2010 Trip 11 - Wrapping it up...

McCreary's Beach, Mississippi Lake - Oct 2010

Well, looks like the last outing of the season is upon us. This fall has been very cool and wet, so we decided that Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting, would be the time to get the Alto ready for winter.  Luckily, the weather is fabulous this weekend... still a little cool, but there is not a cloud in the sky and the brilliant sun is making the day feel warmer than it is. We have made reservations at a private campground just this side of Perth. We want full hookups this time, as we plan to flush the tanks and get them as clean as we can. Having a sewer hookup at our site will certainly help this task.

Arrived around 2:00 on Saturday. This place is a mix of seasonal sites, actually lots of them, some condo-like cottages, and a few daily rental sites. There is also a large main building that has an indoor pool, hot tub, a fitness room, restaurant and a canteen. Looks like they are trying to appeal to a wide variety of users. Our site is up a hill along a bit of a ridge. Pretty shallow site, and very open, but that is fine as we really want the sun to help warm us up. This is obviously where the few non-seasonal smaller trailers reside. Got backed in and all hooked up.

Before we left, I made up a strong mix of liquid dishwasher detergent and water, which I poured into both the grey and black tanks. I then filled them up about half full. The idea being that while on the road, the detergent will slosh around in the tanks and help clean them up a bit.  I doubt they are really that dirty, but this will certainly help. Once at the site, I drained the tanks and gave them a bit of a rinse. Before we leave on Monday, they will both get a good rinse out, then we will winterize the entire water system with RV anti-freeze.

Headed into Perth later in the afternoon, as it is only about 10 minutes away. Wandered around a bit,looking in the shops. Read the paper, then threw together dinner, which is leftover lasagne and ceasar salad. Cooling down a bit, but the heat pump is holding its own. The campground has wifi, so I am taking advantage to do some blog updating and a little surfing. Ended up pulling the oscillating heater out at around 2:00 am, as it was pretty cold in the Alto, 41F at that time. Set it up on the corner of the counter so it would just blow over us. Made a huge difference, so I imagine we will just leave it on all night tonight. Nice and cozy under our numerous layers of duvets and throws.

Beautiful blue sky this morning, the sun is just beaming, even though it is only 36F outside. The leaves have changed totally around here, and are now starting to fall. Winter's a comin...

Pretty much lounged this morning, then made up some egg & cheese mcmuffins. Took a run back into Perth. We forgot the gin at home, and could not wind up the season without one of Dale's G&T's making an appearance.  Stopped at a great little food store called Foodsmith's,they had a huge display of pumpkins outside so bought a fine shaped one to bring home for the front porch. Wandered around the shops of Perth, a nice little town. Went into a bookstore and spotted Stephen King's "Under the Dome", in soft cover. Bought it on the spot. Apparently it is on a par with his classic, "The Stand". Dinner tonight is our camping favorite, Montreal thighs and grilled veggies with Bone Dust and goats cheese. Very yummy indeed. A nice older couple came by the have a look at the Alto. They live at the campground year round. They have a trailer they stay in for most of the year, then they move into one of the condo rental units when it gets really cold. They used to split their time between Ottawa and the trailer, but found it was much cheaper to rent the condo unit for the winter at the park, rather than keeping something in Ottawa. They both love this arrangement and obviously enjoy the outdoors.  He keeps himself busy doing odd jobs around the park, as well as opening and closing trailers for the many seasonals.

this guy did not stop staring at us the whole time we were there...just wish he had concentrated a little more on his rum & coke...

 Found a good radio station on the Tivoli, out of Smith's Falls, that plays older rock music. listened to tunes in the evening and reminisced on our first season in the Alto. Tomorrow is winterizing.

Cool last night, but the little heater, set low and oscillating as it does, kept the Alto quite comfortable. Another brilliantly sunny morning. Perfect. Fired up some breakfast, coffee of course, then started to get ready to winterize.

So just how does one winterize a trailer. Quite easily actually, although, in typical Jim fashion, I probably overkilled it. In a nutshell, drain the tanks and anti-freeze the plumbing.  As the fresh water tank was pretty full, I started draining it last night, and let it sit open to ensure it was totally empty. We first dumped both the grey and black water tanks, then using an extra hose I brought from home, and a nifty driveway spraying attachment I found at Home Hardware, I hosed down the black water tank, feeding the hose down the business end of the toilet. Not really as icky as one would suspect, as the previously mentioned cleaning using the dishwasher solution on the trip up had done a fine job in itself. Once that was done, we filled and flushed the grey tank a few times and that was it for the tanks. We then put a couple of jugs of RV anti-freeze into the fresh water tank, then turned on the pump and opened the sink taps, the external shower and the toilet to allow the pump to force any water in the lines out, and replace it with the anti-freeze drawn from the fresh water tank. We then poured the remaining anti-freeze into the grey and black tanks. That's it!

Once that was all done we hitched up and pulled out for home. Kinda sad that it is our last outing of the year, but we have all winter to plan for next May.