Scamp Photo Album 2012
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Once again it came time for the first outing of the year; the first weekend in April. As in past years, we chose Pilot Knob State Park
in North Central Iowa. While the weather was a bit cooler than last year, it still proved to be a wonderful
weekend. We also scouted out a couple of lakes in the area for canoeing later this summer, but unfortunately, I
did not get any pictures of them yet.
I would also like to point out the wall hanging in the last picture. This was a Christmas gift from
one of
my older sisters. She also designed and made the red, white, and blue quilt on the bed. I like the design
and I am currently working on something similar for a campsite sign that we can leave outside while camping.
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I am still trying to get that perfect night shot of the Scamp. While I am getting good focus and clear photos,
I am still not getting the perfect mix of light and dark. I still like these shots, although.
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This was our second outing with the Scamp, but it was not what you would call a traditional camping outing. As I have mentioned before, we participate in the Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA, and our local
group was putting on a regional event involving Arts and Sciences. When we work at these type of events, we usually
forego our Medieval Covered Wagon, which is much more time consuming to put up and take down, and just use the
Scamp. That way we can focus more on the event
and the setup and take down of the event site.
The first picture is one I took of Lisa's new car, a Mini Cooper, and the
Scamp. No, the Mini did not pull the Scamp, but I thought it would make a good picture. Turns out this was a good before
picture. Just a few hours after this picture was taken, a Severe Thunderstorm moved into the area and dropped
nickel and quarter size hail on our site. While the Scamp held up with no damage, the spare tire cover took quite a beating and
had to be replaced. While my initial assessment of both of our vehicles seemed to reveal little damage to the cars, upon
further examination, under better lighting conditions, it was discovered that both cars had received a good pounding.
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This
was our first trip back to Dolliver State Park in
Iowa since the summer of 2010. The weather was
beautiful and it was great for hiking; not too
hot and not too buggy.
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Our
fourth outing of the year turned out to be a pretty
nice weekend. We stayed in Backbone State Park
down by Strawberry Point, Iowa. We attended an
SCA event not too far away and stayed in the
campground Friday and Saturday nights. The
surprising thing about the weekend was the
temperature. I actually had the air
conditioning on most of the day and part of the
night. On Saturday it reached nearly ninety
degrees. Not quite ready for that in the last
half of May.
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Memorial Day this year was spent at our favorite camping
site, just as in previous years. This year the
campground seemed to be more occupied that in
previous years. We started with just the
Scamp, and by Saturday evening, it had become
complete surrounded. That was fine since we
were joined by good friends and family.
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This was the first trip back to Merrick State Park
for 2012. We originally had chosen our usual
site, but due to extreme rainfall north of the park,
the Mississippi River was up. Our site had
been changed to one on a little higher ground.
I
would also like to point out the new way I have for
flying the flags. I began to feel a bit
uncomfortable displaying the flags by using the
hangers for the gravel shield. I found a
suction cup flag mount online and decided to give it
a try. It works really good for these types of
flags. They stay up, even in the strongest of
wind, and they are easy to put out and take down.
I would also like to mention that since the holder
is mounted by suction cups, you do need to take it
down and store it for travel.
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For
the Forth of July, we decided to try a new park.
Since the holiday was in the middle of the week, we
decided to start our trip on the Forth and camp
through the weekend after. Since we had a bit
more time, this gave us the opportunity to go a
little farther away from home. We chose to
stay at Brunet Island State Park in Wisconsin.
There are two different campgrounds and we reserved
a spot in the North Campground since a good portion
of the sites were along the water. Despite a
couple of problems with an aging battery, we managed
to run off grid for the whole trip.
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We
returned to Lake Wissota State Park in mid July
while attending a family reunion in nearby Chippewa
Falls, Wisconsin. I like the visiting the park
because of the variety of trees
in the park. My favorites are the tall pine trees
that line the two ends of the park.
There is one feature of our trailer that I would
like to point out; the air conditioner. If you are
considering purchasing an RV or travel trailer,
especially if you are buying new,
seriously consider getting one with an air
conditioning unit. Most of our camping has
been either non-electric or during the cooler times
of the year, and we have found that we have not had
much of a need for air conditioning. However,
as we predicted when we purchased the Scamp, there
are those times it comes in handy. This year we are
finding that the temperatures have been a bit
higher than in previous years, and from time to time
we do find a campsite that does not have good shade.
This has made the air conditioner a very nice
addition to our camping unit.
While there are those that would claim that the use
of air conditioning is not camping, I feel that it
actually adds to the enjoyment of camping because
you have a place to escape those extremely hot
portions of the day. It also aids in getting a
good nights sleep for the
days activities. Not to mention, for the pet
lovers amongst us, it helps them cope with the
camping environment as well, especially if you have
to leave them behind for a few hours.
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Our
third trip back to Ledges State Park in Iowa was a
warm one as usual. However, this year we were
able to reserve an electric site and make full use
of the air conditioning. While it did not get
as warm on the second day, the third day it got into
the mid 90s and the AC was a welcomed feature.
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We
finally made it back to the first park we camped in
with the Scamp; Myre-Big Island State Park in
Minnesota. We were headed there the year before
for the Fourth of July, but due to the shutdown, we
were unable to use our reservation. This year,
we had a wonderful time at this park. We
enjoyed the weather and were able to get out on the
lake in our canoe for a few hours. Albert Lea
Lake was a bit larger than we originally thought and
we did not get to go to a few other places that we
would have like to.
We
also two other sets of campers using a Scamp.
The first one was a 13 foot Scamp the White Fox
Campground, and the second, a 16 foot Scamp, arrived
the day we were leaving. The pictures above
are of the second one in the Big Island Campground
and was owned by the Campground Host who had just
arrived to take over the duty. It turned out
his was a 2009 model and we believe that ours and
his may have been on the factory lot at the same
time. They are identical in most ways except
for his has a bathroom in the front of the trailer,
and we have a couch.
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We
made it back to the campground in Howard County were
we had camped over the Forth of July the previous
year. This time it was a bit cooler, and even
though it looks a little sunny, in the afternoon,
the shade appeared just when we needed it.
Again, this is campground offers water and electric hookup.
That is really nice not having to worry about how much
water is in the tank.
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This
was another trip to Backbone State Park in Iowa.
The shade was nice and we did not need the air
conditioning at all on this trip. We did have
someone stop by and ask us how well the camper tows
behind the car. They were trying to find
something to pull behind their smaller vehicle.
Even after four years of pulling the trailer, our
car still does a wonderful job in all types of road
conditions. Well, except snow. We have
not tried snow...yet.
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Our
anniversary trip this year was to Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. We started on Friday night,
September 21st and drove to the Spoon River Valley
rest stop in Illinois. I cannot believe how
much I like the trailer when traveling long
distance. It comes in really handy when you
want to take a little time to rest along the road.
The
first picture above on the left is from the rest
stop about 7 AM Saturday morning. It reminded
me of the game "One of these things is not quite
like the other..." The other picture is the
same day, only about 9:30 PM and still a half an
hour away from Gettysburg.
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We
finally made the campground in Gettysburg. We
stayed at the Artillery Ridge Campground, which was
located east of the southern portion of the
battlefield. We had water and electric hookup
at this site, and the rest room facilities were not
that far away. (Visible in the background of
the first picture on the left.) It is always a
good idea to have a spare tank of gas as well.
I ended up switching the tanks on the second day.
Since we have a new flag holder, we thought it would
be fun to add yet another flag to the mix.
This flag, the one on the left, is a US Flag from
the Civil War. Our plans in the future is to
start collecting state flags and fly not only the US
Flag, but our state flag, as well as the flag of the
state we are camping in.
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This
was a late fall camping trip to Backbone State Park.
The heater came in really handy this trip, and
although I know the propane tank was mostly fully, I
was still concerned about running out of gas.
However, it takes quite a bit of use to empty a
twenty-five pound tank of propane.
I
also wanted to point out the sign in the front
window of the camper. While camping in
Gettysburg, a couple weeks prior to this trip, we
decided to print out the design we are going to use
for a camp sign, and post it in the window. We
like the design and will hopefully have an outdoor
one for next year. So if you happen to see it,
do not be afraid to stop and say hello.
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If you would like better quality copies of the photos, or would like more
information about places we have been, please feel free to contact us
at
Information@dampenedenthusiasts.com
or
russ@dampenedenthusiasts.com.
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