Season Three (2005)
So far, so good... trailer came out of storage with no problems! Had the yearly maintenance performed, and had a brake controller installed in the Jeep, and the trailer brakes reactivated. What a difference! The trailer really doesn't need them as it is so light, but you can definitely tell the difference with the brakes working.
The first trip to Vermont went well, although there were a few minor issues.... the trailer battery did not keep it's charge over the winter, but I do carry jumper cables in the trailer for just such an emergency. Hook up the truck battery in parallel, and voila! Power for the trailer and a charge for the battery! Earlier on, I had to replace my truck battery, and I bought a deep cycle (Optima) battery for it - best thing I could have done! The trailer really does not hold enough water, so had to make a couple of water runs to the 'ol spring pipe, but that was almost expected. Everything else worked wonderfully!
The second trip was to Swan Lake Camplands.... A nice campground up near the Mighty "M" casino and racetrack. Not the biggest casino by far, but they did have one thing - a ParrotHead band! Seeing them was pretty much the highlight of the trip.
Shortly after returning from this trip, I had the trailer temporarily stored on 'ol Dad's lawn, and on a Sunday morning, I got a phone call. 'Ol Dad wanted to know if I had taken the trailer for some reason, and didn't mention it to him. I hadn't. Panic sets in. So, after dealing with the local police, and myself taking lots of pictures of the "scene of the crime" (think Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant song, and that last bit is funny) I came to the realization that my beloved trailer had been stolen!! Lucky for me, the Stratford police were sort of on the ball, and they located the stolen trailer parked in the back of a school up on the lawn. I suspected brake damage, but I really won't know until it goes to service next season. There was no other real damage except for the front wheel and it's latching pin, but 'ol Dad and I got that back into shape. I know they had a suspect, but I haven't followed up to see how badly they beat him, if at all.
The next trip was to Holly Hill Campground - a nice long drive, and some really nice leaves and scenery. The campground was very nice, had a great site with a deck! On the way home, while braking behind another car at a traffic light, the brakes locked up for a minute and the rest of the drive was very slow as I didn't want to damage anything. Oh well, back to the shop it'll have to go!