Bella's Maiden Voyage

It wasn't easy, by any means, and it wasn't cheap, but we were able to take Bella out of her parking space next to the garage for her maiden voyage to Mohawk Trail State Forest campground near Charlemont, MA on October 4.  

Jan collected Bella from Daimond RV in Hatfield around noon, drove her home and began packing.    Bella has a new propane tank now and Jan is feeling much more comfortable thinking that she's not driving around on top of a propane-explosion-about-to-happen.  There will be another post about the propane.  Bella also got brand new house batteries (as opposed to truck engine battery) because the others would not hold a charge.  So, $1500 later, Bella is in better shape!  We knew that she'd need some repairs, so it was part of the plan.

Paul arrived home from work about an hour later.The doors for the basement area were still not repaired so Paul used some of his best jury-rigging skills, and some old plastic panels from an old shower enclosure (Paul never throws anything away) to put in temporary replacements that worked really well to keep out the rain.

This was pretty much peak weekend for the foliage, and despite some drizzle and fog, it was still beautiful. On our way around 2:00 pm, Bella chugged up the steep inclines almost holding her own, although we were polite and pulled onto the shoulder to let some other cars pass.  We know how annoying a slow RV can be!  

The ride to Mohawk Trail campsites is only about an hour, so it was an easy trip, and a good chance to take a 'maiden voyage'.  We had a nice level campsite right on the river.  The view out of our bedroom windows and the dinette windows was beautiful!  

Making gorgonzola mac and cheese

We stayed for two days and used the time to make lists of things that need to be fixed, adjusted, added, re-done, etc.    We tried out all of the appliances; Jan took full advantage of the stove and the full oven to make some great meals.  Using the oven kept us nice and warm -- hot homemade cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning were a great way to wake up!  The oven looks like it had never been used in 19 years!

Caulking all of the lights and attachments.

Paul did some caulking around the outside on Saturday afternoon; lots of the seals were cracked and old.  By Saturday night it was raining, so we were really glad that he'd done the caulking!  We were snug and dry inside.  Unfortunately, the neighboring campsites got pretty drenched.

Changing the upholstery on the valences.

We enjoyed sitting inside and reading in our nice cozy spot. Jan has been working on some redecorating -- getting rid of the foo-foo 1990's pleated blue wherever she can and replacing it with a beige tweed that just blends in nicely.

Tempermental hot water heater (blue flame)

The only problem we've run into, and it's a small one, is that we can't get the hot water heater to stay lit.  The gas flame seems to blow itself out.  Maybe it's insect nests in the delivery pipe; that's supposed to be a common problem.  We had an easy temporary fix, though, because we could boil hot water on the stovetop for washing dishes.  But, in the spring, we'll have to work at figuring it out.

All-in-all we had a great time with our first time on the trail with Bella!  Now it will be time to winterize her and put her away for the winter.  We're really excited that we were able to extend our camping season!