First trip... A success!!!

Our first "camping" trip was a success! It started out on Friday morning cold and wet but we got on the road and made it to Calico Ghost Town pretty quick. We were really kind of lucky because when we got there the check-in person wasn't sure they were going to have a space for us. They filled up pretty quickly and we got one of the handful of open spaces. That would have been really disappointing had they not had anything available when we got there.

So, in the rain we setup the Outback and made camp. Because of the weather we stayed inside pretty much the remaineder of the day and didn't do a lot. Fortunately Denise purchased a 10" portable DVD player (she likes to watch movies) and it came in real handy while we were all stuck in the trailer because of the weather.

We also made a jaunt into Barsto to because once we got setup we realized that we forgot a few things... The main thing being blocks to extend the stabilizers. So we hit Wal-Mart and bought a few things (can't remember right now) and then we went to H&E home center and I got the real nice people there to cut me up a 4x6x8 into 8 chunks. I was using rocks and stuff to stabilize the trailer - but I didn't think that was going to work very well. I felt MUCH better once I got the blocks under there.

On Saturday once we finally got moving we went into the Ghost Town and the first thing we came too was a pony ride so we let Desirae and Devin ride the pony. It was pretty cool and they both seems to really enjoy it. Walking around Calico was a lot of uphill travel on uneven terrain, but it went pretty good. We did just about everything they had to offer, to include Maggie's Mine, Mystery House (I bailed on that one), craft project, and the train ride. I don't think there was anything else that we could have done there. Devin really walked his legs off there and it wasn't until the very end that I carried him back down the hill to the pavement.

Anyway, if you want to see the pictures I took, you can find them here!

There were only two bad things from the trip. First, I didn't adjust the sway bar correctly before we left so basically I drove the entire way there without any sway control - that made for a very stressful drive. Second, I don't think the Bronco is really up to pulling that much weight. It was makin' funny noises when we got there and right after I disconnected the trailer. Once we drove it around a bit everything started working right again, but I don't think it would be up for extended pulling duty. I guess it is a good thing I have that new GMC in the driveway! Oh, on the way back, with the sway bar adjusted (I am not sure if it was correctly adjusted) it didn't sway around so much and made for much more comfortable drive back.