Saturday, May 28, 2011

We made it!

Well folks, it’s real now! We've finally made our grand debut at Holly Shores Campground & RV Resort in Cape May, NJ. So far, the place is lovely. Very quaint, wooded and homey, although the sites are packed a bit tighter than I would’ve liked. It only took a few minutes for us to get set up, with the help of a friendly neighbor who directed Steve as he backed in. It was quite a relief after last night’s events, which involved about an hour’s worth of failed attempts at hitching up in the dark at our bug-ridden storage facility, where mosquitoes waged a massive attack on my flesh.

Behold:

Last night we set off from home at around 11 p.m. and arrived at the Mays Landing Wal-Mart around 1 a.m. We were the only trailer in the parking lot, and I have to say I was a little creeped out. Who knows what weirdos hang around at Wal-Mart parking lots in the middle of the night? Weirdos I don’t want to have knocking on my trailer door, that’s for sure. Thankfully, aside from a few employees arriving for the graveyard shift, we were left to ourselves.

Look how tiny the trailer looks compared to that truck!
There wasn’t much to do other than settle in and go to sleep. We had some battery power so we were able to turn on the lights, but the beauty of boondocking is that your options are pretty limited. Luckily it had cooled down some, so AC would’ve been unnecessary anyway (as it is, it’s shaping up to be a colossal disappointment, which I’ll get to later).
This morning, I woke up even earlier than Steve and Lola, thanks to some very loud truckers yelling about something, possibly about how we were parked in their spot. Ah, the joys of sleeping at Wal-Mart! Those people who stay at hotels don’t know what they’re missing. We worked on our shopping list until the store opened its doors at 9. Originally we planned on doing all of our grocery shopping for the week there, but their food selection left something to be desired. We did get a few staples – bread, lunchmeat, chips and dip, hot dogs, eggs, and of course Steve’s favorite, sardines – but we’ll have to buy our chicken and other meats elsewhere.
Yum yum yum

Us: 1, Awning: 0
Us: 0, Central Air: 1
We had two crucial items on our minds upon arrival. Number one was turning on the central air (for the first time), and number two was setting up the awning (also the first time). You would think those would be simple enough to figure out, especially with an owner’s manual. As I remember, our RV salesman didn’t want to show us how to operate the awning because it was too windy on the day we bought it. And the central air, well, we were just happy the thing had heat at the time.
Good thing for YouTube, though! Steve watched an instructional video on setting up the awning and within minutes, we had it pulled into place. Voila!
Pretty neat!
Only wish we could say the same for the central air. We’ve had it on since we got here about four hours ago, and it’s still about 300 degrees hotter inside than it is outside. Our plans are on hold until we can get it cooled down, because otherwise we’re definitely not leaving Lola alone here. RV friends, does anyone have any recommendations/advice for getting the central air to actually do its job? Or does it just take forever to start working?
Look at poor Lola. The mean RV is making her pant!
And roll her eyes, too

6 comments:

  1. There is something wrong if the thermostat is turned down and the compressor and fan is running and it's not cool in four hours, our 30 foot fiver will cool in about an hour. Maybe someone at the office knows and can check and make sure your thermostat is kicking the compressor in and not just running the fan. Hope it cools off for the rest of your holiday. Be safe out there, Sam & Donna..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shady parking lots are your thang, Cletus!!! Love you long-time Lirpa. Hi Steve!
    <3 Jay

    ReplyDelete
  3. We checked with office, they referred us to an rv repair company. We called a couple of rv service companies and it didn't seem like they wanted to help us out, one company said he wouldn't work at this campground and when I offered to go to him he had more excuses lined up. Its frustrating to me because its under warranty and now is a bad time to bring it in for me, but I can't even pay someone to come here. So we ended up buying a portable AC unit and rigging it up. Back on track!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Sam and Donna! It appears that our central air just isn't working properly, but now that we have the AC unit up, it's much more comfy in here.

    Jay- you know me too well! We will be rendezvousing in a shady parking lot before you know it!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm glad you figured out a solution. And good thing it's under warranty - you can get it repaired when you get home. :)

    ReplyDelete