Birding Trip

[Merlin]

We took our annual bird-watching trip up the shore of Lake Huron last week and had a wonderful time. The camper performed great after its winter hibernation. Here are photos of 2 of our campsites, one at Port Crescent State Park on the south side of Saginaw Bay and one at Tawas Point State Park on the north side of Saginaw Bay. The migrating birds were "dripping" from the trees before and after they crossed the bay. We made the reservations last November (!) in order to get lake-front sites. It was perfect weather.

[Paul]

I am glad you had a good trip. Is that screen tent hard to install? It looks nice!

[DavidM]

Yes, tell us more about that awning enclosure. Where did you get it? How much? How does it work?

Most of our campsites do not have bugs, but when they do that screened enclosure would be great. It looks like it would feel like you were outside in the great outdoors but with bug protection.

David

[MitchB]

Inquiring minds want to know!

[GoElectric]

That enclosure looks very nice. Sent the picture to my wife and she loves it and we want to know the details. Sure beats setting up a separate screen room.

[Merlin]

We love the enclosure too. It's a Dometic Veranda Room and fits our Camplite awning perfectly. We use it as extra living space (about 60 square feet) when camping at one spot for more than a night or 2. As such, it's much more than a bug room. In fact, if you only need to get out of the bugs, I'd recommend a regular screen enclosure (I think Carefree makes one) for awnings. Our Veranda Room (Formerly called the Patty O Room) has roll down panels on all the screens for privacy/wind/rain. We set up our chairs and tables in it and eat/read/talk/store stuff while camping. It was an important compromise in our decision to get a 16TBS. My wife wanted a 21RBS for the space, but I didn't want to tow/park a 21, so we got the 16 and the additional room. The dogs like it too! As an added bonus, when the room is on the awning, we feel comfortable in keeping the awning up in fairly strong winds because it helps hold everything together/down.

Initial installation was straightforward, but did require drilling a hole in the camper side and in the awning roller on both ends to accommodate the end "rafters" that hold up the sides of the room. We also installed industrial strength hook/loop on the sides of the camper and along the bottom where the skirts go. That way we are really bug-proof for those places that need it. Putting it up is about a 10 minute operation because everything just zips or hook/loops together after the spring-loaded rafters are in place. It's heavy in its carrying bag because the white part are rugged reinforced vinyl. Dometic sells it as a "starter kit" and you add whatever width of extra panels you need for the width of your awning. I think we have the 2 foot starter panel and then 1 additional 2 footer and 1 additional 4 footer. We bought ours on Amazon, but I couldn't find there when I checked just now.

https://www.campingworld.com/dometic-veranda-room-standard-starter-kit