Shakedown – The Re-Write 📝 Day 1 – 16.3 Miles

So on June 2nd we were calling all systems go. For the first night we had made a slightly smaller plan than we normally would have, so RJ could do a mini shakedown on The Ithaca. We had tested everything before it left our house, but RJ was new to the RV life and hadn’t had any experience running everything in real application. So we decided the first evening was going to be and easy, safe, and nearby location at The Anchor Point Beach.

During our first shakedown, Laura had came up with an idea; she wanted a way to share our blog on The Ohana. Literally somewhere on The Ohana.

She originally wanted like a big window banner, but I talked her into the idea of a smaller and simpler approach- and was able to download a free QR code to the blog, and make a bumper sticker from Sticker Mule.

The company was having an awesome deal on them, so I ordered a batch of 50. Laura had been crossing her fingers that they would arrive in time for our big second attempt at our shakedown.

Crazily enough, that morning they arrived before we left. 😃

So when we all were ready, we followed RJ out to The Anchor Point Beach area.

The drive went well! Shortly after we arrived at our camp spot near the beach.

One of our goals while camping is to find free camp spots when we travel, but since this was a big event for RJ we decided to splurge and split the cost of a camp spot. Afterall, with the size of our Toyhomes we were able to fit 2 in the camp spot easily!

It was a nice relaxed evening, and it was so easy to get a fire started. The guests before us had left wood, and I was able to walk around our camp spot and find plenty more within 5 minutes.

Here is a shot I took of the plywood on the roof, now that it was finished, while I was unloading some stuff from the pods . Even though the boat seats lock down, I took Nick’s advice and added a cam-buckle strap to help alleviate any stress from wind resistance while driving.

It was a perfect spot. A little bit later we were all set up! The 2 Toyhomes fit snugly in the single camp spot.

Honestly, Laura and I were super jealous of the awning on The Ithaca! It makes us miss the one we had just put on Serenity. 😂

Oh well, all in due time…

Also you might notice that The Ithaca had made the switch to 🌟 LED headlights 🌟 since we had last seen her!

It was a chill evening, and we enjoyed some good food, which was fun to hear the stoves sizzling away from both RVs while everyone cooked up the vittles they had brought for the evening. RJ’s vent hood was screaming like a banshee as she was trying to cook, so I quickly opened it up and gave it a quick spray of WD40. Within seconds it was running pretty quiet!

Alongside the good food was a compliment of good drinks, great tunes, a beautiful evening.

But eventually we couldn’t help it, and headed down the 5 minute walk to the beach!

After chatting and walking the surf for awhile, and after Laura loved on the free life vests offered at the beach…

…we decided to head back to camp. There we discovered a hidden painted rock at our site.

And shortly after met the rock’s creator; our camp ground hosts across the street! They were the proud owners of a full size Thomas school bus that they were living in. They walked us through their rig and showed us all of the awesome upgrades they had done! (Sorry all, no pics. Wanted to respect their home 😉)

It was here, on their bus, that I was finally able to identify that the mirrors we had taken from Serenity were in fact true bus mirrors. I had taken them off of a little transit bus, but had always wondered if they were a rare find or a common item. Hence I wondered if I would be able to find them again. When Laura and I explored junkyards, we would be looking at buses for sure for RJ to upgrade her mirrors.

Overall, It was fun to meet some new awesome people!

The rest of the evening was warm and pleasant, and as it grew dark (As “dark” as it get up in Alaska in the summertime) we let the fire burn down and turned in for the evening. Calling an end to an easy first night on our trek…