How was your camping season?

mspease

Moderator
The past few years we rented campers a couple of times a year and last winter we purchased our own trailer. We both love camping and had 6 great trips this year, despite having to take 8 weeks off for my hip replacement. A couple of our favorite campgrounds are Lake Chippewa Campground near Hayward and Burlington Bay Campground in Two Harbors, MN.

How was your season and what are your favorite spots?
 

heckler56

Active member
Road America and Watkins Glen. Both great camping and racing. Planning on getting out west next year but wife’s knee surgery from a year ago may set me back, again.
 

euphoric1

Well-known member
we are seasonal in Plymouth, have been for 6 years, have been camping there though for over 40 years, This year?..... way too short, seemed like we skipped or lost a month somewhere, March we started tearing out old trailer, add a room and deck to make room for new one to arrive just before campground opened, the delivery day it snowed and stuck, about 3 or 4 inches. Still took delivery as if we hadn't would have pushed us out weeks, so between all that, getting settled in to new one, building new deck, running new electrical....it flew by, next year will be nothing but enjoyment.
 

wiviperman

Active member
We are seasonal in the Mauston/New Lisbon area, very close to Castle Rock Lake. We have been there since 2018 and I feel that our season was way too short too! We missed a few weekends due to my wife coming down with Covid and then we found a new kitten and added that to our family that took away some more time, as we do not take our cats with us when we camp. We were just discussing the other day on how are plans for next season are to spend many more days there than we did on this season.
 

elf

Well-known member
First trip of the year for us was to Madison, WI for our daughters graduation from UW. A storm came along while we were gone and destroyed our awning so I was out cutting that off in the rain. Had to remove all the brackets/mounts/arms so we could drive home. I was taking off the upper mounts a month or so later and discovered two small tears in the rubber roof and very soft spots in the roof decking. Got insurance involved and they totaled the camper. They did allow us to use it for the next month or so as we had camping plans including HayDays. Shortly after that they picked it up and we are now camperless.
That camper was cursed, we'd bought it the previous winter from a private party, and once spring rolled around we got it out and started learning about it. Well the slide had issues going in and out and the slide seals were shot. We did not have the opportunity to test that when buying (shame on us) and took it to a dealer to get looked at and had to have new seals installed, a new slide floor installed, and new slide motors installed for $5K. Just when we get it back to headed for our first trip in it to Madison to visit our daughter and had a tire blow and come up thru the floor into the camper. Pcs of rubber actually in the camper. I fixed all that so it wasn't a huge deal but it sucked. We used it 3 more times that year and really enjoyed it, huge bathroom, and the layout worked well for just the two of us. Then we had this yrs issues.
But, we got a good price on it when we bought it and even paying the 5K to fix the slide we about broke even with the insurance settlement. So now we are going to look again in the spring for a different one.
 

mspease

Moderator
elf, should be lots of good deals to be had out there on campers. Tons were sold during the pandemic and many are finding camping isn't for them. It is a buyer's market for sure. Good luck!!
 

elf

Well-known member
elf, should be lots of good deals to be had out there on campers. Tons were sold during the pandemic and many are finding camping isn't for them. It is a buyer's market for sure. Good luck!!
Yea, thats our thoughts also. Plan to buy a new truck this spring though also. Had a plan as we get closer to retirement to get a truck this spring and a camper the following year. May have to move the camper plans up a bit.
 

elf

Well-known member
So I'd mentioned last fall on this thread that our old camper had gotten totaled and we were going to have to look for another. Looked at a lot of used campers, inspected them much more than we did our previous nightmare, and finally settled on this one. Just picked it up a couple of weeks ago and get to use it the first time at Hay Days! The new truck pulls it so nice, amazing difference from pulling my old camper with the 1/2 ton. Camper .jpg
 

mezz

Well-known member
Nice looking, the two go together well! You should enjoy it, all the comforts of home.
 

elf

Well-known member
Nice looking, the two go together well! You should enjoy it, all the comforts of home.
It was very comfortable to have at Hay Days. Love the amount of room in it, very comfortable bed. We get a stunning 8 mpg towing it. But that is better than towing our last camper with our F150, that was closer to 7 mpg.
 
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