The installation went very well, and we spent the rest ofthe day shopping for a few last minute camper items around town, aired up theairbags to about 45 psi to achieve a level attitude, and stayed one more night.Late the next morning, we departed Reno on a very cold, windy, and snowy day.We only made it as far as Bishop, where the sky was clear and the temperatureshort sleeve-worthy. There, I pressure washed the snow and grime from the camperand truck, while my wife shopped for groceries. I filled up the water tank atthe Ranger station until it came out of the overflow, picked up my wife at thegrocery store, stopped at Schat’s bakery, for a loaf of bread and croissants, andchecked into yet another hotel. We really wanted to camp that night, but it wasjust too late. We organized everything and then locked up the camper’s threelocks, which I found to be fussy, and went to bed. Tasha seemed quizzical ofthe whole operation.
The following morning, we gassed up and departed Bishop,heading back towards Death Valley, looking forward to great weather and anoutstanding camping spot. We headed east from Big Pine, towards Eureka Valley,the north entrance, on a dirt road. The views of the snowy Sierra’s in the rearview were incredible!
At 2 PM we found a nice little spot to set up our new Ravenin a forbidding landscape dotted with Joshua trees. My wife and I wanted tohave plenty of daylight to explore every inch of the new camper. There’snothing like the smell of new vinyl and cloth! The top went up without a hitchand the well-made awning, fully cranked out provided plenty of shade, which wasappreciated by Tasha. The day was warm and sunny, allowing the solar panel tokeep the two camper batteries fully charged. We appreciated that we could fillTasha’s water bowl from outside the camper through the drain spigot on the rear.That night we cooked over the camper’s two-burner stove, and the two FantasticFans exhausted all of the roasted garlic smell with ease. The margaritas,shaken and over ice, perfectly complimented my wife’s home made tacos and homemade refried beans. The pans soaked in the sink in hot water while we ate atour little dinette. The table though is less than adequate. I think a Lagun tablebase is in our future. I was surprised at how well the camper ventilated,particularly through the screen door. The little pass through in the screendoor is a nice touch, too. The refrigerator holds much more than we thought andit was well worth the money to get the larger one. It has a small part of oneshelf that folds back to allow a wine bottle to stand up. That night I read thecamper manual aloud to my wife, as per her request. Aren’t I romantic? The LEDlighting on the exterior of the camper was soft, but I thought the LED interiorlighting was harsh and florescent-like, even with just one of the four lightslit. We decided that we would bring a couple of small battery operatedincandescent candles from now on, to provide a little better ambiance. Later wewatched a movie on the computer using a 400-watt inverter that we have had fora long time. Eventually, we slid out the bed and climbed in under a nicecomforter my wife had bought before we left. We actually found the bed to bequite comfortable. Tasha curled up on the bench below. No complaints from her. Theevening was cool and the furnace worked great!
More to follow...
! And no new truck
