CT - WillingtonPaul Pond/Hipsky Acres/Adele and Paul's Lakeside Inn & Spa

Second half of our split 4th of July weekend at our friends Paul and Adele's house.  They have such a gorgeous property and invited us along with other friends out for a 4th of July celebration.  Many thanks for having us!

We look like a goRVing.com advertisement!

Theo had a great time swimming and playing with his bud, Ethan.

Here's an action shot using what I call the "Harry Potter Picture" mode on my phone: 

Kevin got his fishing fix.

Daniel made himself right at home with the girls :)

And Kansas was happy as a clam laying on the beach.

Flat Tire! Good Sam to the rescue!

So we were moseying along on the backroads of Connecticut's "quiet corner" wondering why the GPS took us this way, when all of a sudden, BAM!  This boulder along the road at a curve reached out and slashed the sidewall of the rear passenger side tire!  I know, right???

You can see the boulder in question right next to our caution triangle:

So a call to Good Sam Roadside, then an emptying of junk from the big cargo hatches so we could get to the mounted spare was in order.  Theo helped get the spare unbolted and ready for when the service truck came:

Here's a better view of the boulder...it really is awfully close to the roadway:

So when you sign up for roadside assistance you assume you'll need them on some dark and stormy night along the roaring interstate, not on a lovely afternoon on a rural road!  While we waited for the truck to be dispatched and arrive we had a nice lunch then I took the dogs for a walk.  We happened to be right in the middle of forest property belonging to Yale!  There are certainly worse places to have a flat!

The guy showed up in fairly short order and swapped us out like we were in the pits at Indy Motor Speedway!  Theo watched from up above:

We lost just 90 minutes total, not bad at all!  

Lesson 1: remember to take the corners a little wider

Lesson 2: a mounted spare is a huge time saver

Lesson 3: Good Sam is worth it

CT - West Thompson Lake Campground

Part of a split 4th of July weekend for us, we started out with my parents at West Thompson.  This time we were on site #2, which we were on last year:

.

Hey, I know that campground host!

Pretty rainy start to the weekend, so we spent a lot of time inside:

Kevin and I got out for a rainy trail run around the lake and up the Quinebaug River a bot to a point where we could cross and come back down.  Very nice 8 miles all the way around!  Photos are through my Ziploc baggie, so not so great!

Theo had a good time with his hatchet (supervised of course!)

And the dog boys had fun hiking with Grandma:

VT - Half Moon Pond State Park

What a great gem in Vermont!  Half Moon Pond has been on our list for a few years, but just never worked out until this year.  I'm so glad we finally made it!

We were on site 27, right on the water a couple of sites down from the swimming beach:

Theo brought along his friend Charlie, they had a blast from the moment we pulled out of the driveway:

Lots of swimming, fishing, and paddling:

(Charlie was quick to pick up paddling and by the end of the weekend was out on the stand up paddleboard!)

Lots of fun with Jiffy Pop!

We had a blast at the rope swings at nearby Black Pond:

And look at the listing for park activities - a trail run on Sunday morning!  Awesome!

On the way home it got awfully quiet back in the coach:

(notice Charlie's legs sticking out of the dinette!  And yes, they both have seatbelts on)

Mod: Short Queen Memory Foam Mattress Cutdown

When we bought the Winnie, the previous owners had put a full sized queen mattress on the short queen base in the bedroom.  We were excited to see how well it fit, so we promptly put in a full queen sized memory foam mattress with a topper and we sleep great.  However, after a year with it, we've decided that squeezing sideways around the bed is getting old and that we think we'd prefer a short queen after all.  Neither of us are particularly large or tall, so a short queen should be fine, and that's the size we had in our travel trailer.  Of course the executive decision was deferred to Kevin since I'm 5'1" and he's 5'11" - he said go for it.

Here's the full queen and the space between the foot of the bed and the wall.  It diminishes when the bedding and comforter are on:

 

So we looked at eHow and watched some YouTube videos and borrowed an electric knife from some friends and set off to cut this baby down.

After unzipping the mattress cover I had to cut away a muslin cover, then under that was another cover with a zipper.  Under that was finally the foam!

Some measuring and marking (a nice long straight edge like a leftover from a bathroom remodel project is helpful here), then we got to pull out the knife.  It cut like buttah.

 

Finished product: 5 extra inches of space!  And the bonus should be that the sheets and blankets stay tucked in at the foot of the bed since it doesn't extend beyond the platform anymore.  We will see if Kevin regrets the decision or not!

 

Mod: Replacement Doghouse Console

So, the stock console seemed like a pretty big waste of space, or at the very least not a very well organized use of space.  I had seen mention of a replacement "slimline" or "trimline" version in a couple of forums, so off I went searching.  Once I figured out the word I was looking for was CONSOLE I had no problem finding what I was looking for.  Ford makes one and Winnebago makes one - slightly different, but I went for the Ford one for about $50 off of eBay.

Before:

After: 

So, the verdict: I don't think it saved us any space, but the new thing has a lot more cubbies and space for our junk.

CT - West Thompson Lake Campground

A great stay at one of our local favorites!  Even better this year because my parents are one of the sets of campground hosts for the summer!

West Thompson is an Army Corps of Engineers location and has a dammed lake.  Of course Theo is old enough for lots of dammed puns and jokes, thanks to the Percy Jackson books ;)  Pretty funny and kept us giggling.

We were on site #6, with water and electric hookups.

We got out for some paddling - that's my mom, whizzing away from us.  She made it halfway down the lake while Theo and I were still monkeying around with his paddle!

And the genny was due for an oil change, so my dad coached us through since we're newbies to the Onan.  He has a clever "funnel" - the side is cut off of an old oil bottle so it has a nice long reach - smart!

  

I asked them to pose so I could snap a pic for the blog - watch out QVC models!

And here's another project we did - disco lights!  They're LED strips that I found at BJ's so I couldn't resist.  They're really thin so I just mounted them right on the awning roller.  I have a remote control and can make them do all sorts of excitingly tacky colors and flashes!

We gave Kevin a propane pizza oven for Father's day - he's been playing with a modified weber kettle homemade version at home, so propane is cool since we can take it on the road.  Fun to build our own pizzas!

Some pics from chilling and fishing:

Oh, and we saw this little water snake! 

My parents were back on duty on Sunday, and Theo wants a job there so he can drive the little cart.  Grandpa won't give him a ride since it is "official use only"...so the obvious solution is to work there and make himself official!  He has a few years yet :)