8. First full day in Yosemite

Amazing how well one can sleep in Yosemite…and it was great to jump up in the morning, turn the thermostat up to 60 (42 outside), and climb back into the warm bed waiting for the 5er to warm up. Now THIS is camping ;-)

I got up, made coffee and woke up while playing some Sudoku before (of course) going out and taking pics. Well, before doing that we did wait for the sun to come up completely over Half Dome and start warming up the Valley.

I walked across the campground and up the river just marveling at the colors and beautiful moring light.  It was really amazing.

When I got back from my long photographic/theraputic walk we had lunch and then went for a drive around the valley and out through the Wawona tunnel to collect firewood. The autumn colors were spectacular and it was very difficult to know when to stop taking pictures (and I got plenty of firewood…most people don’t know where to look.)

Back in camp I spent some time chopping firewood (thank goodness the shoulder didn’t hurt doing that!) and by then it was time to start a fire…and YIPPEE…Happy Hour!

As the sky turned dark and the coals became perfect, we started dinner…baked potatoes (a camping staple), broccoli (because its easy), and lamb chops (because we LOVE them!).

All of a sudden from around the corner of our trailer we were approached by two young people in Ranger uniforms carrying flashlights and wearing paraphernalia that made them look like were straight out of the movie “Ghost Busters”. They were very polite, and got right to the point that they were in pursuit of a bear…a bear with a collar that allowed them to track her. They said she was close…very close…and aggressive. Not ‘hurtful’ aggressive, but aggressive to the extent that unless your food is within arm’s distance she will dash in and grab it right off the grill or table. So we should be alert.

They left and I excused myself and said I was going into the trailer for a minute…aha, just kidding. LOL, I’ll watch the food YOU go into trailer and fix me another drink…please? So I sat there for the next 45 minutes cooking and simultaneously scanning the bushes with our ‘high beam’ flashlight. But all I saw was those two ‘kids’ out there searching back and forth for that allusive bear…TOO FUNNY!

Oh, we never did see a sign of that bear…but we did have a very nice dinner…and then hot cocoa (with Peppermint Schnapps) and Nutter Butters. THAT is why I love camping!

7. More on setting up camp in Yosemite

OK, so I have said how well I backed into the storage yard and the driveway at home…well, I guess 2 out of 3 isn’t bad ;-) I bet I got in and out of the truck at least 20 times lining things up, backing up, pulling forward, getting directions from Janna, doing the opposite…what a mess! And then once aligned I had get level by pulling forward, putting down a 2x8, and then trying to back-up straight…I aged a year during that process. BUT…bottom line is that I (we?) did it, finally.

After getting the 5er set up (and taking a few pics) I set up the ‘shade’ cover over the fire pit so I could start a fire to get some coals ready. At that point I realized that it had really stopped raining and the drops landing on my head was just residual moisture dripping from the trees…phew.

Jack and Coke, steak and mushrooms, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and wine…and all in Yosemite…in our new 5er…with my Honey. Sweet.

6. Inaugural trip: Yosemite (appropriate)

On Monday morning (after physical therapy on my shoulder) we headed out for 3 nights Yosemite…in the rain. Yuk! The bad news was that I would have rather embarked on this inaugural ‘break in’ trip without having to worry about towing in the rain, but then again…you gotta play the hand you’re dealt. The good news was that if we had been in our tent trailer (which was the plan when we made the camping reservations in the first place) we would have been facing setting it up in the rain…and that is a BIGGER YUK!

Traffic was very light, and despite the rain we made pretty good time. We stopped for gas in the Galt area (negotiating a 5th wheel around a gas station is fun too!), and then stopped at a store with a deli in Copperopolis for sandwiches and sat in our 5er for our 1st ‘picnic’. THAT is a real nice feature…along with access to the bathroom!!!

From the beginning I had not been looking forward to going up Priest grade (Hwy 120 just before Groveland). It had been years since we had been up it, because normally we take 140 into the park (with the tent trailer) or we go up Old Priest Grade in the car. But we were pretty much locked into going up that long (6 mile), steep, boring, torturous and treacherous road…on our first trip with the 5er nonetheless…in the rain.

At least the rain had stopped by the time we got there so the roads were dry, but it was definitely a ‘handful’ going up that road. The truck did great. When it is set in ‘towing mode’ it seems to have a mind of its own and all I have to do is keep it on the road. But that too is a challenge since the 5er tracks inside the ‘footprint’ so on every switchback I had to make sure I was allowing enough room so it would not ‘cut the corner’. Exhausting!

Going into the Park is great these days, as I all I have to do is flash my Old Fart card (Senior Pass as it is officially called) and we get in for free! We topped off the gas tank at Crane Flat (since there is no longer gas in the Valley) and set off for the final leg of our trip…in the fog and drizzle.

From door to door it is right around 230 miles and it felt great to be driving through the Valley in our new rig. When we pulled up to the kiosk of the Lower Pines campground the lady took our name, and then sort of did a double take…because when we made the reservation we thought we were going in the tent trailer. We said we had a ‘new toy’ and she just said, “well, I hope it fits.” I knew it would because I had done some research ;-) But it was close!

5. First day at home

On Sat. the 18th of Oct. I moved all our stuff from the tent trailer to the 5er, and then brought it home for the 1st time that afternoon, backing it slickly into the drive…just as if I knew what I was doing (“You can fool some of the people…”). We enjoyed ‘Happy Hour’ in it that evening with Doris and Connie before going to the Club House for dinner. Very comfortable!

We spent all day Sunday packing and re-arranging things to get ready for going to Yosemite the next day. By that evening we felt like it was ‘home’ and we were ready.

4. OK, now we FINALLY get to pick it up

By the 14th of Oct. my shoulder had ‘healed’ enough that I could at least lift the keys to the ignition and lift my arm to the steering wheel…driving a 5er home should be a piece of cake. Don’t worry, it was.

We drove down to Happy Daze for our early morning appointment, and while they installed the new Curt ‘slider’ hitch (and the 4 6v golf cart batteries I had bought at Sam’s Club) we got our walkthrough in the trailer on all the ‘systems’.

A little ‘side-bar’ here on batteries; Normally when a trailer is NOT hooked up to ‘shore power’ (meaning plugged into regular 120v service), all the lights, fans, etc., are operated from a 12v battery mounted in the trailer that is charged by the TV (via an inverter) when the trailer is hooked up to it. If you are ‘dry camping’ for a while then that one 12v battery is not going to last very long (like maybe a 3 day weekend depending on usage).

With our tent trailer there were a couple of times when we actually ‘went dark’…so then I began to carry a 2nd 12v battery as a backup. In doing research I learned that 4 6v golf cart batteries (based on the way 6v batteries are built) will actually provide more power (and faster recovery) that 2 12v batteries…so that is why I went with 4 6v batteries (aren’t you glad you asked?!?) And they are linked in series so I don’t have to change back and forth (but I will still carry that extra 12v battery as a back-up…no more blackouts!)

And do you want a side bar on slider hitches? Didn’t think so….

Ok, back to the ‘story’.

Actually there’s not much to add for this day. Well, one little thing; after we hooked it to the truck and pulled out onto the street I did have a bit of…of…nervousness?

I had never towed anything that big/heavy, so all the nerve endings were ‘on alert’. But once we got on the freeway and then onto Hwy 49 on the way to Penn Valley I started to feel very comfortable and realized how nice it was to have a TV that was built just to handle jobs like this. Cool.

Since we hadn’t sold the tent trailer yet we had to rent a second storage space for the new 5er, so I had taken care of that the previous week. Now I simply pulled into their yard, backed into our slot, and unhooked. Piece of cake (thanks to Janna for walking me go through all the steps…1st turn off the keys…OK OK….)

It was sort of sad though to then have to drive off and leave our new toy all alone.

When I got home I checked to see how the hitch had been installed to make it so ‘stable’. In looking at all the new brackets and bolts I noticed a nut missing on one of the bolts…YIKES! I called the dealer, and said just to bring it by and they would take care of it. I said it was too expensive to drive our new gas guzzling TV an hour each way just to have a nut put on, so they agreed that if I brought a pic of the bolt with the missing nut (so they would know what size) by some time when in the area (in the other more fuel economical 4-Runner) they would set me up. No problem. All fixed now.

3. Picking up the 5er...oops, not so fast!

We were to go pick up the 5er on Tues. Oct. 6, but based on the below info. you will see why we didn’t make it. The remainder of this post is what I wrote in an email on Monday Oct. 5th.

Saturday (Oct. 3rd) started out hectic. We had to get stuff ready for brother-in-law Paul's 70th birthday party at the park, prepare for 40 plus people back to our house for a Cal football watching party, and Susie et al spending the night (plus breakfast for 30 at Connie's the next morning). Just a normal weekend in LWW. (And of course we had given up our tickets for the Cal vs U$C game just to go to Paul's party...with the caveat that I WILL be back in front of our TV when the game starts.)

We packed the 4-Runner early Sat. with tables, chairs, ice chests, crock pots, cameras, charcoal, etc., and backed out the driveway. We heard the sound of a crock pot lid 'settling' as I turned the corner, so I stopped, rearranged things, made sure the beans had not spilled and we started off again.

Got to the park safe and sound to find Connie and several others already setting up. My job was to BBQ 7 tri-tips on the huge permanent grill there...fun stuff! I got the coals started (while enjoying some ice cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale) while others were arriving, and was watching everyone else fighting the wind trying to get the table clothes to stay on the tables. It was VERY breezy (as I guess it was a the Cal game as well). All at once I heard a commotion and as I turned a big bunch of colorful balloons someone brought (and tethered with a heavy weight) came blowing toward me (dragging across the ground) with the lake clearly their destination. For some STUPID reason I took off after them (as people were yelling "Grab the balloons!")

Some times the decisions we make in a split second are not the best...or maybe even the worst. As I ran after them (thinking I'd probably pull a hamstring) it became obvious that they were going to make it to the lake (why that was really all that bad of thing I'm not really sure) unless I turned into a SUPERHERO...so I dove.

Imagine the highlight reels that you see on Sports Center where they show the plays of the day, or week, or month, or EVER...well this was one of those plays. I laid out parallel to the ground and stretched as far as I could, and 3 feet from the water's edge I grabbed one ribbon of the 10 or so balloons. Everyone was watching, and cheering, and yelling to get my picture lying there on the ground with the saved balloons...and then they were wondering why I wasn't getting up...and just laid there instead.

I looked up to see Janna walking toward me saying, "You're hurt, aren't you?" (at least she had the courtesy to not add DUMBSHIT in there as well). "Yup", was my response. My right shoulder felt like I had...well, like I had dove and fallen on it...GO FIGURE. Well, after a couple more Sierra Nevada's and 4 Ibuprofen I was able to continue cooking the tri-tips, but the whole time I was thinking, "This is not good, that was dumb, I shouldn't have done that, what was I thinking" (and I still am!!!!)

Everyone was very complimentary of the meat as they sat down to eat, and after all the others (60+ people) had gone through the food line, Janna, Connie and I cleaned up the last of the beans, grabbed some tri-tip and potato salad and headed for the crowd to find a place to sit. I found a spot by Heidi and Bob and Janna was over by some other friends. I had taken one bite of tri-tip (of course I had nibbled a lot while slicing it) and one bite of potato salad when I looked up to see Janna standing off under a tree with napkins to her mouth. I got up and went to see what was wrong, only to find her bleeding profusely from the mouth. Remember the crock pot mentioned above, well apparently it splintered off a sliver of glass that then worked it's way to the bottom, and Janna bit into it and perforated her tongue.

I said "we're going to emergency", and after telling Connie and Doris what had happened (just as the crowd was singing happy birthday to Paul) we took off. That was approx.3:00pm.

By the time we checked in at the hospital and were put into a waiting room, the bleeding had stopped. The 'puncture' was about 1/4" wide, and nice and clean. We then wondered whether we should even be there or not. Plus we knew 40+ people were going to be heading to our house in about 45 min. Maybe (with any luck Janna observed...bad karma) she could get checked out and we would be out of there in 45 min (NOT!) At 6:51pm (per my cell phone log) I called home to say we were on the way home. We were sitting in the ER for over 3 hrs...just sitting and staring and reflecting...slow punishment (for something we guess). The staff was VERY apologetic, but when we checked in the nurse said all of a sudden they were VERY busy...of course. And yes, I do think there was a full moon that night!

Our house was a ZOO when we got home. 8 kids under 12 running around, 2 babes in arms (Chloe and RJ), a bunch of people that had been drinking for almost 6 hours and Cal on the big screen losing badly...YIKES! The good news is that everyone made themselves at home, figured out the Wii and the TV (I did call on that though), the BBQ (brats for dinner) and gas heater on the deck (someone had one just like it).

The other bit of good news (we guess) is that we are probably VERY lucky that Janna was the one that got the glass, as it could been someone 80+ (there are a lot of those in Paul's bridge club) that is taking coumadin...another YIKES!

So, here we sit in the aftermath, sort of wondering what just happened.

Janna had one stitch put in (self dissolving), has penicillin to take, liquids only for 24hrs, and now soft food for a week.

I just got back from the Dr. No specific diagnosis, but I should keep my arm (right of course) immobile in a sling for 10 days to 2 weeks, make an appointment with a physical therapist in two weeks to start rehab, and also make an appt. with an orthopedist (takes two weeks to get into them anyway) in case it is worse than my GP thinks ("Doc, it only hurts when I do this...well then don't do that!"). I don't need any pain killers (as the continual throbbing is just a nice little reminder to not be moving it) but it sure hurts if I try to move my arm away from the body (front, back, or sideways...but typing is OK, and I can still bend my head down low enough to brush my teeth...but have to brush my hair with the left hand). I can sleep OK, and can even roll over onto it (as long as I hold my right arm still with my left hand while rolling)

Oh, and did I mention that we are suppose to go pick up the 5th wheel tomorrow, drive to Disneyland for a 4 day weekend on Friday (not with the 5th wheel), and go camping in Yosemite for 4 nights (two weeks from today)? I called and moved the 5th wheel appt. to the 14th as Janna does NOT want to even attempt to tow it (she hasn't even driven the new monster truck yet). Janna can drive to DL, and I can push RJ around in a stroller with one arm. So now we hope I heal good enough for us to 1) be able to pick up the 5er on the 14th, and 2) still go to Yosemite. But if not it won't be the end of the world...we've been there before, and we'll go again!

The whole time we were at the hospital Chris was texting me play by play what was happening at the game (he was watching TV and listening on the radio), and Steve Balling was texting me from the game. When I told Steve we were at the emergency room he made the observation that it was probably more painful for them being at the game...and I agreed (but I hadn't yet told him about my arm).

2. Buying the 5er

The week after taking THE TRUCK home (not kidding…I need a ladder to wash the windows!!!) I had to take it back to the dealer for a day for them to apply a paint protective coating and install an upgraded alarm system. Instead of just hanging around I rented a car and drove around to 5 different RV dealers in the Sacramento/Roseville area.

One concern that I was having was in regard to something I had not thought of in the purchase of a new truck; the spacing between the bottom of the over-hang of a 5er and the top of the trucks bed rail. When being towed there should be a gap of ~6 inches so as to allow flexing when going in and out of steep driveways, etc. However, with the beefiness of our new truck’s suspension, the height of the bedrail is 56 ½” right over the axle. That meant that a 5er had to have an overhang height of ‘no less than’ 62 ½”…and that information is not readily available from the Mfg’s when doing an internet search. Bottom line…I was afraid we may have out-thought ourselves and bought ‘too much’ truck which could possibly have meant we would only be able to look into buying a TT instead of a 5er.

The first RV dealer I went to (Pan Pacific in Sacramento) had only a few 5ers, but a lot of TT’s. I liked the 5ers they had, but armed with my tape measure they did NOT meet the 62 ½” minimum…I was bummed. I called home and told Janna it looked like we were now in the market for only a TT.

OK, so what’s the big deal; TT vs 5er? For some it is just a matter of preference, but for most there is a recognition that 5ers are more stable to tow since approx. 25% of their tow weight is sitting on the bed of the TV right above the axle. This is opposed to a TT where over 90% of the weight is hanging off the back of the TV. And since ~4 ft. of a 5er’s length overhangs into the TV the ‘net’ length of 5er is less. (TMI ?)

Then it was off to dealer number two…just down the street. Happy Daze had a good over-all selection of both 5ers and TT’s. The first thing I did (before looking at ANY rigs) was talk with the sales guys about bed rail height. They brought out an ‘expert’ that said he had not ever seen an issue with ‘newer’ 5ers and any ‘stock’ pickup. Well, that was good to hear…but let’s prove it. So off to the lot we went…tape in hand.

Before I even looked inside the 1st unit we came to (in our budget range) I measured the height…63 inches. Wow! We may be OK here after all. When we got inside I looked around, sat down on the couch, called Janna, and said it looked like I could still look at 5ers and that in fact, the one I was in was perfect and I would feel comfortable buying it on the spot.

Then I was off to another dealer down the street that was actually going out of business because of the economy (had some good deals, but nothing we were looking for), then on to Camping World in Roseville, and another Pan Pacific showroom in Roseville. Both these places had some good looking rigs, so I was able to go home with lots of brochures and pictures from multiple mfg’s at four different (reputable) dealers…not a bad day’s work.

Over the next couple of weeks I took Janna back to Camping World (Roseville) and Happy Daze, and then we also stopped a couple of times at the new Camping World outlet in Vacaville to/from the Bay Area. By then we were getting a pretty good idea of what was out there, and at what price. Plus we could then go on the internet and compare local prices to those in SoCal, or even out of state.

Later in Sept. we went to Hawaii, and returned late on a Sat. We stayed in a motel that night close to SFO, and then on the way home stopped at an RV show at Cal Expo in Sacramento that I had learned about from folks on RV.NET. Wouldn’t you know it that the very first dealer we saw as we entered was Happy Daze…and right there in front was the rig I had called Janna from when I was on their lot (destiny?). They said they had some good ‘show’ deals going, and we told them we would come back after we finished looking around.

Well, we did find another rig we liked a lot but it was just a little too long. So how does one know if a rig is ‘too long’ if you have a TV that can tow almost anything? Well, it all has to do with where you want to take it. Some campgrounds have size/length restrictions and longer rigs may not fit. This could be due to the infrastructure of the roads in the campgrounds (i.e. too narrow) or the length of the driveways of the individual sites. So prior to getting serious about a certain rig (before we started looking) I called Yosemite, Bothe-Napa State Park, and looked at the website for Plumas-Eureka State Park. From this I learned that there were restrictions for trailers (net length) of over 24ft. So that meant we pretty much needed to look for something in the 28-29’ range.

Now it was back to Happy Daze and the original rig that I fell in love with that first day …which was/is 28’11” long…are we really about to do this?!? They made us good offer, I countered that I would like them to throw in the hitch (a slider since we have a 'short bed'...ask me if you want to know about sliders), a ceiling fan and install some upgraded batteries…and like that we had a deal.

In about 10 days we were scheduled to go pick it up.

1. Buying the TV

For some time we had been talking about the ‘need’ in the future to upgrade from out tent trailer (PUP…stands for pop up) to some larger and more ‘convenient’ trailer…either a conventional bumper hitch 'travel trailer' (TT), or a 5th wheel (5er).

When on our family reunion ‘road trip’ to Pocatello in Aug., after setting up and taking down camp in our PUP, checking out all the different rigs on the road, in campgrounds, etc., I think we both decided that we were pretty close to ‘pulling the trigger’ on making a change. But we still had to decide what kind of trailer and what kind of tow vehicle (TV).

We started evaluating the options of having a larger SUV type vehicle that could seat 7-8 people (ala a Chevy Suburban or Ford Excursion) and being able to tow a TT, or an extended cab pick-up truck that could seat 6 and tow either a 5er or a TT.

I had done a lot of research (especially in the RV.NET forums where I had been posting/learning over the years) about GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), payload, towing capacity, hitch weight, axle ratings, etc., so although we didn’t know yet what type of trailer we wanted, I did at least have a good idea of the minimum requirements for a TV.

After deciding that a ‘large’ pick-up would probably be the best option for us, we then had to decide which ‘brand’; Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Toyota…the options were almost endless. But Ford’s reputation for building great trucks, and the fact that they did NOT take any money in the Gov’t bailout program sort of steered us that their direction.

Over the Labor Day weekend Ford was having a big sale on 2009 vehicles, so we went on-line and did some dealer comparisons and decided Future Ford in Sacramento had the best selection of F150’s and F250’s (1/2 ton and ¾ ton). On our way to the Cal game that Sat. we stopped by to get a feel for what they had in stock, pricing, and towing capacities, and to discuss trade-in options. It became apparent that the sales staff were great guys, but basically knew very little about towing requirements…thank goodness I had done that homework!

On Monday, after deciding we would keep our 4-Runner as the ‘family car’, I then cleaned up the Subaru Forester and we headed back down to Sacramento…check book in hand.

Over a period of about 5 hours we had looked at pretty every truck on their Sacramento lot, and had even gone down to their Roseville lot and looked at most of the trucks there. Besides the normal issues of color, leather vs fabric seats, etc., the biggest issues became towing capacity and gas vs diesel. After camping and listening to the diesel pick-ups ‘rumbling’ noisily by us, we decided we did NOT want a diesel. (Of course they had a LOT of diesels to show us…go figure.)

When we got back to the Sacramento lot (quite disappointed that our search seemed to be going nowhere) the Sales Mgr. had a truck pulled out and waiting for us to look at. It looked great…but huge! It was indeed gas, but instead of an F150 or F250 it was a F350 (1 ton)…and instead of a 2009 it was a 2010. What?!? Is this like a bait and switch operation (just kidding). When it came to towing capacity this thing was loaded for bear (with heavy suspension, etc., it was actually almost a 2 ton!). With this baby we could tow just about anything out there (TT or 5er) w/out a worry! (6.8L V10, 11K lb GVWR)

And as far as pricing…well, it was fairly lean as far as (non-towing) options were concerned…and they did make us a good offer. Maybe we were just brain dead by then, but said yes…let’s do it.

Now that we had a truck we then needed to decide what to ‘fill it’ with.