Wow, quite a day, more eventful than buying a house and moving in. At least with a house, it is standing still – you don’t have to take it away, and everything is pretty standard- fridge, stove, etc. A trailer is quite a learning curve though we had an excellent 3 hr tutorial by Francois at Safari Condo and although it’s not as intimidating as I imagined., it is still a bit nerve racking and anxiety provoking. But we are now cozily settled in, eating chocolate, and the heater is nicely warming up the place. I had never liked KOAs but I have to say, having full hook ups is not bad, despite being parked like dominoes, but when you are inside with curtains drawn, you really can’t tell the difference. It’s not the way we plan to camp but it is a good way to start.
So here is a summary of our day: We arrive promptly at 9 at the Safari Condo office.
Our trailer is inside and Francois leads us sequentially through the exterior – (lights, storage, locks etc), interior (all the components like tank gauges, heater, water pump etc.) He warns us about errors we could make that would be catastrophic, like leaving the water pump on and flooding the trailer! His delightful French accent and his sense of humor fortunately make the lessons easy to listen to. “No notes, no videos, focus and listen”, he instructs. OK…? Francois tells us that only residents in Washington and Alberta can purchase an Alto from Canway, an RV dealership but that all other customers must make the trip here; they do not ship. 4 are picked up each day and we meet 2 other couples-one from Colorado and the other from Montana. We bond over driving stories. Customers meet and share information on Facebook.
He ends with the most complex – back up camera, brake controller, hitching on and off. This I do video. So much to remember to do and check! Francois says by the time we are back in California, it will all be second nature. I sure hope so!
Then we are off and we space out, going out of the lot onto a rural road that is not that well kept. I keep telling Ray to slow down; he is just focused on the police car that so coincidentally is behind us. We somehow end up at the KOA that is only a few miles away, pull in, figure out how to unhitch, chock the wheels and get the roof raised. Hurray! Baby steps- one step achieved, we eat lunch and relax.
We spend the afternoon figuring things out – locking thing up, and unloading the car. We make a trip to Canadian Tire for a torque wrench. The place is huge and the name is deceiving; no food or clothes but just about everything else here.
We decide that getting propane can wait until morning so we stop at Tim Hortons, Canada’s equivalent of McDonalds, and have Beyond Burgers. Mine is not cooked as browned as Ray’s and I can barely get it down. His is more flavorful than mine but nevertheless, I am so glad I am not a vegetarian!
We are here for 3 nights, testing things out so we can go back to Safari Condo if something doesn’t work. We have a factory tour scheduled for afternoon which should be interesting.
I’m not able to upload a video of the roof raising on the KOA wifi but you can email me if you would like to see it.