We stumbled onto the ” America the Beautiful “ Senior Pass almost by accident. A lifetime pass, one fee, and it cuts your campsite costs in half at most federal parks once you are over sixty-two. One of those things you wish you had known about sooner.

We had already booked our site at Bailey’s Point Campground before learning about it, but no regrets there. Bailey’s Point is a gem. Getting into the site was a bit of a wrestling match. The road was narrow and fortunately when we arrived mid week it was mostly empty. We were able to utilize the other sites driveways to back up the rig into the allotted space for the camper. It was a challenge to say the least. Still, once we were settled, it paid off. The site sat right on the lake, wide open views, of the lake which were absolutely gorgeous on the cool spring mornings. Even from inside the trailer in  the morning looking out the window with my coffee, it was picturesque and gorgeous.

Hookups were simple. Water and power, no sewer. For a few days, that is manageable.

The bigger issue was the layout. The loop was one way, which meant no matter how you approached it, pulling through or backing in, the RV entrance  door ended up on the wrong side. Not ideal when you are setting up to actually live in the space. There were better-positioned sites scattered around, but without knowing the loop ahead of time, you take what you get.

Wendy had picked up a portable fire pit before the trip. We have landed in enough places without fire rings to make it worth it. The one at Bailey’s Point was filled with wet ash from recent rain, so we gave hers a try instead. It sat elevated and threw off a steady, even heat from the sides. Worked better than I expected. My only concern now was the cleanup. Everything works great until you have to deal with the aftermath. However when we packed up, the fireplace emptied and cleaned out easily. After dumping the ash, I hosed it out using the shower attachment on the side of the RV and it was almost like new when we were done.

Another unexpected perk of the new RV was the electric fireplace.

I had always thought they were a bit pointless. More for show than anything useful. But late April has a way of reminding you that winter is not quite finished, especially in the mornings. The air still carries a chill, the kind that seeps in while you are sitting still with a cup of coffee.

The fireplace changed that.

It runs off electricity, so there is no roar like the propane furnace, no constant cycling on and off. Just a steady, quiet heat that takes the edge off the cold without making itself known. It is subtle, but it works. And you are not chugging through you propane when connected to electricity. It is that alternate heat source I mentioned earlier, quiet and doesn’t run out of propane.

And then there is the light.

A soft glow that fills the space in a way the overhead lights never can. Not necessary, not practical in the strict sense, but it adds something. A calm, steady presence that makes the mornings feel slower, easier, like there is nowhere else you need to be for a while.

That day we played at Barren River Lake State Resort Park Golf Course, another Kentucky state park course.

Brutal is the word that comes to mind.

It carries a slope rating of 137, and I think that is being a bit conservative.  On the front nine, keeping the ball in the fairway feels almost beyond your control. The land tilts so severely that even a clean shot struck dead center can hit the fairway, catch the slope, and continue rolling straight out of bounds.

I have no problem with difficult design. In fact, I enjoy courses that force you to think your way around them. Severe slopes, uneven lies, risk and reward, all of that is part of good golf. But there still has to be a fair landing area. Somewhere you can place a well-hit shot and know it will stay in play.

Here, too often, it felt like you were simply hoping for the best.

Our home course at Mineral Mound State Park Golf Course has several brutally sloped holes too, but they are designed with intention. If you know where to land the ball, if you hit your spot, you are rewarded with a chance to make par. The course asks for precision and gives you something back for it.

Not so much here. Of course, maybe I’m just not good enough, there is always that!

Still, the staff was friendly,  the course was picturesque and the round was fun in its own way. The kind of course that beats you up a little, then hands you a drink and asks if you want to go again.

Since we had only been there a few days, and the dump station was tucked into an awkward spot, I decided I would just empty the tanks once we got home.

When we bought our first trailer, the sewer connection had been mounted at the very back of the unit. After a few trips, I ran a three-inch pipe along the side of the house into the septic tank so I could dump the trailer directly at home and flush everything out afterward at my own pace. It was not a perfect setup. The driveway had enough elevation change to make gravity work harder than it wanted to, but overall it was manageable.

The new fifth wheel complicated that.

The dump connection sat closer to the middle of the rig, and the trailer itself was longer, which meant I needed more hose just to reach the sewer line. Worse than that, the slope of the driveway created low spots where the hose sagged and trapped all the liquid and the line had to be “walked”, pick up sections and force it up hill by lifting the hose, to get it empty.

It was a shitty job.

Standing there wrestling with hoses full of sewage was enough to convince me there had to be a better way. So I started researching and found a grinder pump system designed for RVs. The setup macerates the waste and pumps it out through an ordinary garden hose, powered by the RV battery.

That was a game changer.

What used to take nearly two hours of dragging hoses, fighting gravity, and dealing with the aftermath of poop filled pipes, turned into a ten-minute job. The pump pushed the sewage uphill into the septic line without complaint and eliminated those giant slinky-style waste hoses altogether. One of those rare purchases where, the first time you use it, you immediately wonder why you spent so long doing it the hard way.