Things you need to buy afterwards

I have read all of the inputs to your question. All are good suggestions. We just finished a trip 97 days on the road from Virginia to the Arctic Circle and back home. One of our safety items we carry at all times is “SPOT” Satellite GPS Messenger. We send out a Spot message each night to family & friends (Limited to 10 email accounts) giving them our exact location latitude & longitude and a short message letting them know we are all right. If they do not here from us in 2 or 3 days they know we are in trouble or something has happened. The device can also send out a help signal, need assistance, or an SOS. For life-threatening or other critical situations, it alerts the GEOS International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center (IERCC). GEOS notifies the appropriate emergency responder based on your location and personal information- which may include police, highway patrol, the Coast Guard and others. Locations show up on Google Maps, pin pointing your exact location. We send out the spot message every night even if we are in the same location for more than one night. It gives us peace of mind and keeps our loved ones apprized of our location. I highly recommend this device for safety reasons. Also you should add a Good complete first aid kit with anything you might need in an emergency. Don't forget your passports if going thru Canada or Mexico & seniors pass for national parks… Dave & Holly Fox “The Tardis Time Travelers”.

The best thing I bought for my coach was a dehumidifier that I leave in the middle of the dashboard! I live in a moist climate and I get about 1/2 inch of water per day in the unit! If I didn't have the dehumidifier that moisture would be going down my dash.

Oh yea, zip lock freezer bags quart and gallon size. My wife is queen of the ziplock!! Leftovers can be put in any nook and cranny in the fridge or freezer. Good for storing little things, and small parts!

Sondi wrote:
Keep them coming. This is exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

Rain gear, not needed often but when it is pouring and you have a time limit on check out it saves driving in or changing clothes after unhook and hooking up toad.

Long handle window washer. Cooking stuff, crock pot for those days you will be out and want a meal when you get back. Awning lights and bug screens if you will be sitting outside. Plastic table clothes for picnic tables they are filthy. As are CG grills, I never use them I carry a small charcoal and a small gas grill, I want to know a rat or some foul deed was not done to the grill I am using to cook my steaks on. Tin foil, trash bags leave the area cleaner than when you arrived. Make a list, Oh, one of those woven string baskets for over your table, put fruit in it the fruit will last longer and looks nice, so my wife tells me. We also use bottled water for consumption and cooing, not because of a fear of local water but for consistent taste. I hate the taste of many well waters I find them hard and not palatable. We buy a 3 gallon container and use it for all ingested means. Learn to take a Navy shower, teach your wife also. If not on full hookups. Your grey tank will fill rapidly and off to the dump you go twice a day of 4 showers taken normal leisurely way.

Have fun, even the learning curve is fun. Makes some good conversations to admit you forgot to bring food. We took off one day and upon stopping for night discovered wifey had removed all food from MH and forgotten to put it back. We found one can of Vienna Sausage but we still laugh at our fine dinner in Flintstone Md.

Small vacuum if there is carpet.

Lot of good ideas of stuff to take, i saw shovel mentioned, but we got a rake, axe and a fireplace poker in our motorhome also. Always got a list of stuff to gather up for next time.

Go to Camping world and buy one of everything, then you will have all that you need. Just kidding, the list is never ending, it depends on your lifestyle and where you travel to, how often you are using your RV, do you entertain others, do you grill a lot, We have been doing this for about 25 years and still don't have everything we need.

I didn't notice that anyone mentioned fire extinguishers. It's best to have 3 to 4 onboard. We have one in/near the bedroom, one near the entry door and another in a lower storage bay.

Most of us have enough extra dishes, pots & pans, cooking utencils, glasses, towels, sheets, blankets, pillows, tools, cleaning supplies, throw rugs, etc so go through your house and fill up the RV with necessities. As newbies its really easy to over do it. Load up with essensials, go out for a short trip then add on what you really think you missed/needed. Keep everything basic...you don't need enough clothing to last a month or enough dishes for 12.

I agree with other...camping stores have great items but you can find all the basics at any department store.

Keep your rig loaded with basics all the time to avoid unloading and reloading stuff...then you can be ready to go in short notice.

Also make shure you have 2 or 3 credit cards in your wallet... When I drove to the west coast I made the mistake of only carrying one.. In Wyoming I stopped at the end of the nite and filled up so I would have a full tank in the morning... Turned out the pump had a glitch and locked out my card after filling up.. Took every penny I had to get out of there and had to wait until my bank opened in the morning to fix it... Not a good feeling...

I keep a complete supply of paper plates, plastic cups and forks, knives and spoons. If you don't like washing dishes every time the grand kids eat something. Also napkins, paper towels and garbage bags.
I also keep a pkg. of cheap paper plates. " EveryDay" brand. terrible for eating, great for putting between plates and pots and pans to stop rattling as you drive.