Pop-up Mods/Wish List

I have had a few people asking me about things that would be nice to have and modifications we want to do to our new-to-us pop-up. We would like to get a couple of cheap things done before July's camping madness (12 nights booked in July!) but since we are on a budget we'll have to pace ourselves. Here is a list of modifications we'd like to do as well as things that are on our wish list.

Lighting
One thing we noticed last trip was that we couldn't run the lights in the camper because we were afraid of draining the battery. With a deep cycle RV battery you should keep it above 12.06v and we had no idea if we were close to that. So I went on Ebay and purchased some LED light bulbs to replace all 10 of the iridescent bulbs (inside and outside). These bulbs will draw MUCH less power and have a life expectancy of 20+ years so we'll never have to replace them.

Here's a pic of the outside porch light with the LED replacement. This was a 906 size bulb in "bright white). Inside bulbs are 1141's in "soft white". All 10 bulbs cost me about $30. We have a 2007 Fleetwood Niagara for reference.

Voltmeter

This will give us an active display of the battery life. I haven't installed something like this in years so it will take some time to refresh my memory but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out - especially with my husbands help. I'll post pics when we get it done. These are cheap - less than $10. I plan on purchasing one in the next week or so before we leave on our next trip since we'll be dry camping. 

Radial Tires 

The bias tires we have now were manufactured in 2008 so our best guess is they were put on in 2009 or 2010 and its time to replace them. They have some significant wear on the inside. Bias tires are great for rugged roads but you really shouldn't go too fast with them and we anticipate 65-70mph on the freeway through Oregon. So we'll have to purchase 2 radial tires before the coast. The spare tire that we have is already a radial. This will cost about $150-160 but we won't have to worry as much about speed and we'll make it through our 1300 mile trip. 

Replace Smoke Detector/Carbon Monoxide

This is a must. Ours had a fault and wouldn't stop beeping no matter what we did so we removed it. For now we are bringing a portable battery operated carbon monoxide detector with us. I'm looking for a good sale on a hard wired version we can install. Cost is about $45 to get a combo fire and carbon monoxide detector. 

Digital Thermostat

I really dislike the RV thermostat we have in our pop-up. It's clunky and super hard for me to turn on and off. It doesn't seem to have any correlation to the temperature settings. It was set on 70 last weekend but it felt 85+ in there. I think the digital thermostat in our house is simple and would be perfect to relocate to the pop-up. Then we could just get a new thermostat for our house - maybe a smart one with wifi that you can control remotely. Hopefully my husband isn't reading this. Just in case I am not including the cost information. :) This one will have to wait. 

Bike Storage

We want to bring our bikes but we seem to have run out of room in the back of the truck, especially with the big bike trailer. We know what bike rack we want but we need about $250 which isn't in the budget right now. We also can't decide if we should mount it on the truck hitch and buy a dual receiver or if we should mount it on the back bumper of the pop-up. Still researching this one and hunting on craigslist for used options.

Bag Awning

We would love to have a 13ft Carefree Campout awning installed on our pop-up. After researching various bag awnings we feel like this one would be the best for us. Again, this is out of the budget with a price tag of nearly $400. 

Mattress Topper - Memory Foam

It's a well known fact that pop-up "mattresses" are not that comfortable. It's a very thin foam pad laid over some sheets of plywood. We have been searching for a king size memory foam mattress topper that we can trim a little bit to fit our bunk. The bunk is advertised as a king size but in reality its an RV king meaning a little bigger than a traditional queen but smaller than a king. One topper of decent density that is 3" thick runs about $175 on Amazon. This is another item that will have to wait. 

Outdoor Mat

I think having a large (at least 9ft x 12ft) outdoor mat would cut down on the amount of dirt we bring into the camper as well as give the girls a place to sit and play. These are about $60-$80. 

Pop Up Gizmos

These are solar end covers that help reflect heat to keep the inside cool or you can flip them the other direction and they keep the camper warm for cooler weather. They cost about $180 for all 3 covers (2 bunk ends and the slide out). 

Solar Panels

This is a total dream but eventually I would love a solar panel set up so we can boondock and not worry about power as much. I haven't even started looking or researching so I have no clue how much this mod will cost. 

I figure in total we have about $1500 in modifications and additional items we'd like to purchase to make things a little more comfortable and convenient. Yikes! As I said, most of these will have to wait or we'll keep looking for them used. 

That's The Spot, Ahhhhhh (Silver Creek)

Last weekend we went to my husband's childhood favorite mountain retreat - Silver Creek Plunge near Crouch, Idaho. It was about a 2.5 hour drive one way. The road getting up there was paved until Crouch, then about 25 miles of dirt road. We had a FANTASTIC time and stayed 3 nights. We reserved a spot using recreation.gov at the Forest Service campground called Silver Creek Campground next to the Silver Creek Plunge Complex. Silver Creek Plunge features rustic cabins for rent, a large grassy area, a playground structure, sand volleyball court, small store with some essentials (and ice cream!) and best of all... a hot springs pool! http://www.silvercreekplunge.com/

I had never been up there so seeing it with a fresh pair of eyes here's my good, bad and ugly;

Good
1. The road getting up was really good. I heard rumors that it was steep and "switch back-y" with lots of water ruts but we found the road to be well maintained and had a very pleasant drive.
2. The campground was beautiful! We had a very roomy site (U026) that was nestled in along a pretty creek. The space to park our pop-up was very large and we were able to park our truck along side it leaving lots of pad space in the back for the kids to ride their tricycles and scooter. It had the nicest fire pit and picnic table I have ever seen at a campground. The grounds were well maintained and the bathrooms were cleaned twice daily. There are vault toilets and no showers. Boise National Forest gets an "A" from me regarding this campground!
3. Camping fees were reasonable at only $15 per night ($7.50 for us with our discount) but there are no hookups at the sites. There is an RV fill station for water when you enter the campground but no dumping facilities. Unlike other Federal campgrounds I have been to there isn't a Park Host or those little envelopes to pay your fees in. You have to go to the pool office to take care of that stuff. Their hours are 0800 to 2200.
4. The pool was very clean and kept around 100 degrees. There is a kid friendly shallow area that is 1ft 2in deep. It was crowded at certain times of the day but we went around dinner time and there were only a few people there.

Bad
1. It cost $10 for adults and $8 for kids 2 and over to swim in the Silver Creek Plunge pool. For us, that meant almost $40 for the day which is a little pricey when you are camping on a budget.
2. A bag of ice was $3.50 and a small bundle of wood was $7.50. With the closest store 25 miles away its all about supply and demand. :)
3. It was very cold 2 of the nights, but that's the risk you take camping in the Idaho mountains mid-June.
4. One thing I love about camping is the people. Often you meet other families or couples and strike up a conversation and make new friends. Sometimes you sneak over to each others campsites and sit around the fire chatting or telling lies. There weren't a lot of friendly people on this trip. In fact, even though we'd wave or say hi to other campers we were basically ignored. It seemed odd and uncharacteristic of the usual camping culture I have experienced. Maybe it was the fact that our kids scream/play/cry for 1 hour prior to falling asleep just before dark. I dunno. :)

Ugly
1. Somewhere along the way we picked up a screw in our truck tire and got a flat. I know this isn't really considered ugly, but I hate it when things like this happen. Luckily we had a full sized spare and were able to get home OK.

Lessons Learned
They make these metallic looking covers for pop-ups called Pop-Up Gizmos. I want them. I think on both of the trips we have taken they would have been really useful. If you put the metallic side out it keeps your Pup-up cooler, metallic side in will help retain warmth. Once I get them I will do an in-depth review. We learned how to operate our gas furnace in the pop-up. It worked really well but our unit does not retain the heat for long. http://www.popupgizmos.com/

Last camping trip we brought wayyyyyyyyy too much stuff. It was our 1000th time camping but first time camping with kids so we weren't sure what we'd need. This time we scaled back on a lot of things and it made a big difference. We brought just enough clothes, food and drinks/water to get us through.

The biggest thing I learned on this trip is to always bring warm and cold clothes. There were times of the day that it felt hot and then it would rain and you'd be able to see your breath. Being prepared for both extremes is good.

Overall I give this trip a B+. It was fun and beautiful up there but the main attraction - the pool - was a little pricey and the weather was a little colder than I liked.

Pictures

Lots of space to play!

"Clifford" The Truck and "Cleo"The Pavement Princess

Nice gravel tent pad

The "Rabbit Hole"

View to the left form site U026

View to the right from site U026

The Maiden Voyage (Lake Owyhee)

We just got back from our maiden voyage in the new pop-up as well as the first ever camping trip with our girls! It was a learning experience. We went to Lake Owyhee State Park in Oregon for Memorial Weekend, 2014. Good, bad and ugly, here we go!

Good
1. Fishing was excellent. The girls caught their first fish (tiny crappie) and had a wonderful time.
2. The weather was nice, if a little hot at times. We had electricity at our site so we plugged in fans to help keep us cool.
3. First trip of the year is all about working out the bugs and getting back in the swing of things. I feel like we did that.

Bad
1. People were out in droves. There was not an empty spot in the campground. But it was a holiday weekend, so yeah.
2. My family has been to this campground in the past and it used to be green and well taken care of. Now, there was almost no green grass and the grounds weren't in the same shape the used to be years ago. Budget cuts maybe?
3. The RV sites were SMALL. I could stand with my arms spread out and touch both our pop-up and the motorhome next to us. There was very little wiggle room at the site to even put our lawn chairs and canopy.
4. A lot of the sites near the top of of the park (closest to the road) were literally on cliffs. Thankfully we didn't book one of those sites because the kids would have fallen down the cliff.
5. The bathrooms were dirty and I did not see anyone clean them the entire time we were there (Thursday - Sunday). Our campsite was literally feet away from the bathroom/showers so we would have noticed.

Ugly
1. Aggressive dogs. Yeah. That's right. Someone pulled into the spot next to ours (basically in our lap) and the second she got out of the car she says, "we have aggressive dogs". So I ask, "aggressive towards dogs or kids?". Her response was "both." Obviously with two year old twins and a dog of our own that wasn't going to work. After speaking with the camp host and getting the Ranger's involved the aggressive dog people were moved to another site. What complete idiot brings dogs that are aggressive to a State Park with families and children? Needless to say a complaint was filed and the State of Oregon handled it very well, so kudos to them.
2. MOTHS. Oh. My. Dear. Lord. There were moths everywhere. Thousands of them swarming the trees near our campsite. Almost a month later we are still finding dead moths in our camper. We spent a good 2 hours a day just trying to capture and/or kill moths in the pop-up. Ridiculous. It was almost like an end-of-days infestation.

Lessons Learned

On this trip, our maiden voyage with the pop-up, we discovered that whoever is going to be at the camper needs to have the keys to the camper. Not the person on the boat out in the middle of the water. Otherwise you'll be stuck at the campsite with 2 screaming kids, no access to food/water in 90 degree heat sitting in direct sunlight cursing your spouse's name until you finally decide to break into the camper using a screw driver. Then the next day the spouse that enjoyed fishing and the father-in-law have to spend hours trying to fix the door so the camper can actually be broken down and driven out of the moth infested hell it sat in for 3+ days.

Sunscreen. If you have little ones bring lots and lots of that spray on sunscreen Works great!

I also tested a screened-in instant canopy that I feel deserves its own review post, so that will be coming soon!

Overall I'd give this trip a D. Here's to hoping the next trip is a little better!

Pictures

A moment of quiet in the bike trailer

Cleo in her gravel spot next to the bathroom path

Our "space"

Testing out the new sun/bug canopy, trying to stay away from moths

Fishing with Daddy and Grandpa

This is what its all about!

My storage solution 

Chips!

I'm happy, I promise! ;)