On the road....new camper!

We haven't posted in awhile as we have been on the road for the past few weeks.  The reason for the road trip was to break in our new camper! 

We have camped a lot over the years, most of which has been out of a backpack or car.  So, when Kye came, we decided to make the process easier so that we can get out more.  After our experience with our Eurovan as newlyweds, we realized that we would be more motivated to get out if we had a place to cook and hang out in bad weather.  

Several years ago, on a climbing trip to the City of Rocks, we saw our first Four Wheel camper and knew that we would have to get one some day.  So, after much research and looking for a decent used one without success, we went ahead and pulled the trigger on a fully loaded new camper from the factory in Woodland, California.  With a pickup date set and Heather still on maternity leave, I decided to get some time off and make a trip of it to break in the new camper.  Our plan was to pick-up the camper and head down to warmer climates, visiting places we have always wanted to see.  On the list were: Bishop, for bouldering, the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park.  

We left in a frenzy of packing, vehicle maintenance, finishing a refinance on our house, selling and buying a new snowblower, and trying to figure out a fussy baby!  Our thought was that Kye is pretty fussy and he loves sleeping in the car/ truck, so why not take a road-trip and deal with his fussiness in new, interesting, and beautiful places?  So, off we went, making the 13-hour drive to Sacramento into an 18-hour trip, stopping every two to three hours to feed baby and give everyone a chance to stretch out. Kye was quite happy with the road-trip arrangement at first, but, after taking a nursing/play break somewhere in the middle of nowhere following many tired hours on the road, he started to scream as we loaded him back into the car seat and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

We finally arrived in Woodland at about 4 am, got a hotel close to the Four Wheel factory and took a little snooze.  Then I headed over to the factory to pick up the camper while Heather slept in with Kye. The camper install took longer than expected, just a couple of snafus, and we didn't get out of there until mid afternoon.   

The new camper awaiting install

Ready to go!

After leaving Sacramento, we were surprised to run into some nasty winter weather on our way over the mountain pass near Lake Tahoe.  The drive was pretty slow and we saw lots of wrecks, but we eventually ended up in Tahoe, quite late, with temps in the teens.  Not having used the camper yet, we decided to stay at a cheesy in-town campground with power to try out the camper.

First night, in snow!

The first night was great, it got into the single digits, but it was 68 + in the camper all night, we can get used to this!  Everything worked great...so far so good!

 Kye likes the camper

After our first uneventful night we headed out for Bishop...

Above Mono Lake