We finally decided to join the RV lifestyle!

Mrs. Rosas,

I must bring up an important issue with a 12yo RV. Check the age of the tires. There is a date code on them, and even if they are in terrific condition, seven years is about the maximum safe life. This is real serious and please do that check before you leave the neighborhood. Brake fluid should also be flushed with new and the engine coolant replaced. Remember, it is a 12yo truck witha 12yo house on it and treat it accordingly. 40k miles isn't really very much, but the rubber parts will age out no matter what.
An Important Maintenance Note for older coaches:
If you can't prove it was done, it didn't get done...
So check tires, change brake fluid and coolant, check the batteries.

(Does this guy know what he is talking about?? Look at the sig pix. We put near 12k miles on that antique this year and are planning more next year now that we are both retired.)

APU (genset) are notorious for bad battery connections. If the house battery is not a disaster already, you may get by just cleaning the connections that have been carefully ignored for a decade. Or, maybe you need a new house bank.

You will get a real thrill out of this kind of "camping".
My definitions are:
Dry Camping is anytime you are stopped for the night without any utility hookups.
Boondocking is like dry camping, but there is no pavement and when you turn off your lights, there is none. Maybe you can hear owls and other animal calls, but no truck engines or music.

Solar is nice if you do extensive doondocking. If you have enough and little enough power demand, you can go a long time before you need to run the APU to recharge the house bank. If you don't plan to do that, it is sort of expensive and good for not much past bragging rights.

What you will really enjoy is the set-up and strike time.
- Done -
Actually, depending on where you stop, you may need to get out block to level the unit before you shut down. (This in no-way compares to pitching a tent in the rain.)

What I will suggest is that if you have not been camping recently, you do your first night in the driveway. If you are like everybody else, you will discover what you overlooked.

Learn all about the coach systems, where the fuses batteries and the pump are, and how to dump the black and gray systems. More than that, collect all the documentation for the coach and its equipment that you can and carry it on board. Start a notebook with everything you did and discovered, if you have that as long as we have had ours, you will forget some things and just just because you are old (you aren't - yet)

Safe Travel

Matt

We just took our camper out for the first time this past weekend. We originally packed our supplies we used for tent camping. One important thing I learned this weekend, take basic tools.

Welcome to the forums! Congrats on your new purchase too!

I'll give a quick response to #1. It's really very easy.

#1) the absolutely have-to-buy-to-have-on-hand items:

Answer: Anything YOU want! Simple: Stock the camper with a scaled down version of your house, from bed linens to your tooth brush, from your favorite brand of toilet paper to your favorite cooking pot, and everything else in-between, and you'll be happy! (I told you, that was easy!)

Hey! Congrats again! and I wish you much happiness and success in your travels!

You will probably find most of your questions answered if you use the search function above for each question. Most newbies have lots of questions and fortunately most of us have have also gone through these learning pains ahead of you.