# Thankgiving Camping In Ohio



## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

We bought our Outback in late September so we wanted to get as much use before the hard of winter set in so we booked Thanksgiving at Heuston woods in s.western Ohio for the 5 of us.

We left on wednesday before Thanksgiving when it just started to snow. The temperature was about 30 F. Fortunately we had only an hour drive to get there but there was more snow there than when we left and it was slippery on the camp ground road. Once parked we felt we had completed a major journey







.

On Thanks giving the forcast was for high winds and dropping temperatures. Oh boy they revised the forcast to an even lower temperature than Wednesday. By 11 am it was 26 F and falling. We left the camper (06 26RS) for lunch with relatives leaving the furnace on and hoped for the best. In the mean time my sons foot was giving him problems. We had already seen the doctor earlier in the week but it was getting worse so on Thanksgiving we end up in the emergancy room







and he had surgery on his toe!! We were fortunate the Docs on duty knew how to do it and we were done inside an hour. 
Back to the camper now with 2 extra kids (cousins) for 2 more nights. Were we going to be frozen up and then have to abondon everything? No the good old Outback was still not frozen. I opened up the pump panel under the fridge to allow more air to circulated and protect the pump. The kids were complaining about the heat in the forward bunks (only about 75 F)while the temperature was now about 15 F and still dropping. It apparently dropped to somewhere near 10 F over night. Come Friday we had a mild heat wave to 28 F then back to 20 F over night. Still no freezing issues!!. I think I used just under a tank full of propane so that is probably where the limitation will be for any length of time at these temperatures.

Maybe we should give Keystone a little more credit for the underbelly insulation than we thought. It certainly was better than I thought it would be. I know someone else was looking into thermocouples in the under belly to see what the temperature is with these freezing conditions so it will be interesting to see what they find.

Saturday was sunny and warm up to the 50s F. I thougth if anything was frozen it would surely leak now but I saw nothing. Sunday we emptied the camper and winterized for storage







. The DW and I cleaned everything and it all seemed OK

Can't wait until march when things warm up enough to use the water. Maybe we can dry camp earlier than that. Oh well we will have to see.

David


----------



## ee4308 (Aug 23, 2005)

David,

Glad you had a great Thanksgiving and everything went fine with the Outback (even in that kind of weather). sunny I know you are like most of us, can't hardly wait for early spring.


----------



## bweiler (Sep 20, 2005)

Thanks for the report. Great park! I spent a week there last summer. Did you have much company in the park?


----------



## JMH712 (Oct 26, 2003)

David,
YES it is crazy, I know I had to go to Hocking Hills State Park for the holiday. We arrived Wed. afternoon before the snow and wind really started. Outback does fine in the cold, (spent 2 months parked at the Cleveland Clinic last Feb. and March). I did have to build a shelter around my smoker to cook a turkey breast early Thursday morning, it took a little longer but we got r done. There were a few crazy people there but not many, all the water in the park was frozen Friday morning but was ok by evening. All in all it was a fun trip but I missed my chair and big tv after dinner.
How was Hueston Woods? We plan on going there next spring, we go to Buck Creek often.
Mitch


----------



## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

David,

Sounds like a grand adventure indeed!









Good report on the Outbacks cold weather capabilities, I will keep that in mind. Thanks!

Happy Trails,
Doug


----------



## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

bWeller.. We did have some company. In total about 5 campers. Our immediate neibors with a 1970's camper were only there 1 night but the camper was still there when we left on Saturday. I don't sippose they froze to death do you. I did see a cardboard box for a spece heater outside.

JMH712...Heuston woods is typical of other Ohio parks I have been to with plenty of trees and paces to hike. This one is one of the larger ones so has a lodge with it to. They only have electricity at the site but this one does have pull throughs for trailers. 
In the summer months thay have a very active naturalist program and a good nature center to go with it. It has a cougar, snakes and various birds of pray that they fly for demonstration. Many people from the Cincinnati are go there for the day as well.


----------



## kywoman (Feb 9, 2006)

Hey
How about a Thanksgiving Outback campout??? I think this could be a GREAT tradition to start.
Stephanie


----------



## kyoutback (Jul 12, 2004)

kywoman said:


> Hey
> How about a Thanksgiving Outback campout??? I think this could be a GREAT tradition to start.
> Stephanie


Unfortunately we have already winterized. We are done til spring.


----------

