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French Creek Winter 2014 last minute trip
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December 26, 2013 - 4:22 pm
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Who is getting the camping itch?  I know I am :camperkid: 

I have tried to go camping at French Creek in the Winter over the past few years.  Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't.  Moving, RV Shows, sickness, etc.  I'm going to try again this year.  Anyone interested in going?  Obviously we have to watch the weather closely to find a good weekend.  It will be cold but I don't want to camp in crazy wind chill or rain in the winter.  I can handle flurries but no snowstorms.

I figure we chat about it here and if it looks like a good weekend is coming up we see who can go and then book it on Thursday or something.  Or if you live nearby and just want to join us around a fire, come on up.  If you don't want to bring your camper, there are the 3 small cabins at the end of the loop for $50 per night with electric heat.  I'll be bringing my camper and a good amount of wood for a fire. 

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 27, 2013 - 4:24 pm
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Ugh....Just talking about getting sick in the winter and I caught a stomach bug.  🙁  No camping for me this weekend. 

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 28, 2013 - 1:04 pm
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Hope you are de-bugged soon, Lone Lock.

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December 28, 2013 - 7:45 pm
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Thanks Judy.  I am feeling better today but didn't do much other than what I had to.

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 29, 2013 - 9:40 am
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If I can get a sleeping bad that will work, I'm in!

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December 29, 2013 - 10:31 am
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I should be camping now for our annual New Year trip at Elk Neck. However, I hitched the trailer yesterday afternoon & lost the brakes on my truck. A rear brake line is leaking like a sieve. Mechanic can't get to it until Mon, but we're hoping to still eek out a couple of nights for this trip.

Will keep an eye out for a winter FC trip. Like you said, it will be an impromptu kind of thing.

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December 29, 2013 - 11:53 am
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Suzanne, I'm not glad you lost your brakes, but I'm glad you lost them in the driveway and not on the highway somewhere.  Safe travels to you for your NYE trip.

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 29, 2013 - 1:09 pm
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Yea, Matt, we agree. Losing them right in the cul-de-sac out front was much better than cruising down the Route 1 bypass with the family & a 5,000lbs trailer behind me. Or, having it happen in a campground in another state on a holiday when we needed to get home for work the next day. So, if it had to happen, it happened under the best of circumstances.
As for great friends that you meet online & camping, (& we have met many through the years) we have had 2 different offers from MAC friends to come up & haul our trailer down there after they get set up today, since we're only about an hour away. If the weather had been nicer, I might have taken them up on it, but since it's a washout out there right now, I think we'll hang here, enjoy some football, & wait until our truck is done.

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December 30, 2013 - 9:10 pm
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I'm kicking myself for not jumping and camping this past Friday into Saturday, Saturday the weather was pretty beautiful. 

Hmm... I wonder if next year my goal should be to camp once each month of the year?  Seems like a stupid endeavor in PA... so yeah... Let's go camping in January! lol

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December 30, 2013 - 9:42 pm
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I'm in. I have a heater so I'm not worried.

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December 31, 2013 - 8:17 am
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Sounds like we've got a couple of interested parties  :rock: 

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 31, 2013 - 1:45 pm
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I've been trying for the past week to convince my family to camp with me but so far they are just laughing at me 🙁

I'll try to keep an eye on this post and see what happens with this storm coming our way.  But I can be to French Creek in 45 minutes.  Locust Lake and Promised Land are also close enough to make.  Don't know if anything is open but I'd love to go up to Leonard Harrison this time of year.  But that's too far for a quick overnight or two.

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December 31, 2013 - 4:01 pm
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French Creek is the only SP open on the East side of the State during the winter.  There are 2 others that I always forget because they are in the Western part of the state somewhere....too far for a winter trip.

It sounds like there are many more people who are willing to camp in the winter than in the past.  I hope everything aligns and we can all go. 

I have in-laws coming this weekend and there is the snowstorm this Thursday/Friday so it won't work for me......wait, maybe I can get there before the storm and then say I can't come home for the in-law visit because I'm snowed in.  This could work to my benefit  :thumbup:

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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December 31, 2013 - 4:25 pm
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Actually Promised Land said they do have some open sites.  No idea if I can actually pull it off.  The camper has a furnace so no worries there.  But I don't really want to be opening up or packing it down in super cold temps either.  She's old and does not need the extra stress.

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January 2, 2014 - 10:22 am
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In this area, winter camping can be either freezing or beautiful.  This yr, we had 10 families in our group (1 pup, 3HTT, 4 TT& 2 5ers) & there were 4 other occupied sites at Elk Neck over New Years. It was colder than some of the other yrs, but not bad. We hiked, geocached, played games, had a hearty potluck, & sat around the fire.
One of the couples with us have a brand new R-Pod & mentioned that sometime this month there is going to be an R-Pod gathering at French Creek. Not sure which wknd, though.

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January 3, 2014 - 6:24 pm
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OK, so we have a slight issue here....ummmm.....ahhhh.....French Creek is closed for the winter :-[  They are putting a sewer line so they will have Water/electric/sewer hook ups.  They have put a few in some of the parks already.  I assume it will all be done in time for the Spring Opener since we were able to make reservations for that, we will pay attention to that as we get closer to spring.

So, since French Creek is closed there are only a few campgrounds that are open all year long.  What are your thoughts on campgrounds?  I am good to go to any one of these.  I am thinking the weekend of the 11th or 18th.  Is everyone still game?

Blue Rocks in Lenhartsville PA. $39

Sills Campground in Lancaster PA $42

Lazy K in Berks PA $43 per night.

Also, I contacted the R-Pod group that Busdriver mentioned and Yak has mentioned.  They usually get only 3-4 people as well to their winter trip and are in the same boat as us since French Creek is closed.  When and where we decide to go I'll mention it to them and vice-versa.  This way we can hopefully get a larger group for a larger fire and meet some new winter camping friends :cheers:

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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January 3, 2014 - 7:55 pm
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11th is the RV Show.

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January 3, 2014 - 9:11 pm
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Ok, not the 11th 🙂

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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January 3, 2014 - 9:22 pm
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Possibly a day trip for me

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January 4, 2014 - 4:58 pm
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Too bad about French Creek being closed. It's Indoor Track Season for DS2, so we needed to be close to home.

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