Free Mango Bob by Bill Myers Page A

camping in a tent.”
     
    “I bet it does. Unfortunately, the daily camping fee for motorhomes is $18.00.”
     
    “No problem. Still a bargain.”
     
    “So how many nights you staying?”
     
    “Just tonight. I'm leaving for Florida in the morning.”
     
    “Hate to see you go. But the weather in Florida is sure going to be better than what we'll see in the next couple of months.
     
    “Since you're only staying one night, I'm not going to put you in a river-front site. Those are for our long term guests.”
     
    Checking his available site list, James found a vacancy and put me in section D, site 11. This was one of the wooded sites. No river views. A bit more private.
     
    He drew a map to the site, told me to be safe, and said come back to the office if there were any problems.
     
    Then he said, “We had some excitement last night. Someone tried to break into one of the motorhomes in the campground.
     
    “It's the first time that's happened. Never had anything like that before.
     
    “The police are still here at the campground, so don't be surprised if they ask you questions about anything suspicious you might have seen.”
     
    I'd been here two weeks, and the only thing suspicious I'd seen were the raccoons who tried to steal food scraps at night.
     
    I headed to my campsite, being careful to stay below the posted speed limit of nine miles per hour.
     
    As I drove, I kept a lookout for a Winnebago Aspect motorhome identical to mine. That's what Jack and Jean were in. I wanted to talk with them again before taking off to Florida.
     
    I arrived at my site without seeing Jack's motorhome. I'd have to go looking for them later.
     
    Remembering what I had learned, I carefully backed onto the paved pad at my campsite, close enough to the utility pole so I could hook up to shore power.
     
    After parking, I connected the 30 amp electrical cable and water hose from the motorhome to the utility pole on the camp site. Just as Jack had shown me.
     
    Before I got back in, I checked to make sure there was plenty of space for the slide to go out. No trees or tables in the way.
     
    Inside, I set the parking brake and pressed the 'extend' button to get the slide to go out.
     
    So far, so good. The instructions Jack had given me paid off. I was quickly becoming an old hand at setting up camp.
     
    I put away the food and other supplies I'd gotten from Walmart. I kept the GPS and Atlas out to help route my trip to Florida.
     
    Before routing the trip, I wanted to see if I could find Jack and Jean to see what advice they could offer.
     

21
     
    The Toad Suck Ferry campground has fifty three campsites spread out over four loops. Three of the loops are on the river, the fourth is in the woods.
     
    I had already checked all the sites in the wooded loop when I drove in, so I decided to check the river loop to see if Jack and Jean were camped over there.
     
    Walking around the loops, I saw several different kinds of motorhomes. Some were the larger Class A bus sized, but most were the smaller Class B and Class C's like mine.
     
    I noticed almost all of the Class A's were pulling a tow vehicle, usually a small car or jeep, while most of the smaller motorhomes had no tow vehicle, but often had bicycles strapped to the back.
     
    This made sense. The big motorhomes wouldn't be easy to maneuver in crowded cities, so having a tow vehicle would provide a way to get around.
     
    On the smaller Class B's and C's, you really didn't need a tow vehicle since you could drive them just about anywhere.
     
    But having a bike meant you could easily get around the campground. Even pedal to nearby stores without needing to unhook and drive the motorhome.
     
    I'd need to add a bike to my list of things to buy if I were going to stick with the 'house on wheels' lifestyle.
     
    Having no luck on river loop A, I walked thru loop B, and eventually found a Winnebago Aspect that looked a lot like my Love Bus.
     
    There was no question it