Shearer Family Camping

Since I had pictures and things are still fresh in my mind, I started with 1998 and the First Trip in our NEW Jayco Eagle 10 ST RD pop-up trailer was to a star party. To help keep things in prospective, this wasn't our first family camping trip. We have made at least three family camping trips in our Eureka! 12'x12' Space II umbrella tent. My wife and I had done backpacking trips on the AT with a local Boy Scout troop we helped with, BC - that's, Before Children. The old umbrella tent is also pulled into service as our "home" for the annual Three Rivers District of the DeMarVa Boy Scout Council Cub-O-Ree camping trip in May. The old umbrella tent is indeed old despite only three family trips, as it was purchased in the late 1970's for amateur radio Field Day and also used as the HQ tent on many Boy Scout camping trips before I was married.

Amateur Radio -- WB3LGC -- This activity gets included in all camping trips in some form or other. In August of 2000, my wife, Renee took her Technician class test and passed (100%). She is now KB3FMT.

When I first started using the pop-up, I created a set-up and take-down Check List for the camper. It may be general enough for any make of pop-up or is it a fold-down?

After the first year of using the marine battery to power the camper, I decided I needed more power. Reserve battery power and the ability to recharge the battery when we camped without electric hook-ups. So, I created a solar powered RV? Complete information for planning a US based solar powered installation can be found by following the link.

Tent Camping -- Just because I have an RV with heat and a shower, we do STILL use a tent - from time to time... I even purchased a Cabela's Alaskan Guide Model Tent in 1999 for use during the Cub Scout camping trips. Anyone looking for a great family tent that CAN take rough weather, I recommend it.

1998 RV Trips -- We started Pop-up camping in 1998:

DELMARVA STAR GAZE IV (April 24-26) -- The star party was sponsored by the Delmarva Stargazers. This was the First Trip in the new Jayco Eagle 10 ST RD pop-up trailer. It was cloudy Saturday night and sprinkled some. The start of a rain filled camping season. Also, see my Star Party page for links and information on other events.

Delaware Rockets for Schools at Cape Henlopen, DE (May 8-10) -- The Rocket launch was sponsored by DASEF (Delaware AeroSpace Education Foundation ). It rained most of Saturday. The "bird" did fly. The kids had first place in the canister rocket. The trick to winning is keeping the rocket light (see notes).

Cub Scouts (June 12-14) -- Cub Scout family camping trip to Elk Neck State Park. The trip was CANCELED at the very last minute due to a FORCAST of rain (The Cub Scout leader should have been prepared? We were!). We had the pop-up packed, I had taken a day of vacation -- so WE went and had a great time! It did rain early Friday afternoon and again on Saturday night (two different thunder storms). I did take my amateur radio and checked into the 146.73 Mhz DRA repeater on Saturday morning for the DuPont net.

Cape Cod, MA (June 25 - July 8) -- We stayed in Falmouth at the Sippewissett Campground & Cabins, great place. ARRL Field Day operation as WB3LGC on the 10 Meter band with a mobile antenna mounted to the roof of the camper. The kids enjoyed making a few radio contacts around the country as part of the event. More rain in the form of thunder storms every few days (this was a two week trip). This trip the van broke down on the way home. The "one" thing that had not been serviced before the trip, the water pump, failed while we were on the NJ Turnpike (see notes).

3rd No-Frills Star Party (September 25-27) -- The star party was sponsored by the Delmarva Stargazers. It rained Friday during the day (while we packed and while we were on the road). Friday night was clear and Saturday was HOT with a clear night. The great Menu I had planned didn't get used as it was so hot Saturday, I didn't feel like cooking!

Jamestown, VA (November ) -- We stayed at Williamsburg Pottery's Fair Oaks Campground and were the only pop-up in the place. Of the 450 campsites, I bet only 50 were being used. Not all that unusual for the time of the year and low 40° F tempatures at night. The campground was clean and the rate was very good.

1999 RV Trips -- Not as many trips as the first year, but then we did have problems with the tow vehicle:

Rocket launch at Cape Henlopen, DE (May) -- The kids had second place (how did that happen??) in the canister rocket. See notes, for our "how to" information on the rocket.

Andrew and Robert brought home ticks. The ticks were attached behind an ear. DO NOT grasp the tick by the body. DO NOT twist the tick out or apply petroleum jelly or a hot match in an attempt to get the tick to back out. The American Lyme Disease Foundation has good information about this curable disease.

This was the first trip of the solar powered pop-up and it worked great even if we were parked among the pine trees and the pollen was so thick that everything was yellow. A good reason to have the solar panel at "some" slope as it sits on the roof so any rain will wash the dust and dirt off the panel.

Mason-Dixon Star Party (June) -- A real nice star party! I will add this to my "must do again" list. The main problem this one has is it often falls the same weekend as Field Day. Some year the new moon will be at the begining of June again and I'll be there. (FD is the last full weekend of June.)

I did take my amateur radio and tried to check into the 146.73 Mhz DRA repeater on Saturday morning for the DuPont net. I could hear the repeater, it couldn't hear me.

Transmission problems with the tow vehicle (a 1991 Plymouth Grand Voyager 3.3L with tow package). A new transmission was needed after we limped home. After the transmission was replaced again, a week later, it has been fine. The control computer was also replaced making a change in the shift points, seems better for towing.

Field Day (June) -- FD is a amateur radio test of emergency communications for a 24 hour period. The FSARC site was only five miles away at WDEL/WSTW. It was a VERY HOT weekend in the nineties. I got to use the A/C for the first real test and it passed. The solar power installation in the pop-up was used to operate the HF radio with better battery life then I expected. See my Excel file evaluating the battery charge on an hourly basis.

Cape Cod, MA (August) -- We stayed in Falmouth again at the Sippewissett Campground & Cabins, a beautiful 10 day trip.

The van broke down AGAIN on the way home. This time it was running rough on the "hills" of western RI. The friendly dealership of Lamb Motors in West Warwick changed the spark plug wires (and plugs). This was after first finding a helpful service station and then an un-friendly dealer who at least pointed us toward Lamb Motors. Is seems the wires should be replaced at the same time as the plugs. The plugs had maybe 20K miles with 60K on the van. The service station could have done the work, but he ALSO did a quick check (for free) and though the problem was more he could handle (turns out it wasn't). During the two hour wait for service we were directed to a public library next to the dealership. I don't even get service like that at home!

(September) -- Still "gun shy" so the pop-up trip to the mountains of PA for another star party was avoided. I was thinking of the Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park. It's a long drive from DE and I didn't want to haul the camper up the mountain roads. It may be more of a tent comping trip with a small telescope or a camera with a "barn door" tracker.

Intercourse, PA (October) -- A short trip (1 hour away) for a long weekend, Thursday to Monday. We stayed at Beacon Camping campground, very clean! We visited the train museum, a pumpkin festival and an apple festival. I operated my amateur radio on the 10 Meter band making contacts Sunday morning with many European countries including a 30 minute conversation with Andrew, GMØUDL in Scotland.

Y2K Trip PLANS (wish list - do you ever feel like the little things in life mess up the big plans?) -- This is going to be a slow year for pop-up camping. It started in April, but the next "trip" was at the end of June for the ARRL Field Day. I am sure gas prices and transmission problems (still) with the van won't help.:

Star Party -- without having to worry about the transmission.

Field Day (June) --

Cape Cod, MA (September) -- We stayed in Falmouth again at the Sippewissett Campground & Cabins, a beautiful trip.

No-Frills Star Party (September) -- The star party was sponsored by the Delmarva Stargazers.

2000 RV Trips:

Notes:

The winning canister rocket method we used are easy to duplicate. We used a single sheet of newspaper cut to wrap 2+ times around the 35mm film canister. We then soaked the newspaper in slightly thinned waterproof glue before wrapping it around the canister. Use water to thin the yellow "duckie" glue. When the glue is allowed to harden, the paper will not stretch and the plastic canister will create more pressure before the cap pops off sending the rocket skyward. Make sure the measuring stick is back far enough not to interfere with the flight.
Don't break down on the NJ Turnpike. The turnpike is a limited access road and uses it's approved tow services. Not totally a bad thing, as they respond in a prescribed amount of time, but the turnpike may NOT honor your tow service contractor. When we broke down I called my contract provider and was told that I needed to get the turnpike approved tow service to tow me off the turnpike and THEN they would come and provide the service from there. I would be responsible for the tow from the turnpike. I ended up using the turnpike approved tow service to take us 75 miles home and then applied for the $100 tow coverage from my RV insurance company (they paid). BTW, AAA is honored. Nice, but AAA doesn't have RV coverage on the east coast, yet. The one plus of the whole event was the kids thought the ride in a tow truck was "great".

All good web sites are ... This site is no exception, please check back to see my changes.
Since I don't feel I need to "re-hash" all the great family camping information on the net,
just follow my links or try The Folding Trailer/PopUp Camper Webring:

This The Folding Trailer/PopUp Camper Webring site owned by Steve Shearer.
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