Our first long trip in the family wagon

[Odss91b]

Well we got the "Family Wagon" home from its winter storage location at our uncles house, discovered that we had a transmission issue. A friend of mine thought it was a transmission seal. Long story short right before we dropped the transmission we discovered it was the tranny cooler lines. We ran new ones and was done, no more leaking tranny. After the wife's grandmother passed on Saturday June 20th, and we had the funeral on Wednesday, the wife really wanted to get away for a while. She started looking for camp spots all around the coastal region. On Friday night around 10pm she found 4 nights at St. Andrews state park in Panama City, Florida. After checking with her friends to see if they could go she quickly booked it.
Now we had never taken the family wagon on a long trip before. The longest trip we had ever been on in her was to Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee which was only 25 miles from our house. So a trip 425 miles from my house was kinda scary. But the friend who came along with us is a good mechanic so we felt safe.
Unfortunately, when my wife made reservations on Friday night it was for Sunday, so that meant we only had 1 say to get every thing ready for the trip. I leaned then and there that you need more than 1 day to get ready for a trip like this. All the myriad of things that you need to do to make your trip a success and to bring with you had to be done. And since we would have 2 families for a total of 6 people all inside our 31 rq it made packing even moe fun.
To be continued....

[Odss91b]

So our original 3 am start got pushed back to 4 am and we left at 5:30 am. That's just the way things happen. Since I am a teacher and I'm off in the summer we were in no real hurry to leave. With the previous owners warning of "It's an old mh I wouldn't trust it to go further than Fall Creek Falls" still ringing in my ears, we said a prayer to our Saviour for safe traveling mercies and we set out.
The first major challenge would happen coming down the mountain. I had, sometime last year, replaced the brake master cylinder. When we first bought the Family Wagon, I watched a ton of videos on driving an Rv. One of the tips was if you are going down a mountain and you are gaining more than 5 mph in 5 seconds you need to downshift. So knowing hat this mountain was very steep I automatically down shifted to the next lower gear, then the next, and then the next. After surmounting that obstacle we continued on our journey.
We decided to stop right before we got on the interstate and put 40 gallons of gas in just to be safe. And we hit the interstate.
For most of the journey down I was tense thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Several hours into the trip the kids had to go potty so we stopped at a moderately busy gas station. It was at this moment that the family wagon decided to backfire right in front of God and country! This became the the sound effect used whenever we stopped for the rest of the trip. For some reason the family wagon wants to diesel on after we shut off the ignition.
After many stops and and only doing between 55 and 65 the whole way down, 12 hours later we pull into St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, Florida.
To be continued...

[joanfenn]

I imagine that after the backfire, the line for the potty was a lot shorter.

[M & J]

LOL Good one Joan.

[Odss91b]

Yeah it sure was! :)rotflmao

[boogie_man]

Awesome story so far which is why we have these things lol.   The worry, the problem, the fixes and the tales of the road trips.  Look forward to hearing more of your adventure and more stories. 

[Dill]

My dad suggested tuning the idle, or checking engine temp. My RV occasionally tries to keep running after switching it off. Have to get him to look into it, he is a master mechanic and I am but an electrician haha

[Piraterik]

I was All in on your first outing story.  Are You Going To Finish it?. 

[Odss91b]

If you have never been to St. Andrews State Park let me say it is a beautiful park. The beaches were ranked in the top 10 beaches in America. So we were expecting a lot for the beaches. Now like any good traveller, especially one driving a 33' foot motorhome I like to know where I am going and that I can get into my spot very easily. Not being an expert driver of the Family Wagon yet I did not want to pull in and destroy the rig trying to park. So like any good geography teacher worth their weight in potatoes I checked out Google Earth, when the state park website did not give my enough information. Looking at Google Earth I was not convinced that the spot would be easy to get into. Yes there was a road nearby that I could pull into (if it wasn't one way) and swing wide and back in. But I just couldn't tell for sure if it was going to be easy or not. Pulling through the front gate the Ranger pointed us in the direction of the campground and I tentatively asked him if he thought I could get my rig into my spot. He said he really had no idea. Thanks for nothing I thought.
So we drive down the road to the turn off for the campground and I get really nervous, you see in Tennessee at our favorite campground Fall Creek Falls State Park the roads may not be super spacious but you don't feel like the other campers are parked on the road. Here that was not the case. Yes the lots were very nice and spacious but every spot, and especially the ones at intersections seemed to have 4-5 vehicles parked everywhere. I was constantly checking my mirrors scared to death that someone was to far in the road and that I would hit them.
Luckily the drive to our spot was short and except having to run the gauntlet of cars, it was uneventful. Amazingly when we pulled up to our spot it looked easy enough to back into. Our friends husband jumped out to back me in. Having never even seeing the Family Wagon in a campsite he did a terrific job guiding me in and helping me get hooked up. Speaking of hooking up, all sites at this campground have electric and water but no sewer, but they do have a dump station.
We pulled in at about dinner time and after Scotty and I got the campsite set up we asked the ladies what was for dinner. My wife wanted to order pizza if they delivered to the campsite. In the end, we decided to cook hot dogs and sausages on the grill. That was a great dinner. We spent the rest of the night sitting around the picnic table talking and having great conversations. It didn't dawn on us until we were headed inside for the evening that we forgot to start a fire. Oh well tomorrow night...
On the way down we had no air conditioner because our generator isn't working and the dash air isn't either. We just opened the windows and let the cool breezes created while driving whoosh into the Family Wagon and keep us cool. Although it was perfectly comfortable that it would have been had the air conditioner worked, it never got really hot that it was unbearable inside the Family Wagon. Interestingly on the way down a friend of mine called and said that he had a fuel pump for my generator that he thought would work and he left it at my house. Of course it was to late to use it now, but maybe next time.
So the campsite... let me describe it to you as best I can. Since it is Florida the whole site was sand. The landscaping was great. Our spot had overgrown vegetation between us and both our neighbors so it seemed like we were the only ones there. Behind our spot there was about 100 foot of marsh land then we had our own private beach. Now granted the beach was only big enough for 4-5 chairs and it was on the lagoon side not the Gulf side, it was still a beach and it was very nice. I really felt like we were camping by ourselves. Walking around the campground almost every site seemed easy to get into, even with a rig as big as ours. They all had some sort of vegetation separating them, and the place was extremely clean. Our kids had their bikes so they rode around and you didn't feel unsafe. There were probably 3-4 campground hosts who constantly patrolled the campground and they were very friendly.
They have 4 bathhouses and they were set up on a specific cleaning scheduled that was posted outside 1 and 3 got cleaned at the same time then 2 and 4. We stayed in between 3 and 4 and neither was more than a 5 minute walk away from our campsite. You can tell the staff took pride in their work because even though the bath houses were cleaned everyday, they stayed extremely clean.
To be continued...

[Odss91b]

The next day was Monday and were going to the beach!!! Unfortunately we did not bring another vehicle with us so we had decided to walk to the beach. After all it was only about a mile to the beach!!! The walk was uneventful and actually very nice. The beach was awesome. The beautiful white sand was deep and felt good on the feet!! Although the coolers wheels didn't like it at all, they did not want to roll!! Unfortunately the water very rough with waves crashing against the shore with some force and they would beat you up. Now I am a big man, I weigh in around 260 lbs. and those waves were knocking me down, but the kids were loving it!! And after all that's why we came, for the kids!!
As soon as we got to the beach and picked our spot, which by the way was hardly crowded, we decided against setting up the easy up because it was to windy. I told my wife to put sunscreen lotion on me and she said she would in 10 minutes.
Flashback about 12 years ago and the only other time I had been to Panama City Beach. It was an overcast day and not very hot. The waves were crashing, although not nearly as hard as today, against the shore making visibility underwater a little difficult. But I was determined to snorkel that day. So while the wife, her aunt and uncle and their daughter played on the beach, I went snorkeling for maybe 3-4 hours. Before I started snorkeling I asked my lovely wife to put some sunscreen on my back but she refused cause she wanted some sun and didn't want to get it on her hands. Never mind I thought it was an overcast cloudy day I'll be alright. When I finally did come out of the water, my back was fried. It was lobster red and I spent the rest of that vacation inside the hotel room suffering!!
Now to the present... I knew that days like today, overcast and cloudy, were good times to get burned, so when I asked my lovely wife to put some sunscreen on by back and she said wait 10 minutes, I knew that in 10 minutes I would ask again and she would put some on. Unfortunately..... about 3-4 hours later I finally remembered that I was supposed to get sunscreen put on and I completely forgot!! And the same result as 12 years prior I was sunburnt, although thankfully not as bad.
We got to the beach around 11 am and it was now about 4 pm and we decided to go for a walk down the beach looking for seashells. We got probably 5-600 feet away from our spot on the beach, and I started to feel discomfort in the groin region. It finally dawned on me that playing in the sand with my 9 year old daughter and her friend and her father, that getting knocked down by wave after wave, sitting in the sand with my daughter making sand castles, letting the waves carry sand into my shorts while sitting on the beach looking for seashells with my daughter, that sand and the mostly unprotected nether regions don't mix... instead the rub raw and irritate!!! And being the manly man that I am I continued to walk and grin and bear it for another half mile when I said hey lets go ahead and head back to where our stuff is!!
As soon as we got back I walked straight over to the beach shower hoping no one would be there so I could wash out my trunks and get all the sand out of the nether regions!! No such luck, people were everywhere by the shower so instead I just washed the sand off my body and started to head back to our beach chairs, painful step after painful step. Oh and did I mention that it was then that I discovered I was sunburnt and forgot to put sunscreen on!!!!
To be continued....

[Odss91b]

After getting back to my chair, I told my loving and wonderful wife of my predicament and what did she do  :)rotflmao !!! That's right she just laughed and he hawed like it was something to really laugh at!! Oh well, I decided that that was it for me!! I put my shirt on and sat in my chair not wanting to move for the rest of the evening!!
We stayed almost to sunset time and then came the next fun moment for me! I realized that the nice enjoyable, relaxing, uneventful.... walk back to the Family Wagon 1 mile away was going to be a slow, excruciating, very unenjoyable, definitely not relaxing walk back!!! The whole way back, I looked like I had been riding a horse all day!! I was praying for someone to have pity on us and pick us up to drive us back to our campsite. Not even a crab (I do mean crab) showed up to offer any assistance! Not fun, not fun at all!!!!
As soon as we got back to the Family Wagon I grabbed my shower stuff and headed to the shower hoping that that would bring some relief. In the rush to get everything packed and getting the Family Wagon ready for the trip I had brought my toiletry bag (ditty bag) in the house to get cleaned. When I asked my loving wife if she saw my ditty bag she told me yes. I meant did she see it in the Family Wagon, she meant on the dining room table at home!! A little miscommunication, not a big deal, except that it had my A&D ointment in it that I kept there for just such an occasion!!! No big deal... Honey do we have any A&D in the medicine cabinet um.... no!
This was not going to be a good day!!!
After showering, the ladies began the busy work of getting dinner ready... steaks (from a cow my wife's grandfather had butchered) and taters my favorite!! As they were busy preparing the feast, Scotty and I decided to get a fire going or so we thought. We fought with the fire for 2 hours. It would start for a minute then die off. I used every Boy Scout trick I could think of up and including dousing the wood in charcoal fluid and spraying it on it while it was lit and nothing very disappointing to say the least! First no A&D and now we can't even start a fire, someone should take our man card and give us a demerit!! But at least the conversation and the time spent together was worth it!!
As is our tradition whenever we are camping, my family and I love to watch the Robin Williams movie RV. We  absolutely love watching that movie and all the pratfalls that happen to them along the way! If you have never seen that movie you are missing out on a fantastic movie!! That evening when we headed inside we decided that we were going to watch the movie. We got no more than 30 minutes and we all headed to bed to fall asleep dreaming of candy, sugar plums, and A&D!!
To be continued...

[Odss91b]

The next day, Tuesday, we decided to go shopping instead of the beach, mainly because I was burnt and the kids were a little burnt as well because they didn't get sunscreen the day before either. Fortunately they were not burnt bad. The first place on my list to stop was Walmart to get some A&D. Everyone agreed and away we went. Now unfortunately since we did not have another vehicle we had to break camp and take the Family Wagon. It really wasn't that bad, it actually was a smart thing cause we had to dump our tanks. Which was kinda comical, not RV comical but funny none the less. Scotty had never seen how to dump the waste tanks on a camper so he was in for a treat. When I took the cover off the sewer drain line on the Family Wagon, apparently my black water waste valve doesn't shut all the way because I had some it splash out on the ground!! Then hooked up the hoses (no hose spreader needed here) and away it went. Scotty said I always wondered how that worked now I know. I said the important part is to make sure you have gloves!!
And away we went....
From the state park to Pier Point Park was about 10 miles and the traffic wasn't that bad. Along the way the decision was made to go to brunch then go to Walmart. I didn't care as long as we got the A&D!! Are you getting the idea that I really needed A&D!!
Everyone decided to go to Dave and Busters to eat and let the girls play some video games. The meal was decent and the kids had fun playing the video games!! I was wearing a Tennessee Vols shirt and it turned out our waiter graduated from UT with a degree in English thinking he wanted to be a teacher. Long story short he didn't become a teacher and has travelled to Alaska and other places before settling in Panama City.
After we were done eating, to my dismay, they ladies said since we are here and everything was right there, let's just stay there and walk around and shop instead of loading back into the Family Wagon, going to Walmart, then driving back over to Pier Point and walking around. And since you have to keep the wife happy, I agreed. And we walked, and walked, and walked, and I grimaced, and grimaced, and grimaced!! I must say though that it was a very nice time.
In the meantime Angie (my wife) posted pics of us on the beach in Panama City and one of my favorite former students texted me and said hey MR. Lewis we are in P.C. we should hook up! So we made plans to go to the beach on Wednesday!!
To be continued...

[M & J]

     more,  more give us more!

[Odss91b]

Finally later that evening after walking around for hours, we got hungry again and decided to get something to eat. But more importantly we made it to Walmart where I got the all important A&D. Angie had forever wanted to go to a restaurant called the Panda Express to eat. Now in case you didn't know Panda Express is perennial institution in mall food courts around the US. I never cared for their food in the malls, but she saw the restaurant and wanted to try it. I always said no because I didn't like their food in the mall, so their food in a restaurant could not be any better. But everyone else decided to eat there so I agreed.
I will say that the food was actually descent. It was not a must eat at place in Panama City, but it was good. When we were leaving the restaurant, we noticed a strange star in the sky. Scotty's wife said that her sister-in-law had told her that the stars were suppose to be close together and be a cool thing to see. Later, I found out that supposedly the star was called the Star of Bethlehem and that it hadn't appeared that way since Jesus was born 2000 years earlier. Pretty cool I thought!!
That night we got back to the campsite, backed right in, and went about starting to light the fire. Sadly I must report fire-2 us- 0!!! We just couldn't get it to light!! We were using dried wood, kindling, paper, charcoal lighter fluid, napalm, anything we could get our hands and still no fire!! Bummer.
Defeated we went inside and decided to watch a movie. Scotty and his family had never seen Maleficent. Sowe decided to watch it. This brings up another issue and I think I know how to solve it. The TV is in a cabinet in the front of the Family Wagon. It is one of those all in one tv/dvd player. The speakers are inside the cabinet. In order to hear it you have to turn it all the way up and everyone has to be quiet and turn off the air conditioner. but since it was cool at night it was ok. We ended up going to bed right after the movie was over.
Now something that I was worried about was, how crowded would be be with 6 people inside of the Family Wagon. I have to admit that it was not crowded at all. They slept on the couch bed, my daughter slept on the table bed, and my wife and I slept in the rear bed. I did not feel cramped one bit.
We did encounter a couple of issues that had never happened before. The front ac started to leak condensate into the MH. But it seemed random until we discovered that it seemed to start it after the door was opened for a long period of time. Still it had never done that before so it was strange. I went up on the roof  and removed the doghouse to see if there was any junk up there but I didn't see anything. Then all of a sudden it just quit.
Next the door kept sticking. It was weird it was like someone had put glue on the door and you had to push with all your might to get it opened. I just chalked it up to the humidity of the place. But maybe one of you may have an insight that I could look at to get fix it from happening again.
To be continued...