Ice Cream sounds like Airstream: Things I learned in Fort De Soto

So there we were, packed up, hitched up and ready to roll out on our first trip with our Airstream. We were headed down to Fort De Soto in St. Pete. The truck was running and Winston was getting cozy in his backseat pillow fort. Eric and I were going through the checklist we made. Awning secured? Check. Hoses and power cords stowed? Check. Stabilizers up? Things inside latched tight? Check and Check! Break lights work? ---- "Babe, are the break lights working?" "That's a big negative Darling, none of the lights are working".

We spent the better part of an hour diagnosing and fixing the problem... Since nothing at all was working, we were pretty sure it was a ground wire somewhere. Sure enough, the the ground wire on the trailer end of the power cord had come off its post. Fairly easy fix. It turns out we also had a few blown fuses on the truck side. My Dad says this happens a lot when towing a trailer. It's lucky he was there because we didn't have any spare fuses, my father of course, did. 

Yep. There's your problem.

Always have spare fuses with you when you're pulling a trailer.

Lesson 1- It's probably a ground wire.

Lesson 2- Always have spare fuses.

Lesson 3- Plan on running late.

After an hour delay, departure is a GO. The first part of the drive was fine. We were on mostly familiar roads and we knew where we were headed. Things got a little stressful once we got further down the road. 

We're driving over that? 

Going over the Skyway bridge made me want to throw up. It was fast, high and windy up there. Eric kept his cool and got us over it like a champ. I almost blacked out. Maybe after we have been doing this a while I will get used to this kind of thing. 

Once we arrived to the campground we were instant celebrities. Everyone we came in contact with was enamored with Petunia. My favorite was the 11 year old boy on his bike. As he rode up I heard him say something about an 'Airstream'. I smiled at Eric, and Eric quickly responded "he said Ice cream not Airstream, don't get excited". The kid then rode by and said "WOW that is the biggest Airstream I've ever seen" I smiled again at Eric...this time with a touch of 'I told you so'.  The boy stopped with his friends and inquired "Is that your Airstream?" I told him it was and he gushed "Oh man that is, THE COOLEST!"  That kid totally made my day!

The trip itself was great! I highly recommend Ft. De Soto! While I dont have much to compare it to, the campground was really nice. The North Beach was beautiful and there were great places to hike or go for a bike ride. They also had lots of prime kayaking and fishing spots. 

Sun sand and beer can't beat that!

One of the best parts of this trip was getting to see my good friend, sorority sister and fellow Tough Mudder, Brooke! We met up with her at a BBQ and Brew place in downtown St. Pete. We spent the evening catching up and reminiscing. Don't you just love those friends? The ones you can go ages without seeing and then pick right back up with! 

Love you in AOT my sweet friend.

We learned a lot on this trip. The whole time I was making lists. Stuff we still need to get, things we can do without. We learned we prefer back roads even though the navigation is a bit more stressful. We need to get used to literally not knowing whats around the corner. It was a little scary navigating our rig through roads we'd never seen before. I definitely feel more prepared now but I'm still a little freaked out by the fact that we are leaving in 10 days. Yep thats right, we are officially hitting the road on August 4th! More on that shortly...