With our checklist full of checkmarks it was time to begin our 3 day trip home. During the trip down to Texas we mostly beat the weather that was barreling down and devastating western North Carolina. Before leaving Texas we learned that a sinkhole had damaged part of Route 81 in Virginia so we decided to take a more northerly route home. We were now officially RVers. We were living the dream! No idea where we were going to stop for the night – wherever the wind took us – fast and free! Uh……where are we going to stop for the night? Honestly there was a quick thought of ”Let’s just stay at a hotel” – Ridiculous!
We’re CAMPERS! We need a campground!
While doing the research on the Casita, I learned a bit about a network of over 450 campgrounds scattered throughout the United States that is mostly administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE). These campgrounds are open to the public, can be reserved online, can have electric/water hookups and a dump station and are often positioned near beautiful bodies of water created by or maintained by the Corps of Engineers. These campgrounds can be reserved by visiting www.recreation.gov They are reasonably priced and if you have an America the Beautiful Senior Lifetime Pass (https://store.usgs.gov/lifetime-senior-pass) you receive 50% off the campground nightly rate. Yup – 50% off.
For our first night outside of Texas and our first ever stop at an Army Corps of Engineers (COE) campground, we chose the COE in Maumelle, Arkansas. Wow! Gorgeous sites along the Arkansas River. I think the rate was $36/night and of course after applying my Senior Pass that was knocked down to $18. Beautiful site. Easy day of travelling. The Casita looked great after all the mods. What could go wrong?
My lifetime towing experience thus far consisted of a pull thru site in Ennis Tx and a ‘fake it ’til you make it’ backing up experience in an empty horse ranch parking area the size of an aircraft carrier. Pulling into a site at Maumelle was going to be a horse of a different color.
The sites at Maumelle had level cement pads that were well spaced (I guess?) What it also had was something I had not experienced before – onlookers.
I motored along at the posted 5 miles an hour to find our site and as you can see, our Maumelle site was a piece of prime real estate. I circled around again like a slow moving shark trying to come up with either a plan or courage to stop at some point and back up into our spot. Unlike the empty NRS Harvest Host site of the previous night, this campground had occupied sites. People were sitting around campfires, playing with their dogs, grilling food – absorbed with their own lives. Until the brand new shiny trailer came rolling in – the ‘newbie’ – let the fun begin! Of course this was all my imagination. The reality was no one really took notice of me – but the ‘back up paranoia’ was real.
I told Susan I was going to give it a try. And I did. A single, half-hearted effort. And then I tucked my trailer between my legs, pulled around the circle one more time and pulled straight into the back-in site.
That’s when I learned that part of the beauty of a small trailer is that even pulling straight in with your hook ups opposite side of normal, you can still reach the electric and water service. A lesson learned.