First Trip (with pics)!
Wow, either our luck is going to run out, or we did OK.
I have spent countless hours reading this site about the problems people have with their travel trailers so I was more than a little worried about our first time out with our new rig.
We went through the PDI on Thursday and actually picked it up on Friday for a two-night trip. We went somewhere close, about 40 miles from home and about 20 miles from the dealer (where it will be stored). We did about 15 miles each way on the interstate and tried to keep it around 55-60 in the right lane. Semis were passing us fairly often and we could tell we were being passed, but I never felt like it was too bad. I definitely never felt more than just a little pull as they were coming up. We went with the Reese 12,000 pound hitch w/sway control.
We bought Lynx levelers at the dealer and accidentally left them there so we had to track down some wood planks at the campground. The campground maintenance man was great and gave us some wood pieces and provided tips on leveling. We leveled, unhitched, and set up. It was actually pretty smooth.
After reading this board, I was expecting to have a list a mile long of warranty fixes. There were a couple of loose screws that I tightened and my wife tripped the breaker once by using too many things at once. Other than that, everything worked great. Air conditioning was freezing cold (15,000 BTU), television picked up 30+ channels with the antenna, DVD player worked, outside speakers sounded just OK, the oven cooked horribly but we knew to expect that.
The one thing we didn't anticipate was how fast we filled up our gray tank (37 gallon). My wife was washing a lot of dishes and we both took showers and we just about filled it up in one day and one night. The campground didn't have sewer on-site, but they had a tractor with a tank that would come dump your tanks for $5 so we just took advantage of that instead of hitching up and going to the dump station.
All-in-all, I think we did pretty well for our first time out. We moved up from a tent and my only RV experience was in popup campers as a kid so we were complete travel trailer novices. Reading this forum (thanks!) and watching videos on YouTube was a HUGE help.
If you are ever passing through Columbus, Indiana, and need to stop for a night or two, the Woods-N-Waters Kampground (Good Sam park, http://columbuswoodsnwaters.com/) is pretty good. The owners and maintenance man are very friendly and willing to lend a hand and the facilities are clean. Great campground!
Here are some pics (cell phone) of the rig:
My wife took this one because she thought it was funny that this 5'er has been staying there so long that plants are growing up the side:
I have spent countless hours reading this site about the problems people have with their travel trailers so I was more than a little worried about our first time out with our new rig.
We went through the PDI on Thursday and actually picked it up on Friday for a two-night trip. We went somewhere close, about 40 miles from home and about 20 miles from the dealer (where it will be stored). We did about 15 miles each way on the interstate and tried to keep it around 55-60 in the right lane. Semis were passing us fairly often and we could tell we were being passed, but I never felt like it was too bad. I definitely never felt more than just a little pull as they were coming up. We went with the Reese 12,000 pound hitch w/sway control.
We bought Lynx levelers at the dealer and accidentally left them there so we had to track down some wood planks at the campground. The campground maintenance man was great and gave us some wood pieces and provided tips on leveling. We leveled, unhitched, and set up. It was actually pretty smooth.
After reading this board, I was expecting to have a list a mile long of warranty fixes. There were a couple of loose screws that I tightened and my wife tripped the breaker once by using too many things at once. Other than that, everything worked great. Air conditioning was freezing cold (15,000 BTU), television picked up 30+ channels with the antenna, DVD player worked, outside speakers sounded just OK, the oven cooked horribly but we knew to expect that.
The one thing we didn't anticipate was how fast we filled up our gray tank (37 gallon). My wife was washing a lot of dishes and we both took showers and we just about filled it up in one day and one night. The campground didn't have sewer on-site, but they had a tractor with a tank that would come dump your tanks for $5 so we just took advantage of that instead of hitching up and going to the dump station.
All-in-all, I think we did pretty well for our first time out. We moved up from a tent and my only RV experience was in popup campers as a kid so we were complete travel trailer novices. Reading this forum (thanks!) and watching videos on YouTube was a HUGE help.
If you are ever passing through Columbus, Indiana, and need to stop for a night or two, the Woods-N-Waters Kampground (Good Sam park, http://columbuswoodsnwaters.com/) is pretty good. The owners and maintenance man are very friendly and willing to lend a hand and the facilities are clean. Great campground!
Here are some pics (cell phone) of the rig:
My wife took this one because she thought it was funny that this 5'er has been staying there so long that plants are growing up the side:
