Before the Crowds

2010, thirteen years ago, was the last time we went camping at Heyburn State Park. We spent the last few days camping with our neighbors, Steve and Jodi, at a very nice, but mosquito-ridden, camp spot.  It was our first time out in the truck camper since last fall and we totally enjoyed the getaway.

To catch you up on our lives since we last posted, we returned home from Mexico and landed directly into a world of appointments, repairs, and general organizing our lives at home. 

The biggest concern was that before winterizing our camper, we found that we had a leak somewhere in the roof. We were late in the season, so we wrapped up the nose of the RV after drying things out and covered it for winter leaving it until spring when we could reconnect with Chris, our RV guy. 

When we returned, Chris and I started the leak elimination process. First Chris resealed all the seam areas on the roof of the camper ($1700). After a good rain, we found that it was still leaking so we moved on.  

I took the rig over to Chris's shop and while I was inside, Chris forced water into every seam using a water hose and air hose at the same time. From inside, I spotted a large leak coming in at the TV antenna. I removed the antenna (we never use it) and Chris patched up the mess we found under the roof plate. ($500) 

Linda and I knew that it was going to cost us to get the leak repaired. We decided that paying three thousand dollars for the fix was much better than paying $40000.00 for a replacement RV.   

We waited a few days for rain. When it came, we found we still had a leak somewhere.

Chris suggested we replace the gasket under the air conditioner and also replace and reseal the exterior marker lights.  Under the AC, Chris found a mess. The gasket was leaking and cracked.  We replaced and resealed this area.  Then Chris checked out the marker lights and found that five out of six were leaking. We replaced the lights with LED lights and sealed them. ($300.00) We crossed our fingers.

At this time, we have had several rainstorms with no leaks! You will never know how heartbroken I was to repair, and then discover more leaks, each time during this process. But we believe it is finally over and we have a 15-year-old camper with completely new roof seals that should last at least ten years. (Check out the photos of the repair work at the bottom of the blog post.)

Back to Heyburn State Park.  Our campsite was close to Steve and Jodi's site. I set up our bug tent and that is where we sat when we were resting or chatting. The mosquitos could not get to us in the tent which made the area very comfortable.  

The four of us have e-bikes, so we would go for a ride each day. During our stay in Heyburn, we rode to Harrison and back twice where we enjoyed lunch in the sun.  The days were warm and sunny and each time we rode we encountered deer, turtles, and waterfowl of all types.

The campground was not crowded, but as the week went on the spaces around us filled for the big Memorial Day weekend. We were glad we were not staying and could avoid the crowds.

American White Pelicans. 

Ebikers.

A bale of turtles.

Can you find the Heron?

More American White Pelicans.

Glass smooth Lake Chatcolet.

We watched this Heron catch a small fish!

Keeping warm by the firepit.

Camper repair Project:

This photo is of the area under the TV antenna. Notice the very poor sealing that the factory did during this installation.  You will notice that there are four holes drilled into the roof located in the middle of the left edge of the installation. These are prospector holes drilled to locate the coaxial wire in the roof. No sealant was used to make this area waterproof. Chris and I removed the antenna and repaired all the holes and sealed the entire area.

The AC unit needed to be resealed and a new gasket had to be ordered. Once everything was replaced and sealed there were no leaks from this location.

The marker lights were the old models that allowed water to penetrate into the holes behind the light fixtures.  Each one was leaking, so we replaced them all with new LED lights that have fewer water penetration spots, and then we puttied and sealed each light so that no water could get into the holes in the walls.

The new lights are ready to be sealed.