Okoboji – First Camping Trip of 2022

Winter was long, dark and depressing. Looking forward to taking the camper out again was the small light at the end of the tunnel.

I spent the winter visiting the camper (we store it in the yard) at least once a week with the dogs to get them used to the smell, getting in and out, and just being comfortable with their second home. They were both a little unsure about the stairs for the first few times, but they figured it out pretty quickly.

Our annual birthday / Memorial Day trip plans are made – leaving May 20 – so we knew we had to get at least one shake-down trip in the camper before then to make sure everything works properly. Typically we stay around 60-90 minutes from home just in case something is wrong we could dash home quickly. But this year Jamey talked me into Okoboji. It’s his happy place.

New Decor

I invested in a couch cover and slipcovers for the love seat and dinette seats to protect the faux leather from dog claws. The boys mostly just jumped up and laid down, these two young pups are more energetic and aggressive. I also tried getting a new camper dog bed with our online grocery order. Online sizes don’t always work in my brain. Hazy appreciated the effort anyway.

The countdown to ‘boji began and we were excited to get back into camping shape! We talked about the fun things we would do, like walk along the like, explore some of the parks we’ve never visited, walk through Arnold’s Park, visit West O Brewery … it was going to be great!

We didn’t think about the weather.

It was SUPER windy. I mean sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts up to 50 and 60 mph. Friday night/Saturday morning we had a thunderstorm and woke up to Barley barking at the fridge (she seemed to suspect the fridge was the source of the thunder). Saturday was warm at least – upper 60’s, and frigging windy. Sunday was cold – like mid 40’s and frigging windy. Sunday night (we made it a 3 day weekend since it’s a long ass drive) the water in the hose actually froze. Thankfully it was frozen solid at the faucet, but not coming into the camper, so the pipes didn’t freeze. Been there, done there, not interested in spending that kind of money again.

So many walks!

There was only one other camper at Emerson Bay and the camp host, so we basically had the place to ourselves. It was a great way to get these young dogs used to the idea of camping; lots of amazing new smells, lots of walks, sleeping and eating somewhere new, a change to their routines.

We walked the full campground several times each day. We visited Gull Point and walked the trails. We went to Arnolds Park and walked through there. We didn’t run into any other dogs, so we didn’t get a chance to see how reactive Barley would be, but I’m happy to avoid that drama!

Beer, of course

Since there was no one else at the campground, we broke the rules and left the dogs home alone and went to West O Beer for a couple of pints. Before we left, we stood outside the camper to spy on them and they were good and quiet. Then, since we had the free time, we ran over to Okoboji Brewing Company for a pint there as well.

After leaving the dogs alone for a couple of hours, we returned to the camper and found them snoozing away. They actually handled being alone in the camper better than in the house! All the walks and fresh air wore them out, and tired dogs are good dogs.

We later took the dogs back to West O Beer to fill up a growler and have a pint on the patio. They were very popular with the other patrons and well behaved! And again, thankfully the only dogs around so no challenge to Barley keeping her cool.

In hindsight, a trip this far away, in these temps was not a great idea. But thankfully nothing broke and despite being very cold, it was nice to get back on the road again.