Me and My Shadow

We are the owners of a Class C RV which for us was just what we wanted to start our journey into the world of RVs. It’s just right for me and my wife and our two dogs. We find it to be comfortable, fairly easy to drive and convenient for our weekend holiday trips. With that being said, your needs may be different.

This weekend we set forth on our first multi-day venture celebrating the Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to those who served and serve our country. If you are an international reader, Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering and honoring those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It seems to us there are many veterans who seek the RV life and we enjoy hearing their stories when we travel.

We decided to spend the holiday at the Hon-Dah RV Resort in Pinetop/Lakeside, Arizona. It is a beautiful park that strives to sustain the natural beauty of the ponderosa pine trees and rolling landscape located in the White Mountains. The RV Park, casino, and hotel are owned and operated by the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Since we are new to RV’ing, we didn’t know what to expect. Checking in was easy and there was a map to our site. There is wifi available and we had water, electricity and sewage at our site. As newbies it was nice that we had a pull-through site. Interestingly though, we had to plan the direction to drive into the site. Spoiler alert, we missed our turn and had to circle around and re-orient our entry into the site. It was a real driving test maneuvering our RV and towable Jeep around the pine trees, and obstacles on the small gravel roads. But we made it undamaged and began setting up our site.

For us, everything about RV’ing is new. We had our towable Jeep configured with a tow bar, braking system, and lighting on a Wednesday at Camping World. We brought the RV over to connect the two together on Thursday and headed to the mountains on Friday. We went with a braking system that installs under the hood of the Jeep and has an actuator that connects to the brake pedal. It was a nice clean installation and on the road, it only takes about 15 minutes to install, setup and be ready to travel.

On our RV we have a rear view camera that allow us to watch our towable as we go down the road. There is an indicator on the Jeep mirror that lets us know when the brake is engaged. Towing up and down the mountains was not an issue. It was comforting to look in our rear view camera and see that our shadow was still following us and not off in a distant ditch or over a cliff. Also the Jeep tracked really well with our turns and the braking system performed so well that we hardly noticed the Jeep was there.

Arriving at our site, we met our campsite neighbors who were from Tucson and they gave us some great tips on things to do in the area. The park is rather large and it took some time to orient to where things are located and how to navigate in and out of the park. There are some street signs which help but there aren’t really any exit signs or guides to numbered sites. We consider this all part of the adventure. We did learn how to place markers in Google maps which help you find your way until you get used to the geography of the site. With that being said, there are no streets within the park that are on your GPS, Google, or Apple maps.

On our first night, we had a drip leak at our toilet fresh water intake. Waking up and walking on a damp bathroom floor is not the way you want to start your morning. My wife was quick to give it a look and determine where the water was coming from. So our morning schedule changed to include a trip to Lowe’s where I got a hose clamp and within a few hours we were drip free.

As we continue to RV, we are adding to our repair/mend kit which now includes some spare hose clamps, duct tape, a tube of caulk, box of screws, double stick tape, zip ties and a roll of Velcro double stick cloth from Harbor Freight. I’m sure our kit will continue to grow as we encounter opportunities to repair.

Enjoying the destination is a big part of why we travel. We spend our time getting to know the area where we are staying. Experiencing the food, the people, the recreation sites and if we’re lucky a farmer’s market or art fair. We find that culture varies as you travel the road and you share experiences that make for lasting memories. On this trip, my wife’s sister and my brother in-law had suggested this resort and accompanied us in their fifth wheel trailer. Shared adventures and new adventures help forge lasting bonds. It’s always nice to know you have someone with experience that you can trust and is available to help when needed.

All good experiences come to an end and it is time for us to pack it up and head back home. We take with us memories, a few souvenirs, and a lot of pictures. Oh and a check list of things we will do to improve our next outing. Slowly our RV is truly becoming our vacation home on wheels.