.

from another cool sign article!

It's an easy problem to fix. I've seen those rare places where the DOT got it right. They pick a handy overpass about a mile ahead of a major split, and they draw you a giant picture. You don't have to read little signs with numbers; just follow the big arrows. "OK, so the two left lanes keep going, but the right one goes north and next one in goes south." How simple was that?

And it's the "mile in advance" that really matters.

When drivers have plenty of time to work their way into the correct lane there's room for courtesy to work its magic. You can change lanes at speed, instead of forcing drivers behind you to hit the brakes. With room to react, most drivers are happy to let big rigs get where they need to go. Nobody wants to get crunched!

I'll bet rescue workers and the automobile insurance companies are with me on this rant. Let's do some math, in this fictional (but realistic) accounting:

• One badly-damaged full-size pick-up: $15,000
• One destroyed travel trailer: $21,000
• Value of possessions ruined in crash: $1,800
• Two other vehicles damaged by collision: $12,000
• Hospital stay for one injured motorist: $31,000
• Deployment cost for three police cars, two fire trucks, ambulance, critical care response unit, and a dozen or more first-responders -- ?? Certainly $2,000 or more.
•  TOTAL: at least $80,000

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How about you? Do you have any pictures of almost-worthless highway signage? Send me you photo and I'll publish it here. You can reach me via Comments or by using the link at the top of this page.

Review of Spruce Row Campground in Ithaca, NY -- We'll likely return to stay again 8 Jul 2012 12:58 PM (12 years ago)

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by Jim Bessey

Jim and Nick enjoy a quiet game of Gin at Spruce Row Campground

After 6 years of trailer camping all around our region, we decided to try a new camping resort, sight unseen. My wife wanted to see more of the Ithaca region, so I made last-minute reservations at Spruce Row Campground by phone and the pleasant voice on the other end of the line assured me we'd have a fine site, with plenty of room, grass and shade. She was right, and we're all glad we went.

By the third day at Spruce Row, we'd toured most of the roads and trails on foot. We'd also piled all four of us (Layla included) in the truck and had a whirlwind tour of Ithaca (very busy), the Cornell University Campus, and a fine hike along the Taughannock Falls Gorge. When we finally checked out on Friday under a blistering sun, we were sorry to say good-bye, especially to the awesome pool!

Here's our round-up, all on a scale of 1 to 10, with "10" for Awesome:

Spruce Row store (website photo)

 How about you? Do you have a campground review you'd like to share? If you'd like to submit your review for posting, you can reach me via Comments or by using the link at the top of this page.

Our rotted camper floor: New tile to the rescue! 8 Jul 2012 11:39 AM (12 years ago)

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by Jim Bessey

Porcelain tile fixes rotten floor in our 1980 Shasta camp trailer

This isn't my usual place for writing about tile, but my recent experience with some serious rot in our camper's floor makes the exception. I wanted a durable, rock-solid new floor and porcelain floor tile seemed like a fine fit for that. Doesn't hurt that tile is almost always pretty, too.

When we bought our 1980 Shasta camper about 6 years ago, the floor just inside our door and into the bathroom had a "soft spot." I fixed that by doing some plywood patching, by adding floating laminate flooring in the main area, and by overlaying linoleum in the bathroom. Until last month, that was good enough.

When Lin and I went camping earlier in June, we discovered that the "soft spot" had returned with a vengeance. Afterward, I parked the camper in our driveway turn-around and set up shop. We had another camping trip coming right up, so I had to hustle. First I had to fix the steel fold-out step, which was very springy (that was a clue for me for what was to follow).

The extent of the rot made me sick

The floor problems began right inside the door, the single highest-traffic part of our camper. I knew some serious fixing was in order, so I put a new blade in my cordless sawz-all and started what I'd hoped would be a strategic surgery. No such luck.

The damage was horrendous: wet-rotted frame members, plywood so soft I could crush it in my hands. The extent of the rot made me sick. It went under the entry closet, over to the oven cabinet, and all the way to the bathtub. In all, I had to remove everything down to the protective metal under-skin for a total of over 15 square feet.

Even the wooden 2 by 2 framing was ruined, and that's what held everything together.

Talk about needing a Plan B! I had to search my shop for suitable materials and start improvising right away. Had to cut out the bottoms of the closet and the vanity, just to get access. I laid in strips of 5/8" floor decking to span the dead space over the black water tank. Had to locate the metal cross-members and screw that down to firm it up.

The right trim and finish fixes everything

Next came a layer of 1 by 6 pine at right angles to the floor plywood, to tie things together and gain some strength (since I couldn't plywood the whole floor in one shot). Trouble was, the 1 by 6 material was too thick to go under the existing floor plywood--the old and new floors had to "interlock." So I had to switch to 7/16" plywood, slip it under the old floor where it was still good, then infill with 1/4" lauan plywood.

Doesn't that sound like fun? Took me an entire Saturday to do all that.

I used up all my 'scrap' material, two tubes of Liquid Nails, and had to make another run to Lowe's for more plywood. Ran out of screws; ran out of underlayment staples. Ran out of daylight, too.

It all worked out in the end, though. The floor was oddly-built and ugly, but felt really solid underfoot. With another full day available to me, I set-up for tile cutting, grabbed two boxes of left-overs from the garage, and spent a few hours cutting and laying new 12 by 12 porcelain tiles. Trust me, there were some tricky cuts!

The right trim and finish fixes everything. I scrounged through all of my left-over shoe moldings, some newly-acquired scribe moldings that matched perfectly, and caulked all the grout joints with tile-industry caulk that would stay permanently flexible. I figured grout would just crumble and fall out once I got back on the road.

You be the judge. Take a close look at the picture above. It's nothing fancy, really; but I'm hoping this floor will last until we're ready to give up on our 30-year-old camping trailer. It survived our week-long camping trip very nicely.
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 How about you? Have you ever had to do some emergency surgery on your camper? It's not fun, is it?