Camping Life with Matt: Camping Trip - April 2013 Jellystone Park, Sturbridge Ma

This past weekend, I was able to score the weekend off by being awarded a job that didn't go to work until Tuesday. So, we took advantage of the free camping available at Jellystone Park, Sturbridge Ma. This was one of those working weekends, where we had to rake and paint for our campsite. Not bad, as the "Bill" would have been $140. Not sure how they came up with that, being off peek, and not fully hookups. I wonder if the "Other Fees" involved was to raise it up so they could get more of a tax break at the end of the year.

That Friday when we arrived, it was quite warm. I was in shorts, and sweating. We arrived, checked in, and noticed this was very different than Strawberry Park. This definitely an older campground. And very hilly. I drove to my site, and we noticed it was covered in leaves. So, we got the rakes out and raked where we were going to park the camper. Then, I parked it, maneuvering around some trees that were very in the way. I got it in the area of where I wanted to park, and took out the level. WAY OFF. I figured went 4 "legos" (leveling blocks) high, using all 16 of my legos. Hah, no go. So, I repositioned them, and using a steel rake, dug out the high side a bit. I was able to level off. But, not without one tire being in the air because I didn't have enough blocks. I wedged a chock under it as much as I can. On the list, another set of 10 blocks....maybe more.

That night, we had MAJOR rain, as a cold front blew in. Woke up in the morning, and saw the floor under the AC a little wet, and a drip coming from the AC. With some help of my friends on the forum, I decided to tighten my AC down a bit. Overtorqueing the bolts can be just as bad, but I noticed mine felt VERY loose. So, I just torqued it by feel. Also, when I woke up, you can tell a front went though, and I had to turn the heat on. BRRRRR.

The Saturday, Jennie and I raked, as I sent Julie and Jay to paint. We must have raked 15+ 60gal bags of leaves up. We didn't do a perfect job, because this is camping in the woods. This isn't a championship golf course.

That Saturday night, it got cold, with predicted lows in the just below freezing. I hooked up the heated mattress in the bunk, made sure the little electric heater was on (why waste propane), and had an extra blanket.

Woke up Sunday to the familiar sound of my camper being energized. I am still not sure weather it is the microwave of the converter making that noise. I decided to turn off everything high wattage that was electric. Checked the voltage at an outlet, and found it just above 100 volts. Yup, my Surgegard was doing its job and shutting off at low voltage (this brownout will be a part of my campground review). I can't believe a campground was having a brownout in April, before people are using their ACs.

All in all, I would go back there again, but due to the brown outs, not in the heat of summer. Here are some pics of the weekend. Here is what I found out this weekend.