Insane Weather and Early Camping

ihsolutions · 03-18-2012, 06:47 PM

Somebody pinch me, please!

I do not have words to describe the weather we have had this winter, and now spring, here in Michigan. Talking to my neighbor, who is 85 years old puts everything in perspective. He says he's never seen a year like this, and never even left for Florida.

So this weekend I took a chance on VERY premature de-winterization, and we went to Maumee Bay State Park in northern Ohio. I like this park in the spring, there are a ton of birds who chirp loudly in the morning, and some decent paved trails leading to Lake Erie. Not someplace I would frequent in the summer, but a great spot for an early spring trip.

We had our choice of sites. We arrived Friday night, and spent Saturday during the day at the Toledo zoo, a favorite of my young children. We spent a lot of time Saturday evening hiking, playing, and having a good time. What fabulous weather. This year, 2012, will be a measuring stick going forward for early camping. It was in the mid-upper 70's all weekend, not windy, and generally very pleasant. I even got an early start to my summer tan.

EMD_Driver · 03-18-2012, 07:03 PM

Glad to see you out camping!!!

We are STILL waiting for our dually to get done, so we can get the new rear end broken in and get out camping!

ihsolutions · 03-18-2012, 07:10 PM

Incidentally, the new truck (in photos) only had 550 miles on it at the time I left the house Friday.

Yeah, I know it's not broken in officially, but I couldn't wait.

March weather like this only comes around once every 100 years, or whatever. Once in my lifetime. So I took the risk!

As an aside, the new truck tows this 13,500lb pig like it's not even back there. I use that phrase sparingly, but really, it's just so stable, powerful, and quiet, that you can forget you are towing sometimes. Very relaxing, at least, until it's that time of the month to make the payment....

EMD_Driver · 03-18-2012, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ihsolutions

Incidentally, the new truck (in photos) only had 550 miles on it at the time I left the house Friday.

Nice truck!

**clueless campers** · 03-18-2012, 08:37 PM

Glad to hear you where able to get out. The weekend was nice - except for that quick thunderstorm that woke me up about 5:30 this morning. You also missed the severe weather and tornadoes that hit nearby on Thursday.

**Sunline Fan** · 03-18-2012, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ihsolutions

Incidentally, the new truck (in photos) only had 550 miles on it at the time I left the house Friday.

Yeah, I know it's not broken in officially, but I couldn't wait.

March weather like this only comes around once every 100 years, or whatever. Once in my lifetime. So I took the risk!

As an aside, the new truck tows this 13,500lb pig like it's not even back there. I use that phrase sparingly, but really, it's just so stable, powerful, and quiet, that you can forget you are towing sometimes. Very relaxing, at least, until it's that time of the month to make the payment....

I know the feeling, I tried to wait a full 1000 miles to break in the F-450 since most of the break in miles were highway (we bought it up north). Couldn't wait, so I hitched up at 955 miles. After a few thousand miles, it definitely performs better.

I know what they say and still try to stick to it, but think about it. Motorhome manufacturers take the same engines in van chassis', strap big heavy motorhome bodies on the back, and then drive them straight out the door and to a dealer.

Jim-Bev-2363 · 03-19-2012, 08:54 AM

My Uncle never did but one kind of break-in and that was wide open out the door and then drive like you want. He said to make the car know him, not him know the car. never had a problem with any of them but then he traded before the warranty ran out,

.

**Tweety** · 03-19-2012, 12:47 PM

WOW shorts and t-shirts in March! You gotta love that! What a beautiful campsite. (cute kids too

) It looks like you had a great time!

**JohnB** · 03-19-2012, 08:27 PM

Hi Jeff,

Nice looking truck!

Yes the weather is really "different" this year. We are a little south from where you camped. About 3 hours tow south. We camped this past weekend and the one before it was so nice we could not pass it up.

There was a good bit of activity in camp this weekend. At least 9 other campers there. The week before 2. And the month before we where the only ones... Never camped in the TT in February before. Was always to yucky out.

Here is from our weekend.

The heat has pushed everything so fast. This bush next to the campsite about did this growth in 3 days.

Friday night we had a campfire, was great. Saturday most all day was full sun. Later that night we had a passing shower. But the temperature was still up. The camper heated by the sun hit 78 inside. Had to turn the AC on to cool it down as we have storm window plastic on all the windows. Never had to run the AC in mid March in Ohio before.

Tuesday it is suppose to hit 83 here... And Wednesday I think even hotter....Suppose to break a record for this area since the early 1920's.

Enjoy the camping when you can. And cute kids you have there! Proud Dad for sure.

John

ihsolutions · 03-19-2012, 09:17 PM

Thanks John,

We, too, noticed growth on the shrubs in just the 48 hours we were camping. When we got home we had buds on the trees that weren't there before we left, either.

Had a nice thunderstorm about 4AM on Saturday morning...woke all of us up except my son, who can sleep through anything. Though I hated to have rain on the new truck, it was a nice sound to fall back asleep to.

Spent most of the last 24 hours working on more spring maintenance of the camper. 4 slidouts equals a lot of linear footage that needs caulk checked. Most everything looked good... those that didn't got scraped and reapplied. Amazing that a camper less than two years old requires this much oversight... and no wonder that most people's stuff leaks at some point, as they just use it, and tow it back to storage or the corner of the yard and forget about it.

**clueless campers** · 03-19-2012, 09:51 PM

It was 81 in Toledo today, the first time since records have been kept that the temp was higher than 80 this early in the year. The previous record for this date was 78. Temps are expected to reach 84 tomorrow and Wednesday to surpass the records of 74 & 76.

Last fall it was predicted we'd have a cold/snowy winter. HA!!! We've had 3 snowfalls that left about 2 inches on the ground and it was gone the next day. We shoveled the front walk because of the grade school on the corner but didn't bother with the driveway.

My great-aunt lives about 70 miles south of Orlando, FL. I was talking with her last week and she said her orange trees are confused with ripe fruit already and blossoms at the same time.

My daylilies are all in full bloom and the miniature irises are almost finished blooming.

I'd love to get out camping but Charlie's been working OT and I can barely move. Don't want to hijack this thread , so I'll start another one.