"Chomping At The Bit"

It's been way too long since the "Beast" has been on an open road and as long as everything continues to move forward in a positive direction regarding COVID19, we are looking forward to getting the heck outta Dodge for about three weeks at the end of July. With my Sigoth (significant other) having knee replacement surgery late last fall, the recoup period involved, and then this lousy virus stopping everything in its tracks, we haven't been anywhere since October, and that sucks big time.. I've been doing my due diligence with regards to maintaining our home on wheels with regular maintenance checks, keeping the engine and house batteries charged as well as running both the engine and the generator for a short while every two weeks. Also moved it back and forth a few feet every so often to keep the tires from flat-spotting. Will be draining the fresh water tank before we go and flushing the lines etc., so come July, with a hope and a prayer or three, we should be good to go. The anticipation is currently at an all time high as this has been the longest time we've ever been off the road since we made our very first first trip. Hope everyone can be out and about doing what we all do best this summer, and doing it to the max. Be well, stay healthy, and above all watch out for all the crazies who will of course be out there on the roads again with us..........

Happy RVing to all, BankShot.............(aka Terry)

 

We have reservations at a NY state park for the 4th of July week, and we're anxiously waiting to see if they'll be open for camping or not. It looks like June 1st may tell the tale...

 

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Hey Dutch - All our reservations for our upcoming trip have been made and all the RV parks we will be staying at are open for business, most however with some restrictions as to the use of the facilities, etc. We are fully self contained and as long as we have hookups we be fine. Hope your trip happens for you and that you enjoy a really great 4th of July holiday as well...............

All the best, Terry.............(aka BankShot)

 

The 4th and Labor Day are the only stays we reserve well ahead of time so we can get our preferred parks and sites. The rest of the summer is hit or miss as we decide when and where to go on a whim. Heading south for the winter in GA and FL though, those sites are already booked...

 

We don't bother traveling over the 4th or Labor Day due to so much traffic along with the fact that the parks and/or campgrounds we enjoy the most are always full to capacity. We learned early on that in order to get a good site at Winchester Bay, OR we have to make our reservations for the next year before we leave so that's what we've been doing. We are staying a few days longer than we have in past years also and will have to move from one waterfront site to another during our stay but we knew that when we made our reservations last year. No big thing I'll just borrow the office electric utility cart and load our chairs and tables, etc. on it and drive them down to the second site. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend Dutch.......

Regards, Terry................(aka BankShot)

 

I envy the campers who are still able to get on with their trip plans during this trying time. I just cancelled the last of my reservations due COVID-19 restrictions.
Our motorhome trip this summer was to take us up to the Northwest Territories. Well, the residents there don't want any recreation visitors at this time and if they eventually open up their campgrounds it will probably be only for local residents. The same goes for each western Canadian province where out of province reservations at the provincial campgrounds will not be accepted. Here in British Columbia the government has gone as far to say that if someone from out of province does get a reservation and shows up at the campground, the reservation will be cancelled and any fees forfeited.
We had a train trip reserved for September that would take us across Canada. It got cancelled on us as well. Guess VIA Rail couldn't figure out how to social distance everyone in the dome and dining cars?
As a last resort I may take a quick trip up to see some family who live about 500 miles away. Phase 2 of the health authority's plan is for people to expand the "bubble" of social contacts. Hope that "bubble" expands because there is a lot of family to visit!
It is safe to say that our back patio is going to be our recreation for most of this summer. Safe travels everyone who can get to their destinations and like our provincial health officer keeps saying, " It's not forever, just for now".

 

I bet you need a break. Good luck with the June trip.

 

We also had to cancel our US trip this year too, we were supposed to head for Mammoth Cave then over to Myrtle Beach and up the coast to Maryland. Thankfully our Provincial Parks and private campgrounds are open so at least we will get some camping and travels in this year. Hopefully we can do this trip next year.

 

All I can say is this thing had better be on it's way out before October 15th. I certainly don't want to be in the cold this winter!! It was a pain having to come back north early this spring! Canada in the summer is beautiful so I'm happy to be here now.

Darrell

 

We wern't sure about the conditions in the Colorado mountains (too much snow, campgrounds closed or too crowded, not allowing visitors, etc.). So we drove up two weeks ago and checked things out. We were surprised when we stopped in at a campground we've never been at, and were able to get a reservation for memorial day weekend.
Had a great time, caught some fish, and only one of us got sunburned.

 

Hey Fitz - - - If my eyes aren't deceiving me them fishees look like cousins to some Rainbows I caught some years ago. Filleted them out, sprinkled a little this and a little of that on them, placed them on some foil on top of the grill.with a few dabs of butter and basted them while grilling with some rotgut wine, and WHALLA!!!, some good eatin' at our campsite that afternoon. Glad you enjoyed the trip and hope your summer ahead proves to be a good one for you also.................

Happy fishing, BankShot..............(aka Terry)

 

Thanks, Banks! Yes, we did have a good time. Sunday hit us with rain and snow all day, but it was still enjoyable to just play games inside and just relax.

The fishees did taste good!

Regards,
Chris g.

 

We got an email from ReserveAmerica today regarding our NY State Park reservations. It looks like they'll be reopening soon with some new rules:

 

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Most of the parks and campgrounds we've checked out, especially the ones will be staying at on our upcoming trip, all have new rules and regs, etc. with regards to use of the various facilities. It's going to be a while, perhaps quite a while, until RVing as we've known it will be back to what it once was. It's going to be rough on those that aren't self contained and that depend on park restrooms for personal needs so I imagine porta-pottys will be selling like hotcakes in the months ahead. Main thing is we all will be doing what we love and enjoy and we'll all manage to make it work. Safe, healthy, and happy summer to us all.....................

BankShot................(aka Terry)

 

I agree that the new rules are not unexpected. I've read a lot of complaints about them, with many about the reassigning of some sites to maintain adequate distancing. They seem to be afraid their group of friends won't be able to camp right next to each other. The others mostly complain about the masking requirement when off your site, which doesn't bother me at all. I'm curious to see how they handle the restrooms, etc, but we have enough capacity and portable dumping equipment that it's not an issue for us. Our reserved sites are all large enough and pretty well separated from the neighboring sites, so I don't expect we'll be moved around.

 

Awesome Mike sounds great.

We are off for some winter Mountain bike riding to Esk between the 19th and the 21st of June to do the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail.

Ill add a report when its done.

Stay safe all of you over there. Its terrible to see a country I love ripping itself apart. Im guessing though its the bigger cities with the everybody else just shaking their heads at what's going on.

 

The first day of camping in Provincial Parks in Alberta was yesterday. In my opinion, in the park we host at, it went very well. We are limited to 50% capacity. The main rules are aimed at distancing. Each site is limited to 6 people and all have to be from the same immediate family or living under one roof. No visiting other campers (as in, if you are here with a bunch of friends to party, it’s a no go). No friends or family dropping in the share the experience for a few hours.

Everyone here is just happy to have a little freedom and be away from those confining walls. We have only seen a few very minor infractions and those folks quickly corrected themselves when reminded gently. If all keeps going well, I hope we can remove the 50% to 100% capacity when phase two kicks in mid June. Some of the rules may suck but it’s how we are going to co-existing for a while to come. It’s all about camping and people love it.

At first, half of our bathroom facilities were closed off too. But someone in a bureaucratic office (I had originally inserted some descriptive comments about said bureaucrat but since a little common sense prevailed I decided it would be unkind) finally realized that distancing requires room so 100% of our facilities are now available.

Darrell