Goodbye Old Trailer, Hello New Trailer

Earlier this week we took our Livin’ Lite Camplite Trailer to Tyler State Park in (where else?) Tyler, Texas. We knew nothing about the park other than what we had read online and when we arrived we were directed to the Big Pine RV area because we wanted full hookup. It was a very nice park with lots of tree shade. However, it was packed with some monstrous fifth wheels—no Class A RVs but a lot of five-slide fifth wheels.

The RV spots are semicircles—not exactly pull-through spots but “pull around” spots.

Here I am sitting at the picnic table looking at our little trailer.

What you cannot tell from this photo is that the spot was very tight. I had to pull forward and back up a few times just to be able to get the truck and trailer out without hitting a tree on the right or a cement post on the left. Why the post was there is beyond me.

We did explore a bit and found RV sites with electric and water but no water outlets. Those sites were not crowded and very secluded. If we go back, that is where we are going to spend our time.

Anyway, after we left the park we went to a dealership to get our new RV – a Shockwave 18ss toy hauler. Our Camplite was just too small to fit us and our kayaks inside so we traded up. 

Here we are with our new trailer.

Next week we are taking four kayaks and two dogs to Creede, Colorado to do some whitewater kayaking and meet some friends. We will be stopping at Palo Duro Canyon State Park on the way up and Caprock Canyons State Park on the way back. 

I really liked our little Camplite and can recommend it to anyone who can live with the small space.

RVing at Buckhorn Lake Resort

We finally took our first real RV trip with our Livin’ Lite Camplite travel trailer. Because of the reviews we had read we chose to stay at Buckhorn Lake Resort and we were not disappointed.  Every site has a concrete pad and full hookups, but what impressed us the most was the cleanliness of the facility. The staff at Buckhorn Lake Resort was very friendly and helpful. Maintenance workers were always visible making sure that everything was perfect.

The bathrooms/showers were immaculate and were serviced a few times a day. I really appreciated being able to take a leisurely hot shower, a shower that would have certainly drained all the propane we had.

I will say this—the facility is very popular with owners of HUGE RVs. Below is a picture of our trailer on our site followed by pictures of the RVs that were around us.

Our Little Trailer

Neighbor 1

Neighbor 2

Neighbor 3

Neighbor 4

There were actually some bigger RVs than these—some of the Class A rigs had tow-behind storage trailers that were bigger than our little trailer.

One feature of the Buckhorn Lake Resort that we liked was the availability of four pickleball courts.

Pickleball Courts

I can say that these are among the nicest and best maintained pickleball courts I have ever seen. There is also a tennis court next to the pickleball courts that was also in perfect shape. Normally when you find outdoor courts like these there are cracks in the surface, the nets are beat up and so on. Not here. These courts were in excellent condition.

Tennis Court

The resort also has multiple WIFI servers so no matter where you are you get a strong signal. That came in handy at night when we were able to watch a movie on Amazon.

Friendly People at Buckhorn Lake Resort

We met a lot of friendly people on the trip. Our next-door neighbors, Larry and Ginger, had three adorable Maltese dogs.

They have taken their fifth wheel all over the country bringing, of course, their dogs with them.

On the second day of our trip we saw a travel trailer smaller than ours, a “T@G” trailer. It belonged to Charli Flaherty Merchant and Karen Cruse of the Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter of RVing Women (http://www.rvingwomen.org/event/id/190186/Texas-Ramblin-Roses-Chapter---Bandera-TX.htm).

T@G Trailer

We helped them set up the canopy on the back of their trailer – believe me, it was no easy task, especially when the wind kicked up. Below is a picture of my wife Donna talking to Charli after we got it done.

Later in the day a couple, Rick and Denise, pulled a Class C motorhome into a site behind us. They were all smiles because, I guess, they didn’t have to deal with sway bars, levelers, sticky ball hitches and so on.

Rick and Denise

I have to say, Class C seems like a really good idea! I wish I had gotten a picture of their trailer. We also met their German Shepherd—she was a sweetie.

While we were at the resort Donna and I played pickleball doubles against a couple of guys, one of whom was Dick Howell.

Dick Howell (I apologize for the quality of the picture)

After doubles I played singles with Dick and thought, “This guy is pretty good.” He should be—he won the silver medal in age 75-plus pickleball singles and, with his partner, won the bronze medal in men’s doubles at the 27th Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, in October of 2013. This is the WORLD Senior Games.

If you want to know more about pickleball, visit his web site: https://blog.pickleballcentral.com/.

To show you want a small world it is, he knew a friend of ours, Larry Honeycutt. That’s not surprising because Larry is a great ambassador for pickleball and he, like Dick, knows just about everyone involved in the sport.

Nearby Parks

Buckhorn Lake Resort is located near two parks--Louise Hays Park and the Kerrville-Schreiner Park.

Louise Hays Park is a 63.5 acre park with amenities such as Guadalupe River Access, volleyball courts, birding, trails, centennial stage, large and small pavilions, and playground area. It has nice trails, as shown below.

There is also a nice splashpad if you just want to hang out and relax.

The Kerrville-Schreiner Park is a 517-acre recreation and camping park on the Guadalupe River. It is a really neat place to walk around as shown in the pictures below. Note that it costs four dollars to get into the park (two dollars for seniors) but that’s pretty cheap for what you get.

The Kerrville-Schreiner Park has RV sites, some of which have full hookups. The sites are very nice and some even have tree coverage, as shown below.

The setting is more picturesque than Buckhorn Lake but if you are looking for a quiet time this might be the park you want to choose. Unfortunately there is little WIFI coverage so if you want to watch a movie at night, you’d better download it in advance (or get a dish). If you like kayaking while RVing, then you might want to check this park out. It runs along the Guadalupe River and has a lot of flat water kayaking spots. If you don’t have kayaks, you can rent them at the park.

Lessons Learned

We had been having some issues getting our hitch to engage with the hitch ball and disengage from it. Charli Flaherty Merchant and Karen Cruse told us about white lithium spray grease for the hitch ball and let us use theirs. What a difference!

We also learned that the dump hose we got with our trailer was a piece of junk. Of course we knew nothing about draining the gray water and I had to stand and hold the hose when we emptied the tank. We now have to purchase a better hose with an elbow fitting as well as a Sewer Hose Support to make sure the water drains correctly.

Demonstration of the Ford F-150 Pro Trailer Backup Assist

When we read that Ford was claiming to make the process of backing up a trailer as easy as turning a knob we were skeptical. We researched the system, called the Pro Trailer Backup Assist, and after watching some videos decided it was the real thing. First, of course, we had to get a new truck and settled on the F-150. It is a fantastic truck all besides itself.

The Pro Trailer Backup Assist system has to be set up specifically for your trailer before you can use it. That process, which is very simple, is described below.

1. Go to the towing section of the dashboard display system and select the option to add a trailer in the instrument panel.
2. Add a personalized name for the trailer using the screen prompts. In our case we called the trailer “Camplite.” You don’t have to give your trailer a name but if you are going to have more than one it is useful to do so.
3. Select the trailer type. We chose “conventional.” The system will not work with goose neck and fifth wheel trailers.
4. Then you place a Ford-supplied checkerboard system on your hitch.

Since we have a weight-distribution system we placed it as shown below.

After you place the sticker you take measurements as shown below.

The measurements are:

• Distance A - The horizontal distance from the license plate to the center of the ball hitch on the trailer.
• Distance B - The horizontal distance from the center of the ball hitch to the center of the sticker.
• Distance C - The distance from the Rear View Camera to the center of the sticker.
• Distance D - The horizontal distance from the tailgate to the center of the trailer axle (single axle trailers), or the center of the axles (trailers with dual axles or more).

You then enter the measurements using the dashboard control panel. You have to follow the directions closely when it comes to entering the measurements—don’t get lazy!

Finally, to complete the set up, you drive straight forward a bit at about 4 miles per hour.

If you mess up, the system will tell you. You are now ready to go!

 The system uses the measurements you enter to prevent jackknifing. How? Look at the diagram below.

The truck "eyeball" uses the measurements to determine the center of gravity of your hitch, the length of the truck to the trailer and the length of the trailer. The system uses both the eyeball and rear sensing system to back up in such a way that you will not jackknife. 

But wait! That's not all. The truck can also sense, using the side view mirrors, if you are going to back into something with the truck. For example, if someone is giving you directions and that person may be hit if the truck goes too far, the truck will put on the brakes and disengage the system.

But wait! That's not all! Using the measurements you put in the system will also know if you are going to hit something with the trailer. It will flash a message at you and put on the breaks again.

Anyway, here’s how hard it is to use. When you are backing up you turn a knob on the dashboard and the truck does the rest, steering and controlling the vehicle speed with the gas and brake pedals. The rear camera gives the computer a reference angle using the black-and-white sticker for reference, limiting the truck’s rearward speed as the angle of the trailer increases.

However, you do have to keep your foot on the brake to make sure you don’t go too far once you have parked the trailer. You think Ford would have solved that problem too!

Final note: we did run into one small problem. At one point the system would not work because it could not find the sticker. We weren’t sure if it was because the sticker was in the shadows or there was some other problem. My wife got an L-shaped piece of metal, attached a new sticker to it and then attached the metal to our hitch using double-sided tape. That seemed to solve the problem.

Here is a video in which I demonstrate the system.