The "Mini Effect"

One of the main reasons I traded the camper in for the Mini (besides the camper almost falling apart) was that I wanted to have the ability to detach the pickup from the Mini and be able to go places around my campsite.

The Mini squeezing under a large oak tree.

While it's true I could have always arranged everything within the camper for travel mode and pack in the grill and my camp chair for travel, the hassle involved in doing so more often than not caused me to justify not going in the first place and staying put.  Now, with the Mini I usually unhook the Silverado from it as soon as I set up my campsite, giving me a clear and free road vehicle to explore my surroundings to a much greater extent.

Recently, while camping at a Corps of Engineers campsite in northeastern Oklahoma (I'll do a Campground Review on it next post) the Camp Host highly recommended a restaurant a few miles down the road that specialized in fried catfish, one of my all-time favorite seafood dinners.  Leaving the Mini at my campsite I made a beeline to Shad's Catfish Hole in the pickup.

Open at 4:30 when I got there at 4:45 the parking lot was almost full.

It was an all-you-can-eat catfish deal....I managed 5 fillets!

That huge baked potato probably limited me to 5 fillets!

I can't tell you what a luxury it is to have an unencumbered ground vehicle to roam around in!  Oh, and the Silverado gets way better mileage when not pulling or carrying a RV.  I'm really looking forward to getting out and exploring more!

Thanks for reading!