We picked up our brand new Forrest River 264DBH on Monday, Labor Day, and couldn’t wait to take her out for a spin. So by the very next weekend, we had thrown together a trip that would allow us to hit the road that first Friday afternoon after we brought the RV home.
The chosen destination for our maiden voyage was Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana. We chose Mounds partially because of its beautiful surroundings, but mostly because it’s only about 35 minutes away from our home.
Selecting a Destination
Getting an RV was a somewhat spontaneous decision for us. We’ve wanted one for decades but were never ready to make it happen. However, when we found exactly what we wanted at fairly reasonable pricing, we jumped into action. You never really know how many days you have left to enjoy with your family, and our teenage daughter started high school this year. So we had no idea we would be driving home our travel trailer on Monday, and going camping the following Friday.
In truth, it wasn’t really opportune to go away that weekend. We simply weren’t prepared and our daughter had the “football game of the year, that I simply can’t miss” on Friday night. So, we put on our thinking caps and tried to find a getaway location that would make it easy to drive to on Friday afternoon, return our daughter to town for the high school football game, and return later that night.
With just a bit of searching in Campendium, we stumbled on Mounds State Park, near Anderson, Indiana, which was just about perfect for what we were looking for. It’s close to home, has a beautiful setting, nice walking trails, and is close to civilization. Jackpot. Knowing that we had a ton of stuff to get ready, we pulled out our credit card and booked our site on Reserve America.
Scramble to Get Ready
Did I mention that our travel trailer came home with us much sooner than we had expected? With only 3 days until our shakedown trip, we jumped into action, making sure we had all the essential items ready to go. A flurry of activity at Target, Walmart, and of course, Amazon meant many camping essentials started arriving at our house – and the pile grew as we collected everything we already had at home from our previous camping adventures. We had some much stuff that our dining room quickly started to look like a logistics staging area.
While we tried not to go overboard, (“Let’s just go light, and then see what’s still missing” we told ourselves), there is a surprising amount of “stuff” needed to make for a smooth trip from bedding to towels to eating utensils to toiletries. If you want to know more about the “stuff” we collected to provision our travel trailer for its first use, you can read about it here.
Setting Sail for our Shakedown Trip
Friday afternoon arrived and once school ended we were on the road. We aren’t strangers to towing, so getting hitched up and hitting the road was a breeze. And only 35 minutes after we set out, we arrived at Mounds State Park. (A word of caution to those of you with travel trailers: if you are coming from the highway, each of the roads leading to the state park requires crossing some railroad tracks. Some of the turns are easier than others.)
Check-in couldn’t be any easier. Arriving at the front gate of the park, you have to pay the park’s entrance fee. For campers, you only have to pay the daily fee the first time you enter the park, not daily. Just behind this gate to the left is the visitor center and walking path to the historical site. Or a few more minutes down winding roads on the right, there was the campground’s little welcome hut, where registration was quick and easy.
Once we were checked in, we headed towards our campsite (site 64, which was a great site) with just a quick stop to fill our fresh water tank. The backing-in process was quick and simple with pretty easy access – and all we had to do now was figure out how to set up camp for the first time. A bit daunting, but in the end not very difficult at all.
Within just a few minutes we had the trailer leveled, stabilized, and plugged in (with a surge protector). Not nearly as complicated as we had feared, thankfully. With only a bit of time left before we made the trip back to our daughter’s event, it was time to warm up some of the chili we had brought from home and take a quick breather.
The First Night in Our New Trailer
Rather than driving all the way back to camp after dropping our daughter off, we decided to stop back at home again to grab the last of our provisions into a cooler and waited patiently for the event to end. We also were using this opportunity to pick up our dog because we wanted to we could set up the RV for the first time without her there.
We quickly loaded our big beast, Claire into the truck and picked up M from her school’s football game, They lost… by one point… in overtime…. against their biggest rival. But even that couldn’t spoil the mood as we headed back to the campsite. Everyone was excited to finally get to experience the RV.
With the overtime, things were starting to get late. Thankfully we had stopped at the guard house earlier to make sure we could still enter the park, even late in the evening. Score. We arrived at our campsite at around 11 pm and very quickly scrambled to get ourselves to bed.
Here is where we experienced our first major bump in the road.
Our rescue Great Dane is not a huge fan of stairs… of any kind. We had planned ahead and brought a dog ramp to bridge the stairs entering the trailer. But there was no chance that she was using it. She planted herself steadfastly at the bottom and didn’t want anything to do with the dog ramp.
Mhhh… Now what? We patiently tried to coach her on how to walk the ramp, gently guiding her to take the first step. Nope. Finally, M had the solution to everything. “It’s only 3 steps, she can normally do 3 steps no problem. I think she’s just scared because she can look between the individual steps. Should we try laying a towel over it?”. It sounded logical, but could it be that simple? M draped a towel over the stairs and before she was even finished, our goofy dog raced into the trailer without hesitation. Sometimes things can be just that simple.
Having finally solved the dog dilemma, we quickly got ourselves bedtime ready. All small hiccups (“Dad, there is no water coming from the faucet” – “Right, we need to turn on the water pump”) were quickly eliminated and within just a few minutes, we were lounging in the dinette and couch.
We all agreed it was pretty cozy and we were happy to really be enjoying our first, very short, evening in the Forest River. We quickly retreated to our beds and fell asleep without hesitation.
Waking Up Fresh
After sleeping like logs we woke up to a beautiful late summer morning. We were all surprised by how well we slept. Following a long walk (Trail 5 runs directly through the back area of the campground) we used our outdoor kitchen to fry up some breakfast. With a nightly routine and a morning routine under our belt, we discussed what might be improved as we ate our breakfast. Surprisingly the list was very short.
Most of all, we all agreed that the trailer needed a night light. Without any lights, the trailer was dark as night. Not so much fun when climbing over a snoozing Great Dane on the way to the restroom in the middle of the night. We tried leaving on the accent lights, which made the trailer look very fancy but ultimately were just way too bright.
Other items we had forgotten during our initial provisioning were minor. A different hitch pin, some hand soap for the kitchen, and a few other small items.
Close to Everything in Anderson, IN
Staying at Mounds State Park feels like you are far away from the noise of the city. Aside from the small general aviation airport right behind the back loop of the campground, of course. However, this is deceiving. Within just a few minute’s drive, you have all the amenities of a mid-sized city available. From the staples, such as Wal-Mart and Meijer’s, you can find pretty much any food or shopping that you may desire.
This came in handy on Saturday afternoon when we had worn the dog out from taking long walks through the park.
Relaxed as can be, we decided to give the dog a break in the trailer and head out to the local Wally World for the items left on our “wish list” from earlier in the day. On the way out of the park, we passed a hole-in-the-wall breakfast place – and we instantly knew, this was where we’d go for breakfast the next day! After just a short drive, we arrived at the local Wal-Mart, worked through our “essentials list” (and then some), and made our way back to the campground.
Following another long walk (Trail 4 really works out your glutes with all those stairs) we finally settled in our camping chairs for the first time on this maiden voyage. Heavenly. Peaceful, quiet, and knowing we’d throw a few burgers on the grill in just a few hours.
For dinner, we used our outdoor kitchen for the second time that day. With the choice of a griddle plate and grill, we are really happy with the small outdoor kitchen provided in the package for our Forrest River Cherokee Limited 264BHS.
The ice maker is pretty fancy also and works pretty quickly. Within 10 minutes we had enough ice for 2 drinks. Not bad!
Dinner was quick, delicious, and the perfect way to wrap up our day before laying our heads down inside the RV.
A Restful Yet Active Sunday
With most of the prepping and getting used to the trailer behind us, Sunday morning was the first day we started without any projects on the slate. We were headed back home in the afternoon but wanted to make full use of the park before leaving. Of course, we had to fill our bellies first, so we found our way back to the hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Made with Love.
Because it’s fairly small, we expected to have a wait at Made with Love (2460 E Co Rd 67, Chesterfield, IN 46017). Surprisingly, there was only one table waiting in front of us and within a few minutes we were seated. And we were glad because we were already hungry!
The restaurant is a typical breakfast place you find in many corners of this country. Mismatched furniture, down-home cooking, and extremely friendly service. The kind where you know you will leave happy and full. We were certainly not disappointed. All meals were delicious and service was fast and friendly.
Following breakfast it was time to walk off some of those calories and we set out to discover the sights Mounds State Park is famous for. Our stroll through the park started at the visitor information center which is surprisingly big. It gives a great overview of the history of the Native American mounds for which the park is named. Going into the mounds’ significance, history, and the tribes that constructed them.
On the way to see the most impressive of the mounds, we passed Bronneberg home. The Bronneberg’s were some of the early settlers that made a home of the area. The tour is free (tips appreciated) and we enjoyed seeing the old home and hearing about the family who settled there and preserved these ancient mounds. It was also interesting to imagine what life on the prairie must have been like.
Our final sightseeing stop at the park was the “mounds”. We were a little disappointed – even though the stroll through the park was beautiful. Somehow we had imagined them bigger in our minds but I imagine letting people drive on them years ago didn’t help. I am not sure what we were expecting, as we knew that they were only around 6ft high. But somehow we thought they would be something more impressive. They are very interesting, though.
Breaking Camp & Taking a Dump
Following our exploration, it was time to hit the road. While the park offers a very generous 5 pm check-out time, we didn’t want to arrive home too late. After all, the next day was Monday and it signaled the return to the reality of work and school for us. We broke down our camp and were pleasantly surprised how quickly and with very little effort that we were hitched up and on the road.
Before taking off, one final “first” was to take place: a visit to the site’s dump station. We were fairly confident in the process, thanks to watching quite a few YouTube videos. Remember, neither of us ever owned an RV before, nor did we know anyone with an RV, so we weren’t too sure what to expect.
Thankfully, the process was quick, relatively sanitary, and simple. Within 15 minutes we were emptied, rinsed, and on our way home.
Happy!
While this first trip wasn’t a grand expedition (nor was it meant to be), we were very excited that we purchased our travel trailer. In fact, it was even better than we had expected. We slept better, the three of us plus the Great Dane had plenty of space and there were no major hiccups. We did decide that even though our truck is more than capable of pulling the trailer, a weight distribution/stabilizer hitch will be in the near future just to make the ride a bit safer.
All in all the trip was a great success and we can’t wait for our next adventures!
