The Maiden Voyage

Our first trip was a whopping 15 miles away from where we purchased the camper. We stayed at Highland Ridge Campground in Wisconsin. This is a beautiful Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) campground with large, private spots, and HUGE mature trees. It also has modern showers, toilets, etc... highly recommend. Our pals, Jeff and Kathy, joined us and brought their tiny camper...a 13 foot Scamp Trailer!

Aren't we adorable with all these tiny campers? Theirs is white and red, and has a completely different vibe than our T@b, but still awesome!

Before we went to the campsite, we did what any B@r T@b owner would do...we took our brand new camper to the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. I mean...where else would you start?

I didn't get a pic of the camper in front of the brewery, but I did get some of it parked across the street and of us in the brewery...does that help?

Close enough! LOL! The T@b brought about much discussion from people who sat near us and enjoyed a delightful beverage on the patio. (Also highly recommend a visit here!)

Jeff and Kathy met us at the brewery and we drove together to the campsite. Kathy even took a pic as we drove down the highway.

So THAT'S what we look like from behind!

The drive was uneventful, (yay) and Andy showed mastery level skill backing this baby up into our site! Look how beautiful.

See how private and natural it was? While we attracted a lot of interested looks, it was far enough away from the main road that we could get familiar with the T@b without being interrupted by passersby. (In later camping experiences, we will give lots of tours and be welcoming...we just needed to get to know it first.)

A couple more pics of our first set up. It really was an exciting night!

When one has a yellow retro camper, one must certainly have yellow flamingos welcoming one to a campsite!

I was so excited I got to use my outdoor mat I found at a local garden store! I overspent, but hey...it MATCHED!

As we mentioned, we named the camper The B@r T@b, so naturally, we set up to have yet another delicious beverage. Or two.

We used the Lagun table mount on the exterior of the camper to create a tiny bar space. Just enough to hold a couple of bottles and glasses. (This happens to be my favorite cheap wine from Trader Joe's...in case you were wondering if you should try it...)

While $5.99 wine is good, Andy and I had splurged on a wonderful wine from our favorite winery, Little Swan Lake Winery in the Estherville/Superior area of IA. We decided their Aglianico wine would be our inaugural bottle.

Hmmm...we appear to be a little blurry, but I think it's because of the wine. :)

Since we were only staying the night, we decided not to bother unhitching from the car. (This made set-up and teardown a BREEZE!) The first night was wonderful! It was cozy and fun inside the camper, and we slept great! The next morning though...we woke up to rain. :(

It was an annoying and unexpected rainfall, but we made the best of it. Andy went out to the kitchen and brewed us a fresh French Press full of coffee! We sat inside and sipped while we waited for the rain to quit.

Isn't that cute? Big thank you to Jeff and Kathy for the yellow French Press to match the camper! Some things are just important, you know? While we enjoy our outside time while camping, a little rain allowed us time to just look around at all the adorable things inside the camper.

After the rain let up, we joined back up with the pals and did another smart Wisconsin move...we visited a cheese factory!

Fresh, squeaky cheese curds, massive chunks of locally made cheese...it was a mandatory stop on our way out of town.

After travelling with Jeff and Kathy part way, we split off in our own direction to bring it back home. Once we got here, we couldn't go a whole day without playing inside. We even had a meal in there our first day back...just...hanging out in our backyard, but it was still fun!

Well...wouldn't you?

I promise, we didn't wait long to take The B@r T@b back out on the road! In my next post, I'll fill you in on where we went next!

Happy Camping!
Peggy