Well this last week I took a step back to evaluate what I needed to work on and decided to make a few tweaks and changes to the original plans. You see we purchased an XM stereo for the trailer so we can have our music without interruption anywhere and since it wasn't connected correctly and didn't work I was taking my time putting that back in until this weekend. This weekend we took a short spur of the moment trip out with our youngest. It was a, "hey what are we doing this weekend... nothing? Well let's see if we can't get in at Kirk Creek" type of weekends.
Well we packed everything up that night and waited for storage to open the next morning to get all the trailer stuff (eventually the trailer will be there too when I'm done) and off we went. I had taken my XM Roady XT to listen to the Belmont race and hockey game without having to scan through my husband's radio. When we set up camp I looked at my XM and my Ipod home and the XM antenna I had already replaced on the trailer for the stereo and decided to try them all together... success, we had XM through my little Ipod home speaker! Well this got me to thinking..... do I really need a big car stereo in the camper or could I hard wire my Roady to the speakers and use it and save on another XM subscription. So we just gain space in the cabin and we have XM radio wherever we camp.
The Roady is about 3" x 3" with the base and you can program up to 30 XM channels.
We had added a weather station before we left and I highly recommend getting one with a storm alert feature as ours has. The base runs on batteries or we can wire it in and the weather station runs on solar or battery. It was great knowing what the weather was like before opening the door during the night and in the morning. It brought over other campers and my husband said, "It's a cool old guy gadget."
I plan to paint the base yellow and add some stickers because we have dubbed it "The Yellow Submarine."
We added a wood base to the tongue and used a flag pole to mount the base to.
Our cabin stayed 73* and the outdoor temps were 64*. We didn't turn on the storm warning feature because it was a weekender and we already knew it was to be sunny but we will be using this when we head out of state or take longer trips.
I decided to add a pull out shelf I can mount our little butane one burner stove to in the cabinet and I'm going to be putting that in later this week along with some of the kitchen improvements. I'm going to seal off under the sink so if water drips from the sink hole it doesn't get on the stove or anything under it or damage any of the wood. We are going to move the battery to the tongue so we can use that cabinet for more storage. I'm also going to add a pull out to set the cooler on and I think make a curtain so it is hidden too. This brings me to our curtains!
I tell you when you are building your teardrop take it out and camp in it as you are working on it, it really does help with setting it up the way you want it. So I brought the blackout curtains with us that I was going to repurpose into our window curtains. Well they are great we really don't need them so I am going to turn them into awnings for both doors. I also decided I am going to create an awning to swing out from the galley and give my prep area more shade without wrestling the easy-up. It's little tweaks like this you learn as you camp in it a couple times and since we aren't finished it's easy changes right now. I know for my side of the door I am making a pull around changing area so I can change standing up. I'm adding pockets to the doors to stow shoes, flashlights, keys, and such in them and easy to grab and go.
A new gadget we are going to be bringing along a 12V powered shower. California campgrounds are under water restrictions so no flushing toilets or showers until the drought ban is lifted which may mean all season so we want to be prepared. I'll get photos when we have it up and running
While we camped we had a lot of folks again stop in and look the trailer over asking questions. The hubby is getting used to it a bit more and we had fun answering and giving tours of the camper. Be prepared you will have company, a teardrop brings out the friendly in people. When we were heading home we ran into a couple that were camping in a tear they rented from Vacations In A Can. They wanted to camp in one to get ideas for the one they were building. I opened ours to them when they asked about the size, they may be making theirs a bit bigger now. LOL
We were on a hill which reminded us that we still need to have new stabilizer jacks mounted to the frame.
I see now where I need storage and how to make it work for us better so time to add some new features to the galley.
This time out the big hit when the stars came out were glow in the dark bubbles! These are extremely cool and wherever the bubbles popped they left behind glowing goo which made the field look like there was a firefly massacre on it after 30 minutes of bubbles.
The bubbles can be found at Walmart and are an inexpensive way to keep the kids entertained.
The California coast has so much to see and do and one of my favorite areas to photograph.
We went up to Kirk Creek as our first choice but they were full so we went back down into San Simeon SP and camped in their lower campground. San Simeon SP is a great campground and they actually have two campground in the park, the lower San Simeon Creek and the upper Washburn.
Washburn is about 1 mile from the beach access and is set up for RVs mainly but we've tented there just fine. It is not fancy there and do not have flushing toilets or showers but endless skies at night and wonderful hiking/biking trails.
San Simeon Creek is set up for tents and RVs and it has flush toilets and showers but are currently under water restrictions so they are not in use. In the lower camp you can walk under Highway 1 to the beach. About 1-2 miles up the road is Hearst Castle and state beach. It's a great paddle spot and they do have kayak rentals there.
I'll leave you with another camp cooking tip. Marinade and freeze your meals ahead and mark them. It makes cooking easier. They also making aluminum foil grilling bags which I cut in half and used them as potato bags. They are extra strong so they can be put in the coals.
Tri-tip, roasted green beans, baked potatoes, and garlic biscuits baked in the dutch oven.
Well I am going to sign off for now but I will be adding more this week as I make improvements and add some touches to the trailer. Thanks for reading.
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