CamperBug.com

Problem Solved

Experience teaches many things. Here are some of our most valuable hints that might help make your camping experience more enjoyable.

Pack your clothes in an Igloo cooler. Especially for tent and pop-up campers, this is a great problem-solver. If you are camping in any area where humidity is an issue, packing your clothes, towels and any open paper products in airtight coolers keeps the humidity out of the items. If you have experienced digging through damp clothes in a dark duffle bag, you will appreciate this suggestion. The coolers can act as small tables or seating options, as well. Keep the cooler closed, unless you are taking items out.

Bungy cords and Velcro wraps A supply of both of these in all sizes will save you in so many unplanned emergencies. We once had to tie our broken awning arm to the trailer body with bungy cords to return home after high winds ripped it from the exterior wall.

Install child safety locks on the cabinets and doors in your RV or trailer. We devised this solution after two incidents in our trailer. The first involved shattered glasses and bowls had hit the floor during travel when a cabinet door above the sink came open.
The second was more serious. We had a dining area slide that closed against a long pantry door. During travel, the pantry door came open and lodged against the slide. We discovered this after we arrived home and opened the slide, only to hear the solid oak pantry door crunching into splinters.

We placed magnetic child locks on all the cabinets, and now stow the magnet unlocking device attached to the metal hood over the stove.

Hang pictures or wall décor with 3M removable tabs. Adding personal framed photos or other framed items to your mobile palace interior can really make it feel like home. But bumps during the ride there and back can cause these items to hit the deck, if they are not secured. The Velcro on these hangers holds decorative items tight, but allows you to safely remove them when you need to. You can’t really drive a nail into a trailer wall, anyway.

Prepare meals ahead and freeze them. Preparing and freezing meals to use while you’re travelling saves time, effort, and cleanup. Try sticking to disposable containers, such as vacuum seal bags that can go directly into boiling water or the microwave, or throwaway metal baking pans that can be tossed after use. You can eat less junk food, and spend less time cooking. Make sure you shop around for disposable pans that fit in both your freezer and oven! Remember – they are not as big as what you have at home.

Line your shelf areas with non-slip lining. This comes in rolls of various widths, lengths, and colors. Lining all your shelf areas, even where you store non-food items, can help in the war against things slipping around while you are travelling.

Make a “just-in-case” box. A clear shoe box storage container will do fine. This will never leave the RV. It should include: scissors, clear tape, a ruler, pens, pencils, safety pins, an emergency sewing kit, a small tablet, permanent markers, masking tape, paper clips, velco wraps, string, and a small role of all-purpose wire. If you know someone who just got a new RV, this would be a GREAT gift!

Under the Sink A few things you might not think to keep in that ”under the sink” area include: ant poison, bug spray, carpet cleaner, and air freshener. If you have small children, cabinet locks are a MUST here, unless you keep these items in an outdoor storage compartment. There are times you will appreciate having Wasp & Hornet spray, too.

Protect your microwave plate. This was the first piece of advice we received from the sales person for our first RV. If your RV is new and has a microwave, the glass turntable will probably come tightly set in Styrofoam. The reason it is packed in Styrofoam when you get it new is the same reason you should keep the Styrofoam and repack the plate each time you move your RV. It doesn’t take much time, and you will be really glad you took care of this little detail, if you ever arrive home and find your turntable dish shattered from an unexpected bump in the road.

Clear Springs

There are no other words to describe the beauty of one of our favorite camping spots of all time.  Clear Springs.  They flow through the sandy soils of the Mississippi hills, emptying into a 12 acre lake.  Clear Springs Recreation Area is a National Forest Service park, currently ranked as one of the top ten Forest Service properties in the nation.  Located just off State Highway 84, halfway between Natchez and Brookhaven, Mississippi,  Clear Springs is another of those wonderful gifts built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930’s.

Clear Springs is a small park, set up for day use for picnicking and swimming in the lake;  but camping is the best.  We first camped there as children during the 1950’s, when there were only 22 sites, one bathhouse, and a central water spicket that all the kids had to go to to haul water back to the campsites. Electricity was taboo in the campgrounds. By the time we returned with our own children during the 1970’s and 80’s, there was water at all the sites, and electricity at some.  Now that we are returning with our grandchildren, there are still 22 sites, all with water and 30/50 amp service.  It just keeps getting better and better.  There are no reservations; but if you call the ranger station in nearby Meadville, MS, (601)- 384-5876, they can give you the number for the campground host, always on duty, who can tell you how full the park is when you call.

What a special place.  Small, sandy-bottomed creeks flow into Clear Springs Lake, along with the artesian springs that rise from the lake bottom.  This is absolutely the best swimming experience in the whole wide world during the hot summer months.  If you use a float, and just drift around the lake, you pass through a warm spot, then an icy current.  A spillway at one end of the lake leads to a creek that is filled with old-fashioned swimming holes for the kids, and one sandy, rocky beach after another with treasures of agates, petrified wood, fossils, and quartz waiting to be discovered by rockhounds of all ages.

Hiking and mountain biking are favorite activities.  The one-mile trail around Clear Springs Lake is hilly, picturesque and just a little challenging.  Over 30 miles of mountain biking trails traverse up and down the steep hills.

Our favorite hiking trip is one that almost didn’t end!  Maps of the area are available, and we had one.  We set out about 1 pm in the afternoon for what we thought would be about a 3 hour hike on one of the many trails shared by bikes and legs alike. The trail was beautiful.  We were watching the trail markers carefully.   A small foot bridge that crossed a creek had been washed out and not yet repaired.  So, we had to detour.  Aha!  Therein was our downfall!  As we walked on, we began to realize that the path we were on looked nothing like the map we were following.

When we thought the trail should have led us right back to the campground, there was more trail, and the sun was getting low.  Truth be told, we were thinking, “Can we really drink out of the creek?” and, “Can you really survive by eating pine bark?”  Then, we came out onto a small gravel road.  It was NOT on our map.  We seriously hoped a local would come along and give us a ride in the back of his pickup truck.  But apparently, the road was not used often.  No luck there.  Deciding that the road must lead to somewhere, we followed it.  Just as the sun was dipping below the horizon, we saw lights, and heard the sounds of children. Following the sounds over the top of the nearest hill, we looked down and saw the campground nestled by the lake.  What a relief!!!

Don’t let our hiking experience scare you off.  The fault there was absolutely hiker error!  Even lost on the trail, it was a beautiful hike. Clear Springs is a special place to put on your Bucket List.