Greetings all,
I have been lurking on the forums for a bit and decided that now that I officially have an RV I should register and introduce myself, my family and my RV.
I'm Joel I work in IT.. I was born in 1971 and survived through the 80's with minimal issues. I have been married for almost 18 years and we have 3 kids My oldest son is 12 and I have 2 girls one is 8 and the other is 3.
We have had Pop-up Campers as my Back could no longer tolerate bare ground for extended stays (Although my son in Boy Scouts has forced me to return to the ground at times.)
My Wife and I like to Vacation when we can but found that trips to hotels at 1500-2000 bucks a week is too prohibitive. Our Foray into RV'ing started with a free pop-up from craigslist that was covered in pollen and moss and mold. extensive scrubbing and powerwashing inside and out with a pressure washer (Very carefully inside) brought this free coleman camper back to life and we had it for 2 years when we realized we needed bigger... (I still regret selling that camper for 200 bucks and we watched our friends enjoy it for 2 more years when they sold it for 200 bucks...)
In becoming used to the coleman and it's solid plastic/fiberglass top I surfed craigslist and found a coachman uber large pop up that I should have paid way more intention to the roof... ON our first camping trip with it the cables let loose and in a frustrated foray of spending 4 hours with limited tools to dismantle in order to fold it back up to get home it sat in my back yard for 2 years and became home to a rabid bunch of squirrels....
We went to camping and RV shows and while my wife wanted a bunkhouse trailer I wanted something that was not so big that the kids would only want to spend time inside with their Nintendos and tablets. I looked at a few campers on craigslist but my last RV craigslist purchase still kind of stung...
I surfed our local RV dealership Campers Inn in Merrimack and became their online stalker and figured I would watch their Used sections but on a whim I decided to drive the motorcycle in and sneak in and look at the used lot and use my phone to photo the stock number and look online at prices.
I never even saw the one we ended up buying as it was a 2012 parked next to the brand new 2013s and thus I mistook it for brand new. I dragged the wife kicking and screaming to look at the 3 used Hybrids they had and the sales man took me into the one we ended up with.. It was love at first sight...
We ended up with a coachman Freedom Express 21TQX.. 3 queen beds under 4000lbs but with plenty of cargo capacity and perfect fit behind my Yukon XL to pull it with.
My Initial mods are to replace all the inside bulbs with LEDs and a few additional shelves. The 2 oldest kids and I just spent the night out in the Yard and we are planning a trip out the week of the 4th of July but we may try a state park trip one of these June weekends.
Ironicly and old friend from work after my post about this purchase on facebook let me know he will be signing on the purchase of an RV camp in Northern NH so we may check that out...
I'm looking at solar panels maybe just a set of pratable ones to help lengthen battery life while Boondocking as You guys call it..
My decision to buy this camper stemmed on my realization that My Son and Daughter are at "That Perfect Age" and If didn't pull the trigger I would never get this time back....
So here's to hoping for some good advice from these forums and for some good memories with the Kids and Wife around a campfire...
Cheers!
MrJoelieC
