RV Adventures

We have spend the first 24 hours in our new RV. Well, my first 24 hours. Jim’s been enjoying it for 2 days already.

My train from Chicago arrived on time (take note Amtrak, your Lake Shore Limited NEVER arrives even close to on time). I caught a taxi from the Springfield train station (a very nice, clean looking town I might add) to the campground. Jim met me and the RV was officially ours. Feeling a little shell shocked after 18 hours of travel (heck, you would have thought I was going to Europe), I spend the first hour experimenting with all the RV;s switches, etc. Was this really ours?

Tom and Pam were kind enough to bring our van from their home to the campground (THANKS again to them for EVERYTHING!.) It was nice to reconnect with Blue’s former owners and to thank them for their hospitality to Jim over the past 2 days. As they pulled away, we turned on Blue’s undercarriage lights in salute. Tom and Pam, we’ll treat Blue as well as you did!

Blue at night with the undercarriage lights on.

Today we were both up early (5:00 am). Jim’s an early riser and I just couldn’t sleep. I, being the electronics nerd that I am, figured out the TV connections (got the cable working!!) along with the CB radio, surround sound, radio, DVD player, etc. Jim read his Freightliner manual (again). By 9:00 we had a 2 page shopping list of what we needed. It was time to go shopping.  Wal-mart was the first stop. We are on the outskirts of Springfield, Illinois, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. If you want to see a Wal-Mart with quotes from Lincoln outside the store, this is the place to be. Seriously, it was kind of nice.

Our two page list led us all over the store (including the camping section), criss-crossing a number of times. We also included a trip to Menard;s (for those not from the Midwest, it’s similar to a Home Depot). But at the end, we had a bunch of RV supplies we thought we needed, and something for dinner!

Cruising the camping aisle at Wal-Mart

The rest of the day was spent doing Jim’s laundry, installing water filters, hooking up to the campground water system, reading more instruction manuals, and playing with those electronic gadgets some more (I got the Roku working!).  These were the most useful tools of the day…a flashlight and Jim’s Leatherman.

Rechargable flashlight and the always useful Leatherman Tool

Then we had our first dinner in Blue. Because we packed light, the only cooking pans I have are a frying pan and a pot. What to make? Spaghetti of course! Pair that with some corn (heated in  microwavable Dixie paper bowls) and a nice Merlot poured into a plastic cup, we had an elegant celebratory dinner served on paper plates.

An elegant dinner. Hey, it works for us!

No sooner had we finished, than Leola and Doug (friends from Michigan) and their two dogs showed up in Connie, their RV. We will spend the rest of the week seeing the local sights with them (and borrowing from them everything we forgot to or couldn’t pack).

Connie on the left, Blue on the right.

So now the RVs are quiet. We have heavy rain coming through (we pulled our slide-out in to protect it from potential hail) and we know the temperature will be DROPPING. Someone tell Mother Nature it’s April and the daffodils are out here. I suspect tomorrow we will be seeing how well the furnace works.

You probably won’t hear much in the next couple of days. it’s time to play tourist and relax.