Well, we took the bull by the horns and ventured out all of 2 miles on our first trip for the year; and the maiden voyage of Alphie, our (new to us) 1997 Alpenlite 5th Wheel Trailer. Our destination was South City Park in Idaho Falls, where the city is kind enough to allow one night camping for free. There are about a dozen campsites, all are paved and most have a grill and a picnic table. The park is on the east bank of the Snake River about 3 miles south of Downtown Idaho Falls. Here is a picture of us on the site.
This was a tryout voyage to test all the systems. We were happy to learn that everything seems to be working fine. We used the stove to prepare dinner; the hot water heater to clean up; and the microwave to heat hot chocolate. Since there are no hookups here, we had to conserve our battery power. We installed 4 LED spotlights and discovered we should get about 6 more. The night was cold, down to the mid 20’s, so the heater fan was working a lot even with the thermostat set on 62 degrees. The batteries were pretty low about 5:30 am and I cranked up the generator to recharge the batteries and get the coffee maker going. I took Sammy and Annie for a walk along the river. Since we were all alone in the park, they got to run off leash and they were very happy.
We had our first RV guests; my fishing buddy Joe and his wife Ann came out to see us. We had a nice chat and a little wine was flowing.
Here are a couple more pictures of us inside the camper
When left we visited the free dump station to empty the tanks. The biggest lesson learned was that it is a little early in the year to boondock (camp without electrical hookups) in this part of the country. The fan for the heater really drains the batteries. In about 2 weeks we may head out about 15 miles to Ririe Reservoir east of Idaho Falls. There is a great county managed State Park Campground there.
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