Newbie in Washington

[Mpjduff]

Hey everyone my wife and I pick up our first TT a sp240 on the 14th we liked the out side kitchen. Was wondering if any one knew any places around Fort Lewis since that is where I live. We like back roads camping. And looking to get a generator any one have any ideas saw a champion was fairly cheap Any one have one and can tell me how they are.

[bikendan]

if you want info on the Champion, check out the longest thread on RV.net.
it's nearing 1000 pages. mostly about the Champion.

here's the link:
RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Tech Issues: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

here's the bottom line.
the Champion is the best bang for the buck and great customer support.
but, it's not one you would want to use in a campground.
for boondocking or auto/cycle races, it's perfect.
weighs over 100lbs. and much louder than inverter generators, which of course, are more expensive.

you have to decide which is more important, price or noise level. can't have both, cause quiet cost more.

[F and E Damp]

You're living in one of the best areas for getting out and camping. Both the Washington and Oregon coasts are within fairly easy reach, as are the areas east of the Cascades.

As you can see from our signature, we're motorhome travellers. We tend to stay at State Parks, Corps of Engineers facilities and private CGs. We like to have facilities and hook-ups.

I'd suggest trying out some of the State Parks in the central part of Western WA for starters. We like Millersylvania, which is probably less than an hour away fro JBLM. We have family in Olympia and it's a good first stop if we leave Anacortes after lunch, or a good final night on the way back from further afield. That would be a good shakedown trip, as you could go home for anything you forgot! If you're in the military, you have access to a lot of CGs that the rest of us don't. We've also stayed at Manchester State Park near Port Orchard. That's all under trees and isn't too thrilling in wet weather!

Up around here, there are several State parks - Deception Pass, Bayview, Rasar and one right by the ferry dock at Camp Casey/Coupeville. That one is having new hook-ups installed and should open in the spring.

The weather isn't the greatest at this time of year for an introduction to the RV lifestyle, but I can understand you wanting to get out and use the new toy.

Once getting across the Cascades isn't a weather issue, we can recommend a COE-operated park close to Richland called Charbonneau State Park, a Chelan County Park called Beebe Bridge Park (look for it in Trailer Life under "Chelan Falls") and a nice private CG in Peshastin called "Blu-Shastin".

Our motorhome has an on-board Onan 5.5 Kva generator with a fairly good muffler and exhaust system. From what I've seen around, the Honda generators are the way to go if you want really quiet, but Dan's right, they aren't inexpensive.

[campdohbrew]

Welcome. Congratulations on the new travel trailer. I have a Champion generator that I have used for power outages due to storms (never used it to camp). It will supply enough power to operate a travel trailer including the air conditioning (cannot run a/c and microwave at the same time). I have not used the generator with my new trailer. The link the other poster provided will give you a lot of info about the Champion generator. That generator does appear to be quieter than some others in its price range. If I was going to do a lot of camping with it, I would consider the Honda, but I would have to hear the Honda run first as to make a comparison with the Champion. (Probably open up a can of worms by mentioning Champion and Honda in the sentence!)