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Rick's Raindrop Report

rickdernberger

rickdernberger

Novice
[Note - this is my first attempt at posting photos. If I hit the submit button and its all crazy, I apologize, and will try to fix later.]

Well, I picked up my Raindrop yesterday! On Thursday, January 17, I drove from my hometown of Zeeland, MI to The Wisconsin Dells, which is about a half hour away from Necedah. I spent the night in a hotel, and then made my way to CampInn aka The Nest aka The Mother Ship. I had been there last fall to pick up and drop off my rental 560 when attending CampInn Camp Out. None the less, it REALLY does feel like a sort of pilgrimage when pulling in there.
CI%20Sign.jpg


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I parked the vehicle, walked into the building and saw a calendar on the hallway wall with ME on it!

Calendar.jpg


Cary greeted me and we began The Orientation. We walked out through the factory floor into the annex, and there she was! Shiny and cute and MINE!
I had seen Raindrops before, but this was MY raindrop! I wanted to hug it, but wasn't exactly sure the best way to hug a Raindrop, so I refrained.

Cary and I spent the bulk of the day together going over every nook and cranny of that trailer. I really appreciated the attention to detail. Cary has hundreds of customers, dozens of employees, but for that day - I felt like I was the only person in the world to him. As much as I had pored over every post in this forum, and already read the owner's manual - there were so many OTHER things to be learned. Little teeny nuances about how to prevent problems, caring for the trailer, etc.

I was delighted to learn that my trailer had already become friend's with Jenn's Teardrop as they had apparantly sat next to each other for a few weeks! No doubt, Jenn's trailer had so many stories and lessons to tell my trailer! Also, I think this will help my trailer feel less awkward and nervous when it makes its first appearance at CampInn and Teardrop functions.

After reviewing various aspects of the outside of the trailer, we climbed inside. One of the first things we did was turn on my sound system. Many of you know that I have been agonizing over what to do here. I REALLY wanted to have something that sounded GOOD, but Cary had been repeatedly rejecting the speakers I was suggesting as too big for the space (as in would hang down too low and interfere with my feet in bed.) My local stereo shop had come up with some really flat but wide speakers that were sent to CampInn directly from the speaker factory. I never got to handle them or hear them - so I was taking a leap of faith here. Let me tell you, this set up TOTALLY ROCKED!! I could not be more happy with my sound system! I was able to play a selection of songs from my iPhone via blue tooth. Cary and I just sat there and chilled for a while enjoying my sound system.

Cary.jpg


[Heading out for a while. Will post more about the rest of my day soon}
 
Rick, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That incredibly long wait is finally over. Michelle just reminded me that ours was delivered a year ago today. Enjoy!
 
Rick - so happy for you! seems like it was just yesterday that we were talking about this. glad you took the opportunity to rent one and then join in on the CICO. Hopefully we'll see you there again this year.
 
Rick, awesome I sure can imagine your smile from ear to ear. Made me think of you sitting in our 550 and thinking you wanted the head space of the raindrop. Happy days are ahead. Do you have your first trip planned?
 
Glad you like the sound system. Craig told me, after he installed them, they were really nice speakers.

:cool:
 
Oly that is one of the three grab bars from the Handicap Accessible option. I think there is one down each side and one in the middle. Don't remember if the middle one runs side to side but I think it does.
 
"I had seen Raindrops before, but this was MY raindrop! I wanted to hug it, but wasn't exactly sure the best way to hug a Raindrop, so I refrained."

And Cary would have yelled at you for smudging the surface! Great stuff and I hope you have as much fun as we do.
Mike and Carol
 
Mike and Carol: So TRUE! Hugging one's Teardrop would have consequences to the finish!

Oly - Gary is correct - I had the optional hand grab rails installed. I don't need them now, but I'm hoping to hang on to this trailer into my extremely advanced years!

Greg and Kelly: Thank you! I hope our 560s (and our selves) cross paths someday!

Betsey: Cary told me how creative Craig had to get in installing those speakers; its just one more reason to be so pleased with the personal level of attention received by Camp Inn!

Pat W: Thank you! I DO have my first trip planned. In March I am going to take a week and go all the way to Florida. I am planning to overlap some of my time there with Jenn and others who are camping at the Jetty Park near Cocoa Beach.

Kathy and Bob: Thank you. I am already planning on CICO later this year! So I will see you then, if not sooner!

AJ & Michelle: Happy One Year Anniversary (or would it be birthday?) to your trailer! It was great meeting you at CICO - hope to see you both soon.

Anna and Steve: Thank you!
 
10th Annual Camp Inn Camp Out

I just got back home to Western Michigan after attending Camp Inn Camp Out (CICO) this past weekend. For those of you who are new-ish to this forum, Camp Inn Camp Out is an annual gathering of teardrop trailers that is sponsored by Camp Inn, the manufacturer of our beloved trailers. It is held at Castle Rock County Park, just a bit down the road from the Mother Ship. Although many of the trailers are Camp Inn tears, all are enthusiastically welcomed. I am going to muse about my experience in installments.


PACKING

Wow – I am SO much more organized than I initially was when I first picked up my trailer. I keep a running sort of journal on my iPhone called “Teardrop Thoughts.” I record any and all of my “continuous improvement ideas” on there. My entries usually seem to talk about things I brought that I did not need to bring. Each trip I have managed to bring LESS and LESS. I think there exists an initial degree of insecurity about not having something that is needed, so one tends to just bring too many things. It has felt so nice to begin each trip with LESS “stuff” than the previous trip. It’s always a bit scary, but I have so far been 100% rewarded with feelings of contentment and satisfaction at my “less cluttered” camping life. I still have a LONG way to go – but I now take it as a personal challenge to think about what gear I can permanently remove from my trailer.

For most of my trips this summer, I had made brand new packing and to-do lists from scratch. I finally went about the business of making some permanent lists that I can use over and over again. They are still in development, but for now there are four lists: Grocery List, Gear & Equipment, Personal Packing List, and Pre-Flight Check List. The grocery and personal packing lists are self-explanatory. The Gear and Equipment lists contain items not permanently kept in the trailer that I don’t want to forget. And speaking of stuff not kept in the trailer, I finally cleaned out my garage and freed up a set of shelves exclusively for things I might want to bring camping. Canopies, tent poles, porta potty, zero gravity chair, large water jug, etc. I was previously gathering these things up from multiple storage locations in my home. Pulling them together in one place has saved me much stress and time when its time to pack.

In what ways have YOU refined/simplified your packing and departure process?


GETTING THERE

The official event goes Friday – Sunday. I had so much fun last year (I rented Camp Inn’s Raindrop rental) – I wanted to come as early as I could this year. I am a therapist at a college counseling-center. I re-arranged my schedule to see my students in two LONG days on Monday and Tuesday, and left Tuesday night for CICO at 9pm. It is about a 6 ½ hour drive from my home in West Michigan to Castle Rock Park.

Maybe it’s because I’m still a Newbie, but I still have this goofy habit of constantly checking my rear view mirror every few minutes to MAKE SURE THE TRAILER IS STILL BEHIND ME!! Yes, I know, I know, I’m an idiot. I have no idea where this highly irrational fear originates. I have had no close calls where my Raindrop almost left me. I HAVE had a few times where I looked up and gasped because some sort of optical illusion made me think it was gone. It was really just my brain misinterpreting what it was seeing for a split second. But each time I feel that burst of panic as if she had left me. Do I really think a 1200 pound trailer could just silently detach from my vehicle with no noise, no lurching from the disconnection, etc? I dunno. It’s almost a parental thing – the way I keep making sure my 9-year old daughter is still in the backyard when she is outside playing. I was somewhat re-assured when Frank (fpoole on this forum) later admitted to the same sort of behavior as he was driving cross-country on his way to CICO.

Any who… I drove several hours and then pulled into a truck stop just outside of Rockford, Illinois.

By the way, I LOVE staying at truck stops when I am just trying to make headway. I don’t park with the trucks though. That just kind of intimidates me. Instead, I go to the regular car parking lot near the gas pumps and find two parking spaces that are end to end. I just pull through and then stop. I actually try to park in a bright spot beneath some lights. (I keep a slumber mask / eye shade thingy in my cabin for just such occasions.) Truck stops have EVERYTHING you could want when passing through. Fuel, food, drink, small grocery supplies, 24-hour restaurant, restrooms, and of course – a place for me to park. I go inside, use the facilities, buy anything I need, and then climb into my Raindrop. I do try to be just a bit discrete; I will enter and exit my Raindrop using whatever door is least visible to “the public”. I have a bin inside one of my cabinets to place my shoes. I close the curtains, do a little bit of reading on my kindle, maybe check some emails, and soon fall asleep. I have earplugs on hand if needed along with the previously mentioned slumber mask.

On this occasion, it was a cold night. I was sitting on the couch and was chilly. My sheets and quilt were all tucked in at the foot of my bed and would not reach further up than my calves. I considered yanking the quilt free in order to pull it up over more of me while sitting on the couch, but if you’ve ever tucked sheets and a quilt into a teardrop bed, you will understand why I QUICKLY vetoed that idea. I instead covered my lap with my fleece jacket, fired up my iPhone, and dashed a hasty note to my Teardrop Thoughts Journal: “consider some sort of lap blanket for use during couch sitting.” I turned on my 12-volt sleeping pad, and slid down into the bed. Ahhhhhh. Within moments I was toasty warm. I think that night was my 17th night of sleeping in my Raindrop since picking it up this past January. I have to tell you, I STILL get a big smile on my face when I crawl in there. It is an almost child-like feeling of giddy-ness. I am in my own cozy little fort!

I didn’t set an alarm, and so I woke up around 8:30 the next morning feeling fresh as a daisy. After a brief visit inside the truck stop to use facilities and pick up a few cans of Diet Coke (its how I do caffeine) I was on my way.

Next Installment: ARRIVAL AND SETTING UP
 
Mick will kill me for mentioning it, so I will keep it brief. We have come unattached from our darling, and it makes a big noise. You will notice it, so fear not.

And with that I will go to sleep. Night all, and I hope those who are still on their way home have safe travels. It seems the storm we are currently hunkered down through (and keeps flickering our lights) is on it's way east. Roughly 4" of rain has fallen today (at least that is what I heard, flood advisories are still in affect as well), so it is a big one! Stay safe out there!
 
Sarah, as Paul Harvey would say: "Now for the rest of the story." Maybe at next year's CICO we can all share our "moments"! Ours had something to do with the Mall of America parking garage....
Mike
 
Huh?? "Big Noise"? I missed something here... alarms? alarm clock?

"unattached" to the TD??
 
Rick,

I enjoyed the CICO too. Met so many people not sure I met you. I was the tall guy with the tie-died Moose's Tooth T-shirt.

I never felt like the trailer disappered but it may be the headlights reflecting off the curved vertical front window of a 560.
I sometimes glance in my center mirror when my peripheral vision catches unexpected side to side moving lights.
I occasionally flip my center mirror to "night" to eliminate it even though the reflections are never that bright.

I did discover a trick for 560 owners. It is easy to verify your trailer cable hasen't gotten unplugged.
Just glance at your upper amber side marker light (no uppers on a 550) through your car's side mirror at night - duh.
I tow with my lights on during the day, and if you can't be sure of the light filament, pick the more shaded trailer marker
and flip your lights off and on to see it flicker. You still have to do a normal startup check of all the lights,
but you know you aren't dragging the cable for hours after a construction BUMP or a tight turn in a rest area...
 
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