My first trip was a long one to Houston Texas. So I dutifully put 6 new tires on the MH before leaving.
One blowout that took out the entire sewage bay, followed by 2 more flat tires. "all within 4 days!".........tire store put the wrong valve stems on and they were melting from the long driving times and 112 degree heat.
Honestly anything that happens to the MH now pales in comparison to 'that' trip.
We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Our first trip was great, no issues except for the control board in the Dometic Fridge, kept going to CHECK light and not cooling, fiddled with it all week and we got by. We had had the unit about 5-6 weeks, bought used, spent evenings and weekends cleaning and running all systems. I grew up with RV's and had a little knowledge and gained more on this forum and before that by asking lots of questions. About the only thing we did wrong was over-equip, almost all was not purchased, just stuff we had. Our first trip went so well that we were hooked and I will not be without an RV until I get too feeble to handle it. It is nice to have a completely paid for second home.
Chris
Chris & Dianne plus two boys
Jayco Designer 3110
F250 PSD 4x4 Crew Cab
I bought a case of 2 BUCK CHUCK wine and a case of the best ROOT BEER when we discovered we forgot something I would go ask a neighbor for it (wine opener and potatoe masher) would bring them back and give them a bottle of 2 BUCK CHUCK if needed to go to the local town would ask neighbor if he had any ice cream cause I had the ROOT BEER (hoping they had no ice cream) the neighbor would say we have none lets go to the STORE and get some!!!! Made a new friend had great root beer floats and also got to pick up things WIFE forgot !!! Happy camping rvtommy
We have traveled with a Travel Trailer for many years, but we purchased a Class C last August to use when we don't want to haul the large trailer. We decided to leave the day after Labor Day for a 4-6 week trip.
OK, the day before we were to leave (RV is completely loaded ready to go) we have a water filter under the sink split and we have water pouring out the rear of the RV. Takes Servicemaster 4 days of fans, humidifier and heaters to completely dry the Floor. Still have flooring damage under the Lino (will be repaired when we get back)
Now we decide we can leave on the 12th. Everything gets put back together and we are ready to leave again the evening of the 11th.
Get up, put the house in leave mode and drive out the driveway. 60 miles from home, DH discovers he left his wallet. Turn around go back home, get wallet and leave again. Thank goodness we had only planned to travel 200 miles the first day.
We are now on our 3rd night. We have found the Direct TV satellite within minutes each night. Our MiFi from Verizon works perfectly. So far the 3 campgrounds we have stopped have been great and the food has been great.
I guess we got any troubles out of the way before we even left.
In my first trip we had a COachman Mirada 30Q, bought used from a not-so-reputable dealer. As the brakes where shot, they disconected the brake warning light. When I picked it up, the parking brake was set, but the light was disconected. As I left, after a few miles, the burn smell was killing us. Once we got there, I went to put the parking brake, and it was gone. Burn smell, spongy brakes, and close to $3500 to repair. While they did that, the shop told me the tires where rated D, not G, and they where WAY under the weight of the coach. New tires, (another $1000), finally back on the campground, but... no more vacation days, we have to go back.
2007 Four Winds 31F Life rocks when your home rolls
Our first trip went great: we purposely went to a place within an hours drive, just in case. We kept a pad and pencil handy and made a note everytime we thought of something that would be nice to have with us.
It took me over an hour (of checking everything electrical and reading the manuals) to find out that the external power cord had to be plugged into an outlet in the electrical compartment to use the generator as a power source when not plugged into the RV power. (We were dry camping.)
I must have looked confused opening the awning, because a neighbor came over and showed me how to open it and set the support arms on the ground as legs or return them to the normal position as arms. Too bad he didn't know about the power cord, I was really getting frustrated trying to figure that out. I now keep the cord plugged in unless we're using park power, so all I have to do is start the generator if we want AC power.
2000 Four Winds Five Thousand 28A (Chevy 3500), Master Tow Dolly, 2006 Scion xB TOAD
Ours went quite well. We took a lot of advice and went to Bayview SP, about 10 miles from home. DW followed in the family barge, just in case we'd forgotten anything really important. Youngest grand-daughter (about 11 at the time) came with us.
It turned out we hadn't forgotten anything of significance and we all, including our two Labradors, had a great weekend. We went on about 6 more trips that year, just DW and I and dogs which all went well, and then did what turned out to be our last one before we gave up on that piece of junk rig, when we took four grandkids and two dogs to Beebe Bridge (near Lake Chelan) the following spring.
We'd got a 10'x 10' gazebo by then (still have it, waiting for our next rig) and all 4 kids slept out there, with both Labs on guard duty. Grandkids are getting too old now (three of them are driving!), but we have one more, currently five, who will be coming along from time to time, maybe starting next season.
* This post was
edited 09/16/09 08:50pm by an administrator/moderator *
Considering how really old our RV is, I was actually amazed at how well our first trip went. We've rebuilt and refurbished a number of things on it since then.
We flew from MD to CA to pick up our first Class C, a shiny new 23.5' Lazy daze, at the factory. We had shipped out to the factory about 7 boxes of "stuff" ahead of time. We took 6 weeks to get back to MD, with no problems whatsoever. Used that rig over 1300 nights before selling it this summer and buying a used '05 26.5 Lazy Daze....sight unseen! Just got back with it after a month in Nova Scotia, and again, not a single problem.
We took ours for a 3 hr road trip to Wi Dell's with no issue. We will be camping in it for the first time in weekend of Oct 3rd in Oregon Illinois for Autumn on Parade.
84 Class C Holiday Rambler
Mike - PDM Navistar(International Truck and Engine)
Paula - Medical Transcriptionist
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