Necessary Instruments of Fun

One of my lovely wife’s famous lines  for me and some of the items that we take with us in Ferocious but Fabulous is “Boys & Their Toys” . I prefer to think of it as Necessary Instruments of Fun.

My Necessary Instruments of Fun.

Tower Paddle Boards

This is  probably the most versatile Necessary Instrument of Fun that we keep on board at all times. Tower Paddle Boards are inflatable. (I have a hand pump which takes up 15 minutes to inflate each board and I have an electric pump which takes 13-15 minutes to inflate with each board)  The Tower Paddle Boards  are  super rigid and easy to steer and control when you are on the water. When deflated and properly stored each one takes up the space of a large cooler. 

When camping at local parks or beaches we can easily be on the water having fun in under 20 minutes. Our Tower paddle board is great for an AB workout, cruising down the coast line or sitting and enjoying a nice and leisurely ride on a lake or other body of water.

Our daughter taking Ninja the Pug for a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay

DJI Spark Drone

OHH Yeah this definitely a Necessary Instrument of Fun. My red DJI  Spark allows me to get a birds eye view of my surroundings (where legal and approved). When I 1st set up Sparky in a new area I will cautiously fly her around the campground and then compare my footage to the campground maps (who knows what you might see or find) After I am comfortable flying in the area  I will get a little bit more bold and fly it around water and interesting sites.

As a courtesy 1-I will check to see if flying a drone in the area ( I utilize 2 different apps to check and see if there is a FAA restriction on the air space) 2-I will check with the owners or managers of the property to see if it ok if I fly my drone. I will bring sparky with me and clearly explain where I plan to fly and why I plan to fly 3-When I get back home…any footage that i took of the campground or campground area I will email to the owner with a THANK YOU and explicit permission to utilize the video in any way that they see fit.

Stock Photo from the DJI Website

Camco Gas Grill

When we purchased Ferocious but Fabulous we had an AWESOME Coleman Propane Stove and an even better Weber Charcoal Grill. So a grill or new cooking device was not needed :-)

One of the many features of our 2016 Fleetwood Discovery is a passenger side quick connect to the propane tank.. There is no way that I would under utilize this amazing feature!!! My initial thought is that I would be able to cut down the amount of the little green canisters that I buy on a yearly basis. i tried EVERYTHING from retro fitting connections and hoses the would mate with the quick connect connection.

After 6 month of trying to jerry rig something I started looking for a grill that was made to run from the quick connect connection and reading customer reviews I decided upon the Camco Gass Grill.

Stock Photo of the Camco Olympian 5500 Gas Grill

Iphone/Cords/Chargers 

1st World Problems- We all have multiple electronic devices that need power. Instead of sharing chargers between the RV and the house I invested in extra cord and wall sockets from Amazon. This way I am 100% sure that no one’s device (including mine) will will die of starvation. Also based upon my own experience the wall charger and cords are more durable than the ones that I got from the Apple Store.

2003 Jeep Wrangler

My 2003 Jeep Wrangler is definetly a Necessary Instrument of Fun. Top on top down, winter, summer, spring or fall the Jeep always puts a smile on my face. She has faithfully followed behind us through all of adventures. She is relatively low maintenance and enjoys getting muddy inside and out. We bring her on 95% of our trips and typically only NEED to use her 50% of the time. She is great for the quick last minute trip to the store. Carting everyone to and from the beach. or just hanging out at the campsite and being in the inspiration with another Jeep lover.

Hanging out in Williamsburg

After a day of fun in New Orleans

Pulling into our spot for the night

So What Are Your Necessary Instruments of Fun?

Camping In A Metropolitan Area

Camping In A Metropolitan Area

When I tell my friends  that we are going camping they get jealous because they have visions of a nice RV park with perfectly manicured grass parking spots for the RV. The kids being able to run around and play ball or play in the ocean.

When I tell people that I am going camping in New York City, Philadelphia for 2019. I always get the confused look. and 2 questions 1-Where Do You Stay/What Street Do You Park On & 2-Once you get there..What Do You Do?

Where Do You Stay/What Street Do You Park ?

Nooo not there

Not there either

In a few major cities on the East Coast a few very entrepreneurial individuals or companies have outfitted old parking lots or loading docks into safe places to camp.

Liberty Harbor RV Park

• It is within walking distance of the Path Train that will take you into Lower Manhattan and The site of the World Trade Center.
• From most sites you are able to see The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the NY Skyline
• The staff is super friendly and helpful
• They have on-site security 24/7

Campus Park & Ride

• You can see the Philadelphia Skyline from the park
• It is a 15-20 minute bike ride to the Liberty Bell
• The staff is super friendly and helpful
• They have on-site security 24/7l

Winter Island Park

• We haven’t been there yet…it is on the agenda for 2019.

Once you get there...What do you do?

My wife and I enjoy exploring new things  and hate sitting around watching time go by. When we camp in the mountain we will grab a trail map and off we go. When we are camping in a city in addition to the normal tourist maps we have started using the `Let’s Roam App.

The Let’s Roam App is a Scavenger Hunt that  reimagine the way you explore a city, whether it’s your hometown or a city halfway around the world! Every person on your team will have a character/role that will receive special challenges and bonus questions. (copied from their website). In our terms it is a self guided self paced tour (1-2 miles) of a particular city. During your self guided self paced tour you learn a little bit more about a particular building or landmark.

Using the comment box below:

Do you know of any other camping spots in or near Metropolitan Areas?

What other activities should we look at when camping in a Metropolitan Area?

Rambling Rants-Be Positive

I would like to think that I am a very positive and social person. The more beer/wine that I have had…the more social I become except in a  national or state park :-) In a national or  state park the more water and other non alcoholic beverages that I have the more social that I become :-)

This past weekend I was camping (park name and location are not relevant to the story)  and I struck up a conversation with another camper about the park. The conversation quickly shifted to why we like this park to the issues that he has had with his RV.

Unhappy RVer-How do you like the quality of your Discovery?

Me-I like it as with any RV you have to be a handy man in order to keep things running smoothly. Also,I tend to be as proactive as possible with repairs and saving money for repairs because i know that something is going to go wrong sooner rather than later.

Unhappy RVer-Well our RV (a nice class-c) has had problems since Day-1, I drove it off of the lot and 1200 miles later it had to be towed back to the dealer

Me-Wow.What did the dealer say (in the back of my mind I was expecting this to turn into a Camping World Rant)

Unhappy RV’er-I didn’t want the dealer to look at it they didn’t know what they were doing

Me-HMM

Unhappy RV’er-They fixed it and then I drove it to Indiana and had them fix all of the things that were wrong with it

Me-Oh Wow…The trip from here to Indiana must have been fun (my attempt at lightening up the conversation)

Unhappy RV’er-This is the 3rd RV that I have owned and I have had major problems with all of them

Me-Wow. This is our 3rd also and some required more maintenance and TLC than others

Unhappy RVer-You should join this Facebook group that talks about the poor quality that they put into manufacturing RV’s today. The goal is to get RV manufacturers to build better quality units.

Me- (In the back of my mind…the last thing that I want to do is join a Facebook Group where people complain). No thanks at this point in time and with this unit I am very happy with the quality and if i joined I wouldn’t have anything to offer.

Unhappy RVer-As fast as they are making them there wont be any campsites left for people to go camping.

Me-Yeah I read that somewhere but I haven’t done the math but I guess that it will force RV’ers to plan ahead in order to visit the sites and stay in the campgrounds that they want. It’s not ideal but it is the new order sort of like larger units like mine and attempting to find suitable space in a state or national park.

Unhappy RVer-The quality of RV’s being built today is just horrible and everything breaks. 

Me-Well if you want I can give you the name and number of the dealer and the sales rep that I dealt with and I am quite sure that he would do everything possible to get you into a quality unit.

Unhappy RV’er-No they are all crap.

By no means am I discounting Unhappy RVer's experiences. I honestly feel bad for him. If I had that much animosity  towards my RV I would never get behind the wheel again.

Without walking in his shoes I was  not able to offer a qualified solution or response to his problems. In hind sight The advice that I should have offered in a nice way was to  try and find the positive in EVERY situation.

• We are camping-->Enjoy  the moment and beautiful sites 
• Lean on the dealer for help! I purchased my existing unit from General RV in Ashland and when it is time to purchase another one I will purchase it from General RV in Ashland because of a multitude of reasons mainly because they stood behind the unit that they sold me ( I may blog about it next month)  
• if you are unable to find the positive then keep it to yourself….no need to bring someone else down.  

@GeneralRV
@RVTravel
@RVLife

Trip Report-Campus Park & Ride Philadelphia, PA

RV Trip Report-Campus Park & Ride (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Date of Stay-September 2018

Nightly Cost-$62.00 per night

My wife and I LOVE the City of Brotherly Love! 

The smells of the city (awesome food) and vibe can change from street to street. Also, The simple fact that we are walking on the same ground that our founding fathers walked on is very humbling. In our camping life we have disregarded Philadelphia as a destination because the closest (so we thought) campground was in the Southern part of New Jersey which is a 20-40 minute drive. Now that we have found Campus Park & Ride  we can camp and enjoy Philadelphia

The entrance sign that you see on Warfield Street (after the Ryder Truck  Shop)

Campus Park & Ride is a very utilitarian campground which is located in the Gray’s Ferry section of Philadelphia or locals refer to it as South Philly. The campground itself is a working commuter lot..dont worry there is still plenty of rooms and separation for the RV’s.  

You back into your spot along an old loading dock

Each site has a water connection and access to a 20-30-50 amp electrical connection. 

The bathroom’s have “opportunities for improvement” so if you have a full bathroom in your RV…USE IT.

All in All we were VERY Happy with our stay at Campus Park & Ride and would 1- Highly Recommended this campground and 2- Definetly stay here on a regular basis.

Cheers

@campusparkandride

@rvlife

@RV_Buddy

@Campendium

@RVillageTeam

Top-5 Campgrounds of 2018

Top-5 Favorite Campgrounds of 2018

1-Cove Oceanfront Campground (www.oceanfront-camping.com) This by far was our favorite camp ground of 2018. For us this campground won us over with the priceless views and the friendly staff. Hey we are easy to please.

The View From Our Campsite

Waterfront Spot

2-Tie KOA Outer Banks (https://koa.com/campgrounds/cape-hatteras/.) & KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Bay (https://koa.com/campgrounds/chesapeake-bay).

Both locations offer easy access to the beach and the water (KOA-OBX=Atlantic) & (KOA Chesapeake Bay=Chesapeake Bay). Both campgrounds have to meet certain standards in order to be a KOA Campground (clean bathrooms, clean sites, ample staff..etc) and both locations exceeded our expectations.

KOA-Outer Banks

KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Beach

In order to get a behind the scenes look at the operation of a KOA check out the video below from CBS.com (my apologies if you have to jump through hoops in order to watch the video)

https://www.cbs.com/shows/undercover_boss/video/17BF8FFD-8722-8988-2EB9-21FF5C37EAD7/undercover-boss-kampgrounds-of-america-koa-/

3-Jude Travel Park of New Orleans- (www.judetravelpark.com)
This park won us over with the friendliness of the staff and of course the location. a When I pulled into the park I had been behind the wheel off and on for about 20 hours and I was greeted by one of the owners who was more concerned with getting me set into my spot 1st as opposed to most other parks that want you to pay and sign. During our stay we interacted with the owners who were SUPER friendly and helpful with what to do, where to go and what to eat—>Hey It’s New Orleans

Ferocious but Fabulous and our toad

Main interior road

Swimming Pool

4-Delaware Seashore State Park- (https://delawarestateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/delaware-seashore-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=DE&parkId=360109

This is our 4th or 5th Year Staying at this park. This is a very basic state park, the sites are tight…but level. It provides our basic needs—>beach and water:-) 

A quick flyover of the Delaware Seashore State Park

5-Wildwood State Park. (https://parks.ny.gov/parks/68/details.aspx)

Holy cow the New York State Parks & Recreation Department  know how to design and run a campground. All of the sites were DEEP and WIDE. We were able to live inside of our RV and REALLY live outside. The full hook up connections (only 30amps) were nicely laid out and designed The nightly rates were super reasonable.
Unfortunately we did not get any pictures of the campground :-(






In closing this was an amazing year of camping and we are truly appreciative of:

• The people that we encountered in our journey's. The conversations over a cold drink or a warm campfire have made me a better person
• The staff at all of the campgrounds that we stayed at. I know that working while everyone is playing is not easy but all of the campground staff that we encountered did their job with a smile.

@Cove Oceanfront Campground

@Wildwood State Park

@Delaware Seashore State Park

@Judetravelpark

@KOAKampgrounds

Trip Report-KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Bay

RV Trip Report-KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Bay

Date of Stay-September-2018

Nightly Cost-$85.00- 10% KOA Value Card Discount of $8.50=$76.50.

The campground is probably the most under rated camp ground that we have stayed at this year! The facilities are immaculate, The sites are wide enough and sort of level, the hook ups are easy to access. All of the employees are nice and friendly :-). We will be back!!

Facilities

Everyone in our group noticed that the bath houses were always being serviced. Serviced as in cleaned, mopped and trash emptied. The beach front is clean and void of any sort of hazards. This KOA has a full service restaurant and bar on site and the staff are super helpful and the food was pretty good. I would give it a 4.8 stars out of 5. The pool is HUGE clean and built for families (max depth is 5-feet)

One of three bathhouses

Swimming In The Chesapeake

Nice Clean Beaches

Hammock Area to relax and watch the waves:-)

Sites

I am 41-feet long and I fit perfectly in our site. If I were 2-3 feet longer I would have to have backed in at more of an angle. The sites were  wide enough for us to “live outside”. In regards to the level-ness of the sites they are ok and may require some modifications. Once I backed in I used my leveling system to let me know where I would need help (press the on button and the yellow arrows will let you know). I utilized my jack pads under the tires to get almost level, then emptied the air bags and then hit auto level and I was set. 

Interior Road

Interior Road

Ferocious but Fabulous Fits into her spot

Staff

Let’s face it you can have the best sites, with the best views, at the lowest prices but if the staff is a bunch of curmudgeons then you won’t  go back. Our staff interactions from the time that we finished paying for our reservations (more on that below) until the time that we checked out have been very positive. It seems as if each employee enjoys working here.

Side Notes:

If anyone from KOA is reading this blog. Is there anyway that you can update your reservation system so that a guest can prepay the full amount when making a reservation or pay the amount owed prior to checking in? For the consumer/camper this would make our lives so much easier :-)

Last week a super nice person from the KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Bay asked if we could pay the amount owed on our reservation… due to the amount of check-in’s this weekend it would expedite the check in process.  Once I pulled onto the lot I provided the nice employee with my name and then they led me to my site…I don’t even think that I took the RV out of gear.  After driving 3 and a half hours it was nice to be greeted by a smile and then led to my site.

A Quick Flyover of the KOA Cape Charles/Chesapeake Bay

Regeneration

If you own a diesel motorhome you probably have seen this light in your travels. 

This light means that your engine needs to regen or cycle through a regeneration process (same process different terminology. Regen or Regeneration is the process of removing the accumulated soot from the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) by increasing the temperature inside the DPF to the point where the particulates will burn up.

There are 2 ways for your RV that is NOT equipped with a REGEN SWITCH to remove the accumulated soot from the Diesel Particulate Filter.

1-Keep driving at speed and your RV will complete a Regeneration Cycle on its own. This is the most common process.

2-Perform a Parked Regen

Warning The External Gas Temperature could reach 1500-degrees Farenhite (Keep in mind  that you are burning soot). So take care and ensure that you are not parked near, on  or around anything that could melt or catch fire.

1-Start the engine, ensure that the transmission is in neutral and the parking brake is set.

2-Disconnect the shorting plug. Twist the shorting plug and slide the interlock RED switch and then pull out the plug with a single wire.

This is what it looks like  when disconnected

3-Wait 4 seconds. Actually I had mine disconnected for over a minute.

4-Reconnect the shorting plug

5-The engine RPM will rise (keep in mind if you are new to Diesel engines…it will be a LOT less noticeable than a gas engine)

The entire Parked Regen Process will take between 45 minutes to an hour. Actually mine took 53 minutes from start to finish.

If something happens and you need to stop the parked REGEN just turn the ignition off.

Why

This is more a concern for truck operators than it is for motorhomes - especially trucks that engage in a lot of "light duty cycles" (excess idling, or a lot of stopping and starting in city operations).  Motorhomes are normally run in highway situations where the engine load is high enough for the DPF to clean (regenerate) itself with, with no input from the driver, via both passive and active regenerations.