1200 mile road trip = lessons learned and repairs to be made

[ScottnSue]

Wife and I just got back from our trip to Machinaw City Michigan. Beautiful area. Rained most of our time there, but still enjoyed the trip.
The roads coming from Southern Indiana were the usual rough. Until we got close to Lansing on hwy 127. That was the roughest 20 miles I ever been on.
Lesson number 1: don't put anything in the doors of the refrigerator. This is our first rear kitchen camper. We left canned drinks and condiments in the door shelves. To say the least they were a mess. Two shelves broke and stuff was a mess.
Lesson number 2: when the shower drain is clogged, don't use a barbed snake. The wife has long hair so I'm used to unclogging drains. I bought the snake at a local hardware store. I didn't know a drain in a camper has the rubber flapper valve. Of course I destroyed that.
We've been camping for 20 years. Just shows we are always learing.

[Playhouse]

Yikes. We've been doing this for decades too and I never knew about the flapper valve in the shower. I always assumed it was just a p-trap.

I hope you guys had fun nevertheless.

[Foldbak]

If that's all that happened in 1200 miles that's a win! The rubber flapper is a HepVo valve. It's a back flow check valve to keep odor and water from coming out of the drain. When they sit dry for a period of time they dry out and stick. I just use my foot an a plunger and it clears.

[DutchmenSport]

Glad you had a great trip!

We did a Michigan "loop" about 4 years ago. Started out from Anderson, Indiana, went up the West side of lake Michigan. Stayed at a couple campgrounds in Wisconsin and then on up to the upper peninsula. We stayed at the state park in Baraga, Michigan, traveled out to the tip of Copper Harbor out to Fort Wilkins State Park.

Then across the edge of Lake Superior, turned South, crossed the Mackinaw bridge and stayed another week at Wilderness State Park (near Mackinaw). Then headed South along the edge of Lake Michigan, back to Indiana, through Middleborough were we stopped (our favorite place) at Das Essenhaus for supper and then on home near Anderson.

It was a fantastic trip. But, we had our problems too. The trailer brakes went out and we towed about 300 miles with no trailer brakes. The GM dealership in Marquette, Michigan fixed the problem. It was a relay in the truck.

Michigan is a fantastic vacation, camping destination state. If there weren't so many other places to travel to, we'd head "North" more often.

Just wait till you get into Minnesota and Wisconsin, then move on over to the Dakota's. You'll NEVER want to go back home again!

I'm glad your journey was good. Congrats on your successful trip! Now.... start planning the next one .....!!! Go on ... GET!

[ScottnSue]

thanks for the replies.
Just remembered something else I to fix at our first stop in Shipshewana Indiana. One of the latches on the emergency window in the living room. The pin the hinge pivots on end broke off. Another run to hardware store. A small screw and locknut fixed it quickly.