I definitely should have brought warmer clothes. And wellies. Our first weekend out in the Weasel and its been raining since we got here; here being the Sycamore RV Resort in Sycamore, Illinois. For any Gilmore Girls enthusiast, we’ve entered the Midwest version of Stars Hollow complete with a diner, a town square, a small history museum right off the town square and a day where apparently everyone joins together to paint the town’s store windows in celebration of Autumn coming to town. The Weas has been at the garage for two weeks getting her 22 point inspection, her roof resealed and a few odds and ends looked at, including putting in a new rivet to replace one that popped out before we owned her. We took her to the only Airstream dealer in Illinois, Airstream of Chicago in Joliet, and although the bill was a bit more than I had anticipated, I’m really pleased with the work they did and at least I know that my valves, seals and dials are all working properly (See our review here).
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Sycamore seemed like a good place to start the camping test. Its about 90 min or so from Chicago, it looked beautiful from the website and I’m sure when the sun is out and the fishermen are on the lake, its really a great place. Its incredibly clean and has everything we need. We decided to spring for a Preferred Spot meaning we’re lakefront for $33/night including all hook ups. We have our own little patch of grass and our own picnic table and fire pit. This place is extremely quiet, even with some kids around, allows dogs and the owners seem like good, no-nonsense folks. Others must think so too because this place is packed. For the beginning of a typical, prematurely cold October, there are barely any empty spots. (We called about 2 weeks ahead to book ours).

I guess we encountered the worst of conditions pulling in — pouring down rain. Deke unhitched and got all the hook ups done while I unpacked the food and all the goodies we bought to help us get settled. I think drawer organizers are my favorite thing so far. I have stuff, and I feel that I need it all. Paperclips, Swiss Army knife, pens, tape measure….so a two level junk drawer organizer with a sliding top tray from Walmart ($7) is doing me right at the desk. Also, my new Ikea sheets are fantastic, as well as the new feather bed from our best friends in Raleigh. I also have a lot of nightstand things. I’m big on lotion, magazines, ear plugs and in this Airstream model, there’s no room for a nightstand. So I bought a woven, but very stiff, basket from Ikea that has a hook at the top. I bought some S hooks and hung it from the curtain rail in the bedroom. Its just big enough to hold all my stuff and its so much better than climbing over Deke to get a book. The medicine cabinet is also a place I anticipated some trouble. Being a fan of products, having them fall out of the cabinet every time I opened it was not going to work. Also from Walmart, I bought two white plastic 10″x 2″x 3″ trays and with a little stick on velcro, adhered them to the shelves in the medicine cabinet (well, Deke did it). The travel size containers fit perfectly in them and nothing falls out when I open the door. One brand of products that Ive been severely disappointed with for the RV is Oxo. I bought a soap dish, a toothbrush holder and a washcloth hook and all but the soap dish actually popped apart before I even got them on the wall. Also, the all-in-one kitchen soap dispenser and sponge holder has been pretty disappointing. I used it once and it started getting rusty. Oh, and the can opener– doesn’t work. I’d skip the Oxo products all together.