Newbie Experience

JackRAbbit · 02-03-2013, 06:28 PM

Our family has enjoyed the outdoors for a number of years. Like most people we started with a tent and have experienced bad weather like snow and hail during a "summer" night in July. About 5 years ago we decided to buy a trailer.

Well this is when the fun began. First we needed a vehicle. Enter salesman who only wanted a sale and didn't care about an inexperienced would be camper. We ended up with a 2004 Dodge Durango and a 28' travel trailer.

Our first trip was to Drumheller in the badlands of southern Alberta. We new enough to pack food and clothes but little else. By the time our first experience was over we knew the staff at the local sporting goods shop by name.

The most memorable part of the first night was the smoke detector going off. We had failed to run the furnace before hand and burn off any residue from the factory. We have moved on to a 2013 Rockwood 8285 but still talk about the first time.

It would have been wonderful to learn from the experiences of others.

It would be fun to read about the first time adventures of others.

FloridaPhil · 02-03-2013, 07:28 PM

Wow what an experience! It pays to do your research...especially on towing capacity!

mhuffs9017 · 02-03-2013, 08:50 PM

We too had a similar experience with running the heat for the first time. Alarms going off everywhere! To make matters worse, our youngest was sick, it was cold out but we had to vent the trailer.

All in all our trip to Hocking Hills, Ohio was cut short and our stay lasted just over 22 hours total. 3 hour trip there, arrive 9pm, tried a quick hike the next early afternoon but the little one was just too sick. Back to camp, packed up, out by 8pm headed home.

jmswms · 02-16-2013, 07:59 AM

That brought back memories. When we brought our first new one home stopped at a local campground for the night. Hooked up to the water & the first time we flushed the toilet water everywhere. We had a oh I dont know what its called to raise the toliet up and they evidently didn't tighten the water lines. Then in the middle of the night the CO detector went off. Was sure glad we were close to home.

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