Our First Motorhome
We purchased our first motorhome about one month ago and I wanted to relay our experience to help other first timers make a better decisions and get advice from seasoned RV'ers.
We wanted an RV to go to motorcycle racing events around the country. We pull a small cargo trailer with the bikes. We normally travel one or two days to an event, stay two days then drive two days back home.
We began looking for an RV about 10 months ago. We were looking exclusively at gas powered motorhomes primarily because of cost and depreciation. Despite our best efforts the units we found were either way overpriced or were in very poor condition. As luck would have it, after being frustrated by the selection at our local dealer I decided to wander over and take a look at diesel pushers. To my surprise, the first one we looked at was slightly outside of our budget but we immediately fell in love with the coach.
The decision. On this particular day the wind was howling about 35 mph across the interstate we normally do our test rides on. We had driven a couple gas powered units that day and found that they were extremely difficult to handle and would not maintain speed even on the slightest of grades. When we test drove the DP it was immediately apparent that we were driving an entirely different type of motor home. Power was much better and the handling was night and day different. The heavier duty Freightliner chassis made all the difference in the world. I immediately realized the only option for us was a DP.
The next day the dealer accepted our offer and we became the owners our our first ever RV. In retrospect, I'm so glad I took that stroll over to the DP. It's a pleasure to drive, has plenty of power for us and is very comfortable driving for long distances.
Our first trip.
We were heading to central Wisconsin for a motorcycle race, then down to Lake of the Ozarks in MO then back to Nebraska. About 1,700 miles round trip. We left on a Tuesday and returned the next Monday.
The first leg of our trip went well, we only drove about 300 miles and pulled over in a rest area. Note to self, Walmart is a much better place to park rather than between two tractors running their APU's. Co2 detector continued to alert until we found the right combination of windows to open and close.
The next day did not start off well. We learned the necessity of carrying an extension length of hose to dump our holding tanks. Despite repositioning the RV numerous times our hose would just barely reach the dumping station. Needless to say this didn't turn out to be a very sanitary endeavour. After we cleaned up some friends met up with us at the rest area and we headed out for our first destination.
Along the way we stopped at a truck stop for a bite to eat and decided to fuel up. We had plenty of fuel but I wanted to get an idea of MPG. Turns out we got 8.8 MPG which I was quite pleased with. I had set the cruise control about 64 mph which seemed like a comfortable pace.
We arrived at our destination about 8pm and that's when trouble started happening. The only power available was a 15 amp outlet and we had to run a 100' extension cord to reach the RV. Despite turning everything off in the coach every time we plugged in the power the GFI on the pole immediately tripped the breaker. Despite all efforts we could not get 110 power anywhere. No biggie, it was cool at night and we'd only run the generator when necessary. This is when I realized my first big mistake in my decision to buy this unit, the generator runs on propane. The unit has a 50 gallon propane tank but after running it most of the way to Wisconsin and then the next day our propane was getting critically low. By the time we left the track on Friday the propane tank was nearly empty. No biggie, we'd stop at the nearest truck stop and fill up, right? WRONG, we stopped at several truck stops on the second leg of our journey and realized most of them don't sell bulk propane. We lucked out and found a little truck stop in a rural area that did have propane.
The second and third leg of our trip were pretty uneventful. We used the generator only when really needed and didn't have to dump the tanks again. Every time a sat down behind the wheel I realized how fortunate I was to end up with a DP. I never felt fatigued and the thing drives like a Cadilac.
Lessons learned.
-Don't park at an over crowed rest area.
-Bring an extension hose to dump the holding tanks.
-Plan propane refueling in advance for any long distance trips.
-Add a large supplemental propane tank to limit refueling.
-Purchase a small gas generator to limit use of the RV generator.
-Don't buy an RV with a propane generator.
Overall this purchase has been a great experience. It's added a new dimension to our lives which we really enjoy. While the purchase was intended only for sporting events we're already planning our trips to the mountains and ocean just for pleasure.
We wanted an RV to go to motorcycle racing events around the country. We pull a small cargo trailer with the bikes. We normally travel one or two days to an event, stay two days then drive two days back home.
We began looking for an RV about 10 months ago. We were looking exclusively at gas powered motorhomes primarily because of cost and depreciation. Despite our best efforts the units we found were either way overpriced or were in very poor condition. As luck would have it, after being frustrated by the selection at our local dealer I decided to wander over and take a look at diesel pushers. To my surprise, the first one we looked at was slightly outside of our budget but we immediately fell in love with the coach.
The decision. On this particular day the wind was howling about 35 mph across the interstate we normally do our test rides on. We had driven a couple gas powered units that day and found that they were extremely difficult to handle and would not maintain speed even on the slightest of grades. When we test drove the DP it was immediately apparent that we were driving an entirely different type of motor home. Power was much better and the handling was night and day different. The heavier duty Freightliner chassis made all the difference in the world. I immediately realized the only option for us was a DP.
The next day the dealer accepted our offer and we became the owners our our first ever RV. In retrospect, I'm so glad I took that stroll over to the DP. It's a pleasure to drive, has plenty of power for us and is very comfortable driving for long distances.
Our first trip.
We were heading to central Wisconsin for a motorcycle race, then down to Lake of the Ozarks in MO then back to Nebraska. About 1,700 miles round trip. We left on a Tuesday and returned the next Monday.
The first leg of our trip went well, we only drove about 300 miles and pulled over in a rest area. Note to self, Walmart is a much better place to park rather than between two tractors running their APU's. Co2 detector continued to alert until we found the right combination of windows to open and close.
The next day did not start off well. We learned the necessity of carrying an extension length of hose to dump our holding tanks. Despite repositioning the RV numerous times our hose would just barely reach the dumping station. Needless to say this didn't turn out to be a very sanitary endeavour. After we cleaned up some friends met up with us at the rest area and we headed out for our first destination.
Along the way we stopped at a truck stop for a bite to eat and decided to fuel up. We had plenty of fuel but I wanted to get an idea of MPG. Turns out we got 8.8 MPG which I was quite pleased with. I had set the cruise control about 64 mph which seemed like a comfortable pace.
We arrived at our destination about 8pm and that's when trouble started happening. The only power available was a 15 amp outlet and we had to run a 100' extension cord to reach the RV. Despite turning everything off in the coach every time we plugged in the power the GFI on the pole immediately tripped the breaker. Despite all efforts we could not get 110 power anywhere. No biggie, it was cool at night and we'd only run the generator when necessary. This is when I realized my first big mistake in my decision to buy this unit, the generator runs on propane. The unit has a 50 gallon propane tank but after running it most of the way to Wisconsin and then the next day our propane was getting critically low. By the time we left the track on Friday the propane tank was nearly empty. No biggie, we'd stop at the nearest truck stop and fill up, right? WRONG, we stopped at several truck stops on the second leg of our journey and realized most of them don't sell bulk propane. We lucked out and found a little truck stop in a rural area that did have propane.
The second and third leg of our trip were pretty uneventful. We used the generator only when really needed and didn't have to dump the tanks again. Every time a sat down behind the wheel I realized how fortunate I was to end up with a DP. I never felt fatigued and the thing drives like a Cadilac.
Lessons learned.
-Don't park at an over crowed rest area.
-Bring an extension hose to dump the holding tanks.
-Plan propane refueling in advance for any long distance trips.
-Add a large supplemental propane tank to limit refueling.
-Purchase a small gas generator to limit use of the RV generator.
-Don't buy an RV with a propane generator.
Overall this purchase has been a great experience. It's added a new dimension to our lives which we really enjoy. While the purchase was intended only for sporting events we're already planning our trips to the mountains and ocean just for pleasure.
